The Emergence of Islam: No Prophet Named Muhammad?

http://qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php?wc_c=478&wc_id=656

"To shed light on the dark beginnings of Islam" is the call of Karl-Heinz Ohlig, editor of the volume "Early Islam". Its authors claim to be able to trace the actual emergence of Islam through recourse to "contemporary sources". Daniel Birnstiel has read the book


New Revisionism: Karl-Heinz Ohlig and his authors argue that in early Islam, muhammad was actually referring to Jesus, and that early Islam was but a variant of Christianity

Following Luxenberg's "Die Syro-aramäische Lesart" ("The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Qur'an – A Contribution to the Decoding of the Qur'an") and the anthology "Die dunklen Anfänge" ("The Dark Beginnings"), likewise edited by Karl-Heinz Ohlig, "Der frühe Islam" ("Early Islam") is the third book in a short period of time which seeks to revise the prevalent views on the emergence of Islam.

Its authors advance the view that Islam began as a Christian heresy, having developed in Eastern Iran among Christians who had originally been deported from Mesopotamia (mainly Hatra).

After the downfall of the Sassanian Empire in 622 CE, these Christians are supposed to have assumed power and transplanted their Christology to Damascus and Jerusalem, where, towards the end of the 7th century, texts that had been brought from Iran by the ruler Abd al-Malik were translated from Syrian into a Syro-Aramaic-Arabic hybrid language.

Muhammad, "title of the Messiah Jesus"?

This "proto-Qur'an" was then supposedly enlarged during the course of the 8th, and perhaps also the earlier 9th century. Ohlig et al. allege that "Muhammad" was not a name, but rather a "title of the Messiah Jesus". Thus the development towards an independent religion (reportedly) only took place during the 8th/9th century, during the course of which development this title was reinterpreted as the name of the Arabian Prophet.

Likewise, early Islamic history as found in the traditional Islamic literature of the 9th century is, in the eyes of the authors, only a reinterpretation, while many of the early caliphs are said to be a late invention, since they are not attested in inscriptions.

This "historical-critical reconstruction" appears in some respects like a repetition of John Wansbrough's late dating of the Qur'an to the early 9th century, and it recalls the theses of Patricia Crone and Michael Cook, according to which Islam did not originate in the Arabian Peninsula, but in Palestine.

The consensus of Islamic Studies, however, views things differently: the traditional Islamic report is considered largely historically authentic, while the historical existence of Muhammad, who is reported to have been born around 570 CE and to have appeared as prophet after receiving the call from God, is accepted.

Following rejection and persecution by his tribe, the Quraish, Muhammad is then reported to have emigrated to Medina in 622 CE, where he founded the first Islamic polity.

The first redaction of the Qur'an


The "proto-Qur'an" – a Christian book in Syro-Aramaic? Nonsense, says Daniel Birnstiel

The fact that Muhammad, from there and within 10 years, conquered not only Mecca, but most of the Arabian Peninsula, is as much beyond dispute in Islamic Studies as the existence of the first caliphs, under whose leadership the Fertile Crescent, North Africa and Iran were conquered. It is similarly undisputed that the final redaction of the Qur'an as collection of the revelations received by Muhammad was undertaken during the reign of the 3rd Caliph, Uthman.

Some of the main theses brought forward in "Der frühe Islam" are presented below.

Both Volker Popp and Karl-Heinz Ohlig hypothesize that Arabia was located originally in Mesopotamia, while the terms "Arabs" and "Arabic/Arabian" originally referred to Arameans. It was only later that these terms were adopted by tribes originating from the Arabian Peninsula and reassigned to denote Arabs and Arabia in the present day sense.

However, this thesis omits important facts. The names of individuals and deities in Arabic, as we define it today, clearly document not only the existence of an Arabic speaking population in Hatra in the 2nd/3rd century CE, but also the presence of Arab tribes – in the present-day sense –from the 9th century BCE onwards among the nomads of the Syrian desert labelled as Aribi, Arabaya, and the like by the Assyrians.

This term was also used for nomads living in Iran, who were most probably not even Semites. Thus one must assume that this term denoted nomads without any identification of the ethnic or linguistic origin.

First and foremost, however, the same Semitic root was already used in Old South Arabian in the 2nd century BCE for the designation of nomadic tribes from the Peninsula. Thus, the term "Arabs" cannot have been transferred in the course of the 7th or 8th century CE to the Arabs (as understood today).

Arguments on shaky ground

Another argument in support of Popp's notion of a Christian, chiliastic movement in Merv stands on similarly shaky ground: The Pahlavi legend "APD'LMLIK-i-MRWânân" (Popp's rendering) which appears on coins minted there and which has been read as Abd al-Malik Bin Marwân (Abd al-Malik, the son of Marwân), is taken to mean "Abd al-Malik from the people of Merv".

Popp takes this as proof that Merv was a centre of a type of a "traditional" Christianity that had been moved from Mesopotamia.

However, the reading of "i-MRWânân" as "from the people of Merv" is impossible, since the Middle Persian suffix -ân is not used for the derivation of words denoting origin. On the other hand, the reading "Son of Marân" is not only possible, but, moreover, actually represents the only way to render this meaning in Pahlavi.

Furthermore, one needs to ask why someone would wish to stress his origin in his home town of all places, and how a Christian "heresy" should have been able to exist there undetected, given the fact that Merv was already a bishop's see in the 4th century CE and later became an archbishopric of the Apostolic Church of the East (commonly – and mistakenly – referred to as the Nestorians).

Zoroastrian concepts in Qur'an and Islam?

Also dubious is the means by which Popp arrives at his conviction that the title "amîr al-mûminîn" does not mean "commander of the faithful", but rather "commander of the security officers", which he regards as some kind of reeve.

The corresponding Middle Persian on the Arabo-Sassanian coins is "AMÎR-i-Wurroyishnikân" (Popp's rendering). However, "wurroyishnikân" can only mean "the faithful" and derives from "wurroyishn", i.e. "faith".

This is a term that appears in Zoroastrian religious texts. Elsewhere, however, Popp claims, particularly in his contribution "Der Einfluss persischer religiöser Raster auf Vorstellungen im Qur'an" ("The Influence of Persian religious patterns on concepts in the Qur'an"), to detect a number of Zoroastrian concepts in Qur'an and Islam.

"The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Qur'an"

The author of the book "Die Syro-aramäische Lesart" ("The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Qur'an – A Contribution to the Decoding of the Qur'an"), Christoph Luxenberg, attempts in his article to demonstrate that the diverging orthographies of early Qur'anic manuscripts presuppose an original in Syriac script.

However, the reasons brought forth are hardly convincing. It is highly questionable whether his reading of šay' "thing, something" as ša'n "matter, issue", due to the use of a retroflexively written letter y, which he regards as representing a Syriac n, does in fact make more sense.

