“What I think is important is the Philippines, but even more so Indonesia, have shown that they can do it right, and that, as they did, is to reform away from an authoritarian leader of many years… and that need not go to a fundamentalist group, an extremist group,” said Bob Broadfoot of Political & Economic Risk Consultancy, as quoted by this newspaper on Saturday.

Broadfoot commented on the falling dictators in Egypt and Tunisia. Undemocratic — internationally described as iron-fisted — leaders in Africa and the Middle East, in nations such as Libya, Bahrain and Yemen, are now facing open resistance from their own people, whom they have oppressed for decades. Knowing that their very existence as self-appointed supreme leaders is in very real danger, rulers in Bahrain and Yemen are using bullets to scare demonstrators away.

Forming a people power chain, millions of Filipinos went to the streets to force the demise of the ruthless President Ferdinand Marcos. Several years later people in the former communist state of East Germany and throughout Eastern Europe used the combination of people power and the power of the West to oust brutal communist rulers.

According to Broadfoot, it will be better for Egypt — and this advice may also apply to other Islamic states in the Middle East and Africa who will likely follow Egypt’s path — to learn from Indonesia.

“Indonesia is seen by many as a better model for Egypt’s transition, both as a Muslim country that has largely held extremists at bay, and because of its early progress made in developing and strengthening its economy and institutions,” Reuters reported.

Indonesia is home to the world’s largest Muslim population. Still, secular parties always receive higher voter support than Islamic-based parties, as seen its three presidential general elections since 1999. The country, which adopted a full democracy only after Soeharto’s demise in 1998, has proved to the world that Islam is very compatible with any sophisticated form of democracy. In general, Indonesian Muslims are moderate and inclusive, however, unfortunately the number of hardliners and violent groups are steadily increasing. They are very small in number, but very noisy and violent. The government, for various political reasons, is often reluctant to take harsh actions against these troublesome groups.

Indonesia’s experience shows that the road to democracy was very painful and costly. Until now the state has been unable to regain the massive sums of money allegedly stolen by Soeharto and his cronies. Most of the alleged “mega-corruptors” remain untouchable and have even been able to play important roles in post-Soeharto governments.

Will Muslims in Egypt and Tunisia (and people of the countries who are now trying to oust their leaders) be able to rightly learn from Muslims in Indonesia, who proved that adopting universally accepted forms of democracy was a very correct choice? Indonesians have proven that the fear and skepticism many Western countries harbor, believing that Islam is not compatible with democracy, is totally wrong. Hopefully people in the Middle East and Africa, and any other country where Muslims are the majority, will be able to learn from Indonesia, no matter how painful or how tiring the burden they may have to endure.

***

The government is facing mounting pressures to ban Ahmadiyah. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono apparently is also closer to the view of prohibiting the existence of the sect in Indonesia. Many Muslims strongly agree with the idea. But the President, as usual, prefers to play it safe. Some government and Muslim leaders share the view that Ahmadiyah followers should form a new religion. But this will not solve anything, because they will be asked to abandon the Koran and write their own holy book.

Minority groups are closely following the Ahmadiyah situation because they fear the same tactics can be applied to them. What will happen if Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and other religions also denounce people from other faiths by using their own religious teachings as their just argument? In the longer term, the nation will have to bear the consequences of the restrictions imposed on Ahmadiyah. But does the government have enough courage to uphold the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression and freedom of religion? Only a miracle can change the President’s preference not to take any risk at all.

***

A few years ago, then Jakarta governor Sutiyoso demolished Persija Stadium in Menteng, Central Jakarta. Initially Menteng residents strongly opposed the plan because they suspected Sutiyoso wanted to convert the sports venue into commercial space. But now the stadium has been replaced by a beautiful and well-maintained public park.

Governor Fauzi Bowo has another plan to scrap the popular Lebak Bulus Soccer Stadium in South Jakarta for the construction of a mass rapid transportation (MRT) terminal. As the city government has long-term development planning, the stadium demolition has sparked suspicion. The plan to demolish the stadium was suddenly taken after the governor decided to change the MRT design. The governor can use thousands of pretexts to defend his decision, but the residents of Jakarta should not just allow the governor to do whatever he pleases with the much-needed sports venue.

Indonesia’s first president chose Senayan as the center for national sports development in the 1960s. But what happens now? Look at the presence of five-star hotels and elite shopping centers in the area. Jakarta continues to lose public areas for the sake of business and short-term interests. It is not impossible that even the Senayan sports facilities will also face demolition because business people with strong political connections to the presidential office want to have their hotels or office buildings there.

—Kornelius Purba

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