MY FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH ISLAM
In my early life during the 1950s, in an Australian state primary school and in Sunday School, both still essentially Eurocentric, Islam was something foreign, un-Christian, heathen and essentially Arabian. With an increasing awareness of the world around me, through learning and travel, that narrower view gave way to a more open-minded and liberal perspective: people can worship whatever they choose to, an inalienable right, but it means that all belief systems must be tolerant for that idea to be upheld. This is important, religious toleration is so fundamental to peace and harmony and any group seeking to enforce its belief system on unwilling others represents a threat to that stability. That is a lesson of history. Reading about the rise of Islam, especially during the period of the Moors in Spain, close to Christian Europe, was fascinating. I learnt that at this time Islam was by far the more tolerant, allowing the practice of other religions, even employing Jews at high levels within the state bureaucracy. Cordoba was the high point of European civilisation at that time, bringing not only higher and secular learning but what would be known as the Renaissance. However that intellectual vigour faded. Eventually what was the bulwark of the Arabian and Muslim world, the Ottoman Empire, would also fall apart. Islam became introspective, and with that came forms of fundamentalism. The price of that is isolation, and whether in Christianity, Hinduism or elsewhere, it breeds intolerant attitudes. Islam today has many negative images. What the world sees of it, courtesy, albeit of a predominantly Western media, is that it still has a Middle East context. The images tell us about women still being stoned to death, and about terrorism. My limited understanding of Islamic theology suggests that the genius of Islam lies in its very simplicity, each believer having a direct engagement with God, bringing great individual dignity. It is not a religion to create theocracies, institutions which throughout the history of civilisation on this planet have never endured because they become autocratic. Theocracies and self-worth are incompatible. Islam has succeeded most where it has sought to co-exist in a pluralistic rather than an exclusive setting. And that is a lesson not only for Muslims but for all those who are fervent about their religion.
John Steinbach
Sunday, December 30, 2007
A Brief.....
A BRIEF THOUGHT ON ISLAM
Islam is many fine things. It is both a Faith (how the individual experiences the divine) and a Following (or, a Religion, thus inherently institutional). Both manifest to rejoice in what is, and promote what will be.
However offering bounty also, our sciences and mercantalisms in essence are a moral vacuum. To correct this we create polities and economisms to ward off that which errs. But these are not infallible, and we both serve and are provided for by them. What’s more they must be constructed by ideal, and Islam, like other Followings, contribute richly by tempering otherwise unchecked excess of power, mere semantics, and greed, as by nature Followings, and Faiths, promote sets of ideals. Their commitment to the ethical is at their core, but to science and economy they are mere by-product.
This is not to say that one word is better than another. Yet we both are and are compelled to live socially. Cooperation is required, and thus consensus’ need is self-evident. Non zero-sum theorems suggest we tap the rich variety of ideas (ideals) in order to confront the human condition. Despite universalist-relativist debate, Islam is one of many players here to help us build of dreams.
So, why ideals? Asking is in a way demonstrative of a lack of hope: that we aspire to more, for ourselves (not just the self, but all of Us), is good. Faiths have the jump, assuming from the beginning that it is all worth it. Hence, their ability to construct how to get there. That’s a key question: how, not why.
Oh, and what’s in a name? Peace…
Scott Filby
Economics Graduate
Monash University
Islam is many fine things. It is both a Faith (how the individual experiences the divine) and a Following (or, a Religion, thus inherently institutional). Both manifest to rejoice in what is, and promote what will be.
However offering bounty also, our sciences and mercantalisms in essence are a moral vacuum. To correct this we create polities and economisms to ward off that which errs. But these are not infallible, and we both serve and are provided for by them. What’s more they must be constructed by ideal, and Islam, like other Followings, contribute richly by tempering otherwise unchecked excess of power, mere semantics, and greed, as by nature Followings, and Faiths, promote sets of ideals. Their commitment to the ethical is at their core, but to science and economy they are mere by-product.
