These voices are finding Twitter a useful tool with which to spread their message. Hard-liners from Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, for example, which wants to turn Indonesia into an Islamic state, constantly take to the Web to warn of the dangers of secularism, pluralism and liberalism.
'There are a bunch ofTweeps who loathe, or at least are suspicious of, the very idea of pluralism and tolerance,' Ulil says.But he adds that what he has found most surprising on Twitteris that many urban dwellers who seem easygoingand love to go clubbing, for example, turn out to lean towards the strongly conservative side when it comes to religious issues.
'It shows how people still take religious teachings for granted and refuse to use reason,' he says.Ulil points to his decision to criticize the public furor over the 'Everybody Draw Mohammed Day' competition on Facebook, which he says prompted numerous critical comments despite him having also criticized those who like to provoke Muslims by insulting their religion.
Indeed, as the attacks mountedin May, Ulil lost his patience and said he wouldn't Tweet about religious issues anymore, lashing out at one Tweep who asked him about interfaith marriage, saying that he 'couldn't care less' (although he apologized the next day, saying he had learned a lesson about Tweeting in a bad mood).
Ulil, who used to be known for his verbal sparring on TV and radio with radical Islamic clerics over interpretations of the Koran, toned it down for a few days, but reemerged with a vengeance following the deadly military attack by Israel on a Turkish vesselpurportedly carrying humanitarian assistance for Gaza. Ulil condemned the attack, but urged people not to link the Israel-Palestine conflict with religion because it's a political issue. Not surprisingly, all hell broke loose as dozens of Twitter users bombarded him with angry tweets.
But conservative Muslims aren't immune from attacks either, including Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring (who some would argue has it coming with controversial statements such as blaming the country's frequent earthquakes and other natural disasterson immorality).
Tifatul, whose twitter ID is @tifsembiring, has complained that the negative Tweeps are excessively harsh, but this didn't stop him launching a mischievous competition in November to find his harshest critic after his ministry blocked a Web site displaying cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
The winner was Aribowo Sangkoyo, who Tweeted, 'Nazis is now spelled PKS, @tifsembiring (they) are the Joseph Goebbels of our time!' Aribowo won a Nokiaphone as a prize, although he turned it down because he didn't 'want him (Tifatul) to feel that he had won.' Indeed, he has continued his attacks on Tifatul and the PKS, frequently dismissing them as camel traders because of their tendency to follow Middle Eastern traditions.
The battle between moderate and conservative Muslims on Twitter is a microcosm of the global difficulty of fostering constructive dialog among opposing religious views.
Komarudinplays down the Twitter wars, saying that it's all just part of a process of people becoming more mature. 'People are free to express different opinions, but some of the harsh comments on Twitter show that people still have a superficial understanding of religion and tolerance,' he says. 'Let them be. I believe their numbers are low.'
But Roby Muhammad, a social media observer and psychology lecturer at the University of Indonesia, says that while the Internet can be a tool for democracy through giving people a greater voice, it also polarizes debate between moderate and conservative Muslims.
'The Internet brings freedom, including the freedom to choose friends/users/news that justify our opinions,' Roby says. 'So, people just choose to make friends with people who share the same viewsas them.'
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Nicolle Nunziato
Great morning, I wish to say thanks for an very cool blog about a topic I have had an curiosity in for quite some time now. I’ve been looking in and reading through the replies and so only wanted to voice my thanks for giving me some pretty useful reading material. I watch for reading more, and taking a more active part in the talks here, whilst picking up some knowledge as well :D
Jakartass
@Christopher
It’s not ‘ignorance’ I hope to present but an awareness borne out of 20+ years observing affairs here..
I could have linked to an online debate taking place on Indonesian Matters about the Muslim ‘debate’ that’s ongoing, but I’m referring to the current fad about tweeting.
There’s little ‘meaningful’ to be said in 140 characters.
Christopher
To the comment before mine.
I think you are making a polemic statement to draw interest to your article. Please stop being ignorant.
Thank you.
Jakartass
“… it’s all just part of a process of people becoming more mature.”
From my Jakarta perspective, I argue in my recent post on Jakartass (http://jakartass.net/2010/06/its-all-about-me-me-me/) that tweeting is not a sign of maturity but is an addiction stemming from alienation/isolation from meaningful involvement in their face-to-face communities and a search for recognition. There is a need to escape from the artificiality of everyday reality: shopping malls rather than parks, air-conditioners at their lowest settings, inadequate public facilities (toilets, transport, etc.)
Politicians and religious leaders are merely seeking more acolytes through the offering of ‘visions’ rather than engaging in the ‘real world’ in any meaningful way.