Antony Loewenstein
Islamism in Indonesia is something I examined during my recent visit there (my thoughts picked up by the Atlantic). It’s a small issue that shouldn’t be over-estimated but the reality exists:
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In this instance it does not look very moderate. I guess it depends on what you choose to concentrate on. I guess the real question is, what is this supposed to mean?
ReplyDeleteIndonesia is amazing and moderate. They have Hindu Sanscrith names, which is pretty tolerant for Sunni Muslims. Nonmuslim minorities are generally treated well.
ReplyDeleteThe 3% Chinese minority has about half of all the wealth today. It is an amazing testiment to Indonesians that they welcomed Chinese refugees to their shores in the 1900s and allowed them to prosper.
Off topic, Obama happens to be very popular in Indonesia.
" ... they welcomed Chinese refugees to their shores in the 1900s."
ReplyDeleteThen Suharto and gang murdered half-a-million+ of them. Still, some them were communists.
Suharto protected the Chinese minority from those who wanted to kill them. Speak to some Chinese Indonesians. Suharto was their savior.
ReplyDeleteIn 1965, Suharto saved Indonesia from an attempted communist takeover (the communists killed most of the senior officers of the Indonesian army in an assasination that caused Suharto to be promoted to head of the military)