http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/10/asia/letter.php
Islamic groups demonstrating in Jakarta last Thursday. (Irwin Ferdiansyah/The
Associated Press)
LETTER FROM INDONESIA
Healing deep wounds with the Muslim world
By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan Bloomberg NewsPublished: March 10, 2009
JAKARTA: Indonesia's top-rated youth-music television show, featuring dancing
divas in sequined minidresses, is an unlikely venue for President Barack
Obama's drive to repair the U.S. image among Muslims.
Appearing on "Dahsyat" ("Awesome") in Jakarta last month during her first
overseas trip as U.S. secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton was quickly
reminded how tough that task may be. As she tried to connect with her audience
here in the most populous Muslim nation on earth - talking about democracy and
her love of the Beatles - she also was grilled on the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict 8,700 kilometers, or 5,400 miles, away.
"Everyone is watching and waiting to see if this administration's policy is
really going to be friendlier to the Muslim world," said Yulia Supadmo, 38, a
TV executive who listened as Clinton promised that the United States "will get
re-engaged" in Middle East peace talks.
Obama's inaugural pledge to "seek a new way forward" with Muslim countries is
much more than a popularity campaign. He needs help to solve shared problems
related to energy security, Iran's nuclear program and the terrorist threat
from radical Islamists who have inspired many more attacks in Muslim nations
than in the United States. The global recession, which could threaten the
political order in a number of developing countries, may make his task even
more difficult.
Even in Indonesia, where a Gallup survey last year showed almost half the
population had a favorable view of U.S. leadership - a far bigger share than in
the Arab world - people want more than gestures from the new administration.
America "is not going to get that cooperation if it's seen as an imperial
power, untrustworthy or working contrary to interests of Muslims," said Stephen
Grand, who organized the U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar, last month,
where he saw cautious optimism among leaders from 35 countries who had largely
tuned out President George W. Bush.
Reaching out to a complex and diverse constituency of 1.3 billion people in 57
nations in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East cannot be a one-size-fits-all
project. The first step is restoring respect, says Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's
ambassador to Washington. Bush "erroneously gave the impression that the 'war
on terror' was a reflection of U.S. hostility to Islam," he says.
Obama, 47, should adopt "a much more nuanced approach, not the 'you're with us
or you're against us' that draws a circle and doesn't allow anyone in," says
Suhail Khan, a Muslim-American who served in the Bush White House. Among the
issues facing the new president is whether to negotiate with the political
wings of Hamas and Hezbollah, militant Islamic groups that do not recognize
Israel's right to exist, and how to deal with more moderate elements of the
Taliban.
In the Middle East and North Africa - where positive attitudes toward the
United States were exceptionally low, according to Gallup - people surveyed
said pulling out of Iraq, closing the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba and
giving more humanitarian aid would "significantly improve" opinions about the
United States.
Since taking office seven weeks ago, Obama has set a timetable for withdrawing
troops from Iraq, decreed the shutdown of Guantánamo and banned torture and
secret CIA detention centers. His administration has also pledged $600 million
to the Palestinian Authority and $300 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza,
which is ruled by Hamas.
That may not be enough. One-third of the people interviewed in six Arab
countries last year believed that "weakening the Muslim world" was a leading
driver of U.S. foreign policy, according to Shibley Telhami, who surveys Arab
political views as the Anwar Sadat Professor at the University of Maryland.
Half the people Telhami polled said attitudes would shift if the United States
brokered a two-state solution for the Palestinians and Israel. "The key to the
heart of the region is always what we do on the Arab-Israeli question," he said.
Dalia Mogahed, executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies in
Washington, says stressing "Palestinian security" alongside "Israeli security"
in peace talks could help reverse the perception of U.S. bias.
Obama has appointed George Mitchell, an American of Lebanese descent, to
jumpstart the talks. Dennis Ross, a former U.S. negotiator on the
Israeli-Palestinian rift, will advise Clinton and Obama on engaging Iran, a
U.S. adversary for 30 years.
And on March 7, two senior U.S. officials met with their counterparts in Syria
for the first time since Bush withdrew his ambassador in 2005.
The Obama administration must also be mindful of the divide between the elite
and the "street," experts say. In Egypt, where President Hosni Mubarak has
benefited from more than $50 billion in American aid in his 28 years in power,
public approval of the U.S. last year was 6 percent, Gallup showed.
Kazi Ahmad, a political consultant in Southeast Asia, says people want to see
that "the U.S. is not just supporting authoritarian regimes in the Mideast,
that there are strong partners for the U.S. in democratic Indonesia and Turkey."
The global recession and plunging crude oil prices may open a door for economic
diplomacy. Navtej Dhillon, a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington,
says America should seize the moment to push Middle Eastern countries for
"institutional reform" in areas like social protection for workers and access
to affordable housing. He also recommends focusing aid on nations before they
become unstable.
Almost every country in the region is "a bit more in need of cooperation and
striking deals," says Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center
in Beirut.
Obama and Clinton "need to engage not just leaders but societies and form
partnerships with civil-society groups on issues like education, human and
economic development," Grand says. "Those are the eventual motors of change in
these countries."
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