Danish Cartoon Crisis II
Oct 9th, 2006, in News, by PatungAnother Muhammad cartoon controversy in Denmark has stirred ill-will among some Indonesian Muslims.
On the 6th Danish state television aired some amateur video footage showing young members of the anti-immigrant Danish Peoples’ Party engaged in a competition to draw humiliating cartoons of Mohammad. The filming of the cartoon drawing was done secretly by an “undercover agent” who was attempting to do research on the Peoples’ Party and shows a number of young people drinking, singing and drawing cartoons ridiculing Muhammad.
In Indonesia there have some predictable reactions, similar to those aired during the last cartoon scandal reported that the president of the PKS, Tifatul Sembiring, was making threats to the government of Denmark.
I remind the Danish government not to engage in provocation. If the Danish government can not keep good harmony then it will be responsible for the consequences.
(Saya mengingatkan kepada pemerintah Denmark, jangan provokasi. Kalau pemerintah Denmark tidak bisa menjaga keharmonisan dia akan menanggung sendiri resikonya.)
He said a government must know how to control its own people.
Amidhan of the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) said that the airing of the cartoon videos showed the intolerance of the people concerned in Denmark and that freedom of expression should not allow people to insult others. Especially during Ramadan Muslims demanded respect, he said.
Din Syamsuddin of Muhammadiyah recommended that Muslims seek a legal path of redress for this insult, for example by taking the matter to the International Court. He said the cartoons were an attempt to provoke Muslims and make them lose control.
In another report Din said that western atheism was to blame, atheists could not understand God. Those who supported the rights of people to freely express themselves on religious matters were egotistical, tyrannical, and terroristic, he said.
Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) chief KH Hasyim Muzadi said that there was a systematic plot to insult the holiness of Islam. He advised that Muslims not be taken in by Islamophobic attempts to incite their rage and therefore put them in a bad light.
Continued..
Former president Gus Dur typically advises calm. He said the Danes had the right to hold any kind of cartoon drawing festivities they wanted to even one insulting to Muslims. He is quoted as saying:
Just let them do it. It is their right. If we respond in excessive ways to every issue that appears, there will never be an end to them [the cartoon drawing competitions].
At the other end of the spectrum of reactions comes the General Secretary of the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI), Ichwan Syam. He says that Indonesia should consider cutting off diplomatic ties with Denmark, at least on certain levels.
And then a Roman Catholic priest, Frans Magnis Suseno, who is originally from Germany, complained that western countries do not protect religion from ridicule and abuse. He said:
The West needs a Protection of Religion Law.
(Barat perlu Undang-Undang Perlindungan Agama.)
Continued..10th Oct.
The Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda called the Danish ambassador Niels Erik Andersen to his office and complained about the Islamophobia displayed by the airing of the video in Denmark. Ministry spokesman Desra Percaya said Indonesia understood the matter of freedom of expression but that such freedom could not extend to the insulting of religions.
12th October.
Vice chairman of Commission I of the parliament, Tosari Wijaya, has called for restrictions on travel by Danish citizens to Indonesia.
Muhammadiyah leader Din Syamsudin met with the Danish ambassador today and later said that Muslims had to respond cleverly to the problem, by for example, boycotting Danish goods or reporting the case to the International Court. He advised Muslims not to be overly provoked.
He said he understood that the system in Denmark was different to that in Indonesia but nevertheless he believes the Danish government has a responsibility to prevent insults to religions.
42 Comments on “Danish Cartoon Crisis II”
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Andrew says:
That reminds me of a military leader from a country in Europe from WW2.
The difference being this latter man did not do things in the name of God.
He did murder a lot of people, though 😀 -
Jack Hawkins says:
Ahmadinejad is going to make the little corporal look like an amateur I fear….
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Hi again Mandala,
The same treatment for Mohamed as for Jesus? that’s the point, people in the west do draw cartoons, tell jokes, and that kind of thing, about Jesus. That is considered acceptable within the context of the country – although the church certainly won’t like it. So if they can do that even to Jesus, why can’t they do that to Mohamed? (not that Jesus and Mohamed are compArable, at least not to Christians)
If you ask my personal opinion, people should not do that to either one, but the point is, it happens.
Imagine this: you live in Indonesia, and you love beef rendang. People have been eating beef since ancient time. Then suddenly a few hundred Hindu families move in, and demand that you stop eating beef, or else they will burn down cars, houses and businesses (although I’m sure the Hindus won’t do this kind of thing).
