Friday, June 22, 2012

Young Muslims in Indonesia speak out...

Those who read the media reports about the cancellation of Lady Gaga’s concert in Jakarta may imagine Indonesia to be a xenophobic, conservative country that has no sense of freedom. The reality, however, is quite different.

Last week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I had the chance to sit down with a group of young Indonesian female activists, who dispelled any notion that Indonesia was on the verge of becoming an authoritarian state. In fact, they talked about the need for the younger voices to be heard.

“We are big fans of [Lady] Gaga and it was really disappointing that the clerics came out so angrily against her”, said Asha Mahammad, an Indonesian university student in Kuala Lumpur. She feels that the concert’s cancellation gives the world a distorted reality about the country, and the region’s Muslims.

(...)

Many women told me that young people in the region do not need a concert or a musician to tell them how to live their lives. They are choosing and forging their own paths, and for the most part this spans the full spectrum of social leanings, from liberal to conservative. Lady Gaga, they argue, was an excuse by clerics to vent their frustrations about the perceived changes in young people’s actions. Full story...

Related posts:
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  2. Atheist in Indonesia jailed for two and a half years, fined US$11,100...
  3. Indonesia's increasing religious intolerance...
  4. Indonesia, Lady Gaga and the FPI's street theatrics...
  5. Mob in Indonesia attacks and kills 3 'heretic' Muslims...
  6. Indonesia Ahmadiyah killings: victim jailed for defending himself...
  7. Indonesian punks detained and shaved by police...
  8. Indonesian film "Question mark" stirs religious controversy...

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