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Surprisingly, as the 21st century draws near, the bloody feud
between the Muslims and the Christians is steadily assuming even
increasingly, devastating proportions. It appears that these two
world forces have already started, however silently. a struggle for
world supremacy in the 21st century. It is a historical fact that
these two forces made maximum use of religious passion in their
efforts to divide the world into private empires and this religious
passion enabled them to subjugate vast regions of the earth.
Ostensibly most of the Christian and Muslim states swear by
democracy. But the real source of their power is their religious
passion which is most active. After the second World War, wherever
there were any bloody riots or violent clashes, these invariably
arose out of these forces' agitprop. There have been causes
advertised for public consumption such as land disputes or
environmental concerns. But if one scratches their crust one finds
that the kernel is their all-powerful ambition for world-dominating
religious empires. All the various activities in their communities
are dovetailed with the main thrust of their missionaries or
tablighi bodies operating in their own fashion. Wherever either of
these communities finds itself in the minority, its singular effort
happens to attain the majority in that region or state; thus
acquiring the religious upper hand. Wherever either of these
communities happens to be in the majority, it spares no efforts or
time to harass the minority into submission and eventual
conversion. In short, the all-pervading passion for religious
supremacy that was quite openly active in the middle ages is
equally active even today, however covert it may be. This religious
ambition today comes in assorted disguises, parading itself in
modern sophisticated garbs. But often occasion demands that this
ambition shed its innocuous slough and come out openly in its real
venomous form, like the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The civil war that flared up in Lebanon was one such modern garb.
The blood that flowed in the Christian-Muslim street-fights had its
origin in this craze for world supremacy. The Christian-Muslim
blood-feud in the former Yugoslavian state of Bosnia has awakened
the whole world to this basic breach between the two communities
often belonging to the same ethnic stock. The Filipinos also are
suffering from the same passion erupting in Christian-Muslim
guerilla warfare. Pakistan too is not immune to this universal
ulceration. The majority Muslims heap horrors on the Christian
minority. Even guileless children are not spared the murderous
tyranny of the majority, community under the pretext of disrespect
to the Holy Quran. These religious riots do not stop at looting the
hapless minority's shops and establishments but extends to torching
of minority property and burning alive of hundreds who profess the
rival faith. Now Indonesia. the hitherto better known liberal and
cultured society, has also been afflicted with this virus of
religious bigotry. Suharto is increasingly facing a growing unrest.
Elections are due in a few months. The economy is usurped by the
powerful sons of President Suharto. This has provided the necessary
fuel to the popular desire to remove Suharto. The new political
figure, Meghavati is fast gathering popular support. And it will
be no surprise if the Suharto regime too goes the way of the
corrupt Sukarno regime. To avert this imminent end of his rule,
Suharto is employing every weapon in his armoury. The most
effective of them, he thinks, is the Muslim-Christian and
Muslim-Buddhist animosity. The current religious riots between the
Muslims and the Christians and between the Muslims and the
Buddhists happen to be scenes from the on-going tragi-comedy of the
doddering despot's desperate attempts to cling to his customary
chair. Otherwise there could be no earthly reason for the average
sociable Indonesian to go berserk and indulge in the foolish
fratricide which is quite alien to their nature. But it is a
well-known (or 'ill' known!) phenomenon that whenever a Muslim
ruler finds himself in a no-win catch 22 situation, his last hope
and saviour is this ubiquitous religious fanaticism and terrorism.
About 85 per cent of Indonesia's 200 million population belong to
Islam. The rest belong to the minority communities. The Christians,
the Buddhists and the Hindus. In Indonesia members belonging to the
minority community, have to declare themselves as either Christians
(Catholic or Protestants), Buddhists or Hindus. A major chunk of
Indonesians are of Chinese origin, mostly professing the Confusian
faith. But they cannot declare themselves Confusians. So they have
to present themselves as Buddhists or Christians and also register
themselves under suitable names.
Between October 1996 and February 1997 Christians and Muslims
engaged in bloody fights on three different occasions. Some 113
persons were killed in the riots. The correct number of churches
torched is not made available to the press. When the Jakarta Post,
one of the trustworthy newspapers, was to publish the details of
these atrocities, the censorship came in its way. But when the Asia
Week and the Hong Kong Times published pictures of mobs in the act
of setting churches to fire, people in other countries also came
to know of its enormity. Thousands of Muslims, raving religious
fanatics, rushed to the streets and set fire to a score of churches
and Buddhist shrines. The reason for this madness is : an alleged
insult to Islam by a non-Muslim. The one accused of insulting Islam
was a Christian of Chinese origin. On the prosecutor's request the
Chinese accused was sentenced to five Years in prison. But the
fanatic Muslims among the local community were not satisfied. In
their view a person insulting Islam should be sentenced to death.
This resulted in riots in which the Muslim crowd burned five
hapless non-Muslims alive. The minority community took this as a
cold-blooded conspiracy against it, and decided to fend for
themselves against such attacks. On December 26, thousands of
Muslim agitationists came out in the streets of West Java to
protest against what they construed as police excesses against
three Muslim teachers. In the ensuing rioting three were killed on
the spot and later 40 persons among the wounded died in the
hospitals. About a hundred buildings were gutted in the arson.