This is not to say that one word is better than another. Yet we both are and are compelled to live socially. Cooperation is required, and thus consensus’ need is self-evident. Non zero-sum theorems suggest we tap the rich variety of ideas (ideals) in order to confront the human condition. Despite universalist-relativist debate, Islam is one of many players here to help us build of dreams.
So, why ideals? Asking is in a way demonstrative of a lack of hope: that we aspire to more, for ourselves (not just the self, but all of Us), is good. Faiths have the jump, assuming from the beginning that it is all worth it. Hence, their ability to construct how to get there. That’s a key question: how, not why.
Oh, and what’s in a name? Peace…
Scott Filby
Economics Graduate
Monash University
Fear of Communism....
EAST TIMOR INVASION
By Anton Alimin
THE 7th December , 1996 marks twenty-one years precisely since Indonesian troops moved into East Timor. But the issue of East Timor still attracts worldwide attention.
It will remain an issue so long as the United Nations and the world community do not acknowledge the Indonesian claim to sovereignty over the island.
Despite all that has been written and broadcast about Timor, there has been little attempt to understand Indonesian motives behind Indonesian intervention.
If the issue is to be resolved sooner rather than later, the motivation of the major player should be understood.
I was born an Indonesian citizen, but this does not prevent me from feeling anguish over the death of Dili residents in an “incident” which has its fifth anniversary on 12th of this month, November.
Furthermore, I was in Timor in 1975, working with an Indonesian company dropping medical supplies to the Indonesian Red Cross in Timor. In some way, I feel as though morally involved in creating the situation in East Timor.
In remembering the tragic incident in Dili five years ago, costing too many lives, I would like to present a poem I wrote not long after :
More than 2000 years ago
an ancient Greek poet, Aschylus, wrote
“Even in our sleep pain that cannot forget,
falls drop upon the heart,
and in our despair, against our will,
comes wisdom t us by the awful grace of God.”
Ten days ago, I wrote a poem in remembrance of the Timorese killings,
“…in the naked Tuesday afternoon,
a bunch of humans representing evil
spreading death among innocent people
smells of blood and ammunition mixed together
but remember, we who are left behind will remember
we will always remember the day
in the naked Tuesday afternoon,
the day you were gone…..”
Despite, or perhaps because of, my personal anguish over the deaths on Timor, I believe it is important to understand Indonesian motives at the time. They can be summed up easily in one phrase: Fear of communism. To understand this fear, one has to look at modern Indonesian history.
On 18th September, 1948, the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) seized the little town of Madiun, in Central Java, appointed new officials, an announced plans for establishing an Indonesian Soviet State, which would fly a red flag. The leadership of the Indonesian army, while defending the new republic against the Dutch colonials, called this action by the Communists “a stab in the back”
In 1965, there was a coup d’etat. The Indonesian government claimed that, for the second time, the Indonesian Communist Party was responsible for violence which had so far caused the death of nearly half a million people. Since the, anti-communism has become the official ideology of the New Order Soeharto government.
The East Timor issue cannot be separated from the global political context of the day. (For example, South Vietnam fell into Communist hands on the morning of 30th April, 1975).
By Anton Alimin
THE 7th December , 1996 marks twenty-one years precisely since Indonesian troops moved into East Timor. But the issue of East Timor still attracts worldwide attention.
It will remain an issue so long as the United Nations and the world community do not acknowledge the Indonesian claim to sovereignty over the island.
Despite all that has been written and broadcast about Timor, there has been little attempt to understand Indonesian motives behind Indonesian intervention.
If the issue is to be resolved sooner rather than later, the motivation of the major player should be understood.
I was born an Indonesian citizen, but this does not prevent me from feeling anguish over the death of Dili residents in an “incident” which has its fifth anniversary on 12th of this month, November.
Furthermore, I was in Timor in 1975, working with an Indonesian company dropping medical supplies to the Indonesian Red Cross in Timor. In some way, I feel as though morally involved in creating the situation in East Timor.
