Lost souls of Tenggulun

NOV 11, 2008 — The execution of the three Bali bombers — Amrozi, Ali Gufron and Imam Samudra — shortly after midnight on Nov 9 was received with much sorrow among the mourners in Tenggulun, East Java.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in Australia, where 88 of the dead in the infamous bombings hailed, there was a sense of justice finally being served.
The three were executed by firing squad, an equally cruel way to end their lives for their role in claiming the lives of 202 people in the bombings of the Sari Club in Kuta, Bali in 2002.
This serves as a reminder that the world we live in is becoming ever more challenging.
We have become more conscious about the colour of our skin, the religions we profess, the headgear we wear and the names we carry.
We are embarrassed by the religious scholars who preach hate and division in the name of the religion we profess.
We are overly concern to visit tourist sites for fear of incidents like the 2002 Bali bombings.
We begin to feel that wearing a headscarf or turban or even a goatee is not acceptable and fear we will be discriminated against.
We begin to have second thoughts about our name as carrying a "Bin" may lead to profiling among some people who ignorantly associate it with "Bin Laden".
Where did it all go wrong?
Why were we brought up to think that a particular skin colour or creed or race reigns supreme over the rest?
Where does it say in our culture that we have to harbour mistrust, and distrust our neighbour?
How is it that it is absolutely fine for us to discriminate another person just because he doesn't profess the same religion as we do?
When did our religion teach us that it is fine to blow ourselves up in the name of justice?
What should we tell our children about the religion that espouses this sort of extreme measures?
"The Clash of Civilization" written by Samuel P. Huntington can no longer be denied.
It began prior to Sept 11 with the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; it was on the steep climb on the day of Sept 11 and events following it like the Iraq War, Guantanamo Bay, the War Against Terror. And the bombings around the world in Bangkok, Pakistan, Kashmir, Chechnya, Jakarta and Bali are a culmination of events pulling and pushing the whole world from one extreme to the other.
Huntington predicted that the clash will be between a deep sense of ideology and the fear that one's way of life is under threat.
Osama Bin Laden and George Bush became the two main actors of this plot.
There is no difference between Bush and Bin Laden; they are just two of a kind.
Abu Bakar Basyir, Donald Rumsfeld, Hambali, Paul Wolfowitz and many others too all played their roles as bit players in exacerbating the war and counter guerilla warfare.
Eight years after New York and Washington DC were rocked by the plane attacks and more than six years after the Bali bombings, we are reminded of those harrowing days when fear and terror reigned.
When we delve into the minds of these extremists, we find their passion and belief system is entrenched to a deep-rooted cause. They truly believed that they were fighting for the cause and the sanctity of their religion.
On the eve of his execution, Ali Gufron, also known as Mukhlas, described he felt so "beautiful" and "no words can describe how good the feeling is".
It is so troubling to the many Muslims around the world to listen to Mukhlas' eerie statement uttered without a shred of guilt or see the devilish smile of his brother Amrozi.
The heightened hate for Muslims or those who look like them (the Sikhs are also targeted as their turban is similar to Muslims') in the US and Europe can be blamed on Muslim scholars to a certain extent.
Their slow and laggard reaction to the events of Sept 11 and their inability to disassociate Islam with extremism have scarred the image of the religion.
Not only did they not do enough to condemn these cowardly actions but some rejoiced in the fact that the "Great Satan", or the US, was under attack.
By lending sympathy to these suicide bombers and extremists, it is akin to justifying their actions.
We do not need to study at Harvard or Oxford to see that Bush's conservative policies are detrimental to the world.
Neither do we need an ounce of brains to point out to the imbalance in the US and Europe's treatment of Israel compared to Palestine.
It is surely also against human decency that the US was allowed to invade Iraq, Afghanistan and open its infamous Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
But does that justify what these three Indonesian bombers did that claimed the lives of 202 people that night in October 2002?
Religious scholars have to rise beyond passing edicts on yoga or tomboys, and realise that they have a role to play to defend human dignity.
From world leaders to religious scholars, it's time we all played a part and shoulder the responsibility to ensure every single race, culture and religion has a place in today's world.

- published in The Malaysian Insider : Nov 11, 2008