No subject

make it clear that it isn't against Islam.

Last month, US President George W. Bush hosted a dinner to mark Idul Fitri, the 
most important holiday on the Islamic calendar, and has reached out to Muslim 
leaders with speeches referring to Islam as "a faith based on peace, love, and 
compassion."

"After Sept. 11, many people argued that the war on terrorism was a war on 
Islam,'' US Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph Boyce said in his speech marking the 
release of the booklet. "I want to assure you again that this is completely 
untrue.''

When the US announced in October that it would be airing a series of five 
minidocumentaries on Muslims in America, some here worried the effort could 
backfire by coming across as propaganda.

Divianti Febriani Fariz, an Indonesian communications student at the University 
of Missouri, was filmed blending in with other students in lecture halls, 
attending prayers, and smiling on a bright campus.

"The American students that I have met have respected my beliefs. It's nice to 
know that people are willing to open up their hearts and understand what they 
don't know,'' she says.

But though the videos skirt some of the problems American Muslims may face, 
they seem to have been fairly well-received.

Siti Fitria, wearing a combination of Muslim head scarf and blue jeans that 
seems to be the uniform for women on campus, says she saw the spot on Ms. Fariz 
on television. "I was glad that Islam was able to have a place at her 
university,'' she says.

At the rollout of the booklet, which was attended by about 150 people, it was 
also clear that the State Department had taken to heart concerns that its early 
presentations on US Muslims were too sanitized.

Imam Yahya M. Hendi, the first Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University in 
Washington, defended America in a live video link, but also spoke proudly of a 
protest march against US Israel policy in April and addressed the problems of 
US foreign policy to many Muslims.

"Some American policies contribute to the impression that America is anti-
Islam,'' he said. "I don't think that - but we have to reexamine what we are 
and who we stand up for."

On the US government website devoted to its campaign - www.opendialogue.com - 
the US is allowing very critical comments to be posted. "We are not stupid or 
blind or deaf,'' reads one angry post from "Aida" in Indonesia. "We read your 
intention not by what you say, but what you do."

In the end, it's that sort of openness that may do the US the most good - and 
it's the type of public criticism sorely lacking in many Muslim societies.

As Mr. Hendi, a naturalized American who was born in Nablus, the West Bank, 
says, "I can criticize Presidents Bush or Clinton... and I don't have to worry 
about losing my job at the end of the day. That really means a lot to me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BBC
Wednesday, 8 January, 2003, 01:07 GMT 
The changing face of Indonesian Islam
-- In the wake of the Bali bombing, BBC South East Asia correspondent Jonathan 
Head looks at how Indonesia's Muslims are responding to the world's new 
interest in them. 

Green lasers flash across the sky above the huge square in central Jakarta. 

Drummers and musicians start up a rippling rhythm on an extravagant Arabian 
stage-set, as 100 white-clad women perform a synchronised dance in front of 
thousands of onlookers. 

And the main speaker is not a bearded mullah or a firebrand preacher, he is a 
40-year-old businessman who wields a laptop and a decidedly secular message. 

Abdullah Gymnastiar is by far the most popular Islam figure in Indonesia. 

Tonight, as usual, he speaks not about religion or the Koran, but about the 
failings of politicians. 

This is the moderate, easy-going face of Islam for which Indonesia has long 
been known. But it is changing. 

Bin Laden idolised 
I visited the town of Cianjur, around 50 miles south of Jakarta. 

It is one of the most devoutly Islamic parts of the country. Outside the mosque 
in Cianjur, a group of young Muslim students had set up stalls selling low 
price products for the poor. 

Alongside the cheap perfume and crockery, I spotted tapes of speeches by Osama 
Bin Laden for sale and videos of Palestinian suicide bombers. 

The students told me they did not view Bin Laden as a terrorist, but as a 
courageous fighter for Islam. 

None of the students supported violent actions like the Bali bombs, but one 
man, Mohammad Asep, told me he did not accept the Western view that Islamic 
militants were to blame. 

"For the moment, people shouldn't point fingers at Muslims or any others; there 
isn't enough evidence yet. It only causes bad feelings. So please, all people - 
Indonesians and foreigners - stop blaming the radical Muslim groups." 

Mainstream Muslims, though, are becoming concerned about a gradual drift 
towards fundamentalism, especially among the young. 

"More people go to the mosque, more people want to perform haj, for example; 
but this is symbolic you see," Syafi'e Ma'arif, chairman of Muhammadiyah - the 
second largest Islamic organisation in Indonesia, with 27 million members - 
told me. 

I'm not swayed whether Islam can offer the guidance - can offer the solution - 
for the complexity of problems," he said. 