In remembering the tragic incident in Dili five years ago, costing too many lives, I would like to present a poem I wrote not long after :
More than 2000 years ago
an ancient Greek poet, Aschylus, wrote
“Even in our sleep pain that cannot forget,
falls drop upon the heart,
and in our despair, against our will,
comes wisdom t us by the awful grace of God.”
Ten days ago, I wrote a poem in remembrance of the Timorese killings,
“…in the naked Tuesday afternoon,
a bunch of humans representing evil
spreading death among innocent people
smells of blood and ammunition mixed together
but remember, we who are left behind will remember
we will always remember the day
in the naked Tuesday afternoon,
the day you were gone…..”
Despite, or perhaps because of, my personal anguish over the deaths on Timor, I believe it is important to understand Indonesian motives at the time. They can be summed up easily in one phrase: Fear of communism. To understand this fear, one has to look at modern Indonesian history.
On 18th September, 1948, the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) seized the little town of Madiun, in Central Java, appointed new officials, an announced plans for establishing an Indonesian Soviet State, which would fly a red flag. The leadership of the Indonesian army, while defending the new republic against the Dutch colonials, called this action by the Communists “a stab in the back”
In 1965, there was a coup d’etat. The Indonesian government claimed that, for the second time, the Indonesian Communist Party was responsible for violence which had so far caused the death of nearly half a million people. Since the, anti-communism has become the official ideology of the New Order Soeharto government.
The East Timor issue cannot be separated from the global political context of the day. (For example, South Vietnam fell into Communist hands on the morning of 30th April, 1975).
Indonesia then.........
GOING HOME
Anton Alimin
Every four years I go ‘home’ to Indonesian to see how my country is doing. The last time I went back was in 1989. Since then I have been bombarded by the media in the West about how Indonesia handles issues such as human rights, political freedom and standard of living.
Before I left Australia a few friends said, ‘You will get lost in a Jakarta!’ Oh yes, how could I get lost in a city where I spent most of my childhood and part of my adult life?
I landed in Jakarta and straight away the climate of development seemed to be everywhere. Taxis from the ordinary to limousine. In the city, many huge office buildings along Jalan Thamrin with lots of luxury cars on the road. They were right, I could get lost in this city. Jakarta has changed so much in only four years!
‘Gee, Jakarta looks like any big city in the world.’ But then I asked myself, ‘What about people in other smaller cities and other islands in Indonesia? Do they enjoy and feel the result of Pembangunan (development)?’
Then I started my ‘fact-finding mission’ on development in Indonesia. Padang, Pekanbaru, up to Ujung Pandang and back to Jakarta, Sumedang, Yogya, Blitar, by all kinds of transport from speed boat, bus, canoe to walking. And I went to one of the smallest islands of Sumatera, with a population of 2,000. The people on the island seem happier and dress better. The streets and roads are asphalt. Therefore, the development is not only in Jakarta but is also in small villages and on outer islands.
According to the World Bank, in two decades the proportion of people living in abject poverty has dropped from 60 % to 15 %. So the issue now is not whether Soeharto’s government has done something to improve the standard of living of the majority of the people or not but whether is has paid enough attention to human rights and to equality in the distribution of wealth.
One thing is certain. Something which was unthinkable five or ten years a go is happening now. For example the government is not so uptight about people demonstrating in the streets. Demonstrations are weekly events. A recently published book called Primadosa questioned ‘the role of Soeharto’ in the 1965 coup. The book is banned but the author is still free! Therefore the process of democratisation is ‘rolling’.
Indonesia has moved from an impoverished backwater to an economically influential country in the region with an average annual growth of six percent since the mid 1980s.
In the next thirty years, Indonesia might catch up with Australian economically. So when my plane took off from Ngurah Rai airport something strange stuck in my mind. ‘I am going home’, and I am going to tell all my housemates and friends to buy Australian products to help the Australian economy, starting with the simplest things in the house which are toilet paper, sugar, coffee!
