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unday was the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy in New York. Shortly after the tragedy, the world was polarized and fragmented dramatically.

This polarization was triggered by president Bush’s speech, when declaring war on terrorism, in which he stated to all nations: “You’re either with us or against us”.

This statement then created a new global geopolitical and economic paradigm on the basis of being an adversary or an ally. This black-and-white dichotomy, enemy or ally, represented a new predicament for international order.

Countries that lacked bargaining power were easily subjugated and found it difficult to keep their independence and non-aligned stance against the pressure of hegemonic political forces.

Even the United Nations, which is supposed to stand for justice and serve the interests of all nations, in many instances, was unable to maintain its impartiality.

To respond to this polarization, most countries in the world competed with each other to allocate significant budgets to address the issue of terrorism which then caused global human insecurity.

The US total spending on military, defense and security, for example, in 2010 rose to approximately US$685.1 billion.

In the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US spent $3 trillion (The Times, Feb. 23, 2008).

Similarly, China and other developing nations did the same thing. In 2007, officially the Chinese military budget was $59 billion, but the Pentagon estimated it to range between $97 and $139 billion, the second highest in the world after the US. (BBC News, March 4, 2008).

Pakistan, India, the Middle East and African countries also allocated very significant amounts of money to military spending while spending on such things as education has drastically declined.

Pakistan for example increased their operational budget to over 30 percent for the military, while for education it was only one percent.

Similarly the US total budget for education was only 2 percent (UNICEF, 2002).

This global reality appears to be an alarming signal for the future of our children, and the future of our common humanity.

This competition reminds us of the first law of thermodynamics in physics which observes the principle of conservation of energy.

Energy can be transformed, i.e. changed from one form to another, but can be neither created nor destroyed. In today’s new world, there is a greater interdependency than previously.

The security of every one of us depends on the security of everyone else. The security of every nation is related to the security of every other nation. No nation can create its own security in isolation.

The latest multidimensional crises in some Middle-Eastern and North African countries will sooner or later contaminate other countries in their new forms.

The laws of nature will correct all injustices in terms of powerful and powerless, free and fettered, privileged and humiliated.

Natural revenge has proved in human history that its devastating impact is incomparable.

May be it is not yet too late to reshape this order by addressing the future of our children. Gabriela Mistral, a Nobel Prize winner in Literature 66 years ago voiced this concern by saying, “We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer ‘Tomorrow’. His name is ‘Today’.”

Indonesia is probably one of the very few countries in the world which chose a different path from the majority. Indonesia has put in its constitution that a minimum of 20 percent of the national budget should be allocated for education, not to the military.

This is an indication which proves Indonesia’s commitment to the future of its children, the future of our common humanity.

Concurrently with this commitment, shortly after the fall of Suharto, Indonesia democratized and decentralized its system. Indonesia abolished and revised several laws and regulations which in the past were very oppressive to the people and violated people’s rights.

Among these laws were the law on anti-subversion and the law on political parties.

The law on anti-subversion was very oppressive and often used to take away people’s freedom of expression. This type of law is still being widely implemented in Singapore, Malaysia and other neighboring countries.

During the global US effort to address terrorism, Indonesia has been encouraged to return to this system. If that was to be done, democracy would be damaged.

There is a need to combat terrorism side by side with appreciating human rights and the due process of law. Inconsistencies in the west in promoting democracy may lead to the suicide of democracy itself in the third world.

A decade after the 9/11 tragedy, it appears to be an appropriate moment for the US to reinvent its pioneering role in human rights. Former president Jimmy Carter has said that the US did not invent human rights, but human rights invented the US. Human rights are the spirit of the nation. The pioneering role of the US in human rights fields needs to go along with the fight against terrorism.

Although it has the largest Muslim population in the world, Indonesia is quite moderate. The changes and reforms that have been made in all sectors will not change this country into a religious state. Former president Habibie has illustrated that the similarities between Muslim and Non-Muslim in Indonesia is much closer than Muslim and Muslim in other countries.

The similarities between Christianity and Islam in Indonesia are much closer than between different forms of Christianity in other countries.

Interfaith dialogue and tolerance have been demonstrated in its long history. Borobudur Temple, one of the seven wonders of the world, is located among Islamic communities, but it has been preserved for the last few centuries without any tension by local Hindu and Buddhist followers.

This harmonious coexistence is a real testimony of how religious harmony has existed in Indonesian society for many centuries.

The decade after the 9/11 tragedy has provided a great lesson in how to build a new world, a new common humanity where there is no powerful and powerless, free and fettered, privileged and humiliated.

And may Indonesia remain a testimony to the world that its commitment to democracy and the future of the children is past the point of no return.

The writer is a professor at Jakarta State University and former director general of Human Rights, Ministry of Law and Human Rights, and former UNESCO consultant in Asia and the Pacific Region.