October 9th, 2006, in , , , by Another Muhammad cartoon controversy in Denmark has stirred ill-will among some Indonesian Muslims.
On the 6th Danish state television aired some amateur video footage showing young members of the anti-immigrant Danish Peoples Party engaged in a competition to draw humiliating cartoons of Mohammad. The filming of the cartoon drawing was done secretly by an undercover agent who was attempting to do research on the Peoples Party and shows a number of young people drinking, singing and drawing cartoons ridiculing Muhammad.
In Indonesia there have some predictable reactions, similar to those aired during the that the president of the PKS, Tifatul Sembiring, was making threats to the government of Denmark.
I remind the Danish government not to engage in provocation. If the Danish government can not keep good harmony then it will be responsible for the consequences.
He said a government must know how to control its own people.
Amidhan of the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) that the airing of the cartoon videos showed the intolerance of the people concerned in Denmark and that freedom of expression should not allow people to insult others. Especially during Ramadan Muslims demanded respect, he said.
Din Syamsuddin of Muhammadiyah that Muslims seek a legal path of redress for this insult, for example by taking the matter to the International Court. He said the cartoons were an attempt to provoke Muslims and make them lose control.
In another report Din that western atheism was to blame, atheists could not understand God.
Those who supported the rights of people to freely express themselves on religious matters were egotistical, tyrannical, and terroristic, he .
Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) chief KH Hasyim Muzadi that there was a systematic plot to insult the holiness of Islam. He advised that Muslims not be taken in by Islamophobic attempts to incite their rage and therefore put them in a bad light.
Continued..
Former president Gus Dur typically advises calm.
He said the Danes had the right to hold any kind of cartoon drawing festivities they wanted to even one insulting to Muslims. He is quoted as :
Just let them do it. It is their right.
If we respond in excessive ways to every issue that appears, there will never be an end to them [the cartoon drawing competitions].
At the other end of the spectrum of reactions comes the General Secretary of the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI), Ichwan Syam. He that Indonesia should consider cutting off diplomatic ties with Denmark, at least on certain levels.
And then a Roman Catholic priest, Frans Magnis Suseno, who is originally from Germany, complained that western countries do not protect religion from ridicule and abuse. He :
The West needs a Protection of Religion Law.
(Barat perlu Undang-Undang Perlindungan Agama.
)
The Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda called the Danish ambassador Niels Erik Andersen to his office and complained about the Islamophobia displayed by the airing of the video in Denmark. Ministry spokesman Desra Percaya Indonesia understood the matter of freedom of expression but that such freedom could not extend to the insulting of religions.
12th October.
Vice chairman of Commission I of the parliament, Tosari Wijaya, has for restrictions on travel by Danish citizens to Indonesia.
Muhammadiyah leader Din Syamsudin met with the Danish ambassador today and later that Muslims had to respond cleverly to the problem, by for example, boycotting Danish goods or reporting the case to the International Court. He advised Muslims not to be overly provoked.
Everyone has his own idol. And all of them want their idol become the best idol of all.
The caricaturists has their own religious idol.
And They idol is not so much loved by their kinds as the other idol (Muhammad).
So when they can not promote their idol, they discredit other people s idol .
That is very not grown up!
-go to your neigbour s house and yell your mother is a wh**e! and then tell the angry neighbour hey, freedom of expression! .
-or go to the local church, walk up to the pastor, and yell out loud to the congregation jesus is dead! and explained to the angry mob I was just practicing freedom of expression .
-or vandalize and draw obscene graphics in the walls of some house of worship (synagogues, mosques, churches, vihara, etc) and explain later hey guys, freedom of expression!
.
-or go to the china town, little india, or some other ethnical neigbourhood and yell out loud some racistic statements, when the mob came out with knifes, cleaver, pitchforks, or guns just explain that you were was just practicing the art of freedom of expression.
do that, and good luck.
may you have a long life! Difficult issue. In this contest and similar ones generally debated nowadays I perceive a subtle difference:
When people insult they are aware of it and they do it to cause offense.
On the other hand, people might feel offended even if the offender is not aware of being offensive. E.g.
: people A are asked not to eat or drink in public during Ramadan in order not to offend people B even if people A don t feel it offensive.
The recent Pope s speech comes to mind.
As to Raka s comment, my stand on this issue is that the problem is not whether you can or you cannot do something.
The problem is whether what you do is a criminal offense.
You cannot compare the offense of a person with the offense of an ideology, religion or else. I have not chosen to be what I am: black, tall, hairy, man, Indonesia etc.
But it is completely my choice to be communist, fascist, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, mountainclimber, musician, etc.
To summarise, If I say you are a ing negro I commit an offense. While if I say: is b .
hit , I do not commit an offense (even if it is perceived as an offense by certain people).
Why religion shall be favoured over other ideologies? Recently I took part in a discussion about religion and was asked whether I thought it was important to respect all religions.
I thought about this for quite a while and my answer is NO - I really dont need to. There is a lot of talk about respect with regard to the cartoons of Muhammed and now the recent video - where respect is demanded for Islam and in this context we ought to put religion in its right place in this forum.
I feel that religion is a personal matter - something irrational - what I mean is it is something that we have out of personal choice (or it ought to be).
Theoretically, you can not say what is the right or wrong religion - you can only make the point out of ones own personal conclusions and convictions. I am almost forced to put religion into a group of other irrational elements as art, music and for that matter love.
These elements can not be put into a concrete analysis of what is good or bad, right or wrong - you cannot make laws about these elements just as you can make laws about religions (only that there should be religious freedom) - but one can demand that religions keep within the law.
This means that it is optimal to have the opportunity to believe in what you want - freedom of choice.
In Denmark (where the cartoons originated) and most of the western world has religious freedom. But there is nothing in the law that demands respect .
One can have respect for people and the way that they represent their religion for example: Mahatma Ghandi, Dalai Lama, Mother Theresa, Theodor Herzl, Martin Luther etc. withoug it being necessary having to say that their religion has to have respect. If a religion demands respect then so does Scientology, The Children of God, Moonies, Voodoo, Satanisme and a whole realm of other religions.
I ask therefore - why should they.
Personally - I have no respect for religions that promote violence in any form and inequality for women - just as I have no respect for religions that brainwash young and decieve young people and even children - or using religion as a political weapon. This is my personal opinion and I have the right to have this.
Relgiion doesnt always make a lot of sense - but then sometimes it does religion is between faith and the believer - and there are many ways of looking at religion. Just like art - you cannot say for sure what is good or bad art or music - this is a personal opinion. Just as one cannot say what is the right or wrong love - the people involved will have to decide that.
As people of this world we must have the freedom to make, music and art - and we must also be allowed to have our love and religion as we will - we dont need to have respect - just freedom. Kim: you da man (or woman), aren t you? wow!
where did this came from?
Recently I took part in a discussion about religion and was asked whether I thought it was important to respect all religions. I thought about this for quite a while and my answer is NO - I really dont need to
yes absolutely, why must we respect other people s religion?
why must we respect other people s race and ethnicity? why must we respect people s gender? we shouldn t respect any of them, in fact we shouldn t respect other people!
ingenious!!!
jokes aside, where have you been? let s fill in the blanks, shall we? religion, culture, race, ethnicity, and gender are some properties that determined a person.
if you disrespect other people s religion, culture, race, ethnicity, and gender for example, than it means you disrespect that person. are you saying that we should not respect other people?!
man, you should ve won the peace nobel prize instead of that Bangladesh guy.
Tony,
-OK, how about if an artist decides to hang obscene graphics in places of worships, like synagogues, churches, mosques, etc.
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