It is incomprehensible that "issue" should be semantically more all-encompassing than "thing, something", when the sentence "God has power over every issue" is far less encompassing than the statement "God has power over every thing". It is not for nothing that šay' has developed in many Arabic dialects into an indefinite and interrogative pronoun meaning "something, what, whatever".

Adventurous statements, such as that the intensifying particle la- as well, apparently, as the negation lā were borrowed from Aramaic – despite being attested in all branches of the Semitic languages – raise serious doubts about Luxenberg's Semitistic and linguistic abilities.

Science as a self-fulfilling prophecy

More than once, one gets the impression that Luxenberg's discoveries are not the result of a re-reading of the Qur'an, but rather that, on the contrary, the text is interpreted in such a way that it will deliver the desired result.

It is especially striking that he makes recourse to Aramaic orthographic traditions of any kind, as if the different Aramaic dialects can simply be interchanged arbitrarily. A "proto-Qur'an" in Syriac script, therefore, cannot in any way be considered a proven fact.

The reading of Markus Gross's contribution gives a similar sense of a selective use of linguistic facts to support a preconceived opinion.

Gross argues that orally transmitted texts in general cannot be reduced to a single urtext; the textual variants of the Qur'an, however, supposedly go back to alternative (mis-) readings of a single, underlying, authoritative text skeleton (rasm).

Although the number of variants going back to alternative vocalisations or consonant readings of the same skeleton is indeed large, there are nevertheless – and he does not mention this – many variants that presuppose a different rasm.

Furthermore, Gross claims that it is objectively impossible to derive a true, aesthetic pleasure from the Qur'anic text; yet more recent works of literary criticism that have exposed the compositional strategies and the different stylistic devices in the Qur'an (such as Neal Robinson's "Discovering the Qur'an") were not consulted.

Strange reasoning

His thesis that early Qur'anic orthography constitutes some kind of cryptographic script, due to its lack of precision, appears rather strange, considering the fact that pre-Islamic inscriptions are equally imprecise despite their rather profane content.

Also the main thesis, repeatedly argued in this volume, that muhammad is not a name, but a Christologial title, is ultimately baseless.

Popp regards it as a loan word from Ugaritic with the meaning "the chosen one, the elected one". As evidence for this he uses a textbook translation of Ugaritic m.h.m.d as "the best, choicest", which, of course, has nothing at all to do with "being chosen, being elected".

Ohlig, on the other hand, suggests that a Syriac word mahmed "the praised one" –which came to be read and pronounced as mehmad in Arabic – is as alternative source for the word muhammad. As a matter of fact, however, there is no evidence at all for the root hmd in Syriac. Ohlig's Syriac word turns out to be non-existant.

Although the correct meaning of this root in Northwest Semitic, namely "to desire", is mentioned by Gross, he nevertheless wrongly declares the root to be extant in Syriac, to which he adds a misconstructed participle form. His argument that Hebrew mahmād, "object of desire", is borrowed from Ugaritic has no basis.

It is only in South Semitic, namely in Arabic and South Arabic, that we find the root hmd with the meaning "to praise, to laud". In these languages, this root is also used for the derivation of proper names; a name m.h.m.d is attested in Safaitic and Sabaic inscriptions in pre-Islamic times.

A less than proof positive reading


Cover "Der Frühe Islam" ("Early Islam") | Muhammad also appears unambiguously as a proper name on Arabo-Sassanian coins minted in 686 and 701 CE, in other words contemporaneously with the inscription from the Dome of the Rock, in the re-reading of which Luxenberg claims elsewhere to have found the proof for the Christological title.

However, neither here nor anywhere else is Jesus identified by name with muhammad or even mentioned in the same sentence. Luxenberg's reading is anything but proof positive.

On the other hand, the Muslim credo appears in bilingual papyri in Greek. In these papyri a person named mamet is referred to as apostolos theou, i.e. Messenger of God. It is therefore rather difficult to interpret it as something other than a proper name.

The reviewed work does therefore not comply with the call "to shed light on the dark beginnings of Islam".

The authors' fully justified criticism that the sources, especially contemporary Christian ones, have hitherto been (mis-) read in accordance with the Islamic tradition proves to be a farce in the face of their equally biased use of these sources to accord with their own theories.

In the meantime, the "chosen" or "praised" muhammad-Jesus remains a far-fetched object of revisionist "desire".

Daniel Birnstiel

© Qantara.de 2007

Karl-Heinz Ohlig (Hg.): Der frühe Islam. Verlag Hans Schiler, Berlin 2007. (only available in German)

“Deradicalisation” and Indonesian Prisons

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5170&l=1

Asia Report N°142
19 November 2007

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Indonesia, like many countries where Islamic jihadi cells have been uncovered, has been experimenting over the last three years with “deradicalisation” programs. While the term is poorly defined and means different things to different people, at its most basic it involves the process of persuading extremists to abandon the use of violence. It can also refer to the process of creating an environment that discourages the growth of radical movements by addressing the basic issues fuelling them, but in general, the broader the definition, the less focused the program created around it. Experience suggests that deradicalisation efforts in Indonesia, however creative, cannot be evaluated in isolation and they are likely to founder unless incorporated into a broader program of prison reform.

One Indonesian initiative, focused on prisoners involved in terrorism, has won praise for its success in persuading about two dozen members of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and a few members of other jihadi organisations to cooperate with the police. Key elements are getting to know individual prisoners and responding to their specific concerns, often relating to economic needs of their families, as well as constant communication and attention. One premise is that if through kindness, police can change the jihadi assumption that government officials are by definition thoghut (anti-Islamic), the prisoners may begin to question other deeply-held tenets.

Once prisoners show a willingness to accept police assistance, they are exposed to religious arguments against some forms of jihad by scholars whose credentials within the movement are unimpeachable. Some have then accepted that attacks on civilians, such as the first and second Bali bombings and the Australian embassy bombing, were wrong. The economic aid, however, is ultimately more important than religious arguments in changing prisoner attitudes.

The Indonesian program until now has largely been viewed in isolation from other developments and without much questioning about cause and effect. There has been little attempt, for example, to assess whether more people are leaving jihadi organisations than joining them; whether the men joining the program were already disposed to reject bombing as a tactic; or whether the initiative has created any backlash in jihadi ranks. There has been almost no public discussion about where the appropriate balance should be between leniency toward perpetrators, in an effort to prevent future attacks, and justice for victims.

There has also been insufficient attention to the relationship between the deradicalisation program and the Indonesian corrections system – and the gains of the one can be undermined by the poor performance of the other. Indonesia has some 170 men (no women) currently incarcerated for involvement in jihadi crimes, less than half JI members. About 150 men and one woman have been released after serving sentences for crimes related to terrorist acts, more than 60 in 2006-2007 alone.

