Thread: WHAT INDONESIA CAN TEACH THE USA

All through the week, in my region, a very interesting series of 2-hour programs, America at a Crossroads, is being shown daily on PBS (Public Broadcasting Service). This is television at its best. Last night, the topic was Struggle for the Soul of Islam: Inside Indonesia, which was a remarkable presentation of contemporary Islam in Indonesia.

Of course, most of you may never see this program, but I can refer you to a series accessible on the Web, put out by the New York Times. The one below is titled What Indonesia can teach the USA (indeed, it can teach a lot)

http://video.on.nytimes.com/index.jsp?f ... 7710bd8f51

On the same site, you will find a series of short videos on contemporary political Indonesia. They are all well balanced, and I highly recommend them to you, especially to those of you who have made Indonesia their home.

Wake up Jamie and go to the website I put in my post!

Jamie,

I don't want to dwell deeply on the subject, because this is a Bali forum, not an US policy forum. However, what Ms, Sidney Jones very clearly states is that Indonesian has arrested more than 200 terrorists, REAL ones, and ALL of them have been put on trial and appropriately sentenced following public, legal trials. In the US, the many pseudo-terrorists, some of them young kids of 12-14 years old, arrested some 5 years ago are still languishing at Gitmo, not even charged with anything. They will be tried in kangaroo courts, behind closed doors. The US Government is a big hypocrite and could learn from the new Indonesian democracy on this subject.

Sorry, Jamie, but I do not know what you are talking about: Indonesia has signed the what you call the "UN terrorist resolution," which is UN Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001). As recently as one month ago, May 22, 2007. Ricardo Alberto Arias, Chairman of the Security Council Committee, reported to the UN Security Council on the progress of this resolution.

One of the important tools employed by the Committee to assess States’ implementation of Resolution 1373 is the on-site visits aimed at evaluating in situ their implementation of the said resolution and identifying potential assistance needs. Arias reported among other things, that Indonesia, together with other countries, among them Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bosnia, has already given its consent for such inspections. So, Indonesia is obviously one of the signatories.