'Muslims suffer most from London attacks'

Saturday, July 23, 2005

The July 7 attacks on London, followed by four minor explosions two weeks later, have put British Muslims -- numbering around 1.7 million of a total population of 60 million -- in an uncomfortable situation. The Jakarta Post's Hera Diani talked to secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain Sir Iqbal Sacranie on the sidelines of the Bali Interfaith Dialog that ended on Friday.
Below are excerpts from the interview:

Question: What is your comment about the explosions in London on Thursday?
Answer: We had hoped that the July 7 was the last attack in London. But a repetition has taken place. We hope and pray that the criminals behind these attacks will be apprehended.
What about the sentiment towards Muslims in Britain after the July 7 bombing?
The Muslim community ... have been trying to play an important role in mainstream society. There are many, many positive developments taking place. Laws have been changed in the country that now makes it illegal to discriminate against any religion. Participation in the community, in terms of engagement in government, police, non-governmental organizations and other faith communities have also progressed extremely well.
Now, with such a tragic strike in London, and with the criminals who carried out the atrocities being Muslims, the impact on the Muslim community is even greater. We've been trying to put out the message that Islam is a religion of peace. It motivates us to work for the good of society. Because Islam tells us that we've got obligations to society at large.
Yes, you look after the needs of your community, which has been deprived. The Muslim community has three times the number of unemployed as other people. Education-wise, British Muslims, particularly from Bangladesh, are at the lowest in terms of achievement. In terms of poverty and housing issues, the Muslim community has suffered most. But we have to deal with this. After 7/7, the community has been in focus once again. Of course, there were some Muslims who died, and many Muslims were injured. Sixteen different nationalities are affected. With these acts of terror, all of us are involved.
Now, we believe that those who carried out the atrocious acts are not just enemies of mankind, but enemies of Muslims in particular. Because they targeted areas with big Muslim concentrations, but also (in terms of) the backlash, Muslims are suffering the most. The extreme right-wing groups in the UK are now exploiting this tragedy, targeting Muslims. Through their websites, they are trying to give a very false image of Muslims, saying that this has something to do with the religion and the teaching of Islam, which is not true.
We also have extreme right-wing commentators who write very negatively about Islam and the teachings of Islam in the media. Language like Islamic terrorist/fundamentalist/extremist is wrong. You don't mention the IRA as Catholic/Christian terrorists. To face these challenges, the best way is to distinguish ourselves from Muslim extremists. Condemn them because they have nothing to do with Islam. The purpose of the perpetrators of these evil acts was to divide the community in the UK. They should not be succeed in this.
How did the Muslim community react to the terror attacks?
In certain parts of the country, there are feelings of fear. The community ... cannot comprehend how somebody could do that. They're still absorbing the shock. Now, they need to think about what are we going to do now. As Muslims it's our responsibility to prevent the attacks from taking place. The community is more vigilant, if we find something we report it to the police.
What is the position of Muslims in Britain compared to that in other countries, such as the Netherlands?
The position is much, much better than any other European country. Laws in Britain give protection against discrimination, policies are gradually getting better and interfaith relations are much better than any other European country. There has been tremendous progress in the last five years. Before, we were classified as groups of black, brown, Asian, Pakistani, now I can say that I'm a British Muslim. In the government, Muslim community is gradually coming up, with three elected members of parliament, four member of the House of Lords, and there are many Muslims on boards of government, police; very diverse people in different positions.

Labels: Islam

Posted by hera at 12:46 AM | Permalinks | Comments

High expectations overwhelm 'Gie'

Sunday, July 10, 2005
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Gie; Drama, 2 hours 27 minutes. Starring Nicholas Saputra, Jonathan Mulia, Sita Nursanti, Indra Birowo. Directed and written by Riri Riza; A Miles Films production (Bahasa Indonesia). **1/2 (out of ****). Opening on July 14.