Ultimately, the police initiative is aimed at using ex-prisoners as a vanguard for change within their own communities after their release but the task is made infinitely harder by a lax prison regime where jihadi prisoners band together to protect themselves against inmate gangs; where hardcore ideologues can and do recruit ordinary criminals and prison wardens to their cause; and where corruption is so pervasive that it reinforces the idea of government officials as anti-Islamic. In fact, counter-terrorism police do their best to keep jihadi detainees in police holding cells, knowing that as soon as they are transferred to prison, the chances of keeping them on the right track plummet.

Indonesian prison administrators have just begun to be included in counter-terrorism training programs. Their involvement should continue but the problem goes much deeper. Unless prison corruption is tackled, jihadis, like narcotics offenders, murderers, and big-time corruptors, will be able to communicate with anyone they want and get around any regulation designed to restrict their influence over other inmates. Unless prisons get more and better trained staff, they will not be able to address the problem of gangs and protection rackets among inmates that serve to strengthen jihadi solidarity. Unless prison administrators know more about the jihadis in their charge, they will not know what to look for in terms of recruitment – who among ordinary criminal inmates joins jihadi groups, why and for how long – or dissemination of radical teachings. Unless there is better coordination between prison authorities and the counter-terrorism police, they may end up working at cross-purposes.

Prison reform is urgently needed in Indonesia for many different reasons but helping buttress deradicalisation programs is one.

RECOMMENDATIONS

To the Government of Indonesia:

1. Encourage more donors to support an independent needs assessment for Indonesian prisons starting with the major prisons in Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan, Bandung, Semarang, Bali and Makassar, and with particular attention to staff training needs, corruption controls and information management; those undertaking the assessment should make a point of interviewing wardens outside the prison, so they feel less constrained about talking freely, and former inmates.

2. Make reducing corruption in prisons a high priority and in particular:

(a) encourage independent and technically proficient audits of the prisons mentioned above, with publication and public discussion of the results;

(b) develop an incentive system for whistle-blowers to report on corruption of prison officials and a strict system of sanctions for those found to be skimming from prison contracts or imposing illegal levies on inmates and their families; and

(c) work with the University of Indonesia’s Criminology Institute and other academic institutes to conduct confidential interviews with inmates and ex-inmates about corrupt practices in a way that can feed into reform programs.

3. Establish an on-the-job training program for prison administrators designed to improve management practices, supervision of wardens and knowledge of problem inmates.

4. Improve coordination between corrections officials, the courts and the police, particularly in cases of those arrested for terrorism and related crimes, in terms of sharing background information on prisoners and tailoring prison programs and supervision to meet individual needs.

To the Corrections Directorate:

5. Set realistic performance goals for prison administrators and an incentive structure for meeting those goals in the following areas:

(a) reducing corruption, including in the appointment of prisoner supervisors (pemuka) and their assistants (tamping);

(b) improving reporting and analysis of inmate activities, including meetings and discussions, gang organisation, and businesses activities;

(c) inspecting visitors, including searches not just for narcotics, weapons and cash but also for unauthorised printed materials and computer disks;

(d) setting up vocational training programs; and

(e) enforcing prison regulations including the bans on use of handphones and circulation of cash inside prisons.

6. Develop a manual for prison administrators on dealing with specific categories of prisoners, including those convicted of terrorism and related crimes, and describing what to look for to ensure that prisons do not become bases of jihadi recruitment.

To the Police:

7. Define what goals and benchmarks for success should be for the prisoner-based deradicalisation program and what is needed to achieve them; also conduct an internal evaluation to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the program, why some individuals have refused to join and what impact, if any, the program has had on the overall security threat.

8. Define more clearly, even if only for internal purposes, how the “deradicalised” vanguard can take their message to JI schools and other known places of recruitment.

9. Have a frank discussion, closed if necessary for security purposes but with outsiders present who can offer independent commentary, on the costs of the program, the perceived trade-offs between justice and conflict prevention and whether it is possible to go beyond the highly personal approach taken thus far to institutionalise the program.

10. Pay more attention to the criminal prisoners who become militant jihadis in prison and ensure that they are monitored in the same way as long-term members of jihadi organisations.

Jakarta/Brussels, 19 November 2007

Aceh: Post-conflict Complications

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5097&CFID=30583004&CFTOKEN=52359253

Asia Report N°139
4 October 2007

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Peace in Aceh continues to hold but where the Yudhoyono government and many in Jakarta see a closed book with a happy ending, many Acehnese see a temporary respite from a conflict that will inevitably resume. The behaviour of many elected Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, GAM) officials and ex-combatants is part of the reason for gloom: Acehnese voters seem to have substituted one venal elite for another. Extortion, robbery and illegal logging involving ex-combatants – although they are not the only culprits – are cause for concern, and a reintegration program initially aimed at helping former fighters economically has been marred by confusion of goals, lack of strategy and lack of accountability. But unresolved issues between Aceh and Jakarta are the real time bomb, and the two sides need to establish an appropriate forum for working these out.

The election of GAM members to provincial and district offices in December 2006 has helped create lucrative patronage networks: jobs and contracts have gone to the victors. Even so, unemployment of ex-combatants remains high and may be one factor in the rash of incidents involving illicit efforts to get quick cash. The Aceh Reintegration Board (Badan Reintegrasi Aceh, BRA) has been dysfunctional since its creation. New leadership since April 2007 and a new orientation since August may address some of the management problems; whether the latter will facilitate reconciliation or further polarise communities is not clear. No one, including donors, seems to have a clear idea whether reintegration funding is an entitlement under the 2005 Helsinki peace agreement, a vehicle for community reconciliation, compensation for past sacrifice or a mechanism for economic empowerment of individuals. Allegations over inequitable distribution of benefits have further divided a fractious and decentralised GAM.

A political rift that emerged before the elections between the exiled leadership in Sweden led by Malik Mahmud and a younger generation led by Irwandi Yusuf, now governor, and many of the field commanders, has deepened. In preparation for the 2009 elections, GAM supporters may field at least three separate parties. One that has caused consternation in Jakarta, called simply “GAM Party” with the GAM pro-independence flag as its symbol, in fact represents just Malik’s minority faction.

Internal feuding will subside, however, if problems with Jakarta heat up. Two issues in particular could cause that to happen in the lead-up to elections: intelligence operations to strengthen “anti-separatist” forces, and GAM pressure, applied unstrategically, for full implementation of the Helsinki Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). GAM leaders have valid concerns about provisions of the Law on Governing Aceh (LOGA) passed in mid-2006 that diluted or undermined key principles of that MoU. Some of these can and should be addressed through a mechanism that allows for top-level dialogue and working through issues, especially as they relate to the authority and function of Aceh’s autonomous local government. But GAM leaders also need to realise that trying to open LOGA to amendment by the parliament in Jakarta in a pre-election environment could be playing with fire.

