The issue of Muslim integration is not
exclusively a European problem, but is also an issue in many Muslim-majority
countries. Over the last two or three decades, media and political talks have
addressed the matter as if it is a specific problem of Western countries.
Recent
cases of atrocities committed by Muslim criminals such as the murderous attack
on the editors of Charlie Hebdo in Paris have reignited the endless question of
Muslim integration.
What is
important to underline here is that many scholars and experts believe that
Muslims have failed to accept European values. They give various explanations
for this failure, which we can sum up into three arguments.
First,
the failure results from an unjust social and political system. In France, for
example, the system has caused multiple insecurities among the marginalised
Muslims.
They
endure the lowest education levels, often have the lowest paid jobs and are
more prone to unemployment than the French majority.
Second,
the failure is mainly due to the incompetent policies that the European
governments have taken with regard to Muslim immigrants. The right wings, who
have long been behind this argument, blame Western governments for being too
tolerant toward Muslim immigrants.
They
argue that welcoming Muslim immigrants was the first mistake the Western
governments committed.
Granting
migrants’ quest for their religious rights was another blunder. The current
rise of Muslim extremism, so the argument goes, is mainly due to this
over-tolerant policy, which has been in place since the 1970s.
The third
argument is similar to the second with a different tone. They blame the
government’s policy over Muslim immigrants, not for its tolerance (let alone
over-tolerance), but rather for its inflexible and intolerant approach toward
Muslims.
The bill
that bans the use of headscarves in France, the regulation on minarets in
Switzerland and the restriction on halal food in the Netherlands do not reduce
Muslim fundamentalism, but rather increase distrust and inconvenience among
Muslims.
Looking
at these three arguments and putting them in a different context, we will find
that the issue of Muslim integration is not characteristically a European
problem. In most Muslim majority countries whose constitutions are secular,
Muslim integration is equally crucial. Indonesia is not an exception.
If by
“integration” we mean the process by which people (citizens) can live and work
together under shared national values, Muslims are the most anxious religious
groups who try to cope with this process. I am talking about Muslims in their
own land, Indonesia.
In
Europe, Muslims’ attitude in expressing their religious identities and their
demand for more Islamic regulations in public spaces is often considered a form
of disengagement from the national (Western) values; hence their process to
disintegrate from the nation.
In
Indonesia, such an attitude can be found in various groups of Islamic
fundamentalism.
Organisations
like Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) clearly call for an Islamic caliphate and
denounce the Indonesian Constitution. The group has been campaigning against
the state and its political fabric. In the past 15 years, the group has
actively recruited members, particularly from university students, and
indoctrinated them to disobey the republic.
There are
other groups that share the vision of HTI, particularly in terms of the will to
Islamise the country. These groups disagree with HTI’s bid for a caliphate but
fully agree with its Islamisation agenda, such as the implementation of sharia
in a wider scope of the country.
Islamisation
in the sense of imposing Islamic values in people’s public life is not only an
Indonesian phenomenon. It can be found in other predominantly Muslim countries
whose constitution is not based on Islamic law. Turkey is a clear example in
point.
If
disintegration refers to the process of disassociating people from the bigger
group, what Islamists have been doing in all over the Muslim world is
unquestionably an act of disintegration. Like in Europe, Muslim fundamentalists
are trying to disengage from nations not merely because of the failure of
policies set by secular governments, but mainly due to the failure of Muslim
themselves.
It is
ironic for anybody, whether in Europe or in Muslim countries, to keep blaming
government policies but fail to understand the complexity of Muslim communities.
The
failure of Muslim integration might be shaped by the discrepancy of social and
political system in secular governments. But it should not be ignored that
disloyalty and the spirit of disengagement are inherent in some Muslim groups.
Luthfi Assyaukanie
The writer is a lecturer at the Postgraduate
School of Diplomacy and researcher at the SMRC, Jakarta.
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