................continued from part 30
Betrayal of Islam By the Nationalists
In the present day Muslim nation-states, was nationalism responsible for their achieving independence? The answer is a flat no. It was Islam which was responsible to spark the impetus of resistance to colonization. Islam was the force to initiate struggles against the colonialists. Because the nationalists wore a cloak of Islam, they were accepted in the ranks and files of the Islamic forces, but in the final hour, they showed their true colours and betrayed Islam. To illustrate this point, I put forward three cases here.
Islam Betrayed:Indonesia
A classic case of atrocity against Islam was the independence of Indonesia. When independence was imminent, radio stations in Surabaya filled the air with the call of Allahu Akbar again and again. On 17 August 1945, Sukarno-Hatta declared the independence of Indonesia. Article 6, Sentence 1 of the then Indonesian constitution read: Presiden ialah Orang Indonesia Asli Beragama Islam (The President Shall Be An original Indonesian of the Faith of Islam). Article 29 read: Negara Berdasar Atas Ketuhanan Yang Esa Dengan Kewajipan Menjalankan Syariat Islam Bagi Pemeluknya (The Nation is Based on Oneness of God With the Responsibility To Implement Islamic Laws On Its Adherents). With these political tools, the infant Indonesian nation was very close to an Islamic State.
But the nationalists betrayed Islam. On 18 August 1945, a day later, these articles were shortened to become: Article 6 Sentence 1: Presiden ialah Orang Indonesia Asli (The President Shall be of Indonesian Origin); and Article 29: Negara Berdasarkan Ketuhanan Yang Esa (The Nation Is Based on Oneness of God)(Bakery, op. cit. pp.13). Thus Indonesia is now a secular state, erected upon the blood of countless martyrs.
Since December 27, 1949 when the Dutch officially transferred their sovereignty over all of Indonesia to the Javanese to commence what di Tiro (1986) called Javanese colonialism, the Muslim ummah rose in defiance and declared their own Islamic states.
..............to be continued