While dialogue takes place, GAM leaders need to concentrate on governing, delivering tangible benefits to Acehnese with the considerable funding at their disposal and keeping their supporters under control, rather than laying all blame for lack of progress at Jakarta’s door. The central government needs to ensure that its intelligence agencies keep their interventionist tendencies in check.

RECOMMENDATIONS

To GAM Officials in Aceh:

1. Spend less time in Jakarta and abroad and concentrate on improving government services.

2. Develop and apply concrete performance goals for the provincial and district governments.

3. Exert stricter discipline over renegade members, particularly in North Aceh, and ensure that those known to be involved in crimes are turned over to the police.

4. Make clear that no demands from members of GAM’s armed wing, now called the Aceh Transition Committee (Komite Peralihan Aceh, KPA), for percentages of project funding will be tolerated and that verified reports of such demands will lead to the exclusion of those responsible from reintegration benefits.

5. Break with the corrupt practices of the past by ensuring that procedures for awarding government contracts are fully transparent.

6. Commit to retaining the logging moratorium until other announced forestry sector reforms are complete.

7. Develop a strategy to press for fuller implementation of the Helsinki MoU that takes Jakarta political factors into account, understanding that progress will be slow and incremental.

To the Government of Indonesia:

8. Work with GAM leaders to set up a dialogue mechanism that has a broader mandate than the Communication and Coordination Forum (Forum Komunikasi dan Koordinasi, FKK) and can work through some of the problems related to the LOGA, including review of draft implementing regulations.

9. Refrain from funding anti-separatist groups.

10. Take care in drafting LOGA implementing regulations that they reflect the spirit of the MoU and acknowledge a genuine autonomy for Aceh that is qualitatively different than that of other provinces.

11. Investigate and prosecute backers of illegal logging operations, not just low-level labour.

To the Aceh Reintegration Board (BRA) and Reintegration Program Donors:

12. Hire an independent auditing team with expertise on Aceh to do an in-depth assessment of how reintegration funds have been spent and their economic, social and political impact.

13. Develop a strategic plan for reintegration that includes a common understanding of what that concept is; what the ultimate objective of the various programs should be; what concrete benchmarks should be set for 2007 and 2008; and how the program fits into a broader development strategy for Aceh.

Jakarta/Brussels, 4 October 2007

APEC health ministers agree to share new bird flu strains

Top Latest News
June 08, 2007

SYDNEY, Australia (AP): Pacific Rim health ministers promised on Friday to share samples of new bird flu strains in a cooperative effort to safeguard humans from the deadly virus.

The ministers, from the 21 member countries and territories of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, reaffirmed their commitment at their annual conference to prepare for a potential global bird flu pandemic among humans, or a virulent human strain.

The agreement specifically commits countries to sharing samples of the deadly H5N1 virus as it mutates, so that scientists can match the latest strain with vaccines that are in production.

Indonesia - the nation hit hardest by bird flu, with 79 human deaths - stopped sharing its H5N1 samples with international scientists searching for mutations early this year, because Jakarta wanted assurances that any vaccines developed would notbe too expensive for developing nations.

Indonesia ended its boycott in May, however, after receiving assurances from the World Health Organization that the virus samples would not be passed on to private pharmaceutical companies without Jakarta's permission.

Australian Health Minister Tony Abbott, who chaired the APEC health ministers' conference, said Friday that the cost of vaccines had been a vexing question in recent months, and that he was pleased Indonesia was part of the latest agreement.

"It was very encouraging to see the support of all economies for virus-sharing as part of the meeting," Abbott told reporters at the end of the two-day conference.

Abbot said any significant interruptions to virus-sharing would have "tragic" consequences.

"We need to see exactly what is happening to this virus because if we're unable to continually track it, we'll be unable to monitor the possibility of rapid mutation to something that could be effectively transmissible human-to-human,"he said.

Abbot said that he understood Indonesia's concerns, and that it was important nations that handed over their samples got "tangible benefits" in return.

According to the World Health Organization, 310 people have been infected with the H5N1 strain since 2003, and 189 have died. (**)

Indonesia criticized over climate change response

Headline News
June 05, 2007

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

A World Bank-sponsored report launched Monday said Indonesia was lagging behind other countries and not making the most of the several options that would help the country deal with the impacts of climate change.

Developing renewable energy sources and reforestation will help ease the adverse impacts of climate change on Indonesia including prolonged droughts and an increase in climate-related diseases, said the report issued ahead of the June 5 World Environment Day.

Recommendations included the implementation of multiple projects contained in the Kyoto Protocol-sponsored Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and to focus on improving forest management and expanding the use of coal.

Green activist and report author Agus P. Sari said Indonesia was lagging behind other major greenhouse gas emitters in the development of alternative energy sources, despite the country's enormous potential.

"Indonesia has the potential for 27,000 megawatt geothermal-fired generators -- but so far the country has only 807 megawatts installed," Agus said.

"And Indonesia's micro hydro-fired capacity is 500,000 megawatts, yet here there is just 84 megawatts."

While energy policies may call for the development of renewable sources, supporting instruments including financial incentives have not been put in place.

Argus said the government had not been able to use CDM-listed opportunities for developing nations.

Indonesia should "sell" gas-reducing projects to developed nations to help them fulfill their Kyoto Protocol commitment (to cut an average 5.2 percent off their 1990 emission levels), he said.

Indonesia has so far registered eight projects with the UN, compared to India which has registered more than 200 and China which has more than 120.

The report also said Indonesia was not good at enforcing regulations on forest protection.

The country still suffers illegal logging and forest fires and was not yet adequately adapting to future climate events, Agus said.

"Take February's (massive) floods as example.

"The government should have mitigated the disaster -- but instead continued to see it as a regular occurrence and did not take precautions," he said.

All the options contained in the report would help Indonesia better deal with the impacts of climate change -- which would be significant for the sea-surrounded archipelago.

Research has found climate change would shorten the rainy season and intensify rainfall, which might lead to changes in water conditions and soil moisture.

This would effect agriculture and Indonesia's food security.

Almost half of Indonesians depend on the agricultural sector for their livelihood and rice is the country's staple food.

Impacts on human health, said the report, would be substantial.

Indonesia was already experiencing trends including the rise of dewing fever cases during the rainy seasons.

"Research has confirmed that warmer temperature leads to a mutation of the dewing virus," Agus said.

Indonesia will host in December the next meeting of Kyoto Protocol signatories. The meeting will address the future of the environment treaty.