How would you feel about that? would you quit eating beef?
Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
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Hassan, you are very mistaken in thinking the Holy See is seen by Catholics as the place of “God’s spiritual place of representation on earth” (whatever that means) which would be apparent from an understanding of Christian beliefs.
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Mandala says:
To Kim: you propose weak argument to distinguish between choice and choosen, and gave example that you can’t change gender, race, colour, etc. You can choose whether you want to be fat, or fit (it’s not that easy though, but you can), you can change you colour if you want, you can easily become blonde even if normally brunette, in extreeme you can change your colour to become white, even if you’re black. you know the rest.. The point is not because you can change it, then you can be insulted.
There’is a clear line between disobedient and insult. To slaughter cow in non Hindu town is disobidient according to Hindu rule, but if you’re not Hindu, then it’s OK. But it’s different when you doing it in front of public in Hindu town, that is a clear insult. To compare with, to depict Muhammad (properly) is disobidient, but if you’re not Muslim, then it’s entirely up to you. To falsely illustrate Muhammad as drunken rapist terrorist is just spread hatred and definitely insult. Your society is already at some degree detached to church, remember in middle age when they kill you if you speak differently. This doesn’t mean you can insult another religion if you don’t have any (or detached, by putting Jesus as a joke).
To Jack: imagine back there when we was in school yard, there’re two, or I can add three types of kid typically, the Bully, the one who can insult victim in any way, even somehow insulting race, religion, physical, parent, etc., and the victim, who the Bully knows that if he insult them, they will sad, cry, angry, or sometimes kill them self. And other group that usually allienated with Bully, or even control him. My point is, you know exactly when you do the insult, the exact reaction can be predicted, but then you still do that.. can you compare your self with those bullies?
In similar way Black people liberate them self, and gain the respect now, they also ask the west to deep in their heart not to insult them and treated differently, you will feel you need to exclusively treated them in the beginning, you feel need to be more careful to speak with them, treat them. You feel it that it will remove your freedom a bit, as they can easily complaint ‘ aahh you do this to me, is that because I’m Black??’
In the end, respect will automatically exist in any civilization, and if you can predict the result if you do something, and you still do that, that mean you really want the thing happen.
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Mohammed Khafi says:
Mandala said:
But it’s different when you doing it in front of public in Hindu town, that is a clear insult.
The cartoons were produced in a predominantly Christian, secular country, namely Denmark, where Muslims have choosen to live for whatever reason. Why should this small group of people be able to dictate in a violent fashion the behaviour of the majority? It is only the idolisation of the Prophet Mohammed which the mainstream Muslims adhere to whch causes this sort of behaviour, according to Al Quran they are supposed to treat all of Allah’s Prophets equally, but do you see them getting upset when Jesus is lampooned or lambasted, never!
Mandala also said:
To falsely illustrate Muhammad as drunken rapist terrorist is just spread hatred and definitely insult.
Don’t forget Paedophile! But do you know where they get these stories Mandala. . . from Hadith! They are using your own false teachings against you, and also against Mohammed, but do you ever try to reject these ridiculous manmade teachings and just follow Al Quran, never!
And again Mandala said:
In similar way Black people liberate them self, and gain the respect now, they also ask the west to deep in their heart not to insult them and treated differently
Why bring colour into the discussion? are you unaware of the Arab Slave trade which flourished for 1400 years, as compared to the 400 years of the Western Slave Trade?
Nearly 100 years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in America, and 130 years after all slaves within the British Empire were set free by parliamentary decree, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, in 1962, and Mauritania in 1980, begrudgingly removed legalised slavery from their statute books. And this only after international pressure was brought to bear. Today numerous international organisations document that slavery still continues in some Muslim countries.
Recently, a former slave from the Nuba Mountains of Sudan, Mende Nazer, had her autobiography: “Slave: My True Story” published. Mende was captured in 1992, she was first a slave to a rich Arab family in Khartoum, and then in 2002 to a Sudanese diplomat in London, from whom she escaped and sought political asylum.
Are you unaware of the problems in Sudan and other parts of Africa between the Etnic Arab and Black African populations?
Up to 80,000 black African villagers are believed to have died, many slain by Arab Janjaweed nomads competing with them for a fertile zone shrinking under desertification and by a minority Arab government accustomed to keeping power by killing opponents.
