| "I have traveled across the length and breadth of | | | | institutions are funded by the state with taxpayer |
| India and I have not seen one person who is a | | | | money. |
| beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in | | | | Recently, Prince Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan stated in |
| this country, such high moral values, people of such | | | | Islamabad: "In the future the great powers of the |
| caliber, that I do not think we would ever conquer | | | | world will be Asian, so the powers of today would do |
| this country, unless we break the very backbone of | | | | well to invest in the people of the Middle East to |
| this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, | | | | ensure that the new world does not carry with it the |
| and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and | | | | problems of the old." |
| ancient education system, her culture, for if the | | | | Arabs like Prince Hassan and my friend quoted above |
| Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good | | | | are countable on fingertips. But all of them realize |
| and greater than their own, they will lose their | | | | that they are living in a sick society, and we in |
| self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will | | | | Indonesia are "importing" their sickness and illness. We |
| become what we want them, a truly dominated | | | | welcome all kinds of deadly viruses being exported |
| nation." | | | | by them. |
| These "are" the words of Lord Thomas Babington | | | | In an e-mail to a common friend, an Indonesian |
| Macaulay (1800-1859), member of the governing | | | | Muslim Activist, a name to reckon with, my Arab |
| council of the East India Company from 1834 to | | | | friend added this to Prince Hassan's statement: "That |
| 1838, excerpted from his speech delivered on Feb. 2, | | | | is exactly what I was worried about when we talked |
| 1835. Reading these words almost two centuries | | | | about this wave of [word omitted] and [word |
| later, I realize that Lord Macaulay is not dead. Hence, | | | | omitted] other stupid imported behaviorism of |
| my use of "are" and not "were." His ideas are still | | | | intolerance and narrow-mindedness! YOU SHOULD |
| alive. He still has a large following all over the world. | | | | DECIDE WHAT KIND OF ISLAM IS SUITABLE FOR |
| A very dear friend of mine tells me that indeed the | | | | YOU. YOU WILL HAVE TO INFLUENCE THE OLD |
| so-called Indian Dominion under the British Rule was | | | | MUSLIM WORLD BY YOUR VALUES AND RICH |
| born in 1835 with Lord Macaulay playing the role of | | | | TRADITION OF TOLERANCE, ACCEPTANCE OF THE |
| midwife. Macaulay attacked the very foundations of | | | | OTHER, HUMILITY AND SIMPLICITY." |
| the age-old Indian civilization, and he was successful. | | | | The capital letters are not my "improvement." I |
| How many of us in Indonesia realize that the same is | | | | quote the e-mail as it was written. I have however |
| happening to us, in this modern age? We are | | | | deleted two words, which I know would be strongly |
| surrounded by not one or two, but a multitude of | | | | protested by "our" narrow mindedness, that identifies |
| Macaulays. The only difference being: the famous or | | | | religion with outer attributes. |
| infamous Macaulay of old was English, white, and | | | | Indonesia is fast becoming a culturally "dominated" |
| therefore easily distinguishable. Now, the present | | | | nation, and our society is breaking because of it. The |
| genre of Macaulays comes in all colors and shades, | | | | culture of the Saudis, the ideology of wahabbis and |
| whites, browns, reds, yellows and even blacks. | | | | the traditions of Arabia, which are not in line with our |
| And, they are attacking our cultural roots and age-old | | | | own, will dominate a large chunk. And, the domineer |
| civilization from all sides. One of them, the wahabbis, | | | | shall certainly profit from such domination. |
| which are supported by the Saudi Monarchy, have so | | | | I must repeat once again that Saudi Arabia and other |
| deeply infiltrated our society and social system, that | | | | Middle Eastern countries are less than 100 years |
| we are now confused and unable to distinguish | | | | away from exhausting their oil reserves and are now |
| spiritual values of religion from religious radicalism. | | | | confronted with the possibility of social unrest due to |
| Some of our ministers, high officials, even military | | | | the shortage of food and clean drinking water. |
| personnel and political parties are being "used" as their | | | | They are already panicking. And, they would leave no |
| agents to attack us from within. | | | | stone unturned to ensure that they have domination |
| They are panicking and would leave no stone | | | | over countries like ours to ensure their food supply. |
| unturned to ensure they have domination over | | | | I wonder if our officials have the intelligence to |
| countries like ours | | | | understand this point. |
| I have a friend in the Middle East, whose cousin is | | | | I pity one of our high officials who proposed what he |
| the Mufty, or Chief Ulema of one of the countries | | | | termed as "religious tourism" for the people of the |
| there. Commenting on the latest course of events in | | | | Middle East. What tourism? They are already |
| our country - from the fatwas issued by the | | | | confronted with the issue of their survival. |
| Indonesian Council of Ulemas to the increasing | | | | Meanwhile, as we face a global financial crisis and a |
| radicalism and religious indoctrination given to our | | | | hungry mob that is trying to dominate us, we are |
| children - my dear Arab friend has this to say: | | | | busy spending on the upcoming elections. |
| "This is important [for] you [to] understand the | | | | Do we have the money for that? Where is the |
| hypocrisy of the backward society in which we live. | | | | money coming from? Those who would like to |
| While I have witnessed while living in Indonesia | | | | enslave us will gladly lend us the money against some |
| amongst you more of the tolerance, acceptance of | | | | favors. |
| the other, the serenity, the appreciation for life and | | | | Perhaps some of our officials do realize this, hence |
| nature, here in the Middle [East] I feel it is the | | | | their efforts to increase revenues from taxes and |
| complete opposite pole of your world! That is why I | | | | government bonds, even using religious terms to |
| kept repeating how important it is to preserve your | | | | allure our not-so-intelligent masses who are easily |
| culture, nature and values." | | | | swayed by religious sentiments. |
| Alas, these very cultural values are now regarded | | | | Friends, we are living in very dangerous times. Our |
| "not in line with religion." Interestingly and quite | | | | independence is at stake. I wish, I hope, I pray that |
| unfortunately, people who say so are feared by the | | | | our leadership is aware of this and wise enough to |
| present government, in spite of the fact that their | | | | deal with the situation. |