Indonesia is the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, behind the United States and China. The country continues to suffer a very high rate of deforestation but registers low emission levels.

Merlyn Sopjan: A sporting way to fight discrimination

Features

Features - January 21, 2007

Malang in East Java is a leafy university town that likes to present itself as a cool city in terms of climate and lifestyle. Now it has a new tag that's far from welcome -- HIV Central. Duncan Graham reports:

Most Monday afternoons in the heart of Malang a curious crowd gathers at the local stadium to watch volleyball.

The games are played in the open, close to a major road, so it's an easy event to access. Prop your wheels under the trees, sit down with your mates, light up and catch the action. Yet most onlookers seem indifferent to the fine points of the game.

Their interest is the 20 or so players and it's not always admiration for athletic skill that's the drawcard. Instead, there's much snickering and nudge-nudge winking among the watchers focusing on the players' tight shorts, their hairy legs and bumping bosoms.

For these athletes are transsexuals and if they care a damn that the crowds are there as voyeurs then they're not going to give anyone a rise through recognition. This is the game with no shame.

When the final whistle blows the tables are turned. The teams run to the fence and distribute brochures to the red-faced pseudo-fans before they can kick-start an escape. The pamphlets warn of the dangers of contracting Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

The players also hand out free condoms. Their particular targets are the middle-aged men who appear to be good family fellows and upright citizens, yet who somehow find time to gawk at a flesh-show on a working weekday.

"This tends to be the group that visits prostitutes but is reluctant to use condoms because they think it's not manly, or it's like wearing clothes while having sex," said organizer Merlyn Sopjan. "They only think of condoms as contraceptives, not as prophylactics.

"They catch a disease and pass it on to their wife or partner who leads a monogamous life. This is the second major way that HIV is getting into the community. The first is through intravenous drug users shooting up with shared and dirty needles.

"East Java is now second only to Jakarta for the number of infected people. We've even overtaken Papua. Most victims are in Surabaya, but Malang is the next center."

One tough cookie

Merlyn is Indonesia's current Putri Waria (Miss Transsexual) and her job till mid 2007 is to tour the country and spread the safe sex message. When she's addressing a sophisticated and sympathetic audience that's no great problem.

The difficulty comes in trying to reach the closed minds, those who think that sexually transmitted diseases are a Western affliction and have nothing to do with them. These are the walnut-hearts who condemn campaigners like Merlyn for allegedly encouraging promiscuity.

Critics beware; she may look demure, even delicate. She's slim and pretty -- there's nothing butch about her figure -- but this is one unfazed activist with a husky voice.

Merlyn handles criticism with straight talk, eyeballing questioners, refusing to accept that keeping people ignorant is a proper way to cope with a serious public health issue. In one TV talk show she took audience questions without flinching, even the smutty ones about which public toilet she uses. (A woman's, of course.)

Nor is she prepared to apologize for her situation or be coy. "God isn't running a factory," she said. "Humans can make mistakes, but God can't.

"There's a reason for people like me. If you say I'm not perfect you are criticizing God. Who's normal? I don't want to be treated as though I've got a handicap.

"I'm a Christian and I've never experienced discrimination in church. I'm not judged.

"Every human being has a function and purpose in life. I'm a happy transsexual -- I never rebel against God."

An Indonesian male transsexual (see sidebar) is faced with blunt choices; either she tries to hide her feelings and behave as a man -- difficult in a society where close living is the norm and secrets hard to hide -- or she comes out and flaunts her sexuality, staring down the tut-tutters, daring them to condemn.

Which is why so many chose to work as entertainers, as if to say: 'If you want to leer then you can bloody well pay for it!'

"Transsexuals are better tolerated in Thailand than Indonesia where we're still considered, like, 'wow look at that!` and sexually harassed," said Merlyn.

"Apart from the safe-sex message I'm also pushing for transsexuals to be recognized as full Indonesian citizens, with a place in society equal to anyone else. We want the opportunity to work in ordinary jobs, to use our talents like other people.

"Public rejection is the reason so many turn to prostitution."

Merlyn seems to have escaped some of the anguish experienced by so many transsexuals and which result in a high rate of suicide. She was born a boy in Kediri (East Java) in 1973 and no one suspected that her gender interests were different.

Instead, her family attributed her feminine behavior to her status as the last child, pampered and spoilt by doting relatives.

When it later became clear she was a woman trapped in a male body she was backed by her family, even though she described her now deceased parents as "traditional, conservative Javanese."

"I could not be doing my job as a public advocate if my family wasn't behind me," she said. "My father came from nothing and worked hard all his life to succeed as a businessman. I will do the same.

"I've learned how to become tough. There's no role model for a person like me. I don't want one. I have to make my own way."

No yearning for the big smoke

After school she studied civil engineering at the Malang National Institute of Technology, expecting to be employed in the family contracting business, but instead turned to advocacy.

Three years ago in a bid to assert the rights of transsexuals she sought election as mayor of Malang. Her application was rejected by bureaucrats claiming her nomination was received too late, though Merlyn thinks there was another agenda.

Nonetheless, she got the publicity, and most was positive. "I didn't really want to be mayor," she said. "I did this to show we're just as capable as anyone else in making a contribution to society.

"Many people have suggested I move to Jakarta and the big scene. But I'm happy here with all my networks. I wouldn't want to have to start again."

She's the case manager in a Malang hospital, working on an internationally funded campaign to raise awareness of AIDS, and help keep those with the disease active in society. Retroviral drugs that control -- but don't cure -- the disease are free, but the treatment isn't.

The project is administered by the Health Department, which chose to outsource the work through the local Association of Transsexuals, chaired by Merlyn. There are at least 580 known HIV positive cases in the city of less than one million, with 15 part-time carers giving advice and encouraging the worried to get a blood test.

Apart from spreading information, another benefit of the public volleyball games is that men and women wracked with the problems of expressing their gender can meet others who face similar challenges.

In Jakarta and Surabaya most homosexuals, lesbians and transsexuals meet in hotel bars, usually up-market hangouts where the cost of a drink would buy a kampong family a week's meals. There's no discotheque in Malang for those with different sexual preferences.

There's often great rivalry between gay men, transsexuals and lesbians and little cooperation in the campaign for pubic understanding and tolerance.

"Gays tend to see themselves as superior," Merlyn said. "The lesbians here are very private. I'm trying to get us to work more closely -- we suffer the same problems of stigma and discrimination. We can make a better life for all if we're together.

"We're leading in the public health campaign because AIDS was first identified in the homosexual community in Bali back in the 1980s. Others were in a state of denial, so the gays had to do their own research.

"Malang has such a big HIV problem because it's a university city, drawing students from all across the country. There's a lot of drug use, but the police are opposed to harm reduction programs operating overseas, like clean needle exchange and teaching users how to sterilize equipment."

