Spilling over
The sign reads : Desire Paradise ? Kill Bush. The photograph was taken in a demonstration during Bush visit to Bogor, Indonesia last week."Traditionally, Southeast Asian Muslims have been known for their tolerance and their incorporation of traditional beliefs into an Islamic framework. Indonesia and Malaysia are thought to be models of multicultural democracy. And yet, say mainstream Islamic scholars, political analysts and even former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, Southeast Asia's two most important countries are both drifting toward fundamentalism?a trend made scarier by the inability or unwillingness of some senior political leaders to condemn those promoting the shift. Some analysts are already calling this the "Arabization" of the region." (Newsweek)
I haven't been home for 5 years although I'll be back soon temporarily. But these trends spotted by foreign media are definitely worrying. I think we will know before the end of this decade which path Indonesia is choosing, whether it is the never ending conflict of the Middle East totally trapped with the issue of Palestine and Israel or the increasing prosperity of the South East Asia following the lead of the Tigers (China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea)
The former would be ironic as we are seeing Middle Eastern countries like UAE and Qatar are opening up and looking toward the East as a model for development, opening market, moving towards human resource oriented economy instead of commodity.
The more fundamentalist your society is, the harder it is for you to embrace new ideas that are crucials in capitalising human potentials.
posted by Dody G. at 12:31 PM
2 Comments:
The media always put into spotlight what's newsworthy. Since moderate Muslims don't do much, their voice is drowned by the extremists'. Even if they speak up, the media won't consider it newsworthy...at least for now. I hope it'll change one day...
8:03 AM
I think the mainstream gets complacent. As you can see, a handful of people can completey change the atmosphere of a country and generate fear for the majority. That's just fuckin' insane.
The problem with moderate is that they are moderate. I want to see the rise of moderate Muslims that also fuckin' loco; moderates that can act crazier to whatever crazy stuff that the extremists are doing.
Loco Moderates :)
The media as it is won't change - if it bleeds, it leads. However, when citizen journalism becomes more prevalent in most countries, this bad habit of commerical journalism will become less important.
8:32 AM
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