Veils, Miss Indonesia and White Chicks

Thought I would get in on this one first and invoke my own name before WJK does.

This is a microcosm of the battle for the soul of the country that is raging at the moment. On one hand you have the resurgent forces of Islam, kept under lock and key until the end of the Suharto era and on the other Indonesia’s pre-Islamic Vedic sensuality coupled with the very modern tendencies that are alive and well here.

The Ulema, off the leash and flush with Saudi cash have been steadily trying to push back the tide of the latter manifesting itself in such things as sweeps of nightspots during Ramadhan by the FPI and other Islamist/criminal gangs, newly autonomous areas mandating wearing of jilbabs and reading of the Koran for government workers, declaration of entire cities as ‘halal zones’ and the like.

Most of this sticks because you have a public still unable to figure how to use the mechanisms of governance and the state to push back such things. That or they are just too worried with the day-to-day struggle of getting enough to eat, the kids to school and paying for healthcare.

On the other hand, support for those who would push us further towards sharia law here does not translate at the ballot box. SBY won the recent election with the backing of key Islamist parties, but has now formed an alliance with the two other large nationalist/secular parties. The combined vote for the Islamic parties was around 25%.

Urbanites are very western in their tastes here, which I see as an outward rejection of what the Ulema are calling for. Popular entertainment tends more to western stylings, girls wearing jilbabs are often sporting tight jeans and all the trappings of western convenience are splashed around.

And there you have it. I tend to think that there is a race to the bottom amongst Muslim clerics here to say the most outrageous thing they can, because they know it will keep them in the papers. But then again, try as they might, the rest of the country goes on living the very lifestyle they rail against.

How many gun-related deaths are there in your city every year? Would you tell people not to go to New York or Oklahoma City because hundreds or thousands were killed in terrorist attacks there? YOU are a fucking idiot because logic fails you, constantly.

If I want advice on something medical (which I still doubt you are qualified to give) I will ask you for it. In the meantime, ask yourself why foreign investment and tourist numbers here continue to climb.

Honestly, what do you ever contribute to these discussions, other than your dour know-it-all demeanor that was obviously born of a thousand wedgies when you were a schoolboy. Other than being a Freudian psychologist’s dream, you are an out-and-out oxygen thief.
I’ll keep presenting informed reports from the ground where things I am qualified to comment upon are happening and you keep sniping and masturbating from whatever frozen suburban shithole it is that you dwell in.

Oh yeah, fetch me a six pack and a pack of Marlboros.

Summary of argument thus far.

Me. Interesting story, Robert, here is some more background. Phenomenon A and B…….

WJK. Iranians try to tell you their country is ok on FACEBOOK. Indonesia is the next Iran!

Me. These are my quals, this is what I do, care to verify what makes you an expert on these things?

WJK. Na-na-na-na-na-na, people died in an earthquake there (implying I hope you are next)

Me. Given WJK’s immaturity, he’s a lot like that cleric referred to in the OP.

WJK. I don’t live wif mah mommy! I’m a big boy now and you should listen to me!

Me. Fuckin hell (frustration setting in). There is no logic in what you say!

WJK. Plubber phoont tweegt! Pnaaaarrrg glurk bliiiitt! Possibly insults victims of a terrorist attrocity.

Me. Jesus fuck, are you smoking crack? Have you ever contributed an item of relevance here? Based on this and other performances, no.

Mr Koehler (hopefully). He has a point that Aaronm. Maybe I should ask WJK to refute the original points in a logical manner and refrain from trolling and sounding off like a retarded pre-schooler.

Jeffrey,

As someone who consults on security and business continuity to business here, and especially large foreign ones seeking to invest, the climate could not be more welcoming. Pundits are saying that very soon Indonesia will be the next I in an expanded BRICs and Yudhoyono’s presence in the G20 backs this up.

Security wonks here are saying that there will be future attacks. However, law enforcement here (mostly trained by Australians post-Bali) are going gangbusters – 23 militants killed or arrested in the wake of the July bombs supports this.

Socially, the incident woke up a lot of people here to what they had turned a blind eye to, militant Islam. I know of two very recent incidents where Wahabis have been run out of town, in Surabaya and Tangerang. Both have reputations for being centers of terrorist activity. University kids in Solo recently clashed with radical groups over the burial of terrorist suspects in their town. Abu Bakar Bashir has been told to shut up or else. People in the business are saying there is a genuine backlash going on.

What this early rosy outlook all depends on, though, is continued economic growth, which needs institutions capable of supporting it. Recent moves by the outgoing assembly to water down anti-corruption powers of the anti-corruption board are one worrying sign. The incorporation of hardened economic nationalists (read Suharto-era crony capitalists) into the governing coalition is another. Then you have uncertainty over mining title because of the handing-over of licensing rights to local administrations and convoluted rulings over ownership.

If these problems can be overcome, then I see Indonesia reaching the potential denied it by the false dawn of the Suharto era. If there is no increase in jobs and thus prosperity (only 30% of graduates here find employment), then radicalism will grow with resentment and lack of social mobility. However, I think the outcome is now firmly in the government’s hands and not in the clerics’.