At the last count there were at least 350 transsexuals in Malang, with many working in beauty salons. Only one is known to have had a sex-change operation, a procedure that has now fallen out of favor. Apart from the multiple operations and agonizing surgery involved (amputation of the penis and the fashioning of a vagina), the psychological impact can also be traumatic.

Hormone treatment can suppress male characteristics and enhance breasts, but bad side effects, including nausea, are often reported.

Being a man or woman doesn't depend on reproductive organs -- it's also a state of mind. Merlyn's first book was titled Don't Look At My Genitals! a frank account of her feelings as a woman. Her second, just published is titled Woman Without V (as in vagina.) These are cathartic let-it-all-hang out diary notes of her life and emotions.

Merlyn said she's been in relations with men, but these haven't lasted, sometimes because her partners wanted children. She says she'd like to get married, and desires love from the opposite sex.

"I want people to know me for what I do, not who I am," she said. "I want to dedicate my life to humanity. I feel I have a mission from God. "I respect difference in others -- I want them to do the same for me and all transsexuals. Don't judge. Look at our capacity -- at the good things that we can do in this world for everyone."

One word doesn't fit all

The Indonesian word waria (an amalgam of wanita (woman) and pria (man) tends to be used for homosexuals, transsexuals and other minority sexual groups. However these are quite different.

A homosexual is attracted to members of his or her own sex. Most female homosexuals use the word lesbian.

This is a reference to the Greek island of Lesbos where the poet Sappho wrote about love between women. "Gay" is the preferred Western term and can refer to both sexes, though it's normally associated with men.

Homosexuality is not confined to any country or culture. About 10 percent of the population is naturally homosexual.

Bisexuals are people who enjoy sex with men and women.

Transsexuals are people with the physical traits of one sex and the psychological makeup of the opposite sex. The condition, medically called gender dysphoria (unease), is rare. One Dutch study claims the incidence is about one in 10,000 for males, one in 30,000 for females.

HIV/AIDS incidence on the rise

The latest World Health Organization figures (November 2006) claim somewhere between 169,000 and 216,000 Indonesians have HIV. If the current rate of infection continues the number will jump to one million by the end of this decade.

However activists say these figures are unreliable and grossly underestimate the problem.

Health Ministry data claims that more than half of the AIDS cases are found among drug injectors.

The incidence of HIV among transsexuals is reported to be high, with some estimates of up to 22 percent.

Chinese investment in ASEAN rising

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/IK01Cb01.html

China Business
Nov 1, 2007

NANNING, China - More and more Chinese businesspeople are launching and expanding their businesses in Southeast Asian countries, counterbalancing previous capital flows in an overwhelmingly single opposite direction, officials and businessmen said at an ongoing exposition.

Mochtar Riady, chairman of Malaysia's renowned Lippo Group, said Chinese businesses have accumulated an abundance of capital in the economic boom over the past 30 years, leading to a strong desire to invest overseas, while some member states of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) wanted investment, especially in infrastructure projects.

ASEAN will be "the main destination of China's growing overseas investment in future", the Chinese-Indonesian billionaire said at the China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, which was due to close on Wednesday.

ASEAN member states have invested a total of US$41.9 billion in China since the country began it reform and opening up drive in late 1978, according to statistics from the China's Ministry of Commerce.

With China's fast development, Chinese investment in ASEAN countries increased rapidly in recent years. In a single move at the exposition, China's Guangxi State Farms Group alone inked 42 investment projects with ASEAN enterprises, involving a total value of 19 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion).

So far, more than 1,000 Chinese companies have made investment in ASEAN member countries, mainly in sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, mining, tourism, electricity and infrastructure construction.

In the first two days of the China-ASEAN Expo which opened on Sunday, businesses from the two sides reached agreements on 92 projects. Under the pacts, Chinese companies will invest $1.19 billion in 37 projects in ASEAN countries, while ASEAN businesses will put $2.81 billion in another 55 projects in China.

"Capital flow in both directions, rather than the previous single-direction movement, has emerged as a new trend within the China-ASEAN cooperation," said Zhang Jian, a professor of China-ASEAN studies at Guangxi Normal University.

China and ASEAN countries have been pushing hard for the birth of the world's most populous free trade area in the region targeted for 2010.

Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan has called on the two sides to expand investment in both directions within the framework of regional cooperation.

China and the ASEAN are in talks over easier access for investors to each other's market, and an agreement is expected as early as next year, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce revealed.

At the Expo, Chinese and Southeast Asian officials and financial experts on Tuesday urged the countries to strengthen financial cooperation, stressing it is crucial to stability in countries, the region and the world as a whole.

Ten years after the financial crisis that swept Asia and crumbled the results of development in many Asian countries, especially those in Southeast Asia, to dust, financial experts gathered in the south China city of Nanning to discuss what should be drawn from the "bloody lesson".

"We have learned from the crisis that only by strengthening financial cooperation can we ensure stability," said Ng Lip Yong, Malaysia's vice minister of trade and industry, at a forum during the four-day China-ASEAN Expo. "If we had had an effective financial cooperation mechanism at that time, the financial crisis might have been avoided," he added.

Now it has become a consensus of economists in China and Southeast Asian countries to accelerate financial cooperation to meet the demand for guarding against financial crisis and establishing a free trade area covering China and ASEAN members. China is not a ASEAN member country, though it is part of the larger ASEAN Regional Forum.

Under such circumstances, dialogue on regional fiscal and financial policies cooperation in institutional capacity building has been strengthened, while leading financial institutions have targeted other countries in the region as their potential market.

However, Bank of China's vice president Wang Yongli warned it is a must to strengthen a country's financial system and regulation. "Establishing a sound financial system in a country could avoid financial bubbles and risks from increasing to some extent," Wang said.

Chartsiri Sophonepanich, president of the Bangkok Bank, Thailand, called for better management of capital and foreign exchange reserves of ASEAN and China.

The China-ASEAN region has become one experiencing the fastest economic growth in the world, holding about half of the world's foreign exchange reserve. "If we only rest on buying US Treasury bonds with our foreign exchange reserve, it will not bring any force to drive our economic development," he said.

The Thai banker suggested using foreign exchange reserves to invest in the Asian bond market, which, together with the establishment of an even wider regional bond and financial market and effective regional financial cooperation and coordination, could help reduce the adverse impact of unpredictable economic crises.
He also called for the establishment of an Asia monetary organization to facilitate trade and investment in the region.

Mochtar Riady, chairman of Indonesia's Lippo Group, suggested taking the Chinese currency as the basic currency for regional trade cooperation and designing an Asia dollar based on it.

Zhai Kun, senior Chinese researcher on Southeast Asia studies, urged academic circles to cooperate in the study of financial crises to be able to make quick judgments and predictions before a crisis arises.

