Christian minority For my friend AA, the activist, who happens to belong to the Christian minority, the development of these groups in Indonesia is no mere academic concern.
His future may well depend on it.
I had a few run-ins with the hardline Islamists as I toured the country lecturing on Progressive Islam.
In Palembang, a young member of the hardline Hizb-ut Tahrir movement began his tirade with the cry "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Great).
As he went on to make his point his level of animosity increased accordingly:
"What do you mean when you talk about 'Progressive Islam'?" he barked at me.
"Islam is the only solution to everything, can't you see?
"Modern Progressives like you talk about democracy and human rights, but what we need here is an Islamic state under a Caliphate, that will unite all Muslims and give us the power to destroy our enemies, the Jews and the Americans!"
I pointed out to the young hotspur that his way of dividing the world into Muslims and non-Muslims was itself a modern mode of thinking, and that Islamist parties and organisations like his were already part of modernity.
But I don't want to give the impression that Indonesia is a country about to be overrun by angry young men driven to despair.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/3631168.stm 
Indeks 
Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:46 pm