Newsweek on Gaza

Tel Aviv Diary: Israelis Wonder Why Hamas Isn’t Pleading for a Ceasefire

http://www.newsweek.com/tel-aviv-diary-israelis-wonder-why-hamas-isnt-pleading-ceasefire-262215

By Marc Schulman

Palestinians gather near the minaret of a mosque that police said was destroyed by an Israeli Air strike in Gaza City July 30, 2014. Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters

Tel Aviv—This was a day of treading water in Tel Aviv. It was the 23rd Day of war. On the one hand, it has been another day without rockets on Tel Aviv, although rockets were fired at its suburbs. But, as I write this, I can hear the sounds of the intercept.   

On the other hand, there is a growing frustration that it isn’t possible to bring this war to an end. To Israelis, it makes no sense that this would go on. Logic says that the missiles have failed to damage Tel Aviv and the short period during which foreign airlines stopped flying to Israel has ended.

What does Hamas hope to accomplish?  Why does this senseless war continue?  Why does Hamas not want a ceasefire? What do they hope to accomplish?

Last night, after a speech by Mohammed Dief [commander of the military wing of Hamas], there was hope that this was a victory speech and, somehow, they would agree to a ceasefire. That has certainly not been the case.

Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have been fighting over who would represent them at talks in Egypt for two days. The Egyptians seem to be in no rush to bring this war to an end. Hamas also seems unwilling to end the fighting. Hamas has said that it will not consider any ceasefire as long as Israel is in the Gaza Strip, and Israel has made it clear that it will not leave without destroying all of the tunnels—tunnels that keep being discovered and seem to originate ever deeper in Gaza. So the killing goes on.

The gulf between Washington and Jerusalem on the ceasefire process seems to continue. On the one hand, both governments have been trying to downplay the differences, but their surrogates in the media have kept the fire going between the two governments.

Secretary John Kerry has continued his efforts to bring about the ceasefire, and with that has continued trying to work with Qatar and Turkey, the same players whose involvement is rejected by both Israel and the Egypt. According to a State Department spokeswoman, Israel is aware of the discussions. But, of course, being aware and being supportive are two different matters. Despite those differences, there were reports tonight that the US has approved the transfer of US ammunition reserves stored in Israel to the Israeli Defense Forces.

In Israel, there are only limited discussions about the civilian deaths in Gaza.  There is a clear understanding that innocent children are dying. But only the right wing who attacks the government—not for the deaths, but for not taking more decisive actions and not trying to topple the Hamas government in Gaza.  

Most Israelis on the left have been supportive of the war, understanding that it is a war with no easy choices. The settlements surrounding Gaza are all kibbutzim—kibbutzim who have traditionally been supporters of the Israeli left.  And despite claims in the past years that the days of the kibbutzim being important contributors to Israeli society are over, in this war when kibbutz residents make up only 2 percent of the population, 13 percent of the casualties have been from kibbutzim.

This moral dilemma was captured by Dr. Noah Ephron, of Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv, who wrote in a blog post today in the Times of Israel:

Hamas is a factory of moral bad luck. Its leaders aim to trap Israel in situations from which only bad can come, either dead Israelis or dead Palestinians or both. They began their barrage of rockets on Israel because they knew Israel would respond, killing innocent Gazans, including kids, along the way. They unleashed their evil because they knew that Israel would, in response, unleash evil of its own.

Israelis know they are unleashing evil of their own, but they prefer that to having their sons killed. Today, Israeli troops are enveloped by an umbrella of supportive fire. Every unit has a fighter bomber flying above to prove close air support, with artillery support ready at a moment’s notice. As a result, when ground troops are under attack, the response is overwhelming.  

This overwhelming response often results in innocent people dying. This is especially the case in a war like the current one, in which Hamas fights from within civilian populations. Israelis do not spend a great deal of time reflecting on the deaths. When the war is over, most Israelis believe there will be time to sort out the moral ambiguities.

Until then, everyone wants to know that their sons, grandsons or husbands are going to come back alive and well. They want to know that if their child is in trouble, it will not be a lawyer deciding how to save him, but rather his comrades in arms who will do whatever it takes. Despite the care, three Israeli soldiers died today in Gaza when the house in which they found a new tunnel was blown up while they were inside. A much larger number of Gazan civilians died, too.  

Today, I went to Ben Gurion Airport to pick up one of my daughter’s closest friends who was on vacation in the United States when the war broke out. He is a boy/man that I have known since he was 10 years old, and tomorrow he rejoins his unit in Gaza. Tomorrow, I will have one more person to worry about.

