Comment 1: Ours is a case of righteous indignation run amuck, of principled stands without any vision, a plan of action or goal, of nihilistic determination to get everything we ever really wanted at the cost of settling continuously for everything we never really needed… The bleeding continues.
Comment 2: The Innocent are riddled with guilt. The Guilty are smug.
Comment 3: Fifty to Sixty years ago, Arabs and Indonesians faced the same problems: internal struggle spurred by ideological differences as well as religious and ethnic diversity, underdevelopment and the challenges of post-colonial reconstruction, continuous foreign dabbling as part of Cold War politics, population explosion, illiteracy, terrorism and extremism, corruption and authoritarian rules. Yet, here they are, far ahead of the Arabs on so many fronts. It may not be as successful and promising as an India at this stage, but it is far more successful that many if not even all Arab countries, where people might still import Indonesian maids and Indian laborers, but they do it to build palaces in the sand. For what sets the Indonesian apart is their willingness to take to the streets to fight for their basic freedoms.
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 