Muslims now face the dilemma of whether to continue with the status quo and thereby place greater impediments upon the development of humanity or to reinterpret the teachings of Islam in such a way that its fundamental values and ideals will be able to assist in the realisation of humanity, wrote the late Abdurrahman Wahid.
While the governments of other Asean countries like Malaysia, Singapore and Burma/Myanmar continue down the path of measured authoritarianism, with dominant strongmen like Mahathir Mohamad and Lee Kuan Yew still pulling the strings, Indonesians have said goodbye to the bad old days of military-backed, iron-fisted authoritarian rule and allowed democracy to blossom, observes Aliran member Farish Noor.