Most Israelis believe that war is immoral. But they ask themselves: what is the alternative?

Political historian Marc Schulman is the editor of historycentral.com. An archive of his recent daily reports from Tel-Aviv can be found here. He is also a columnist for the Times of Israel.

Kerry’s Ceasefire Pivot Angers Egypt, Israel—Even the Palestinian Authority

http://www.newsweek.com/kerrys-ceasefire-pivot-angers-egypt-israel-even-palestinian-authority-261834

By Benny Avni

An Israeli armored personnel carrier drives back into Israel after crossing the border with the northern Gaza Strip (seen in background) July 28, 2014. Baz Ratner/Reuters

American diplomacy in the Middle East in recent days may have failed to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, but it has managed to reposition the United States on an unfamiliar side of the region’s complex web of alliances.

Israelis believe US Secretary of State John Kerry’s week-long ceasefire negotiations has firmly placed the US in the camp of Qatar and Turkey, both of which back the militant government of Hamas, while it has sidelined its traditional allies: Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia -- as well as offended the Palestinian Authority, Hamas’s rival for the leadership of the Palestinians.

In the course of an eventful 24 hours, in the early hours of Monday morning, the United Nations Security Council, including the US, unanimously issued a statement  that, although drafted by Jordan, the Arab council member, was based largely on a White House precis of a tense phone conversation between President Barack Obama and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the previous day in which the president called for an immediate ceasefire the prime minister refused to agree to.

Later on Monday, the violence in Gaza continued, with a group of Hamas militants infiltrating Israel from a tunnel in Gaza. The infiltrators were killed, as were several Israeli soldiers. In an unrelated incident, five Israeli soldiers were killed by a mortar fired from Gaza.

In the Strip, reports emerged of a hit on a hospital, which killed at least eight children. Israel said the tragedy was the result of a Hamas rocket attack on Israel that went awry. More than 1,000 have died in Gaza in the last three weeks, while Israel has lost 48 soldiers and a handful of civilians.

Netanyahu announced that the Israeli military operations in Gaza will not cease until “the tunnels are neutralized.” He added that if the international community wished to see an end to the violence, “disarming Gaza must be part of the [long-term] solution.”

Israeli officials noted that while the Security Council statement, as well as the White House release, concentrated on the need to rebuild Gaza after the Israeli onslaught has ceased and to abandon the blockade of Gaza and open it up for trade, it failed to mention Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic jihad by name, let alone identify their caches of rockets and newly discovered attack tunnels as the “root cause” of the current war.

Stung by scathing criticism of his diplomatic efforts in the Israeli press, Kerry on Monday belatedly repeated the Israeli demand that Hamas forces in Gaza should be disarmed. By that time, however, he had been largely portrayed in Israel as siding with Hamas and its parent organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, while ignoring the hopes and wishes of some of America’s staunchest allies in the region.

Officials from Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, to name a few interested parties, watched with astonishment over the weekend as Kerry engaged in Paris with Khalid al-Attiyah and Ahmet Davutoglu, the foreign ministers of Qatar and Turkey. Some European foreign ministers also attended the Paris summit, but the guest list noticeably didn't include any other Middle Eastern representatives.

A framework for a ceasefire, influenced by the views of Qatar and Turkey, was presented by Kerry to Israel on Friday. In response, Netanyahu convened his security cabinet for a meeting that lasted until after sunset, when traditional Jews are meant to stop working as the Sabbath begins. The cabinet unanimously rejected Kerry's proposal.

According to reports, the rejection of the ceasefire has united the Israeli security cabinet’s doves -- Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Finance Minister Yair Lapid -- and its hawks -- Minister of Economy Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman. Netanyahu and his Defense Minister, Moshe Yaalon, who are emerging as centrist, pragmatic forces in the cabinet, were said to be angry at Kerry’s proposal.

The Israeli media has heaped scorn on Kerry. Fierce Netanyahu critics fromHaaretz and Yediot Ahronot, two publications that usually praise Obama’s Middle East policies, described Kerry as either a fool who doesn’t understand the complex dynamics of the region or as “an ally of Hamas and other radical forces in the Middle East.”

"We were surprised that the draft was leaked to the press,” State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said Monday, denouncing the Israeli press criticism of Kerry as “simply not the way allies and partners treat each other." Later, the Israeli ambassador in Washington, Ron Dermer, praised the alliance between the two countries and Kerry's dedication to finding a ceasefire, but tempers were frayed in both capitals.

