Jan. 4, p. 20
This is a comment on a letter titled “Exporting moderate Islam” (The Jakarta Post, Dec. 24) by John Hargreaves. Again, while Muslims’ comments about the Swiss vote have mostly been moderate and sensible, it is mostly Westerners’ comments that are fiercely against. The letter (taken cum grano salis) made an interesting read. The commentator seemed to enjoy lecturing (professional aberration?), selecting a few phrases taken out of context, describing them as distortions, oversimplifications or making some strange elucubrations, eventually sometimes leading to my same conclusions.
First, Christianity obviously did not expand with a big bang, it took time to develop throughout the various Roman empires. But it is a fact that it has dramatically and indelibly shaped the Western world the way we know it now, through a process that lasted 2,000 years.
At the end of his disquisition about renaissance, Galileo, enlightenment, Islamic dominance in Iberia and Sicily, the writer admits that Christianity has been an important factor in the formation of the European civilization. So where is the distortion? Not having considered the marginal influence of Norse mythology?
I consider myself as an agnostic. Indonesia has been my home for some 35 years, but I am a bule (white person) who is adapting as much as possible to local conditions, without rejecting my cultural heritage which makes me who I am. (By Benito L. Curtaz, Jakarta)
Your comments:
While I do agree with the article, why would a specific religion such as Islam grossly need to influence Arabic dress attire wherever Muslims of all ethnicities live?
Do you think everyday moderate Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus should adopt a dress code to identify themselves as a member of a particular faith?
The Arabic garb for men and women is a cultural attire and identity due to its geographic location.
Simple as that. In my view of Indonesia, it has certainly lost some of its unique cultural attire and identity.
The trend of Arabization (dress, music, etc.) has engulfed the spirit of most Indonesians of all ages.
Indonesians, regardless of their faith, must safeguard their true cultural identity, be it in music, attires or the philosophy of life, regardless of religious influences.
Andrea L.
Pittsburgh, PA
Back in 1977, when I came to Indonesia for the first time, women were dressed in colorful traditional clothes, but today they look very uniform, just like Arab women. Are they not proud of their tradition anymore?
Edi Rey
Switzerland
Benito L. Curtaz asserts in his letter that Arabization is wahabization. He adds another component when he equates Arabization with radicalization.
It is not clear why Arabization — which started in Indonesia as early as the 10th century — is for him a religious and not a cultural phenomenon. Is there no Islamic culture? Indonesians together with Europeans and Chinese, Indians and Berbers, tribes from equatorial Africa and central Asia as well as the ethnic mix of the world’s crossroads of civilizations all participated in shaping Islamic culture.
Arabic was for Muslims just what Latin was for Catholics. The only difference is that Latin today is a dead language, while Arabic is alive and kicking.
This, added to decades of mass immigration of Muslims to Western Europe, today feeds the irrational and widespread fear of Islam — largely exploited by politicians after 9/11 — and stirs up paranoia that if (non-Arab) Turkey joined the EU, Muslim armies will soon invade Europe again.
Talking about designing a “moderate Islam” or empowering genuine moderates is chimerical because it is no secret that it is social and political injustice, not religious zealotry, that leads to terrorism. As long as it argues that Islam itself is the problem, the West leaves itself with no solutions.
In the meantime and away for this induced paranoia, Muslim majorities (called moderate) in Indonesia and around the world continue to enjoy their faith while keeping, developing and promoting their ethnic sub-cultures.
Ait-Allah Mejri
Jakarta
