MUSLIM WORLD
A higher dose of Islam in national life, and as always, the politicians are the first to catch the shifting winds.
This week, President Suharto, the former military General who has been the sprawling archipelagic nation's unquestioned ruler for 29 years, appeared at the Congress of a Muslim intellectual's body to pay public tribute to the role of Muslim groups in the nation's struggle for independence from the Dutch, 50 years ago. The event passed largely unnoticed in the international media, but in the Indonesian context, Suharto's action assumed significance. Indonesia's State ideology is Pancashila, and not Islam. Although close to 90 per cent of Indonesia is Muslim the rest is Christian, Hindu and a few animistic groups. Pronouncedly, Islamic groups have traditionally been kept at a safe distance from the politics of the State. In recent months, observers of Indonesia have watched the growing influence of a group, banded under the banner of the Indonesian Association of Muslim Intellectuals, for which the local acronym is ICMI. The group was set up in 1990 and is headed by a Suharto protege, State Minister for Research and Technology B.J. Habibie.
In parallel, there has been a marked increase in religious sentiments in Indonesia. Two years ago, a State- sponsored lottery, billed to promote sports from its profits, was pulled after youth groups claimed that it was unislamic and encouraged gambling. Two weeks ago, a Chinese man, believed to be deranged, set off riots in a provincial town after rumors spread that he had desecrated the Quran. (Now) Suharto has acknowledged, for the first time, the role of Islam.
(Source: The Indian Express, 10 December, 1995)
