F

inally Osama bin Laden’s episode is over. We have seen mixed reactions across the world to the operation conducted by the US Navy SEALs in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad to kill Bin Laden.

From the US perspective, this operation means a lot for the Obama administration. At least he and his team fulfilled one of Obama’s campaign promises.

Amid the rising price of gasoline and an increasing unemployment rate, Bin Laden’s death shifted public attention from domestic issues and increased Obama’s popularity as he embarks on his re-election campaign.

For Pakistan, on the contrary, the US military operation conducted inside its borders was an embarrassment and a slap in the face.

Pakistan’s government should be held responsible for answering sovereignty question and for the possible reactions of Pakistanis who support al-Qaeda.

A series of US diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks indicated that the Pakistani government repeatedly denied that Bin Laden was in Pakistan. One prominent local media outlet even said that the government was protecting Bin Laden as part of a deal to prolong the inflow of US aid.

As for al-Qaeda, the demise of Osama will not affect his influence on radical elements of the Muslim world in general. There are no doubt various radical groups across the globe that have been inspired by Bin Laden’s thoughts even though they are not part of al-Qaeda’s network.

Bin Laden, however, has left one task unaccomplished, namely establishing rule by the Muslim Ummah through the use of violence.

The central message that Osama sent to his followers was a rejection of the reform of existing political structures. Instead, he advocated radical change and justified the use of force to uphold Islamic law.

In response to Bin Laden’s death, the Organization of Islamic Conference has condemned any acts of terrorism and further declared terrorism as running counter to the teachings of Islam. It considers terrorism as a serious crime for which Islam has severe sanctions.

Indonesia, as a Muslim-majority nation, has experienced a series of attacks within its territory in the name of religious radicals.

The recent suicide bombing of a mosque in Cirebon, the bomb discovered near a church in Serpong, Banten, and the discovery of several book bombs in Jakarta show that radical elements in some religious groups exist among us, threatening our plural society and national integrity.

At the same time, the issue of the Islamic State of Indonesia (NII) movement has come to fore and calls for vigilant attention from the police and the public to prevent the spread of radicalism and fear in society.

Tougher law enforcement is a must to show that Indonesia is not a safe haven for terror groups. Military operations, such as the one conducted by the US SEALs in Pakistan, will not happen in Indonesia if our police prove their capabilities in fighting terrorism, for which commitment and support from both the government and the political elites is imperative.

The spread of the NII’s network seems to have caught the government’s attention after many years of ignorance. A crisis center has been set up to facilitate gathering testimony from former NII followers against the organization.

On the other hand, new policies should be made to inculcate a feeling of state consciousness, particularly among the young generation. Waning nationalism has made it easy for the NII to win the confidence of new young recruits.

Indonesia came into being not on the basis of Islamic ideology but as the result of a process of acceptance and a vow to live together in diversity under one republic. Our founding fathers deliberately chose Pancasila over Islamic ideology to minimize the threat of disintegration.

The debate over whether Indonesia should embrace Islamic ideology ended when Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaimed Indonesia’s independence. Undoubtedly, however, the five pillars of Pancasila were inspired by values shared also by Muslims.

Both the police and intelligence agencies have to carry on their efforts to crack down on the NII. At the ideological level the government needs to promote and uphold Pancasila by example rather than by use of force as happened in the past. It may take more than a decade or generation to succeed.

Like Bin Laden, the NII’s ideology will remain even if its physical manifestation vanishes. Educational institutions, religious groups such as Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, civil society groups, the media and the public need to build a mainstream consensus that rejects religious radicalization that might lead to violence and endanger our national ideology and integrity.

The write is a graduate student in politics and international relations at the International Islamic University in Islamabad and a researcher currently living in Tashkent.