Islam's New Face Visible in a Changing Indonesia

By ROBIN WRIGHT, Los Angeles Times, Wednesday, December 27, 2000

A quarter of a century after the religion's resurgence led to upheaval in the Mideast, a more ambitious and tolerant movement is reshaping lives and the islands' government.

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Dewi Abriyani, a willowy 16-year-old with deep brown eyes, is a vision in flowing white when she sets off each morning for high school. Her floor-length robe is pristine and starched. So is a large head cover that fits snugly around her face and falls almost to her waist.

     "I wear Islamic dress not only because of religious obligation," explained the young Indonesian, referring to a 7th century dictate from the Koran. "It also makes me feel more comfortable, more beautiful. That's what I told my mother when I convinced her to wear it too.

     "My role model?" she continued without skipping a beat. "Muhammad the prophet, may peace be upon him. I want to spend my life as his messenger."

     Yet Abriyani also wants to be a surgeon. She intends to marry for love--only when she decides she is really ready. And her English is better than the Arabic she's learning in order to read the original Koran.

     "English is the language of computers and globalization--and the future. I'm very excited about getting on the Internet," she said as other students at Jakarta's Asshiddiqiyah Islamic College nodded in agreement.

     "After all, I'm the modern Muslim female," she added with a self-confident grin.

     Abriyani is also the new Indonesian.

     Long a decidedly secular state, Indonesia is being redefined by a growing Islamic identity. The transition to democracy after half a century of autocratic rule has witnessed an explosion in the number of Islamic schools, businesses, civic groups and media outlets. New Islamic political parties in the country with the world's largest Muslim population now make up a powerful bloc in parliament. The first democratically elected president is a prominent Muslim thinker. And neighborhood Islamic "banks" are bailing out poor families hit by Asia's financial crisis.

     About 75% of Indonesia's Muslims now want Islam to play "a very large role" in society and government policy, according to a groundbreaking survey by the U.S. State Department. And 54% want religious leaders to become more politically active.

     Abriyani's Indonesia also reflects a sweeping change within the 50-plus nations of the Islamic world.

     A quarter of a century after an Islamic resurgence launched upheavals throughout the Middle East, the centers of activism have shifted. From Indonesia on the Pacific to Nigeria on the Atlantic, from Turkey on the Mediterranean to Pakistan on the Indian Ocean, the most energetic movements today are well beyond the region where the faith was founded by a former Arab trader almost 14 centuries ago.

     The activities, goals and tactics of a new generation of activists--increasingly known as Islamists--also differ strikingly. The first generation, popularly known as fundamentalists, made headlines in the 1970s and early 1980s for extremism: Iranian revolutionaries crafted a theocratic state. Fanatics assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. And Party of God zealots introduced suicide bombs to challenge Western influence in Lebanon.

     Today's Islamic movement is much more ambitious, energetic and imaginative in how it is changing the lives of the world's 1 billion Muslims--from the transformation of Indonesia, the world's fourth-most-populous society, to political and military brinkmanship in volatile Pakistan to the new model of Islamic democracy in turbulent Iran.

     Two years after President Suharto's autocratic 32-year rule came to an end, the sprawling Indonesian archipelago sporadically rumbles with ethnic and religious tension, much of it a product of a brutal past. But in a country where 87% of the population is Muslim, most Islamist activists favor democracy, peace and ties with the outside world.

     "Indonesians are aware that they're citizens of the world and part of globalization. We have no interest in trying to stop it," said Komaruddin Hidayat, director for Islamic higher education at the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

     The Islamization of Indonesia is so striking in part because of the sheer numbers. Over the next decade, the under-25 generation that makes up more than half the 216 million population will emerge from thousands of new religious schools.

     Launched as an alternative to deteriorating public education, Abriyani's Islamic school opened in 1985 with a single student. Today, the Asshiddiqiyah school she attends has three branches and 66,000 students in elementary through high school.

     Younger Generation Says It Has 'Moved On'

     Many Indonesians, young and old, appear opposed to an Islamic state, whether a religious monarchy as in Saudi Arabia or a theocracy as in Iran. The goal of many Islamists here is to shape the national agenda, not hold power.

     "The idea of an Islamic state is old and no longer popular with this generation. We've moved on," said Ulil Absar Abdalla, a young Muslim intellectual at the Institute for the Studies on Free Flow of Information in Jakarta, the capital.

     "In fact, we see a strong state of any kind as a threat to society, so our goal--with some urgency--is to create an Islamic society as a balance to the state and to keep it in check in between elections. We're developing a new tool to realize the Islamic dream."

     Most young activists work in groups such as the Islamic Students Assn. Its demonstrations helped end Suharto's rule. Since then, the organization has become a dynamic force leading protests against human rights violations by the military in areas of conflict such as Timor and Aceh--and holding the new government to account.