The Palestinian Authority also expressed its anger at Kerry’s ceasefire move. As the Jerusalem Post’s Khaled Abu Toameh reported, officials from the Palestinian Authority fumed that no one from their faction had been invited to Paris. Fatah, the dominant party in the West Bank, sent an unsubtle message to its rival Hamas, declaring in a statement, “Those who want Qatar or Turkey to represent them should leave and go live there.”

Egypt was reportedly so angry that Qatar and Turkey had been invited to the Paris talks that it declined to send its foreign minister, Sameh Shukri. The Egyptian dismay was accompanied by military action. Over the weekend, and even after the start of Eid el Fitr, the three-day holiday that ends the month of the Muslim holiday Ramadan, Egypt renewed its fierce fighting against Islamists in the eastern part of the Sinai, just west of Gaza. The government of Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al Sisi has opposed the Muslim Brotherhood ever since it overthrew the elected government led by the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi last July.

Although the UN security council’s statement and Kerry’s public appearances referred to Egypt’s role as the leading mediator in the international efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire, it appears the US came to believe that the bad blood between Cairo and Hamas was unhelpful to brokering a ceasefire deal and that other mediators were urgently needed to reach even a temporary settlement.

“Our communication with Hamas has been [an] indirect one, through the help of Qatar and the Turkish Government,” the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who worked in close coordination with Kerry, told reporters on Monday.

While Egypt called at first for an unconditional ceasefire, Hamas insisted that for a lull in the fighting to hold it needed to show Gazans some tangible results from the three weeks of bloodshed and Israeli invasion. Toward that end, Hamas demanded the opening of border crossings, the resumption of the transfer of funds to pay party officials, the opening of a sea port and an airport and an international commitment to give large sums for the post-war restoration of Gaza’s devastated infrastructure.

Israeli officials insist that Hamas was almost on the ropes last week, and before long it would have had to agree to Egypt’s demands for an unconditional ceasefire. But then, as Kerry and Ban continued consulting with the Qataris and Turks, and as Hamas’s demands were incorporated in the ceasefire deal struck in Paris, Hamas became emboldened and resumed the firing of missiles into Israel, despite Israel’s agreement to short pauses in the fighting for humanitarian aid to reach victims of the violence.

Hamas has managed to survive Israel’s attack for 21 days and its top military leadership in Gaza, well protected from the violence, has largely emerged unscathed from the Israeli bombardment. Despite the devastation in the Strip, and the long-term disabling of some of Hamas’s most effective instruments of war, the organization has presented its continued ability to fight as a military victory over the mighty Israeli army.

Israel, however, has been careful to claim only modest goals for its ground invasion of Gaza, known as “Operation Protective Edge.” From early on, Netanyahu was careful not to demand as a condition of peace the end of Hamas’s rule over the territory, nor the punitive destruction of Gaza as its war aims.

Instead, the Israeli prime minister has maintained the line that the operation will end as soon as the threat Gaza presents to Israel has been removed. Over the last few days, many in Israel have come to the conclusion that America, its perennial and staunchest ally, has set back that goal.

Keith Urban : Better Life

Are you raising nice kids? A Harvard psychologist gives 5 ways to raise them to be kind

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2014/07/18/are-you-raising-nice-kids-a-harvard-psychologist-gives-5-ways-to-raise-them-to-be-kind/
By Amy Joyce

Earlier this year, I wrote about teaching empathy, and whether you are a parent who does so. The idea behind it is from Richard Weissbourd, a Harvard psychologist with the graduate school of education, who runs theMaking Caring Common project, aimed to help teach kids to be kind.

I know, you’d think they are or that parents are teaching that themselves, right? Not so, according to a new study released by the group. (Chat with Weissbourd here.)

About 80 percent of the youth in the study said their parents were more concerned with their achievement or happiness than whether they cared for others. The interviewees were also three times more likely to agree that “My parents are prouder if I get good grades in my classes than if I’m a caring community member in class and school.”

Weissbourd and his cohorts have come up with recommendations about how to raise children to become caring, respectful and responsible adults. Why is this important? Because if we want our children to be moral people, we have to, well, raise them that way.

“Children are not born simply good or bad and we should never give up on them. They need adults who will help them become caring, respectful, and responsible for their communities at every stage of their childhood,” the researchers write.

