The Last King of Java: Indonesia's former president offers a model of Muslim tolerance

Opinion Journal (WSJ) ^ | April 7, 2007 | Bret Stephens

[EveningStar]

JAKARTA, Indonesia--Suppose for a moment that the single most influential religious leader in the Muslim world openly says "I am for Israel." Suppose he believes not only in democracy but in the liberalism of America's founding fathers. Suppose that, unlike so many self-described moderate Muslims who say one thing in English and another in their native language, his message never alters. Suppose this, and you might feel as if you've descended into Neocon Neverland...

[EveningStar]

ping

[Cicero]

Fascinating. I suspect he is fighting a losing battle, but it’s good to know such a man exists.

Also interesting that he comes up with the same balanced view as Pope Benedict at Regensburg: the problem is not just tyrannical religious fanaticism, but also western positivism. Faith and reason need to be balanced.

[EveningStar]

I noticed that. The article does need to be read in its entirety, or not at all.

[kalee]

Most interesting article I’ve read today. Thanks for posting.

“Iraqis understood that Saddam had caused them trouble,” and were grateful to be rid of him, he says. “But as for the U.S. concept of democracy, they don’t understand it at all.” The problem, he adds, goes double in the rest of the Arab world, where, he says, the prevailing view is that being a democracy is an expression of weakness, while being a dictatorship is a sign of strength.

[EveningStar]

democracy is an expression of weakness, while being a dictatorship is a sign of strength

Amazing, eh? :(

[Valin]

And he dismisses Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, the al-Jazeera preacher who helped incite the cartoon riots, as an “angry, conventional” thinker.

Well put!

[Ragnar54]

What really concerns Mr. Wahid is what he sees as the increasingly degraded state of the Muslim mind.

Mr. Wahid is himself an example of this. His exposure to rational political theory and history has obviously been limited by his Islamic education.

He also believes that the "only solution" to the challenge of Islamic radicalization in Indonesia is more democracy.

Wrong! Aristotle pointed out (2500 years ago) that democracy leads to tyranny.

What's needed, in other words, is for countries like Indonesia and Iraq to find a way to combine effective government with a powerful respect for the rights of the citizen.

The Founding Fathers of America solved that problem. Unfortunately for "countries like Indonesia and Iraq", those who represent America to the world are fundamentally anti-American when it comes to selecting a form of government. It is infuriating that we spend American blood and treasure to liberate countries like Germany, Japan, Iraq and Afghanistan without requiring that they adopt a correct form of government.

[expatguy]

There is that word "tolerance" again.

Hopefully the day will come that we will come to realize that tolerance was the root of all of our problems.

[James W. Fannin]

Wrong! Aristotle pointed out (2500 years ago) that democracy leads to tyranny.

The hell with foreign countries, we've forgotten this here. It's time to rebuild our republic's representational system, before it's too late.