Chilling warning 
Two hundred miles to the west of Cianjur, musicians performed part of the great 
Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, in the Royal Palace of Yogyakarta. 

This city is the heart of traditional Javanese culture which blends Islam with 
older Hindu and animist faiths. But despite its long reputation for tolerance 
and moderation, Yogyakarta now has extremists of its own, campaigning from 
offices inside the city. 

Following evening prayers, Irfan Awwas preached a hardline view of the world to 
his young and impressionable audience, as a chilling warning for the West. 

"If America continues to commit atrocities against the Islamic community - at 
the moment they're threatening Iraq and they're pressurising the Indonesian 
government to arrest Muslims - then I am certain that a new generation will be 
born, blessed by God, and aware of everything America has done which will carry 
out actions much bigger than what we saw in Bali." 

Frustrations 
Today, few Indonesians see things the way that Irfan Awwas does. There is even 
a campaign now in Yogyakarta, led by the traditional Sultan, to drive the 
extremists out of their city. 

Whether or not he wins more converts, Syafi'e Ma'arif said, depends a great 
deal on whether Indonesia can pull itself out of the chaos left after the 
collapse of the Suharto dictatorship four-and-a-half years ago. 

"Why do they kill? Something very, very interesting - because this nation is a 
trembling nation now. This nation is full of corruption. This nation has no 
justice. So people have become very, very frustrated," he said. 

"But (if) these militants are not deported, actually, they will fail. I think 
failure is their future," he added. 

Governments across the world, who are now watching the shaky steps being taken 
to build a democracy in the world's largest Muslim nation, must be holding 
their breath and hoping he is right. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jakarta says Saddam ouster would be ''hard to accept'' 
Jakarta, Jan. 8 (Reuters)

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, said on Wednesday it would 
be difficult to accept the ousting of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.  

The United States has threatened military action against Iraq if Baghdad does 
not comply with a U.N. resolution and disclose any banned weapons programmes. 
Washington has also said it supports a ''regime change'' in Baghdad. 

''Indonesia supports every effort on the disarmament of weapons of mass 
destruction through the U.N. Security Council,'' 

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda told a news conference. 

''However, intervention along with disarmament that targets a regime change in 
Iraq would be difficult to accept.'' 

Wirajuda did not elaborate, but officials have expressed fears that any U.S.-
led attack on Iraq could ignite passions among Indonesia's 210 million Muslims 
and spark major anti-Western street protests. 

He reiterated Jakarta's opposition to unilateral action against Iraq and said 
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw would visit Jakarta on Thursday. 

Wirajuda said the Indonesian government would seek an explanation from Straw on 
British and U.S. plans for Iraq, and also what evidence they had that led to 
Iraq being accused of having weapons of mass destruction. 

U.S. President George W. Bush has threatened to disarm Iraq through force if it 
fails to act on its own, although Washington has said no decision has been made 
to go to war. 

So far U.N. arms inspectors have not reported any evidence to support the case 
for war after weeks of searches in Iraq. London and Washington say they have 
intelligence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, but Iraq says it does 
not possess such arms. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New York Times
Indonesia Opposes Military Action in Iraq
By Jane Perlez
Jakarta, Jan. 8 

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, is opposed to military 
action to topple the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, the foreign minister said 
today.

The minister, Hassan Wirajuda, said that "regime change" through military 
intervention "would be difficult to accept."

Instead, he said that Indonesia supported "every effort on the disarmament of 
weapons of mass destruction through the United Nations Security Council." 

Indonesian government officials, preoccupied by the aftermath of the Bali 
attack and the threat of terrorism at home, have said little about Iraq. 
Western diplomats said there was no expectation that Indonesia would support 
intervention against Iraq.

The hope, said one diplomat, was to persuade the government to keep its 
statements on Iraq as moderate as possible.

The minister's comments, made as part of a presentation to the media on 
Indonesia's foreign policy in the last year, were fairly low key, and stressed 
the importance of the United Nations.

But they appeared to reflect an unease among some Indonesian officials at the 
prospect of widespread anti-American protests in the event of a war against 
Iraq.

The minister for political and security affairs, Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, 
has warned publicly that a United States-led war against Iraq would spark anti-
American demonstrations.

During the American strikes against Afghanistan in 2001, the United States 
embassy became the scene of large scale demonstrations over a period of more 
than three weeks. At that time, a number of leaders made scathing statements 
about the United States.

A war against Iraq could serve to embolden Islamic militants who have been on 
the defensive since the round up of more than a dozen suspects in the Bali 
bombing, several officials said.

An American expert on Indonesian Islam, Dr. Robin Bush, told the American 
Chamber of Commerce this week that foreign businesses should be prepared for 
protests if war started.

