It’s not surprising that media for the past week have been dominated by Syria – the nerve gas atrocities, the U.S. missile response, the dispute with the Russians over what really happened. And other atrocity news slips in occasionally ― the London and Stockholm attacks, ISIS bombings in Egypt, an attack at a Somali refugee camp.
It’s a picture of the Muslim world as an almost incomprehensible war zone. Almost nothing about why this happened gets reported – ten years ago Syria was an autocracy, but a seemingly highly functional and peaceful country. What happened, not only in Syria but in the other trouble spots?
One New York Times story offers a hint of an explanation. It’s a profile of Sinta Nuriyah, the former first lady of the largest Muslim nation in the world, Indonesia.
The Times reports on her meeting a group of distressed women dressed in traditional gowns -- but with a clear mission: how to rescue their Islamic school for women “which had been shut down by a local hard line organization amid a nationwide crackdown on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organizations.”
They had clearly come to the right place to meet with the right person who could guide them effectively when she said strategically: “Reach out to the regional district head. All people have the right to worship God, not just some people. That’s the truth in Islam.”
Since 2009 when her husband passed away, Ms. Nuriyah took on his mantle and advised the group who conferred with her to promote tolerance. Sinta Nuriyah is smart and strategic as she confronts her opponents. She is clear about real politics and recognizes that her hard line opponents need to be confronted as they attempt to disrupt interfaith events she headlined last year.
Ms Sinta is also focused on women’s rights. Furthermore, she is eager to promote religious tolerance. Last year, Ms Sinta was harassed for promoting the mixing of two religious traditions, Christianity and Islam. However, that challenge elicited a strong response from other moderate Muslim voices in the country offering to protect her future events from disruption. So far in Indonesia the center seems to be holding.
One of the characteristics I admire about Ms. Sinta is that she is no wall flower. She is willing to take on the hardliners who tried to disrupt multiple inter-faith events she headlined last year.
She has brought around some of her critics. She is a stately woman with passion, clarity and conviction about her mission. She reads to me like a thorough bred women’s rights activist.
What’s particularly interesting about Ms. Sinta is that she seems to take women’s issues head on. She reads to me like a globalist with a mind of her own. On a talk show, Ms. Sinta was asked why she was opposed to polygamy when she had heard about a man who was perfectly fair to all 12 of his wives. Ms Sinta speaks her mind and took him on when she said: “Who can be fair to multiple wives?”
When her husband died, Mrs. Sinta went on to establish a network of progressive Islamic boarding schools for girls to promote gender equality in some of the most rural and conservative parts of the country. Today, Ms Sinta worries about whether Indonesia’s moderate Muslim institutions are capable of turning back the tide of fundamentalist Islam, which is spreading fast
Mrs Sinta makes a poignant point when she said:“Now our struggle is even weightier than earlier struggles against colonialist and imperialist powers, because the people we are facing down are not foreigners but are from our own nation.”
However, there is a silver lining which is reflected in what we call “Women’s Islam.” It is how we pray, and support our women, friends and families. Mrs. Sinta is clearly smart, savvy and anchored in her faith. “She now differentiates between earlier times and current times because the people we are facing down aren’t foreigners but are from our own nation.”
But the Times profile, by itself, leaves out a big piece of the story. Ms. Nuriyah, and the women she was striving to help, wear head scarves and traditional clothing – but are standing up for the gay and lesbian community in their country. They represent Indonesia’s historic Islam, open, tolerant, and heavily influenced by powerful women’s organizations who led the anti-colonial struggle.
And while it is true that hard-line forces are growing inside Indonesia, they are not truly home grown. It is the insidious influence of outside funding and support, primarily from US allies and US motorist supported powers in the Persian Gulf, that has fed regressive and intolerant Islam in Indonesia.
Relations with the Muslim world have been bubbling over for fifteen years, since the attacks on 9-11. Our approach has failed – tolerant and progressive values have lost ground almost everywhere, including Indonesia. We can always find funds for military adventures,are willing to kill civilians in repeated and unsuccessful interventions, but somehow cannot be relied upon to fund education, particularly women’s education, or support women’s organizations, the primary advocates for peace and tolerance, does not go unnoticed.
It would be nice if the West could wake up to its real allies in the Muslim world – not petro-powers or dictators, but leaders like Sinta Nuriyah.