Abstract

Losing Friends in Indonesia

This is the second article in a series examining how the Bush Administration's War on terror has transformed politics, reshuffled alliances and altered the dynamics of local conflicts around the world. A major casualty in President Bush's "war on terrorism" has been the good will of moderate Muslims toward the United States. Indonesians criticize Bush's conflation of Arab terrorism with Islam, and complain that his policies demonstrate a double standard, chief among the examples being the US failure to respond to human rights abuses against Palestinians by Israel and visa policies that make it extremely difficult for Indonesians, no matter what their religion, to enter the United States. Rizal Ramli and other political analysts worry about the negative impact of Bush's war on terrorism on the political landscape in Indonesia. Heading a project to trace Indonesian terrorism and its roots, one Indonesian comments that although there are dangerous terrorists in Indonesia, many Indonesian Muslims still do not believe that Jemaah Islamiah (JI), an alliance of local groups, was responsible for acts including the Bali bombs in 2002 and the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta this past August.