Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Between fake and true morality

Between fake and true morality

Al Makin, Yogyakarta | Tue, 04/19/2011 10:26 AM | Opinion, The Jakarta Post
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The public wonders why the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) paid more attention to the case of Arifinto, a legislator who was caught red-handed watching a porn movie during a House of Representatives plenary session, than to Misbakhun’s involvement in “Centurygate”.

While pornography may disturb one person’s mentality, corruption can lead to the destruction of the whole system. Pornography violates only a sexual taboo, while corruption causes damage to the nation’s morality.

Well, this can be answered simply. Pornography is much simpler than corruption, although both cannot be avoided by party leaders. Arifinto was indeed alone in watching the video, whereas Misbakhun must have worked with a “team”.

Corruption often involves various agents working together as a team. Melinda Dee, who is accused of embezzling millions of dollars from the Citibank where she worked, was never alone. Investigations have so far found that she had a network and teammates.

If Misbakhun was forced to resign, it would cost only his political career for a moment. The faces of other members of the party — who also have likely ever taken pleasure in watching porn (in fact, in many meetings that have taken place in various hotels parliament members may have watched porn movies) — can be saved.

The public is again deceived with the hope that the case is simply dismissed due to the resignation of the wrongdoer, who publicly repented by evoking God’s name.

In this vein, religion plays its part in politics. It is a salvation for both the politician and the party.

Arifinto’s sins, and his party’s damaged name, are washed. End of story.


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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The banal rhetoric of imperialism, colonialism

The banal rhetoric of imperialism, colonialism

Al Makin, Yogyakarta | Fri, 04/08/2011 8:00 AM | Opinion, The Jakarta Post
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The current campaign waged by the US and its allies against Col. Muammar Qaddafi’s merciless dictatorship also entails a war of ideas.

Qaddafi and his followers have shielded themselves from democratic protesters with a predictable and boring rhetoric of anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism.

Libya will be occupied by the West, just as Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam were occupied! Colonial powers harbor nothing but jealousy of the Third World’s advancing wealth! Oil is at the root of every problem!

The rhetoric evokes the bitter experience of the Islamic world under a long period of Western colonialism. It is not surprising that the US and its allies have been branded as crusading armies bent on destroying their Muslim enemies.

Conspiracy theorists have already drawn analogies between colonialism and the recent Libya campaign. Some Indonesian politicians have promoted this rhetoric in public. Whether anyone wants to listen is a different issue.

Hidayat Nur Wahid, a senior politician of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said that the goal of the current war in Libya was “to seize the nation’s oil”, adding that “European countries have suffered from an economic recession. They need new resources to revive their economy.”

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