The five strategies to raise moral, caring children, according to Making Caring Common:

1. Make caring for others a priority

Why? Parents tend to prioritize their children’s happiness and achievements over their children’s concern for others. But children need to learn to balance their needs with the needs of others, whether it’s passing the ball to a teammate or deciding to stand up for friend who is being bullied.
How? Children need to hear from parents that caring for others is a top priority. A big part of that is holding children to high ethical expectations, such as honoring their commitments, even if it makes them unhappy. For example, before kids quit a sports team, band, or a friendship, we should ask them to consider their obligations to the group or the friend and encourage them to work out problems before quitting.
Try this
• Instead of saying to your kids: “The most important thing is that you’re happy,” say “The most important thing is that you’re kind.”
• Make sure that your older children always address others respectfully, even when they’re tired, distracted, or angry.
• Emphasize caring when you interact with other key adults in your children’s lives. For example, ask teachers whether your children are good community members at school.

2. Provide opportunities for children to practice caring and gratitude
Why? It’s never too late to become a good person, but it won’t happen on its own. Children need to practice caring for others and expressing gratitude for those who care for them and contribute to others’ lives. Studies show that people who are in the habit of expressing gratitude are more likely to be helpful, generous, compassionate, and forgiving—and they’re also more likely to be happy and healthy.
How? Learning to be caring is like learning to play a sport or an instrument. Daily repetition—whether it’s a helping a friend with homework, pitching in around the house, or having a classroom job—make caring second nature and develop and hone youth’s caregiving capacities. Learning gratitude similarly involves regularly practicing it.
Try this
• Don’t reward your child for every act of helpfulness, such as clearing the dinner table. We should expect our kids to help around the house, with siblings, and with neighbors and only reward uncommon acts of kindness.
• Talk to your child about caring and uncaring acts they see on television and about acts of justice and injustice they might witness or hear about in the news.
• Make gratitude a daily ritual at dinnertime, bedtime, in the car, or on the subway. Express thanks for those who contribute to us and others in large and small ways.

3. Expand your child’s circle of concern.
Why? Almost all children care about a small circle of their families and friends. Our challenge is help our children learn to care about someone outside that circle, such as the new kid in class, someone who doesn’t speak their language, the school custodian, or someone who lives in a distant country.
How? Children need to learn to zoom in, by listening closely and attending to those in their immediate circle, and to zoom out, by taking in the big picture and considering the many perspectives of the people they interact with daily, including those who are vulnerable. They also need to consider how their
decisions, such as quitting a sports team or a band, can ripple out and harm various members of their communities. Especially in our more global world, children need to develop concern for people who live in very different cultures and communities than their own.
Try this
• Make sure your children are friendly and grateful with all the people in their daily lives, such as a bus driver or a waitress.
• Encourage children to care for those who are vulnerable. Give children some simple ideas for stepping into the “caring and courage zone,” like comforting a classmate who was teased.
• Use a newspaper or TV story to encourage your child to think about hardships faced by children in another country.

4. Be a strong moral role model and mentor.
Why? Children learn ethical values by watching the actions of adults they respect. They also learn values by thinking through ethical dilemmas with adults, e.g. “Should I invite a new neighbor to my birthday party when my best friend doesn’t like her?”
How? Being a moral role model and mentor means that we need to practice honesty, fairness, and caring ourselves. But it doesn’t mean being perfect all the time. For our children to respect and trust us, we need to acknowledge our mistakes and flaws. We also need to respect children’s thinking and listen
to their perspectives, demonstrating to them how we want them to engage others.
Try this:
• Model caring for others by doing community service at least once a month. Even better, do this service with your child.
• Give your child an ethical dilemma at dinner or ask your child about dilemmas they’ve faced.

5. Guide children in managing destructive feelings
Why? Often the ability to care for others is overwhelmed by anger, shame, envy, or other negative feelings.
How? We need to teach children that all feelings are okay, but some ways of dealing with them are not helpful. Children need our help learning to cope with these feelings in productive ways.
Try this
Here’s a simple way to teach your kids to calm down: ask your child to stop, take a deep breath through the nose and exhale through the mouth, and count to five. Practice when your child is calm. Then, when you see her getting upset, remind her about the steps and do them with her. After a while she’ll start to do it on her own so that she can express her feelings in a helpful and appropriate way.

Jokowi and the war on vested interests

http://m.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/07/26/jokowi-and-war-vested-interests.html
Steve Woodhouse OBE

A key reason why Indonesia has so far failed to live up to the high expectations of its founding fathers and its undoubted enormous potential is the malign and pervasive power of vested interests and the persistent failure of the country’s national leadership to overcome such failures.

But with the democratic success of Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in the recent presidential election campaign, perhaps there is now a chance. 

Jokowi’s track record of getting things done, his honesty, independence, intelligence and integrity all bode well for the future

Maximizing Indonesia’s human potential might be a good place to start. Overcoming persistent malnutrition that saps IQ and stamina, poor health practices and low quality education remain riddled with vested interests, hampering real progress.