     Among the young, a tiny fringe is more rebellious, although not as xenophobic or violent as Mideast groups.

     Al Chaidar is a self-described techno-nerd who runs a computer business in Jakarta. He also spent two weeks last year studying the Koran at a pro-Afghan training center in Peshawar, Pakistan, and he now works with a small core of young Muslims who want Islamic law, or Sharia, as the basis of Indonesian law. But he balks at being called a fundamentalist, because he rejects violence.

     "We consider ourselves radicals, and there's a big difference. . . . We also like America and the West. I wear bluejeans and drink Coca-Cola," Chaidar said.

     "And we believe in globalizing. We believe in giving women freedom to decide about Islamic dress. Fundamentalists would punish lesbians and gays. We will protect minorities of all kinds. This is a new face of Islam."

     A year ago, Nian Pendi, a tall man, stooped and prematurely graying at 38, was destitute. Fighting in Aceh, a northern province of Sumatra with a long-standing separatist movement, cost him an oil industry job. Then the aftershock from Asia's financial crisis almost forced him to close the nameless stall in front of his tiny home where he peddled soda pop, coffee, sample packs of shampoo, small packages of cigarettes and other goods.

     But Pendi was rescued by the Islamic Village Credit Union. A loan of $45 helped him restock and expand his merchandise. It also helped him keep his family--a wife, four children and his mother--under a roof in the poor Jakarta suburb of Menteng Pulo.

     "I'm like a lot of people in this area. If I hadn't gotten the loan, I'd have had to close. Then I'm not sure what I'd have done. The only new jobs are ones we're creating for ourselves," Pendi said.

     The Islamic Village Credit Union is one of dozens of new outlets launched in the 1990s by Muslim groups to offer alternatives to help Indonesians cope with a growing list of woes.

     Its self-described goals are lofty: "to build an Islamic neighborhood and brotherhood, to create an honest and independent Islamic economic system available to all people, and to fight loan sharks."

     But the network of neighborhood unions really specializes in micro-banking--with loans as small as $15--to help launch poor would-be entrepreneurs.

     Since Islam doesn't allow for the charging of interest, which is considered usury, borrowers pay "dividends" from their profits. The unions are the smallest segment of Indonesia's banking industry, but their impact is critical in a country that recently hit 40% unemployment.

     The Menteng Pulo branch has made loans to hundreds of fruit sellers, food vendors and small restaurateurs--people who wouldn't qualify at state banks, where minimum loans are $1,500 and bribes are often required.

     "Sometimes borrowers have to pay 20% to 40% of the total credit in bribes. That's crazy," said Azyumardi Azra, rector of the State Institute for Islamic Studies in Jakarta.

     "So the poor go to credit unions, and they begin to see Islam as the practical solution that can change life, not only spiritually. Islam is not corrupt. It's out to help the people. And it's very accessible. You don't even need to have shoes to go to the village credit union--or to qualify for a loan."

     Ties between Islam and commerce are not new. The faith spread slowly through Indonesia's archipelago of 17,000 islands from the 13th to the 16th century as maritime Muslim traders expanded into East Asia. The link is still visible at Al Azhar, an enormous whitewashed mosque in southern Jakarta. Despite the equatorial heat, Friday prayers there now attract overflow crowds.

     In the mosque's elementary school recently, third-graders swapped Pokemon cards as adults prayed. Afterward, vendors at a mosque flea market peddled embroidered prayer caps and prayer mats alongside Calvin Klein jeans, Mickey Mouse collectibles, Barbie dolls and videotapes of "Pretty Woman," "Being John Malkovich," "Forrest Gump" and "The Bible: The Greatest Story Ever Told."

     Building an Islamic System 'Step by Step'

     The mix of Islam and commerce has launched a parallel society. In 1998, Budi Darmawan opened a supermarket called Al Hikmah, or "wisdom"--implying Islamic wisdom. Female employees wear Islamic dress. The store is well stocked and pristine. Prices are low.

     "Step by step, we're building an Islamic system. A lot of people aren't ready, so we're doing it slowly," said Darmawan, a large man in a denim shirt with rolled-up sleeves. "Our goal isn't to imitate Saudi Arabia or its Sharia penal code. I saw a thief having his hand amputated in Saudi Arabia. It's too harsh.

     "In Indonesia, we're showing there's another Islamic way that works," he said.

     Islamic commerce is often on the cutting edge. Harvard-educated Haidar Bagir set up Gudwah Islamic Digital Edutainment to combine religious education, modern technology and fun for children. It's part of an Islamic corporation that includes a publishing house, training in new-economy jobs and a media watchdog that gives "Islamic ratings" to television shows and movies.

     Bagir has made four pilgrimages to Mecca, and he wears a black beard that he says he grew "in remembrance" of the prophet Muhammad. But he calls himself a modernist.

