Word: indonesia
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Jakarta, Indonesia "It's the most logical choice," says Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Not only is Jakarta the capital of the world's most populous Muslim nation, it is also part of the Obama narrative: he lived in the city for a few years as a child. Hooper says the President "will get an incredibly warm welcome there" - which will help with the symbolism of the moment...
Trouble is, Indonesia is not exactly in the crosscurrents of the Islamic world. Despite its size, it has little impact on Muslim affairs. It is also somewhat removed from the big issues Obama will most likely address in his speech - extremism, terrorism, democracy, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan. "Indonesia's a nice place, but it is outside the mainstream of Muslim opinion," says an Arab diplomat who asked not to be identified. "A Muslim watching in Egypt, or in Syria, or in Iraq - they will wonder, 'Why is he speaking to us from so far away?' " (Read "What's Holding...
...Naif al-Mutawa, a clinical psychologist from Kuwait. Al-Mutawa is the publisher of The 99, glossy comic books popular from Morocco to Indonesia, with 99 male and female superheroes, each imbued with godly qualities such as mercy, wisdom and tolerance. In a recent article for the Chicago Tribune, Obama's hometown paper, al-Mutawa recounted a conversation with his father about his newborn son. Al-Mutawa's grandfather had recently died, and he expected his father to ask him to keep the name in the family. Instead, his father suggested the child be named after Obama. "I was stunned...
...decision is just the latest religious controversy to make headlines in Indonesia in recent months. About 90% of the sprawling archipelago is Muslim - the world's largest Islamic population - but significant Hindu, Christian and animist communities live in places like Bali, Sulawesi and Papua. Despite the country's constitutional commitment to freedom of faith, religious minorities have complained in recent years of a creeping Islamization that they believe has strained Indonesia's social fabric...
...January, the nation's top Islamic body issued a fatwa, or religious edict, banning Muslims from practicing yoga if it involved chanting Hindu mantras. Late last year, Indonesia's parliament passed an anti-pornography bill that could criminalize certain folk dancing or traditional women's outfits. The bill was supported by hard-line Islamic groups, who believed its passage could counter moral degeneracy among Indonesian Muslims. So far, the law hasn't been applied in a significant way, although contemporary artists and others are worried they could be targets of its harsh prison sentences, which include a maximum...