A neighbor in ferment

It’s not only Thailand which is undergoing radical change these days. More significantly for us, Indonesia, with its 245 million citizens, a full 216 million of whom are Muslim, is apparently undergoing a "spiritual revolution." Fundamentalism is gaining substantial ground on moderate Islam which has been the main engine of progress and economic growth in that country.

Thailand, of course, in the guise of eradicating everything that remotely smells of deposed Prime Minister Shinawatra Thaksin, is reversing liberal policies that ended the domination of the military elite and enabled the country to attain the status of a vigorous, up-and-coming Asian Tiger.

The new military-backed civilian regime in Bangkok, in a new surge of thinly-disguised protectionism, seems to be doing everything in its power to upset years of economic openness which made Thailand the darling of foreign investors.

As an example of the military flexing muscles that had been systematically atrophied by Thaksin, the country’s only independent television station, has been taken over by the government for supposedly failing to pay license fees, fines and accumulated interest amounting to over $2 billion. ITV (Independent TV) was once owned by Thaksin but was sold in a controversial deal which was among the reasons for his ouster.

But what’s happening in Thailand pales in comparison with what is happening in Indonesia. If fundamentalism wins out and relegates moderate Islam to relative irrelevance, the development will clearly have both regional and international impact.

Here, for example, is what Time magazine said in its cover story of last March 5th: "Indonesia matters. The battle for its soul is taking place within a wider war in the Islamic world pitting progressive Muslims, who believe their faith can coexist with modernity and liberal Western influences, against fundamentalists, who want religion to return to its more austere Arab roots. What happens in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, could presage the direction other Islamic states take."

Time notes that recently, Indonesia has seen a "flowering of conservative religious thought" that has allowed the "rise of homegrown terrorists, threatening the country’s reputation as a model of moderate Islam."

The context for this epic struggle between fundamentalism and moderation is the Indonesian Constitution itself which officially adopts a policy of separation of church (or mosque) and state. The problem is that the current administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has allowed a "permissive political climate" where the secular nature of the state is not enforced and Sharia, or Islamic, law has been adopted in more than 10% of the country’s over 500 "regencies," or political subdivisions.

One interpretation of this Yudhoyono "do-nothing" approach, Time quotes former President and moderate Muslim cleric Abdurrahman Wahid as saying, is that he is scared of offending a growing Islamic movement. Wahid further notes: "If the silent majority isn’t speaking out against the Sharia-ization of Indonesia, then why should he risk his political career for them?" The result is that extremists are emboldened.

Sharia-based laws that have been implemented by about 53 regencies include bans on alcohol and on women going out alone at night, mandatory wearing of Muslim attire, caning as punishment for adultery, gambling and drinking, required payment of Islamic alms and Koranic proficiency for students and prospective married couples.

While all these strictures may not yet approach the uncompromising harshness of Taliban-type laws, they exist side-by-side, and are arguably inconsistent, with central government-enacted laws which reflect more Western attitudes to law enforcement.

But the intransigence of newly-empowered local communities is reflected in this statement of an official of a regional committee which is writing Sharia-based law: "Crime has decreased, the economy has been strengthened and women are more pure. The criminal code in Indonesia does not work because it is not dictated by God. Sharia fixes that problem because it is a perfect system that is God’s will."

The millions in Indonesia who are not Muslim or belong to moderate Muslim sects still believe that what the country needs is "to strengthen the moderate paradigm." They insist that "our Islam stands for tolerance, dynamism and freedom of expression." However, Time also notes that it’s becoming harder to tell whether this is what the majority of Indonesians really want.

The situation in Indonesia is troubling enough, but Time also observes in the same issue that Malaysia is similarly "at a crossroads," with Sharia law also making a strong bid to gain preeminence as a legal system. While Indonesia is officially a secular state, Malaysia has adopted Islam as the state faith, although its constitution also guarantees freedom of religion.

I repeat: Our elections are important, but we had better not be blind to developments around the region which will clearly pose challenges to our leaders, whatever political party or persuasion, pro or anti-GMA, they happen to cling to.