These included churches and Buddhists viharas.
In January this year larger numbers of Christians were victims of
the Muslims' atrocities. In the North Sulevasi region, on either
side of the road traversing between the towns of Manadi and Bitung
the Christians live in large numbers. They have a church at almost
e-v cry hundred metres. Comparatively the number of mosques is much
smaller. Harry, Tilaga, a Christian leader says, the Muslims live
peacefully where Christians are in the majority. But where the
Muslim population predominates, the Christians are very badly
treated. Therefore, he argues, the Christians should see to it that
the Muslims mend their ways. They should treat the Christians off
equal terms. The Muslims should not harass the Christians where the
latter are in a minority. He says, the Muslims always coerce them
to embrace Islam. And if the Christians refuse, the Muslims start
religious riots under one pretext or the another. Harry Tilaga
says, the time has now arrived when Christians in Indonesia have to
face the question of their very existence in view of the growing
atrocities on them. He maintains that it is time now that the
Christians realise their duty to fight the Muslim bigots and bring
them round to the position of peaceful coexistence. These
Christians argue that they are the original Indonesians, to
whatever faith they might have belonged. They have been living in
this land of their forefathers since quite long when Islam was not
even known in this part of the world, "We are Indonesian nationals
through and through", they assert. "By conversion from one faith to
another a citizen's nationality can never change. Any change in the
religious composition of a country's population would not change
the nationality. Indeed this struggle is a power struggle between
those who place religion above nationality and those who swear by
the paramount position of nationality, the Christians maintain.
These Christian Indonesians have taken a determined stand never to
flee Indonesia succumbing to the threat of the Muslim militants.
For some time now Meghavati, daughter of former President Sukarno
is waging a bitter struggle against the corrupt regime of President
Suharto. She has formed the Indonesian Democratic Party. Suharto
and the army brass have joined hands in an unholy alliance against
the rising popular tide of Meghavati's party. Not unlike the
desperate dwarfs herding together to stall the Bharatiya Janata
Party's march to power in India. Indonesian army and the President
have conspired to prevent Meghavati at any cost from capturing
power. Meghavati's staunch nationalism is increasingly drawing the
minorities towards her agitation. Meghavati has repeatedly declared
that the nationalist and secular culture of Indonesia should be
preserved. Any force trying to impose - militancy or
fundamentalism on the Indonesians will be resisted tooth and nail.
To weaken her hold on the people, Meghavati is frequently thrown
into prison or efforts are made to split her party. But her morale
is rock-solid. She has vowed never to allow the forces of hate to
plunge Indonesia into a fratricidal inferno.
Najad-ul-Ulema, an orthodox outfit has been active in Indonesia for
some time. Its leader Abdurrahim Wahid has been a bitter critic of
the government. Paradoxically, he holds liberal and tolerant
Views. The government therefore has no use for his organisation.
Suharto has therefore created an organisation Indonesian Muslim
intellectuals. Ostensibly it is a body of the intellectuals. But
it is quite unsullied by any pretensions to intellectual
performance. Majority of its members are rabid fundamentalists and
militants. At the least provocation, real or imagined, they raise
the slogan of "Islam in danger" which spells dire consequences to
the non-Muslims. The though covert, purpose of this body is to
divide the common Indonesians in the name of religion and somehow
divert popular unrest away from the realisation of the true causes
of their miseries and thus protect and perpetuate the regime of
Suharto and the army.
All the seven sons of President Suharto have acquired a vice-like
grip on the Indonesian economy. One of them is the boss of the
Indonesian airline while another is the governor of the Reserve
Bank. One more controls Indonesian imports and exports while still
another bosses over the petroleum company. It is said that
Indonesia is ruled not by the President's cabinet but by the
President's sons. The army for its own motives supports Suharto's
sons. Suharto's favourites in the army are given extension after
extension beyond superannuation and when the retirement becomes
overdue they are absorbed in the administration on sine cure jobs.
For the last two decades this steady decay is going on. The
counts, is on the brink of bankruptcy. Meghavati's demand for early
elections has to, be conceded as it is fully supported by
Indonesian people. The elections have been scheduled in May. But
Suharto is not likely to abandon his control over his lucrative
regime. without a bitter fight involving unfair as well as fair
means. Therefore, how to liberate Indonesia out of the bear-hug of
Suharto has still remained as insoluble a problem as it was before
the two decades of repression. But Suharto cannot prevent the
historical process. Because the imminent democratic transformation
is knocking at the doors of development through the medium of
Meghavati, Suharto is trying to delay the inevitable by stalling it
by means of sectarian riots. The army is expected to dutifully
stand by its 'provider'. And even if the army assumes power,
Suharto will have to be given his due. But sooner or later (sooner
rather than later) the army junta and Suharto's family clique are
fated to fall before the onslaught of the .popular movement
snowballing into an inexorable juggernaut.
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