How hard is it to just look away?

November 24th, 2008 alaksir Posted in Current events, Opinion |

Too hard, apparently, but it shouldn’t be.

A certain individual got a bit too serious about tasking himself to take up a modern day version of the holy crusade. Brandishing Geert Wilders‘ sort of Dutch courage (after all, he named his site ‘lapo tuak,’ after the favorite Bataknese spot for enjoying palm wine), he basically translated religiously provocative materials to a group of audience whose qualities do not include straight talk.

I’m talking about the recent closure of the rabidly anti-Islam Wordpress blog, which drew muslim furors by posting articles critical of Islam in the Indonesian language and vulgar depictions of the Islamic prophet in cartoon.

Mr. Muhammad Nuh, the Communications and Information Minister took it personally, even threatened government investigation and legal action against the site’s owner, before Wordpress admin decided to take down the site.

We know where Mr. Nuh comes from. We know he’s something of an Islamic scholar himself, and he used to be the head of the East Java branch of ICMI. But he is also a government official who was sworn into office, and as such he as well as all government officers in the country would have pledged that:

…

I will always uphold the honor of the Country, the Government and the dignity of its Civil Servants, and will always uphold the interests of the Country above those of my own, someone else or certain groups;

…

Recent actions by the government on media news haven’t been comforting in this regard to say the least. It’s clear that the government has been increasingly embracing Islamist stances on issues such as Ahmadiyya ban, porn law enactment as well as this website closure. It’s also clear that it must have something to do with reelection ambitions, as next year’s election draws nearer.

I hope this pattern does not continue and I hope SBY remembers that he is an elected leader of the entire populace, not the majority, let alone the most politicized one.

But to digress, let’s be clear though: I don’t support hate speech nor wish to promote it. I think it’s a waste of time and any person with a bit of intelligence shouldn’t have anything to do with it. But I don’t believe it should be outlawed.

First, speech is man’s most innate facility in understanding the world around him, and as such, it deserves your respect, at the very least not to ban it. Second, banning speech equals banning ideas, which is instinctively pointless if not downright ridiculous. I don’t believe you can simply ban an idea and wish it will go away. Any idea will have currency as long as it makes any sense at all to its followers. What you can do to fight one that doesn’t make sense is expose its weaknesses, or at least, just look away and tell others to do the same.

This is the kind of intellectually empowering spirit that gave rise to the Islamic golden age from the 7th to 13th century. Those who idealize the early period of Islamic civilization and long for its return should remember that the great caliph Umar said once to his governors:

“Only decide on the basis of proof, be kind to the weak so that they can express themselves freely and without fear, deal on an equal footing with litigants by trying to reconcile them.”

Our government should listen to this instruction and take it to heart. Enough said.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.