Systemic corruption in the selection, training and placement of doctors and other health professionals, the open bribery of them by pharmaceutical companies, the excessive focus on the lucrative construction of gleaming hospitals instead of prioritizing promotive and preventive health, all contribute to a wasteful and dangerous misallocation of resources.

A starting point for Jokowi must be facing up to the realities of the pattern and causes of illness and death throughout the archipelago and tackle them step by effective step with the same independent resolve that the supporters of his rival ascribed to him as a reason not to choose Jokowi.

Stop the sale of all civil service jobs and replace it with a merit based selection process, reduce the bloated civil service and increase results based management, including sanctions for poor performance a la acting Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama; get serious about tackling tobacco and pharmaceutical vested interests, including the false claim that poor tobacco farmers will be unable to get other healthier jobs; maximize attention on revitalizing posyandu (integrated health services posts); promote effective health education and honestly and strongly regulate false advertising and the sale of harmful processed food — all efforts promoted by current Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi but with insufficient presidential support.

In both education and health, the president-elect must strengthen the local governance of schools and health centers from the  bottom up; insist on transparent budgeting and expenditure at schools and health centers; retrain teachers to facilitate the learning aptitude of individual children rather than the old mindset of top-down, dictatorship-style teaching.

A robust and effective mass communications function will need to back Jokowi’s war on vested interests, appealing directly to the general public and bypassing corrupt legislators and other vested interests.

Former US president John F. Kennedy taught UNICEFs famous executive director of 30 years ago — James P. Grant — that the social sector is a cause of concern to all citizens and that vested interests are best overcome by a strategic step-by-step approach of taking out a few key bricks of concern to the general public, such as health and education, and then seeing the whole wall of vested interests crumble!

The writer was UNICEF representative to Indonesia during 1995-2000 and was UNICEF regional director for Europe.

Indonesia Democracy

http://www.global-politics.co.uk/issue9/iqra/
Iqra Anugrah


Photography by Gustavo Thomas

Indonesia's democracy development is good news. As the most populous Muslim nation where democracy and market economy rule, it has started to play a more active role in international politics. Recent achievements and challenges of Indonesia show how it should aim higher.

Ten years ago, Indonesia was near collapse. The Asian financial crisis hit the nation while at the same time it had to face political reformation after the authoritarian Suharto government. Ethno-religious sentiments and conflicts were widespread and riots were part of daily life. ² However, things do move. A recent report on Indonesia showed that despite of many failures, Indonesia has been able to achieve many things with political and economic stability under the popular re-elected president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. ³ Various bombings in Indonesia, including the latest 2009 Jakarta bombing in the aftermath of the relatively peaceful election, do not undermine Indonesia’s performance, especially when Indonesian National Police succeeded in combating terrorism. ⁴ Economic sectors after global financial crisis also record impressive development. Indonesia is one of few countries in Asia that has positive economic growth even when Asian economies experienced negative growth. ⁵ These achievements have lifted the face of Indonesia’s diplomacy in international fora. Besides trying to take the lead in ASEAN, Indonesia also exhibits its ability in tackling climate change and global warming issues. ⁶ Indonesia has faced and is facing serious issues both socially and economically, but they have so far not prevented Indonesia’s journey to democracy.

What Indonesia has achieved in the last ten years

What makes Indonesia’s reform unique is the fact that Indonesia implemented both political and economic reform at the same time. While many similar cases in many countries seem to be failed, Indonesia has managed its commitment to reform with quite successful results. The most prominent case is the re-introduction of free and fair electoral politics. Since after 1998, Indonesia has conducted three elections: first multiparty election in 1999, presidential and parliamentary elections in 2004, where voters had opportunities to directly vote for the MPs for the first time and the last 2009 election, which was relatively peaceful and successful. ⁷ Indonesian presidential elections in 2009 also showed the peaceful and fascinating race among the three presidential candidates, the first candidate is the incumbent president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono with his running mate, Indonesia’s central bank governor, Boediono, dubbed as SBY-Boediono, which supported by pro-growth centre-right coalition of SBY’s Democrat Party and several leading Islamic parties. The second candidate is the former president Megawati Sukarnoputri and her partner, a former high-ranking military general, Prabowo, referred colloquially as Mega-Pro. They have the support of the centre-left Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), the populist Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) and some other small parties. The last candidate is the incumbent vice president Jusuf Kalla with former general Wiranto as the candidate from Golkar Party and People’s Conscience Party (Hanura), using the nickname JK-Win.

