The Indonesia difference and the JDF's Jakarta Declaration

In comparisons between the Islamic world and the Western world, the examples generally remain within an orientalist imagination between the European world and the peoples of the Middle East. Unfortunately this imagination influences even those Muslim minds that react against it. Even when one stays within these limits, with all clichés or counter-clichés, there are of course many ways in which a free Muslim mind of the finest kind can express itself. But there is great benefit in remembering that the world is not confined to this, that God's earth is very wide and His servants are very unbounded. That is why there is benefit in traveling the earth and opening oneself to God's earth and its people.

In Indonesia one feels precisely the blessing of this opening. After my article in which I conveyed my impressions of its incredibly sincere, hardworking, positive people, Prof. Dr. Beşir Atalay Hoca, bless him, reminded me that in Gallup's latest Global Emotions survey Indonesia ranks at the top of the positive emotions list.

I can say that the Gallup survey matches precisely the data that anyone can easily feel in the field. These feelings constitute a truly very strong source of social capital in the country for every kind of human activity, development, cooperation and good governance. In an environment where extreme heat and humidity reach their peak, you cannot help asking in what kind of cultural environment people could have been raised who, even if they live and work in the hardest conditions, in which you sometimes have difficulty breathing, never let the smile leave their faces. In Gallup's survey, around the same ranking but 3 points behind, Malaysia appears as a second Muslim country.

Indonesia is a people who, historically, experienced resistance to colonialism in all fields for two hundred years as much as they experienced colonialism itself. This resistance was possible to a large extent thanks to the Islamic ulema and a very strong civil society tradition shaped around them. The independence Indonesia has enjoyed since 1945 is today a situation whose price was paid by the whole people and whose value is therefore very well known. That is why the democracy that developed after independence rests on much stronger foundations than in other Islamic countries.

The Islamic movement, based on Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama, Ittihad al-Islam and countless Islamic communities large and small, which led the independence movements and in the course of this cooperated with one another in certain ways, permeated society down to all its rural veins, kept its own culture and identity alive by continually nourishing them against the Western colonialism represented by the Netherlands, and formed the greatest force for the struggle for independence. In this respect Islam is the most characteristic feature of society in Indonesia. That the Indonesians, about whom Turks generally form common impressions during Hajj and Umrah days for their pure white, spotless clothing, their discipline and order, is a reflection of their conditions and manners in their own country. Tesettür, for example, is widespread as a natural aspect of life as far as possible, but it is not a behavior that excludes or eliminates those who do not prefer it. There are also people who embrace a secular life, and every kind of facility and environment exists for them too. It is a society at peace with itself, with its people, and with each other.

The newly elected President Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo, compared with his predecessors, is more eager to make Indonesia more influential both in the region and in world politics, and to that end cares above all about securing a stronger national unity and solidarity within the country. He has formed a government that is more inclusive of all elements of the country, and has a serious vision and effort toward the country's development and toward bringing Indonesia into the top 10 economies within the next 10 years, and he sees very well that this can be possible above all by motivating the human resources within the country in a more peaceful and effective manner, and acts accordingly. At the same time, it is expected that at the international level Indonesia's voice can be stronger on matters concerning Muslims, especially Palestine, signs of which he shows in his speeches at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League Summit and in other forums. One must expect that its relations with Turkey will also be very good. Our ambassador to Indonesia, my esteemed friend Prof. Dr. Talip Küçükcan, member of parliament in the 25th-26th terms, explains that there is a far better environment for this than ever before. The officials of the Justice and Prosperity Party, which hosted the meeting of the Justice and Democracy Forum (JDF) and opened an office of it in Jakarta, also say that this is not merely their own party preference, and that the Forum's priorities of justice, democracy, human rights, human dignity, development and cooperation of peoples are common values shared by most politicians in Indonesia. From the attitudes and statements of all the politicians we visited as a Forum delegation, we also understand that this cooperation among the parties representing Muslim peoples and these bridges of dialogue are welcomed by everyone as an important step that will actually carry the Muslim world to the unity it longs for.

At the JDF meetings, alongside the possible contributions of the rise of Indonesia and Asia to the future of the world and the opportunities for the Islamic world, the Islamic world in terms of justice, democracy and human rights was discussed, especially the situations in Palestine, Sudan, Yemen and Syria, together with the situation of politicians held innocently in the prisons of Egypt, Tunisia and other Islamic countries, and the other issues from which Muslims suffer. As a result of the talks, a Jakarta Declaration was issued as an interim reference document among all components of the Arab and Islamic political arena and all parties who believe in the importance of the values of justice and democracy.

The full text of the Declaration can also be reached on the Forum's website. But to convey a few headings: JDF, as an organization representing 26 political parties from 18 Islamic countries, while appreciating the distinguished roles played by the State of Indonesia and its counterparts in Arab and Islamic countries in supporting the resistance and in efforts to stop the war in Gaza, calls on all Islamic countries to show greater solidarity with the Palestinian people, to mobilize the role of peoples and to free initiative, in order to confront the violent attack in which the occupying state and its allies violate all human values and all human values and international conventions and resolutions.

In the statement, which also warned some Islamic countries that disrupt stability in Sudan, Libya and Yemen with different interest expectations, the call was reiterated, especially regarding the Speakers of the Parliaments of Egypt and Tunisia, for the immediate release of political prisoners, for opening new paths of reconciliation that protect rights and ensure stability, and for creating a new ground for national reconciliation.

Furthermore, a call was made for the Al-Aqsa Flood to be regarded as an opportunity to review their situation, especially by some Islamic countries entering a race to normalize with the Zionist regime.