     "For fundamentalists, the ideal society was in the age of the prophet. I believe the prophet was the ideal person, but I don't believe ideal society comes from the time of the prophet," he said, turning up the air conditioning in his conference room by remote control.

     "I also don't think Islamic principles mean Muslims must shut out ideas in other communities or religions. We're open to ideas from Western civilization. Edutainment borrows heavily from new Western ideas. So do many of my business practices.

     "Indonesian Islam is learning to blend the two."

     Abdurrahman Wahid is full of contradictions. Aging, portly and legally blind, he usually walks in public on the arm of his daughter and appears meek and dependent.

     Yet the senior Islamic scholar also oozes charisma, likes to tell the odd salty story and heads the world's largest Muslim organization, the 35-million-member Islamic Renaissance.

     His politics also defy stereotypes. For decades, Wahid warned his followers about the dangers of mixing religion and politics. "If Islam needs state power to shape people's lives, then it's not a religion anymore. It becomes an authority, and no religion can survive as an authority," he told The Times in 1997.

     Then last year Wahid became the first democratically elected president of the world's largest Muslim country, an upset over more noted and experienced politicos.

     Pushing for Change Through Politics

     After decades of secular rule, Islam is now redefining Indonesia's political spectrum--and the national agenda. Five new Islamic parties and their allies hold 90 of parliament's 500 seats. With the addition of other parties with Muslim membership and values, the total reaches 173, the largest bloc.

     Together, Islamic parties are now pushing for the overhaul of everything from presidential powers to land development to esoteric areas such as patent law.

     "Western countries give too much power to inventors and founders without consideration for the people's needs," explained Hartono Mardjono, a rail-thin, chain-smoking parliament member from the Crescent Star Party, Indonesia's largest Islamic party.

     "So we basically want the government to buy patents from inventors; then every producer can make all products, which would bring down the price and end monopolistic practices. This should be the government's role--balancing the needs of the individual and the community."

     But the new crop of Muslim politicians is finding that Islamist politics is no different than secular politics: The politicians don't always agree. Rather than left and right, it is modernists and traditionalists who divide the political spectrum.

     "For us, Islam is an ideology with political goals, including Islamic law," said Ahmad Sumargono, head of the Crescent Star Party and author of "I Am a Fundamentalist."

     "For others, like President Wahid, Islam is only a way of life. Their parties have Muslim members, but they don't want an Islamic state."

     At its worst, the division is reflected by Muslim separatists demanding that Wahid's government allow Aceh province to become independent. More than 5,000 people have been killed in the fighting there, which escalated into Indonesia's gravest security threat last year. Many students in Aceh now call themselves Taliban, after the militant Afghan fighters. When the trouble erupted a decade ago, at least half the province's females didn't wear Islamic dress. Now most do.

     But Wahid's toughest challenge comes from the new generation of activists now working within the system. Some of them allege that he has sided with secular politicians and co-opted Islamists. Others are simply disappointed or disillusioned with his government.

     Among the critics are the magazine Sabili, which over the past two years has become one of Indonesia's five top magazines--and No. 1 for news. Sabili means "my way," and it implies the Islamic way. The magazine has relentlessly campaigned for Islamic law.

     "This is a bad government. There's no economic strategy. Luxury cars are everywhere at a time people are facing the worst financial problems of their lives. Wahid also isn't upholding the law. Corrupt officials from Suharto's era haven't been touched," said Zainal Muttaqin, a small man with a light mustache who founded and edits the magazine.

     "The worst part of it is that before, we had to confront the military to squeeze Suharto. Now we have to fight ourselves to get action."

     As Indonesia moves through a delicate transition, Islam is likely to force further debates over issues ranging from the nation's identity to the role of religion in politics.

     "We're on the ship of globalism. But as globalism uproots, it invites a sense of localism and even tribalism to counter feelings of uncertainty. Islam could play an important role in easing Indonesia through the transition," said Hidayat of the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

     "At the same time, if President Wahid fails to improve conditions in Indonesia, a worsening crisis could provoke primordial and angry instincts among religious and ethnic groups. Either way, Islam has become critical to our future."

A generation after the winds of political Islam began to transform the Middle East, the faith today is a force more energetic, powerful and imaginative--in more countries--than at any time since it was founded 14 centuries ago. Islam is filling the vacuum created after the decline of autocratic rule in Muslim nations. It is producing new leaders in schools, unions, banks and parliaments. It is providing tangible solutions to poverty. And it has inspired a dynamism that is reforming the faith itself. Political Islam still has its holy warriors and angry advocates of strict Islamic rule. But its major hallmark is no longer anti-Western militancy. "The Islamic world, long resistant to democratic change, is beginning to show signs of liberalization that includes modest democratic reforms and in several cases growing democratic ferment," concludes a report by Freedom House, a U.S.-based human rights group.

researched by VICKI GALLAY/Los Angeles Times