Gie was one of the most anticipated movies of the past year for a few reasons, but mainly because the majority of local productions have ranged from plain bad to abysmal, with very few exceptions.
Another reason is because the emerging contemporary film scene, after it was crippled during the 1990s, has been dominated by (bad) teen and horror flicks. So, a mature drama about an uncompromising political activist who died young was expected to bring some depth and a drop of inspiration to the scene.
Furthermore, the film was made by Riri Riza, the most celebrated figure in the local industry, whose films, whether his involvement was in direction or in producing (count Rumah Ketujuh/Seventh House out), have been milestones for their quality.
Recently, a local film observer and critic even accused the Cannes film committee of cronyism, as the committee had picked a not-so-stellar Singaporean film over Gie. The critic admitted he had not seen the latter, but for the aforementioned reasons, he thought it had to be a great film.
After watching the movie, however, it's clear that the people at Cannes are not stupid.
This movie, sadly, falls flat due to its lack of focus, lame screenplay and dialog, as well as its skin-deep approach to Gie's character and Indonesian politics.
This is very unfortunate because Gie, or Soe Hok Gie, was a legendary student activist whose sharp and critical writing has been immortalized in several books.
Born in 1942 during World War II, Gie came into the spotlight as a student at the University of Indonesia's School of Literature, when he was actively involved in the 1960s student movement against the Soekarno government.
A prolific contributor to several publications at that time, Gie was daring, frank and unbending in his ideals; a quality unmatched in his successors until today.
Leading a modest life, he once sent a lipstick and a mirror to former fellow student activists who sold out later and became the very legislators they used to criticize.
His idealistic approach, however, often left him isolated, but he could not care less. An avid mountain climber, Gie died in 1969 while scaling Mount Semeru in East Java.
Riri Riza's film is the first to portray Gie's life.
It begins in Gie's teenage years, set in a Chinese-Indonesian neighborhood. The film started out well and continued so for the first half-hour, although the pace was too slow, and the audience finds out the critical, idealistic and anxious character of the young Gie (played quite well by newcomer Jonathan Mulia).
These traits are revealed in how he sticks up for the poor, how he stood up for his best friend, Han, who was physically abused by his family, and other scenes.
The excellent cinematography, the intricate setting with great details promised that better things lay ahead over the next two hours.
Unfortunately, it does not deliver. The characters are portrayed in a superficial manner -- for example, Gie likes to read, speak up, watch art films -- distancing the viewers instead of letting us relate to him, let alone be inspired by him.
Gie is also overwrought by lame and preachy lines about politics, which leaves the impression that the filmmaker does not really have knowledge on this subject, but is hardly trying to cover it up.
Perhaps Riri should have focused on, say, the friendship between Gie and Han, the latter of whom was a victim of the massacre of Communists, as he was a sympathizer of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Or maybe he could have focused on the friendship between the activists, or Gie as a rare-breed activist hailing from the Chinese-Indonesian community.
Instead of focusing on a specific theme or event, it appears Riri was trying to tell too many things at once, that the movie became a montage of events and is often confusing, not to mention dull.
In a bid to humanize Gie, Riri also inserted some mushy romance, which only made the characters even more flawed.
The actors are not damaging to the film, but are not really convincing in their portrayals either, particularly Nicholas, whose average work here only reminded of criticisms as to why a Eurasian actor was picked to play a Chinese-Indonesian.
Even the thematic score and songs on the original soundtrack are baffling. The already unimpressive music should have been subtle, but instead it often drowns out the narration. And then suddenly, a rock song blares on screen and (gasp!) it's Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone -- which is very much not in tune with Gie's rigid portrayal and the tone of the film.
Nearing the end of the film, all we were waiting for was the moment Gie dies. Which is, needless to say, really, really sad.

Labels: Film, review

Posted by hera at 12:49 AM | Permalinks | Comments

White, red, yellow, purple, whatever band you fancy

Saturday, July 02, 2005
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Everybody is wearing one, or more, these days. John Kerry opts for yellow, Bono and Nelson Mandela wear white, David Beckham picks blue while Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho wear black and white ones.
Rubber wristbands are the latest way to show your allegiance to a cause, from raising cancer awareness to poverty eradication.
Friday marked the first global white band day drive launched by the Global Call to Action Against Poverty initiated by Mandela and Bono.
The first person to introduce a wristband that stood for a cause was probably American cyclist and six-time winner of the Tour de France Lance Armstrong.
Recovered from testicular cancer, Armstrong then launched the Wear Yellow campaign to raise awareness about cancer. So far, 40 million yellow bands have been sold in the campaign.
In Indonesia, where people have always been quick to copy the latest global trends, colorful wristbands are worn by celebrities, activists, economists and Cabinet ministers.
Yudhistira Juwono of the Tunas Cendekia Foundation for poor children, who first initiated the wear-a-band movement here, said that over 39,000 red bands have been sold since the campaign began in February.
With Solidaritas Kebersamaan (Togetherness Solidarity) written on it, the band aims to raise funds for the children of tsunami-stricken Aceh and victims of the Nias quake.
The donations have been used in part to buy vans for mobile libraries and to buy school equipment for children in the disaster areas.
"More and more people, including Indonesians living abroad, are buying the bands, which is great. We are calling for more people to wear them to spread awareness," Yudhistira said, adding that the band can be purchased through the website www.tunascendekia.org for Rp 10,000 (about $1) each.
Tri, 31, from the East Java city of Malang, said he bought a band after he saw people from Jakarta wearing it.
The Jantung Indonesia Foundation for Cardiology, meanwhile, uses a blue band with I My Heart. Let It Beat. written on it.
Author and fashion editor Syahmedi Dean said that one of his friends has started to sell bands with an Islamic prayer on it, such as Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God) and Astaghfirullahaladzim (God Have Mercy).
"But she forgot to scrape off the 'Made In China' writing on the back of the band," he said, laughing.
Sports companies are following the trend by producing bands with Nike, Adidas and Giordano logos. These won't save anything, not even -- as some may argue -- your fashion sense.
Standard Chartered Bank, meanwhile, gives out green band to all of its employees and street vendors now are selling bands of all colors for profit.
Whether the bands will last or merely a trend remains to be seen. "It's been over a year since Lance Armstrong started it. I guess it has some time left yet," Yudhistira said.

Labels: culture

Posted by hera at 12:51 AM | Permalinks | Comments