"Be prepared for the fact it will be messy," said Dr. Bush, who heads the Islam 
and civil society program at the Asia Foundation. "How bad it will be will 
depend on the level of international consensus" for the war, she said.

Western diplomats said that the level of unrest in Indonesia would depend on a 
number of variables including the extent of Iraqi civilian casualties and the 
reaction of the Iraqi population to the war.

Dr. Bush said that moderate Islamic leaders in Indonesia were concerned that an 
American-led war against Iraq would "reduce the legitimacy of their pro-
democracy work." These leaders had been able to gain some momentum against the 
militants in the aftermath of Bali, she said. This upper hand could quickly 
evaporate in the event of war, she added.

The Bush administration ordered all dependents of American diplomats and non-
essential American employees at the United States embassy to leave Indonesia 
soon after the Bali attack.

In several reviews since the evacuation, the State Department has decided that 
Indonesia remained too insecure for the return of the employees or their 
dependents, administration officials said. The timing of their return was still 
under review, they said.

The Indonesian foreign minister said he would question the British foreign 
minister, Jack Shaw, during a meeting on Thursday in Jakarta, on the evidence 
for Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Shaw is visiting 
Indonesia as part of a three-country swing through South East Asia. Twenty-six 
British citizens were killed in the Bali attack
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
National News
January 08, 2003
Trial against 'Time' adjourned 

Jakarta: The South Jakarta district court adjourned for more than two months on 
Tuesday a defamation lawsuit filed by Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir against 
U.S. magazine Time and its journalists after the accused failed to show up.

There was no explanation for their absence. 

"The trial is adjourned until March 11 to give a chance to the accused to 
attend the court hearing," said member judge Zainal Abidin on behalf of 
presiding Judge Lalu Mariyun. 

Ba'asyir filed a defamation suit on Oct. 16 against Time magazine, its editor 
Karl Taro Greenfeld, writer Romesh Ratnesar and reporter Jason Tedjasukmana for 
an article in its Sept. 23, 2002 issue. 

Time alleged that Ba'asyir, 64, believed to be the spiritual leader of regional 
terrorist network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), authorized Omar Al Faruq to use JI 
operatives and resources to attack the U.S. embassy in Singapore. Al Faruq, 
according to Time, also said that Ba'asyir was behind the 1999 bombing of 
Jakarta's largest mosque to provoke religious conflict. 

It also wrote: "Al-Faruq told the CIA that Ba'asyir was just as eager to work 
with Al-Qaeda, even dispatching his aides to procure weapons and explosives for 
Al-Faruq and his cronies." 

Ba'asyir had denied the report's contents, saying he was slandered. 
--JP 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aceh rebel commander holds meeting aimed at maintaining peace pact
Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Jan 7 (AFP) 

The military chief of separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province held a 
major meeting to safeguard the ceasefire agreement with the government, his 
spokesman said Tuesday. 

The weekend meeting headed by Free Aceh Movement (GAM) military chief Muzakkir 
Manaf was attended by some 2,500 GAM officials from across the province in an 
undisclosed area in North Aceh district, said spokesman Sofyan Dawod. 

The meeting -- tightly guarded by hundreds of rebel fighters -- was the first 
major gathering led by the Libyan-trained military chief since he became GAM 
commander last year, Dawod told AFP by satellite phone. 

There was no independent confirmation of the numbers attending the meeting. 
Last February the military estimated GAM's total active strength at 2,000. 

Dawod said Manaf formed a GAM military police unit to "carry out stern action 
against any misconduct by GAM soldiers against Indonesian institutions or 
civilians." 

He said the meeting took place "successfully and safely." Manaf took over from 
Abdullah Syafii, who was killed by troops last year. 

A peace deal between Indonesia and GAM went into force December 9. An estimated 
10,000 people have died since the separatist war began in the province on 
Sumatra island in 1976. 

At least 11 civilians have been killed since the agreement was signed but 
overall violence has greatly diminished. 

A joint security body monitoring the ceasefire said Tuesday it had deployed 
three more monitoring teams. 

The three teams of six monitors each were deployed by the Joint Security 
Committee (JSC) and will operate in the southern and eastern districts of the 
province as well as in the capital Banda Aceh. 

Fifteen of an eventual 25 monitoring teams have been deployed in throughout the 
province at the northernmost tip of Sumatra island. 

Each consists of two representatives from the security forces, two from GAM and 
two international observers representing the Henry Dunant Centre (HDC). 

The foreigners are from the Thai and Philippine military. 

The Geneva-based HDC has mediated talks between Indonesia and GAM since 2000 
and brokered the latest ceasefire. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~