Unspun

Ideology can some sometimes misguide people's thinking. We now hear pro-democracy supporters urging Indonesians and the Government to uphold the state ideology, Pancasila, to thwart hardline Muslim groups attempting to impose their belief system.

This is all fine, being Pancasila Day and all but unspin all this chatter and what you have are some liberal democrats saying that the Pancasila ideology will be a solution to the problem of gangs like the Islam Defenders Front and the Betawi Brotherhood, who go around bullying and intimidating others in the name of religion.

This is wooly thinking. The the cause of the problems Indonesian society is experiencing with these thugs stems from a lack of political will on the part of the government to enforce law and order.The government has so far shown itself to be indecisive and inconsistent. Such attributes do not foster a respect for the law, not least among those of a thuggish bent.

So far, in spite of calls from the two largest Mulsim organizations to disband these militant islamic group, President SBY's response was a general statement about how some should not dictate their will on others through violence. No follow up action.

The police detained 21 FPI elements in jail for rampaging in Bekasi but the news has died down and I fear that we'll never know if justice is done in this case. In the aftermath of the Yogjakarta quake the newspapers seem to have lost interest. (If there are any readers out there who have any updates let's cooperate to track what happens to those 21 hoodlums)

So while Pancasila may be great for the nation etc. etc. itscertainly not the panacea for many of the nation's illes. Most of it has to do with irresolute, weak leadership.

No amount of ideology is going to keep these thugs in line if the government doesn't have the guts to draw the line in the first place.