The courts here have sentenced some poor bastard, who waved a separatist flag in front of SBY (the Indonesia president) last year, to life imprisonment. Now there are some Indonesians deserving of life imprisonment, such as Suharto's son Tommy, but this guy is certainly not one of them. Fine the guy, even throw him in jail for a month but incarcerate him for the term of his natural life, where's the justice in that? The Jakarta Post reference is here.
The creeping threat of prohibition seems to have been allayed as the duty free alcohol stores here are cautiously opening their doors to expatriates again. Some are restricting purchases to three bottles per person while others are not limiting purchases but imposing a 10% surcharge which is being paid to you-know-who. These stores have seen a massive drop in revenue over the past few months because they have been restricted to selling alcohol to diplomatic staff only. Not much money in doing that.
Even if alcohol sales return to normal for expatriates, it will still be very difficult for Indonesians to purchase a bottle of wine. It was only a few short years ago that I could go my local supermarket and pick up a bottle of Australian wine at a reasonable price but those days are never likely to return. I keep mentioning creeping Islamisation of the country but it's really creeping Arabisation. Indonesians have had a relaxed and syncretic form of Islam for several centuries and its only since Suharto's fall from power that this has started to sour.
During Suharto's reign, the Islamic hardliners were slapped down whenever they became too vocal but since his departure, they have been increasingly bolder and none of the subsequent presidents has had the courage to publicly oppose them. The rot that is eating into Islam in Indonesia has come from outside the country in the form of Wahhabism, named after Muhammed ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, who interestingly studied in Basra and reputedly developed many of his ideas there. This form of Islam is really a perversion of the spirit of Islam and would have been roundly repudiated by the Prophet himself. Unfortunately, it has taken root in Saudi Arabia and many other countries. It is now a real threat to Indonesia. It is not flag-waving separatists that will tear Indonesia apart but this crazy Wahhabi sect.
The creeping threat of prohibition seems to have been allayed as the duty free alcohol stores here are cautiously opening their doors to expatriates again. Some are restricting purchases to three bottles per person while others are not limiting purchases but imposing a 10% surcharge which is being paid to you-know-who. These stores have seen a massive drop in revenue over the past few months because they have been restricted to selling alcohol to diplomatic staff only. Not much money in doing that.
Even if alcohol sales return to normal for expatriates, it will still be very difficult for Indonesians to purchase a bottle of wine. It was only a few short years ago that I could go my local supermarket and pick up a bottle of Australian wine at a reasonable price but those days are never likely to return. I keep mentioning creeping Islamisation of the country but it's really creeping Arabisation. Indonesians have had a relaxed and syncretic form of Islam for several centuries and its only since Suharto's fall from power that this has started to sour.
During Suharto's reign, the Islamic hardliners were slapped down whenever they became too vocal but since his departure, they have been increasingly bolder and none of the subsequent presidents has had the courage to publicly oppose them. The rot that is eating into Islam in Indonesia has come from outside the country in the form of Wahhabism, named after Muhammed ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, who interestingly studied in Basra and reputedly developed many of his ideas there. This form of Islam is really a perversion of the spirit of Islam and would have been roundly repudiated by the Prophet himself. Unfortunately, it has taken root in Saudi Arabia and many other countries. It is now a real threat to Indonesia. It is not flag-waving separatists that will tear Indonesia apart but this crazy Wahhabi sect.
2 comments:
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Hey pak sean, hope you don't mind me stopping by. :)
About your post, I think the 'Islamisation' of Indonesia, as you call it, is starting to disturb me. Mind you, this is only from an outsiders view at this point, but it seems to me that the ever prevalent 'they' are starting to slowly take away basic rights.
Like free speech and all that. For instance, the recent all-out ban on pornography. Not that I'm pro-porn or anything like that; I just think citizens of Indonesia deserve a choice. I mean, what people do in their own time, is their own time, you know?
Ok, sorry for the incoherent rant.
nice catching up with you.
-Yasmin
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