Indonesia’s former president is a role model for Islam

Bret Stephens, in The Wall Street Journal, on how Abdurrahman Wahid offers a model of Muslim tolerance

SUPPOSE for a moment that the single most influential religious leader in the Muslim world openly says, "I am for Israel." Suppose he believes not only in democracy but in the liberalism of America's founding fathers. Suppose that, unlike so many self-described moderate Muslims who say one thing in English and another in their native language, his message never alters. Suppose this, and you might feel as if you've descended into Neo-con Neverland. In fact, you have arrived in Jakarta and are sitting in the small office of an almost totally blind man of 66 named Abdurrahman Wahid. A former president of Indonesia, he is the spiritual leader of the Nahdlatul Ulama, an Islamic organisation of some 40 million members ... He is easily the most important ally the West has in the ideological struggle against Islamic radicalism.

Wahid believes that the "only solution" to the challenge of Islamic radicalisation in Indonesia is more democracy. But what about the example of Hamas, which came to power through democratic means, and of other groups like Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood that would probably do the same if given the chance? Wahid's answer is to distinguish between what he calls "full democratisation" and the "hollow imitation of democracy" that he sees taking place in Indonesia as well as among Arabs in Palestine and Iraq.

"The problem is not personalities, it is institutions," he says. "For the past 250 years the Americans have had not just Jefferson's concept of the rights of the individual but also Alexander Hamilton's belief in a strong state." In order to function properly, democracy requires competent government that can effectively uphold the rule of law. It also requires a broadly understood concept of self-rule, which is missing in too much of the developing world: "Here, ordinary citizens expect the government to do everything for them." What's needed is for countries like Indonesia and Iraq to find a way to combine effective government with a powerful respect for the rights of the citizen.