However, financial experts say, as China and ASEAN member countries enhance financial regulation and participate in international financial cooperation, their ability to guard against and deal with crises has improved markedly.

[Asia Pulse/Xinhua News Agency]

Living Diversity in Indonesia

http://www.thejakartapost.com/community/ina1.asp
November 11, 2007

Pluralism -- Beyond Unity in Diversity

Editor

The Sanskrit words in the state motto Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, which has been loosely translated as Unity in Diversity, will no doubt be invoked as Indonesia marks the 60th anniversary of the proclamation of independence this week. Six decades is a long journey for a nation whose main trait, ever since its inception in 1945, is its diversity.

That we have stayed as one nation through all this time, in spite of forces that constantly threaten to tear us apart, is certainly worth celebrating.

But let us not forget that it has taken a lot of efforts by people with such diverse backgrounds -- from culture, ethnicity and religion to language, tradition and custom -- to make Indonesia what it is today. Most of us probably do it subconsciously. Others, because they are more exposed to diversity for one reason or another know that they have had to work extra hard to make unity in diversity work.

In this special Independence Anniversary supplement, we look into pluralism, an issue that has long been neglected but, as we shall find out from the stories in the following pages, is probably the one thing that has kept people of diverse backgrounds united.

These stories, which are written from the perspective of the characters rather than of the writers, illustrate the challenges of diversity at the grassroots level, and of the ways they overcome them.

We are gratified that they consented to take part in this mini project on pluralism, to be interviewed at length and for days, and for allowing our writers at times to intrude in their private lives, so that we get the materials from them that tell their story as honestly and effectively as possible.

One thread that runs through these stories is the message that we should not take our unity for granted. Peaceful coexistence between people of diverse backgrounds, whether they are bound together in marriage, in family, in community, in village, or town can only come if everyone strives to make things work. We all need to build the bridges that somehow connect us in spite of our differences. It may sound like a simple message, but it is an important one.

We have deliberately kept the academic discourse on pluralism to the minimum, and we thank the contributors for their part in explaining the term and its importance to Indonesia. The main part of this project on pluralism is the stories told of firsthand experiences of ordinary people coming to terms with their differences. They know of the immense challenges, and they have learned, through trial and error, to deal with them.

And what is true at the grassroots level is also true at the national level. If pluralism keeps together a marriage, a family, or a community, then it can also keep a nation united, especially one that is as diverse as Indonesia.

Indonesia has miraculously remained intact as one nation, but if it is to survive for six decades or more, merely accepting our differences will not be sufficient. We need to go further to turn every corner of this country, from Sabang to Merauke, into a better place to live for everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, language, religion, gender, generation, social and economic status.

If we want to go one step beyond unity in diversity, pluralism is the way forward.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/community/ina4.asp

Building a pluralist nation

Endy M. Bayuni

What is pluralism? Why is it important for Indonesia's future? Like every other "ism", pluralism is a set of values. They include respecting our differences, and striving to work together on the basis of equality. Dialog is also an important part of pluralism in order to nurture relations between people of different backgrounds. And there is also cooperation to achieve common goals.

Many conservative religious leaders have denounced pluralism as going against their belief.

They fear that since pluralism treats all religions as equal, it liberates people to choose and switch between religions.

This of course is a gross misconception.

Pluralism does not make all religions equal. No one has the right to tell you what to believe, and similarly, if you believe your religion is superior, no one can tell you otherwise. Pluralism states that in interfaith relations, there should be equality in positions between people of different faiths for any meaningful dialog to take place.

This requires people to go beyond tolerating "the other".

Many religious leaders are already advocating tolerance to promote interfaith dialog. But tolerance still implies one's own superiority; that one is stronger, more powerful, or is in the majority and can therefore dictate the terms of their relationship with the others.

Such a presumption makes meaningful dialog difficult if not impossible. We need to go beyond tolerating people of other faiths, and that means respecting their beliefs and restraining ourselves from imposing our values or beliefs on them.

The argument for pluralism in religion holds true in other aspects that divide our nation along the lines of race, ethnicity, language, custom, tradition and historical background, and even gender, sexual orientation, generation, social and economic status.

The four main tenets of pluralism -- mutual respect, equality, dialog and cooperation -- should be applied in promoting peaceful coexistence among people of diverse backgrounds, whether within marriage, in villages or communities, or in a nation.

Pluralism is crucial for Indonesia because of the immense diversity of its 220 million people spread across the archipelago. The people of Europe, by comparison, are far more homogeneous.

* Race: There are two dominant races: Malay in the west and Melanesian in the east. There are also minority groups like Chinese, Arabs, Indians and European/Eurasian.

* Ethnicity/Cultural group: There are hundreds of ethnic and sub-ethnic groups each with its own culture and traditions. Javanese is the largest of the ethnic groups. Other major groups include Batak, Acehnese and Minang in Sumatra, Sundanese, Madurese and Balinese, Bugis and Menadonese in Sulawesi. Then there are the small and often marginalized groups like Betawi in Jakarta, and the Dayak in Borneo and the many tribes in Papua.

* Language: Nearly 400 distinct languages and dialects are spoken in Indonesia. Bahasa Indonesia is the national language and is used in official functions. Most people, however, speak their local tongue in daily activities.

* Religion: All the world's major religions are represented in Indonesia, and they coexist and are often practiced side by side with local and homegrown beliefs that include various forms of animism. Although the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, the government only recognizes five faiths for the purpose of population census. Islam is the largest with 88 percent, followed by Protestantism with 5 percent, Catholicism with 3 percent, Hinduism with 2 percent and Buddhism with 1 percent.

There are not many other countries that are as racially, ethnically, culturally and religiously diverse as Indonesia.

But as in other parts of the world, this diversity is complicated by issues of gender, political ideology, rising regionalism, and social and economic divisions also clamoring for attention. Any debate on pluralism cannot avoid addressing these issues either.

While this diversity has certainly enriched Indonesia, it has also been the source of many violent conflicts, tensions, prejudices and mutual suspicion.

Most of the conflicts that we have seen in the nation's 60-year journey can be traced to the failure of people to overcome their differences, whether in ideology, religion, race and ethnicity, custom, tradition and language, or social and economic disparity, or a combination of two or more of these factors. Even today, one can still sense tensions rooted in the diversity of this nation. Discrimination and marginalization, as well as prejudices, inflicted by one group against another in society remain rampant.

In the past, particularly during the Soeharto years between 1965 and 1998, differences that even remotely threatened to break out into a conflict were suppressed, at times by violent means, in the name of preserving unity. Diversity was sacrificed in favor of uniformity if not conformity, and to protect the Unitary Republic of Indonesia.