Anton Alimin
Every four years I go ‘home’ to Indonesian to see how my country is doing. The last time I went back was in 1989. Since then I have been bombarded by the media in the West about how Indonesia handles issues such as human rights, political freedom and standard of living.
Before I left Australia a few friends said, ‘You will get lost in a Jakarta!’ Oh yes, how could I get lost in a city where I spent most of my childhood and part of my adult life?
I landed in Jakarta and straight away the climate of development seemed to be everywhere. Taxis from the ordinary to limousine. In the city, many huge office buildings along Jalan Thamrin with lots of luxury cars on the road. They were right, I could get lost in this city. Jakarta has changed so much in only four years!
‘Gee, Jakarta looks like any big city in the world.’ But then I asked myself, ‘What about people in other smaller cities and other islands in Indonesia? Do they enjoy and feel the result of Pembangunan (development)?’
Then I started my ‘fact-finding mission’ on development in Indonesia. Padang, Pekanbaru, up to Ujung Pandang and back to Jakarta, Sumedang, Yogya, Blitar, by all kinds of transport from speed boat, bus, canoe to walking. And I went to one of the smallest islands of Sumatera, with a population of 2,000. The people on the island seem happier and dress better. The streets and roads are asphalt. Therefore, the development is not only in Jakarta but is also in small villages and on outer islands.
According to the World Bank, in two decades the proportion of people living in abject poverty has dropped from 60 % to 15 %. So the issue now is not whether Soeharto’s government has done something to improve the standard of living of the majority of the people or not but whether is has paid enough attention to human rights and to equality in the distribution of wealth.
One thing is certain. Something which was unthinkable five or ten years a go is happening now. For example the government is not so uptight about people demonstrating in the streets. Demonstrations are weekly events. A recently published book called Primadosa questioned ‘the role of Soeharto’ in the 1965 coup. The book is banned but the author is still free! Therefore the process of democratisation is ‘rolling’.
Indonesia has moved from an impoverished backwater to an economically influential country in the region with an average annual growth of six percent since the mid 1980s.
In the next thirty years, Indonesia might catch up with Australian economically. So when my plane took off from Ngurah Rai airport something strange stuck in my mind. ‘I am going home’, and I am going to tell all my housemates and friends to buy Australian products to help the Australian economy, starting with the simplest things in the house which are toilet paper, sugar, coffee!
AIA News, April 1994
Forgotten People
Anton Alimin
It is a fact that Indonesia has moved from being impoverished backwater to being an economically influential country in South East Asia, with an average annual growth rate of six percent since the mid 1980s.
In two decades Soeharto’s government has managed to drop the proportion of people living in poverty from 60 % to 15 %. But a layer of Indonesia’s society which seems untouched by the climate of development and the figures drawn from the World Bank analysis are the beggars.
When I asked some friends about this, they said, ‘Anton, do not worry! They are organised and they are not that poor! In their kampungs they have rumah, sawah’.
I said to them, ‘Are you saying that to clear your guilty consciences or do you really mean it? It does not matter what the reasons are, a mother would not sit in the open with her baby in a temperature of thirty degrees Celsius if she does not have to!
In other words, the gap between ‘the haves’ and ‘the have nots’ are widening. It is especially obvious in big cities such as Jakarta and Surabaya. The situation is less obvious in smaller towns.
The worst thing is that this layer of society is organised and exploited. There is no justification for exploitation whatever the reason. Soekarno once said, ‘Penindasan antara sesama manusia, eksploitasi antara sesama umat harus dibasmi dari muka bumi ini’.
In the old times, it was the Dutch colonialists who exploited the people. In modern times, it is high competitiveness to survive which creates a tendency for some people to exploit the situation to their own advantage. It seems that this phenomenon is happening in almost any society in which ‘money is everything’, particularly in a society which is at the stage of moving from an agrarian society to modern society. It is even more than that. Indonesia’s economy is not only moving from agrarian to industrial but it is moving towards higher stages of industrial and technological development.
