My late husband’s full name was Lembu Amiluhur Priyawardhana Priyono.
Long, huh? He was called Ami Priyono for short, thank God.
You see, Ami’s dad, Prof. Priyono, was the dean of the Faculty of Letters at the University of Indonesia and a professor of philology, so he had a major thing for Sanskrit names. In fact, he borrowed Ami’s name from Lembu Amiluhur, the eldest son of King Airlangga, who ruled over the Hindu kingdom of Jenggala (1042-1130) in East Java.
Sadly, Ami hated his full name, and his friends teased him about it, so he avoided it as much as he could, settling instead for a two-syllable alternative.
So why did Prof. Priyono give his only son a never-ending name that was the source of ridicule?
Because lembu is “cow” or “buffalo”. The full title was a regal name that meant “noble or exalted buffalo”!
Yes, I know that’s not much of an explanation, but Prof. Priyono would have seen it as a great name for his baby son. After all, cows and buffaloes are sacred in many cultures.
We all know that Hindus sacralize cows and oxen, prized as a source of protein (milk and butter), fertilizer and fuel (dung), and because of their physical strength: the poor man’s tractor. But did you know that the ancient Egyptians revered them as sacred to the goddess Isis? American Indians were also fairly awestruck by the bison, which was absolutely central to their survival (until the white man came and killed them all, that is).
So why was President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) in such a state of kebakaran jenggot (“burning beard syndrome”, “all hot and bothered”) when he was likened to a buffalo by a bunch of demonstrators? I mean, cows have such an exalted position in so many cultures, and they’re so useful in so many ways (unlike most politicians). If my late father-in-law thought “buffalo” was good enough for his only son, why is it not good enough for SBY?
Ah, well, I guess it all depends on context, and the context that SBY and Indonesians find ourselves in is a democratic state – democratic in its Constitution, electoral system and formal state institutions that is, but apparently not in SBY’s mind. Perhaps he’s forgotten that even the huge majority he won doesn’t mean that there aren’t still some people out there who don’t like him, never did, and never will.
And now he’s panicking because his popularity has slid by 15 percent (Shock! Horror!) from 85 to a mere 70 percent, a level that most successful democratic politicians only dream of achieving? I know this Bank Century thing is getting to you, Mr. President, but aren’t you perhaps overreacting a teensy-weensy bit?
Or perhaps there is more at stake here than we realize. According to Anies Baswedan, rector of Paramadina University, we are in a third phase of democracy, which is critical – it’s when we decide if we continue as a democracy or return to the bad ol’ days.
Anies also said, “Indonesians might be individually irrational, but collectively they are actually very rational”. Hmm, where would you put SBY on the buffalo issue?
The truth is that despite all our democratization, our rulers still have problems with public criticism. Our defamation law, for example, still maintains criminal provisions for slander or libel, whereas most countries have moved to civil treatment, whereby it’s a private matter between citizens that doesn’t involve the police and prosecutors. The good news is that in 2006 our Constitutional Court at least knocked out articles 134, 136 and 137 of the Criminal Code, which made it a crime to insult the president or vice president (eat your heart out, SBY!).
The bad news is that the government hasn’t given up on the old lese-majeste (injured majesty) protections. SBY’s ministers are now reviewing a law that protects the sanctity of state symbols. Sanctity? Hello?
Didn’t humans make those symbols? Isn’t making them sacred some primitive form of idolatry?
And isn’t idolatry a form of blasphemy? In fact, I reckon the defamation law is a secular form of anti-blasphemy law, protecting the sacred state. It’s part of that state “religion” Soeharto loved so much, and most definitely a hangover from his New Order, when everything to do with government was “sacred”.
So, if the Constitutional Court is ready to start fixing our defamation law, will it have the nerve to do the same for its religious equivalent, the 1965 Blasphemy Law, now in its hands for review?
Understandably, religious minorities want the law knocked out, because all too often it is used to persecute them. Despite this, an article in this paper last week mentioned that Indonesia’s religious tolerance won praise from the US (http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/01/26/ri-wins-us-praise-religious-tolerance.html).
If so, it’s no thanks to SBY’s government, which – believe it or not — is now lining up with hard-line groups like the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), Hizbut Tahrir and conservative factions of the Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama to oppose reviewing the blasphemy law.
Ah, blasphemy, that sacred word! We’re really into that: religious eccentricity has always been part of Indonesian life. But is mainstream Islam really so weak and easily threatened that it needs to use the full force of law against small sects like Ahmadiyah or Yusman Roy’s (Muslims who pray in bahasa Indonesia), or locos like Lia Eden, who claims to be Archangel Gabriel incarnate and sits on thrones wearing fairy costumes (www.liaeden.info)? Puh-leeeease!
We need to realize that both kinds of blasphemy law – religious and secular (the defamation law) – are leftovers from the Soeharto era, and are signs of both our lingering authoritarian mentality, as well as our insecurity and immaturity.
So, attention please, SBY: it’s time to grow up and relax about different opinions, religious and political.
And that’s no bull!
The writer is the author of Julia’s Jihad.