The success of elections is just a glimpse of the advancement of civil and political rights in Indonesia. In the field of constitutional law, Indonesia has amended its constitution, as mandated in the agenda of political reformation, in order to fit into the spirit of democracy and human rights. ⁸ Freedom of speech, information and the press is the most striking example of this transformation. The numbers of newspapers, magazines, radio stations and other new media has been increasing since the fall of Suharto, and now people can talk and express their opinion freely in public spaces. ⁹ Another story is the rapid development and expansion of civil society. ¹⁰ The role of civil society and NGOs has been influential since the New Order era in democratizing Indonesia. ¹¹ Nowadays, various NGOs with different focuses, ranging from faith-based social organizations to right-based pressure groups, have flourished and contributed to the advancement of democratization process in Indonesia.

Freer political and economic activities also transformed the social life of Indonesian society. The question of Chinese Indonesians and other minorities was one of the main concerns for the betterment of democracy and minority groups in multicultural Indonesia. Thus, anti-discrimination legislation was introduced in the line of this spirit. ¹² Another valuable improvement is despite various Islamist sentiments from some hard-line Islamic groups, majority rules. A study conducted by Saiful Mujani, a noted political scientist in Indonesia shows that political reformation and democratization has increased as much as the level of religiosity of Indonesian Muslims.¹³ Problems of ethno-religious conflicts and separatist movements in some regions have mostly been solved. Peace agreements with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) included special autonomy and local political parties in Aceh province were some of the political breakthroughs in settling conflicts in Indonesia. ¹⁴

What Indonesia should work on in the near future?

Despite of its tremendous accomplishments, a fully-functioning democracy in Indonesia is still not there yet. In the case of the latest election for example, though it was largely free, fair and peaceful, the tension among the presidential candidates was inevitable. ¹⁵ Alleged frauds and manipulations, unhealthy competition and empty campaign are only some issues that have to be solved for the next election.

The old story of collusion, corruption and nepotism (KKN in Indonesian language) is also still popular. ¹⁶ The case of Bank Century is an example how state supervision is still weak in watching financial and banking activities. ¹⁷Bank Century, a private bank in Indonesia, is accused of misusing its customers' money. One of its owners got arrested by the police and sentenced to four years in prison. ¹⁸ What makes the whole issue became more complicated is the public perception that the root of all problems is the weak control from the government, especially the central bank. Hence, the government policy to bailout the bank was politically and legally problematic. This situation is worsened by the case of Azahari Azhar, the inactive chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), who has been arrested on suspicion of murder of Nasrudin Zulkarnaen, a prominent businessman. ¹⁹ This situation has become more complicated by Azhar’s testimony in which he mentioned that some KPK’s leaders also received bribes in the investigation of corruption in an integrated radio communications system project. ²⁰ The testimony and several other cases finally led into the investigation of KPK’s leaders by the national police. ²¹ This is a huge irony because in the middle of building a solid foundation for the rule of law, clean government and meritocracy, many problems seem to thwart this effort.

Other two tasks of Indonesia are to tackle natural calamities and democratize the economy. Indonesia’s geographical area, which is archipelagic and located in the meeting point of two major tectonic plates, is the reason why Indonesians should learn to live with disasters.²² The latest earthquakes in major islands such as Java and Sumatera is the momentum for the government to prove its capacity in handling non-traditional security issues. ²³ The story of post-crisis Indonesian economic development, although it performs quite well, should not neglect the fact that basic social service and provision such as healthcare, housing and education is inadequate and the widening gap between the poor and the rich has to be reduced. ²⁴ Good investment climates, fair regulations and less corruption is some key points in enhancing the economy

The rise of growing religious fundamentalism and violence is also a big hurdle for the healthy development of democracy in Indonesia. Various Islamic fundamentalist groups, such as the international Hizbut Tahrir, the vigilante Islamic Defender Front (FPI) and Majelis Mujahiddin Indonesia (MMI), which is used to be backed by Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, a prominent conservative Islamic cleric, are getting more popular. ²⁵ Persecution and violence against minority in the name of religion and blasphemy are becoming trend. Ahmadiyya, an unorthodox Islamic group who has coexisted in Indonesia with other elements of Indonesia had to face numerous persecutions and violent attacks because its teachings are considered blasphemous and heretic. ²⁶ This situation has led to a crisis when the tension between Islamic fundamentalist and conservative groups and the liberal and pluralist camp reached its peak in the so-called Monas (National Monument) Incident on July 1, 2008. ²⁷The tragic fact is that the peaceful rally to campaign and reaffirm the importance of pluralism and tolerance, which was held on the same day of the birthday of Pancasila-Indonesia's national principles in nation building, was contaminated by violent actions. There is an important fact showed in the study of the famous Islamic scholar and activist, Luthfi Assyaukanie, which mentioned that there is a strong correlation between violent actions and fatwas (religious opinion by Muslim jurists) from religious clerics. ²⁸ In his thesis, he found that the widespread violent actions find their justifications from these fatwas. The rise of religious bylaws imposed in several regions in Indonesia also undermines the protection of civil and political rights. ²⁹ There have been some complaints because these sharia-based bylaws are considered to be discriminative, especially for women such as the introduction of rajam or adultery stoning in accordance to the strict sharia interpretation in Aceh province. ³⁰When in this kind of situation the government is expected to adhere to the principle of rule of law and takes a clear stance, it seems that instead of imposing such policy the state prefer to 'play safe'.