But I think Indonesia’s economy is moving too fast. But at the same time could they afford not to go so fast? Indonesia is trying to catch up with the rest of the world and to put herself in a respected place among the countries in the region after having gone through the turbulent times such as the Madiun Affair, PRRI, Permesta, Kartosuwiryo and the 1965 coup.
There are always dampak of economic development, which in Indonesia’s case is para pengemis. I want to quote a poem by one of the most famous Indonesian poets, Chairil Anwar:
Kepada Para Pengemis
Baik, baik, aku akan menghadap Dia
Menyerahkan diri dan segala dosa
Tapi jangan tentang lagi aku
Nanti darahku jadi beku
Don’t tell that story anymore
It’s already been vaccinated all over your face
Pus is trickling out of it,
You wipe it away as you walk.
Bersuara tiap kau melangkah
Mengerang tiap kau memandang
Menetes dari suasana kau datang
Sembarang kau merebah
Breaking into my dream
Throws me onto the hard ground,
I feel it biting at my lips,
Buzzing in my ears.
Baik, baik, aku akan menghadap Dia
Menyerahkan diri dan segala dosa
Tapi jangan tentang lagi aku
Nanti darahku jadi beku……..
Forgotten People
Anton Alimin
It is a fact that Indonesia has moved from being impoverished backwater to being an economically influential country in South East Asia, with an average annual growth rate of six percent since the mid 1980s.
In two decades Soeharto’s government has managed to drop the proportion of people living in poverty from 60 % to 15 %. But a layer of Indonesia’s society which seems untouched by the climate of development and the figures drawn from the World Bank analysis are the beggars.
When I asked some friends about this, they said, ‘Anton, do not worry! They are organised and they are not that poor! In their kampungs they have rumah, sawah’.
I said to them, ‘Are you saying that to clear your guilty consciences or do you really mean it? It does not matter what the reasons are, a mother would not sit in the open with her baby in a temperature of thirty degrees Celsius if she does not have to!
In other words, the gap between ‘the haves’ and ‘the have nots’ are widening. It is especially obvious in big cities such as Jakarta and Surabaya. The situation is less obvious in smaller towns.
The worst thing is that this layer of society is organised and exploited. There is no justification for exploitation whatever the reason. Soekarno once said, ‘Penindasan antara sesama manusia, eksploitasi antara sesama umat harus dibasmi dari muka bumi ini’.
In the old times, it was the Dutch colonialists who exploited the people. In modern times, it is high competitiveness to survive which creates a tendency for some people to exploit the situation to their own advantage. It seems that this phenomenon is happening in almost any society in which ‘money is everything’, particularly in a society which is at the stage of moving from an agrarian society to modern society. It is even more than that. Indonesia’s economy is not only moving from agrarian to industrial but it is moving towards higher stages of industrial and technological development.
But I think Indonesia’s economy is moving too fast. But at the same time could they afford not to go so fast? Indonesia is trying to catch up with the rest of the world and to put herself in a respected place among the countries in the region after having gone through the turbulent times such as the Madiun Affair, PRRI, Permesta, Kartosuwiryo and the 1965 coup.
There are always dampak of economic development, which in Indonesia’s case is para pengemis. I want to quote a poem by one of the most famous Indonesian poets, Chairil Anwar:
Kepada Para Pengemis
Baik, baik, aku akan menghadap Dia
Menyerahkan diri dan segala dosa
Tapi jangan tentang lagi aku
Nanti darahku jadi beku
Don’t tell that story anymore
It’s already been vaccinated all over your face
Pus is trickling out of it,
You wipe it away as you walk.
Bersuara tiap kau melangkah
Mengerang tiap kau memandang
Menetes dari suasana kau datang
Sembarang kau merebah
Breaking into my dream
Throws me onto the hard ground,
I feel it biting at my lips,
Buzzing in my ears.
Baik, baik, aku akan menghadap Dia
Menyerahkan diri dan segala dosa
Tapi jangan tentang lagi aku
Nanti darahku jadi beku……..
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