Separation of Mosque and State...

One of the fundamental principles that make a democracy is that there needs to be separation between the state and the predominant religion of that state. In the Western context this is referred to as the separation of Church and State. In essence, religion plays no role in the affairs of state. This is sometime problematic as the US has found out with things like the pledge of allegiance and the display of the ten commandments at a court house.

In the Indonesian context, perhaps the terminology is the separation of Mosque and State. Indonesia is a democracy but sometimes there is a questionable separation between Mosque and State, particularly in terms of the recent drive to enact religious bylaws that may not be constitutionally valid. However, the Ministry of Religious Affairs has placed the issue firmly back in the spotlight by providing awards to Provincial Governors and District Heads for their efforts to enact and implement Syariah-inspired regional regulations.

The first issue is whether a Ministry that is supposed to represent all religions in Indonesia has acted responsibly in recognising just one of those religions, Islam. Is this indicative of favouritism or discrimination? The reality is that within the Ministry of Religious Affairs each religion is represented by its own directorate. These directorates are responsible for the administration of their own affairs. So, in this regard there is no reason why these directorates could not initiate similar awards. However, the real question is whether the Ministry would back these awards.

The awards in question were for the promotion of Islam through the enactment and implementation of Syariah-inspired regional regulations. On the entirely hypothetical front, if a province was to draft, debate, enact and implement ecclesiastical-inspired regional regulations, would these be recognised by the state and would the Ministry of Religious Affairs be favourable towards an award that recognised these efforts if a recognition initiative came from the relevant directorate? It would seem unlikely.

In the big scheme of things there is nothing wrong with the Ministry of Religious Affairs recognising and rewarding Islam-related achievements provided that these are not recognising initiatives that strip away basic human rights of Indonesian citizens. The reality is that some of those individuals recognised for their efforts to promote Islam have also promoted regional regulations that strip away basic human rights and discriminate against minorities and discriminate against women.

The fact that the Ministry has chosen to recognise Syriah-inspired regional regulations as progress seems to be politically motivated and designed to pander to Islamic political interests rather than the greater interests of the state. If this is the case then there are arguments to be made that the Ministry is crossing that degree of separation that is expected.

Ho hum...

The CIA Did It -- Abu Bakar Ba'asyir Speaks!

Abu Bakar Ba'asyir is never one for a dull moment. Some might like to describe the man as a radical or fundamentalist Muslim committed to the creation of a pan-Asian Caliphate at just about any cost, including providing support for terrorism. I certainly believe that the man is pro-terror, particularly where people are not prepared to accept what he says or come around to his way of thinking or world view.

However, he is also a bit of a conspiracy theorist it seems, and true to form he has determined that the most recent bombings at the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta were the work of the CIA. This is not the first time that the Head of the Jemaah Ashorut Tauhid, which is a rather loose coalition of Islamic groups keen to see a more universal adoption and implementation of Syariah Law, has blamed the CIA for bombings perpetrated in Indonesia.

In the aftermath of the Bali Bombings in 2002, in which he himself was implicated, he maintained that the bombings were not the work of Islam but of the CIA that was looking to discredit Islam. The claim was that based on the devastation at the Paddy Club in Bali that the bomb was a micro-nuclear device and that it was launched from a US warship off the coast of Bali.

By his own admission, Ba'asyir knows nothing about bombs or how to make them, but in his mind the only thing that makes sense is that the CIA has carried out the bombings as a means of sowing hate against Islam. The idea that Ba'asyir knows nothing is, at best, disingenuous.

Ba'asyir also addressed the issue of Jemaah Islamiyah and the belief that it has splintered into two factions. According to Ba'asyir the Jemaah Anshorut Tauhid is not a splinter group of Jemaah Islamiyah or of the Indonesian Mujahideen Council (Majelis Mujahideen Indonesia / MMI). As far as Ba'asyir knows, Jemaah Islamiyah is an Egyptian Muslim study group.

Never one to miss an opportunity, Ba'asyir added that the US and Australia will never defeat Islam and in fact they fear us ("us" I am guessing is Islam). He cites the fear that the US and Australia have of al-Qaeda, which he calls a small group. By my reckoning neither the US and Australia are trying to defeat Islam or make it subservient to some Western Christian ideal.

From a religious perspective Ba'asyir condemned the bombings as not being in accordance with Islam. The not in accordance with Islam part relies on the fact that there has been no formal declaration of war. To bomb "targets" without a formal declaration of war contravenes Islamic or Syariah law principles. Further, he goes on to say that the killing of innocent women and children is wrong even if these women and children are kafir.

However, this is moderated by "if they get involved, even in thought, then they must be killed". There does not seem to be any leeway on that front, and the idea that a mere thought is enough to warrant a killing opens the door to many killings as the idea of a thought seems so very discretionary.

If Ba'asyir did not have any followers and his Al-Mukmin Islamic Boarding School did not have such a long track record of breeding willing and able terrorists, the man would be nothing more than a distraction. However, he succeeds on both these points and this makes him a particularly dangerous man. This is sad because he so does not represent the majority of Indonesians or what Indonesia is about. There appears to be little doubt that there are quite a few Indonesians who wish that he stayed in exile in Malaysia.

Arab Investors and the Jakarta Monorail Project

The activity at the House of Representatives (DPR) over the past week or so in passing legislation may actually pay off in both the figurative and literal senses. The DPR managed to pass a bill on Syariah-based Bonds which sets out the basic regulatory framework for the issue of Syariah Bonds or as they are more commonly known, Sukuk. This it seems has caught the eye of Muslim investors (Dubai and United Arab Emirates) who are keen to make halal investments and this provides an opportunity for that.

The Jakarta Monorail project has been a fiasco from the start. It is scheduled for completion in 2010 but that just is not going to happen! But it might just get finished if investors can be found. However, it is worth noting, as Dilli has done on his blog (picture also stolen / borrowed from Dilli's Blog), that if investors are going to come on board then they need to do so fast as some of the pylons that are supposed to support the monorail have started to mysteriously disappear.

I have to say I am not sure how you make a huge pylon disappear but it is probably a good David Copperfield or David Blaine or Cris Angel illusion!

The monorail was part of the comprehensive Jakarta traffic management plan. But the fact that the monorail has been plagued with problems from the outset brings into question the seriousness of the government and the comprehensiveness of their plan.

Anyone who has tried to travel around town using public transport soon comes to understand why people prefer private cars! If you add into this mix a little bit of rain then it just becomes traffic chaos. Will the monorail alleviate some of this chaos, who knows, but it is up in the air (literally and figuratively) so perhaps it cannot do any more harm!

Yet, the reality is, even with potential Arab investors wanting to come on board, it remains unclear as to whether the Central or Jakartan Governments want to back the monorail financially as the difficulties so far would be indicative of some serious risk management concerns.