Not getting much respect from your Hadith following mainstream Muslim friends there are they?
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Mandala said:
There is a clear line between disobedient and insult. To slaughter cow in non Hindu town is disobidient according to Hindu rule, but if you’re not Hindu, then it’s OK.
You did not answer the question.
Who are you to say that “it’s OK”, in the above example?
Why do non-Muslims in predominantly non-Muslim countries have to follow the rule of Islam?
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Mandala – when you talk about bullies and victims presumably you are portraying Islam and Muslims as the victims. This is patently absurd in the case of the Danish cartoons, where the victims were those killed! Similarly for the Pope’s Regensburg address. Wallowing in victimhood is a Muslim preoccupation, which is rarely justified.
BTW Mandala, your point about black people is so badly worded I can’t make sense of it, sorry!
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Hassan says:
kim: the indian Hindus are well documented for assaulting and killing Muslims who sacrificed cows for their holy day of eid al adha.
the message here: do not insult others and told them to react according to how you wanted them to react.
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All the fuss over the Danish publication — alledegly an ‘insult to Islam’– is total nonsense. They were published several month earlier — without any problem. Why no fuss? Could it possibly be because, the newspaper that published them…was in a predominantly Muslim country?
And by the way they were publihed during Ramadan!
Those people that criticize the Danes for publishing them and those who incitement of hatred resulted in 140 plus deaths, merely over some cartoons really do look like hypocrites and total fools! Another case of taqiyya for the purpose of inciting hatred towards the kufr.
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Suhada says:
Assalamualaikum. I think, the part of being religiously mature is being content to take insults and criticisms in a proper manner. I am not giving my support for those Danish Cartoonists. I think they are very unresponsible for causing such a stir. But as a Muslim I tend to understand what underlies their action. We, Muslims, has failed to give the world the picture of peace within our religion. I think each of us is a messenger of Allah in some sense. We are not a prophet, but our existence and gestures somehow paint the worlds picture about Allah. How can we talk about Allah is compassionate while some of our brother comitting suicide bombing while shouting Allahuakbar? How can we talk about Allah is just when women in many Islamic countries is considered merely as objects. Honestly I envy our Christian coussins. You can browse easily any cartoons who insult Isa Al-Masih. But there were no such a hard reactions. I’ve read Dan Brown’s novel, The Da Vinci Code, and I found that very offensive to Christianity. Yet no Christian leaders declare a fatwa about killing Mr. Brown. Just compare this to what happened to Salman Rushdie. I’ve read The Satanic Verses. Yes it is offensive, but not in a rational way such as The Da Vinci Code. It is just fiction poets, nothing more. It never claimed itself to be based on facts. It’s a blasphemy, but it never challenge our apologetics.
Yes we are responsible with the world view about Islam!! We have failed to paint the grand picture of Islam as religion of peace. Let me quote Abdurrahman Wahid: “Tuhan tidak perlu dibela!! Gitu aja kok repot”. Wassalam.
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I posted this on another thread, but it also seems quite appropriate here”
Below is an excerpt from a former Muslim, who describes a bit about what it’s like being a Muslim, and he has some important things to say to people who try to defend iSlam at all costs, AND NEVER criticizing even the most heinous of mass murderers who shout “Allah akbar!” as they slice the heads off of innocent schoolgirls.
“”””””””””””””-
“”¦Muhammad suffered from a malignant narcissistic personality disorder. His followers, to the degree that they emulate him, think like him and try to behave like him, have entered into his narcissistic bubble universe and have become narcissists by extension. This happens to all cultists. In all cults, the insanity of the guru reflects on the followers who surrender their intelligence to him and follow him unquestioningly and brainlessly.
The narcissists feel grandiose and self-important. They want to be acknowledged without commensurate merit. They want recognition and preferential treatment. They expect respect without feeling any obligation to reciprocate. They get their sense of self-worth by criticizing infidels, criticizing you, decrying THE WEST and disparaging its values, but the people in THE WEST are not allowed to speak negatively of them. It is okay for these cult followers to violate your rights, abuse you and even kill you, but you are not supposed to mistreat them in the slightest way. In fact, they demand privileges that are not available to others. What they want is your submission. That is what iSlam is all about – submission”¦.”
“”””””””””””””””””””-