Indonesia’s Democracy: Present and Future Trajectory

Indonesia is not a perfect democracy quite yet. The latest election result, which brought victory to the incumbent President Yudhoyono, should be taken as a golden opportunity to strengthen Indonesia's democracy. ³¹Indonesia has to learned from the past and reaffirm its national commitment. This effort requires participation and willingness from every elements of Indonesia as a nation. Threats to civil rights, corruption, natural disasters, expanding income disparity and religious fundamentalism are only some of the challenges of contemporary Indonesia.

In the field of international politics, Indonesia should concentrate not only in the regional arena of ASEAN, but also beyond that, something which is called “Post-ASEAN" Foreign Policy by the leading international relations scholar of Indonesia, Rizal Sukma. ³² Its membership in the G-20 means that Indonesia should have a say and contribute more in international affairs. ³³ Indonesia’s soft power is expanding now, and through various channels such as cultural exchanges, diplomacy and economic activities, it has to work on its international image. ³⁴ Indonesia's relationship with other countries is also relatively friendly. Though it often competes and has conflicts with its two nearest neighbors, Singapore and Malaysia, generally speaking it maintains good relationship with many countries. The visit of US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is a proof of how the Western world is now seeing Indonesia as a strategic partner and connecting bridge between the West and the rest of the world, particularly Asia and Middle East. ³⁵

Indonesia's success in Southeast Asia as the only working democracy in the region is also good news. ³⁶ As a nation with strategic interests and role in world affairs, it deserves a better image. The answer for this problem is very simple: the combination of liberal democracy, market economy and moderate Islam as the three key principles in building a democratic Indonesia. These three points are related to one another. In order to defend and preserve Indonesian multiculturalism, democracy is needed as an instrument to guarantee civil rights of its citizens. Nevertheless, the protection of civil and political rights will be impossible without the promotion of economic, social and cultural rights. Thus, market economy with social protection is needed in order to promote competitiveness and increase growth and prosperity of the nation. The last but not the least is the use of spiritual and cultural values as the moral basis for the system. A moderate and tolerant interpretation of Islam has long become the mainstream of Indonesia’s religious life, which is also the core element for social capital and democratic politics in Indonesia. Despite all the challenges that Indonesia faces, as long as it follows these principles, the Indonesian future will remain bright.

Bibliography

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2. Ibid.  ↩
3. Ibid.  ↩
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Iqra Anugrah is a Master student at Graduate School of Asia Pacific Studies, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan. He is actively involved in a number of student movements

The Paradox of Indonesia’s Democracy and Religious Freedom

http://www.freedomhouse.org/blog/paradox-indonesia%E2%80%99s-democracy-and-religious-freedom#.U9EsAlZt9jY

M. Syafi’i Anwar

More than three decades ago, Indonesia was widely regarded as a wellspring of moderate Islam. The leading U.S. magazine Newsweekdescribed the country as the home of “the smiling Islam,” insisting that the Indonesian version of the faith was more friendly and tolerant than that found in the Middle East. But history has moved Indonesia into a new religio-political situation.

Since the 1998 collapse of Soeharto’s New Order authoritarian regime, constitutional democracy in Indonesia has been progressing. The country has experienced three rounds of democratic and transparent general elections (1999, 2004, and 2009), the development of a vibrant press, and the rise of civil society movements. As a result, Indonesia has been deemed the world’s third largest democracy by population, after India and the United States.