Today, we, as a nation are committed to democracy. And promoting pluralism is a much better way of dealing with our differences. Resorting to the use of force and intimidation, as Indonesia has done in the past, only stokes resentment that would explode into violent conflicts later on. Many present conflicts are legacies of past wrong policies.

It is clear that the extent to which Indonesia adheres to and practices pluralism, and thus addresses issues arising out of its complex diversity, will determine the future of this country. As we celebrate our 60th anniversary of independence, we should renew our commitment to the state motto Unity in Diversity by making pluralism part of our daily lexicon.

Our survival as one nation depends on it.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/community/ina5.asp

Defining pluralism, liberalism, secularism

Franz Magnis-Suseno SJ

The 60th anniversary of Indonesia's independence comes on the heels of a national polemic on issues concerning liberalism, pluralism and secularism. The polemic came to the fore after the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued controversial edicts banning these ideas.

One of MUI's recent edicts condemns pluralism, liberalism and secularism. One of the problems with such condemnations is their vagueness. These three terms can mean a lot. Maybe the MUI was thinking of specific attitudes that may, indeed, be questionable. But by stigmatizing these three terms without further distinction, they open the door to a religious witch-hunt. At the same time they release themselves from the burden of argument.

Let us begin with secularism. Secularism is still a no-speak in Indonesia. Indonesia, so it officially goes, is neither a religious state, nor a secular state, but a Pancasila state. Secular was, and still is, a red cloth for parts of the Muslim community. It is immediately associated with secularism, the 19th century anti-Catholicism ideology in Latin-Europe that wanted to ban religion from public spaces. France is one of the few surviving "secularist" states.

But this kind of secularism never has been an option for Indonesia. And it is an outdated model. No less than then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) and Jrgen Habermas agreed during their famous dialog on Jan. 19, 2004 in Munich that the democratic state cannot itself produce the basic values it presupposes and should therefore listen to the great cultural and religious traditions of humankind.

But internationally, and in growing measure also in Indonesia, a secular state does not mean enmity between state and religion. It means two things.

First, the state has no right to enforce religious behavior. Whether and how citizens practice their religion is not the business of the state. Second, religions cannot impose their doctrines on the state. State policies are exclusively determined by the democratic will of the citizens, based on law, in respect of human rights.

That does not mean that the state disregards religions. As part of civil society, their values and judgments enter public space and belong to the social reality in relation to which the state determines its policies.

Thus the "secular state" today stands for respect for human rights, non-discrimination, tolerance and democracy. Its rejection would mean nothing less than rejection of the civilized democratic state. The secular state, on the other hand, reflects one of the most important insights of the modern world, namely that religious power is only as genuine as the power of conviction. Religious obedience essentially has to be rendered freely.

There is a growing consensus among religions that such a secular state is not just a necessary evil, forced upon them by modernity, but actually the ideal situation for the religions themselves (for an insight into the "separation of state and Church power" see Joseph Kardinal Ratzinger, Werte in Zeiten des Umbruchs, Freiburg 2005).

MUI also condemned liberalism. Of course, liberalism can mean a lot. It could mean libertinism, economic laissez faire, it also means the great movement that gave birth to the greatest political idea of modernity, democracy based on law and respect for human rights.

Religions often did not like liberalism. It smelled of people putting subjective preferences in place of obedience of faith. But in Indonesia (as elsewhere) liberalism as a religious attitude means firstly openness. Openness to questions, openness to criticism, openness to other points of views, openness to objections. It is a serious attitude that includes readiness to learn.

MUI condemned liberalism as "free thinking". Does this mean they want to condemn precisely such openness? Allergy to open thinking and questioning, and its opposite, a dour attitude of "we already possess the truth and therefore have nothing to learn", is, of course, not the monopoly of one religion alone. It is a dangerous temptation for religious people in general. It is the fallacy of thinking that since God cannot be challenged, their religious opinions must be absolutely true. Such arrogance has often been the sin of teachers of religion. This is something grave because the essence of religiosity is humility. A truly religious person knows that he or she will never grasp the whole meaning of God's revelation. Therefore he or she is open to questions and never stops learning. Liberalism as openness is therefore an essential religious virtue.

But the most shocking condemnation, in my eyes, is the condemnation of pluralism. Pluralism has always been regarded as crucial to the existence of Indonesia. Her multi-dimensional plurality can only form a unity if this plurality is acknowledged. The state motto Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (unity in diversity) says that much.

There we have to avoid a misunderstanding. The word pluralism has sometimes been high jacked for the opinion that we should acknowledge all religions as equally valid. Thus religions should let go of their respective claims to truth. But such an opinion is not pluralism but relativism.

Relativism is a bogus pluralism because it does away with the differences, and therefore with what is specific to each religion. Religions are only different expressions of the religious nature of humankind. You have the right to believe this, but it is not what religions themselves believe. Relativism is, therefore, the opposite of tolerance since it demands that religions let go of their deepest convictions.

It should be clear that relativism is contrary to the essence of belief: How can I believe something, if I do not believe it to be true and, by implication, that competing ideas are not true? Real pluralists accept that we have different beliefs. They do not try to "relativize" their respective teachings, but they are convinced that, in spite of different beliefs, we are united in common values. Such values would be respect for the integrity of every human being, refusal to use violence to solve conflict, justice, freedom of religion, thought and expression, solidarity with the poor and downtrodden. In Indonesia, many of us have made the very happy discovery that we do, indeed, have these common values across our different religions.

Only real pluralists can be tolerant. True tolerance is the cheerful acceptance of the fact that around me there live people with different beliefs. Pluralism safeguards tolerance by institutionalizing the equal rights and liberties of people with different religious beliefs.

A different question, touched by MUI's edict is whether eternal salvation is offered to all humankind or only to one's own religious community? The answer to this question can, of course, only be given by the respective religions themselves.

For the Catholic Church the Second Vatican Council declared that God's salvation is offered without exception to all humans. To say it clearly: You do not have to be baptized in order to go to heaven. In the Protestant Churches there are different opinions. For Islam, theologians such as Nurcholish Madjid and Abdulaziz Sachedina have shown that non-Muslim can nevertheless be "Muslim" and therefore go to heaven.

But this is not a question of pluralism, but of inclusivity versus exclusivism (which denies heaven for members of other religions). It is, of course, the right of MUI to take an exclusivist position. Exclusivism once reigned undisputed among the three Abrahamistic religions.

But now it is under strong scrutiny. Hard questions are being asked to believers in a holy and just God. Too many terrible things have been done through history up to this day in the name of religion. Whoever wants to show that there is a just and loving God should be extremely reluctant in assigning anybody to eternal damnation.

Father Franz Magnis-Suseno is a Jesuit priest, he teaches philosophy at Driyarkara School of Philosophy in Jakarta

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