However, the emergence of Indonesia’s democracy has been accompanied by an unintended phenomenon: the decline of religious freedom. The growing influence of militant Islamist groups has significantly contributed to this problem. They promote antipluralist ideologies and intolerant attitudes toward religious minorities like Ahmadis and Christians, threatening the future of democracy in the world’s largest Muslim country. In addition to inciting hatred and discrimination, they have mobilized mass support for communal violence. The evidence shows that these militant Islamists have attacked and even killed members of religious minorities over the last several years.  The Wahid Institute’s Report on Religious Freedom in Indonesia (2011) shows an 18 percent increase in religious intolerance in various provinces and cities compared with the previous year (2010).  Meanwhile, the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace noted that there were 299 cases related to violence against religious freedom in 2011. The report also shows that West Java, East Java, and South Sulawesi provinces were ranked at the highest level of religious intolerance.

Not surprisingly, Indonesia has lost something of its former reputation and is increasingly seen as a home to “the angry Islam.” The government appears unable to control the militant Islamists, and religious freedom in the country is now at a crossroads.

There are five main factors causing the decline of religious freedom in Indonesia: (1) lack of law enforcement, (2) contradictory regulations related to the protection of citizenship rights and religious minorities, (3) the spread of intolerant ideologies and hostile attitudes toward religious others, (4) the weak leadership of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and (5) the central government’s laissez-faire approach to local religious persecution.

The first factor refers to the inability or unwillingness of the police to maintain security and control  militant Islamists. Moreover, court verdicts on violent acts of religious persecution have been unfair and unjust. For example, a court decided to punish the perpetrators of a deadly February 2011 attack on the Ahmadi community in Cikeusik, West Java, by sentencing them to between three and six months in prison. One Ahmadi victim was even sentenced to six months in jail for attempting to defend himself from the mob. Many human rights institutions have protested such decisions, but have been unable to change them.

Contradictions related to the protection of minority groups can be seen in a number of regulations issued by the Indonesian government. For instance, the Joint Ministerial Decree on Ahmadiyah in 2008, which banned the group from carrying out certain basic activities, clearly conflicted with the spirit of the Indonesian constitution and international human rights documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights). So too did the 2006 Joint Ministerial Decree on Construction of Houses of Worship, which imposes a multilayered approval process for new religious buildings.

The spread of militant Islamist ideologies and intolerant attitudes is also problematic for Indonesia’s status as a plural and multicultural society. With their emphasis on a strict, legalistic, and exclusive understanding of Shari’a, militant Islamists have sought to divide society into “the house of Islam” (dar al-Islam) and “the house of enemy” (dar al-Harb), resulting in a perception that non-Muslims—particularly Jews, Christians, and “the West”—are permanent “enemies of Islam.”

The weakness of President Yudhoyono’s leadership is basically rooted in his ambiguity and indecisiveness in controlling the militant Islamists. Adding to their pressure on the government, in 2011 these groups declared that they would topple Yudhoyono’s administration if the president did not outlaw Ahmadiyah. But he remained silent and offered no reaction to this threat. Similarly, Minister of Religious Affairs Suryadharma Ali has often made controversial statements against religious minority groups, yet Yudhoyono has never warned or corrected him. It seems that Yudhoyono has been losing his grip.

The effects of Yudhoyono’s weakness are far reaching. The central and local authorities have no clear guidance from the president on the protection of religious freedom and the management of religiously based conflicts. In this vacuum, several governors, regents, and mayors have issued policies and regulations aimed ostensibly at building “religious harmony,” for instance by prohibiting Ahmadiyah and Shiite Muslim groups or closing Christian churches. Ironically, such policies are mostly based on pressure from local militant Islamists and the conservative edicts issued by the MUI (Indonesian Ulama Council). The MUI’s rulings are essentially religious legal opinions and should not be legally binding. But local administrations are increasingly committed to such edicts, regardless of how they contradict the Indonesian constitution and human rights principles.

Among the five factors, Yudhoyono’s weak leadership is the most serious. Clearly, the situation would be better if he became more decisive and committed to enhancing religious freedom. More importantly, he should adopt a “zero tolerance” policy toward any groups that are guilty of crimes against humanity or religious persecution.

Under current circumstances, however, it is difficult to see how the political winds might shift to support religious freedom in Indonesia. Consequently, the only alternative is to wait for the rise of a strong, decisive, and committed new leadership that will be able to secure the future of democracy and religious freedom. There are several potential candidates who may run for the presidency in 2014, such as Aburizal Bakrie, Prabowo Subianto, Megawati Sukarnoputri, Hatta Radjasa, M. Yusuf Kalla, Wiranto, and others. But it remains to be seen whether the Indonesian people will select the best candidate, one who is devoted to the democratic principles enshrined in the constitution, and willing to uphold them in practice.

* The writer is the former executive director of ICIP (International Center for Islam and Pluralism) and currently a senior Indonesia research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.