The World Is Not A Noir Film

This picture is taken from Sankom and I know some of you wouldn't be able to visit the site because of NSFW.

DISCLAIMER: I am a Christian and this note is about my understanding about a culture, which is a major religion in my country. So, yeah, feel free to think that I didn't study enough and whatever reason you may inserted that you feel I don't have the right to judge.

Yeah, whatever....

The topic is about an Islamic Miku. An Indonesian cosplayer made herself a Miku character with Hijab. Hijab is an Islamic veil. Cute, isn't she? :P

Well, Internet is not a place for the weak heart, including Sankom. Some people started to bash how Islam is the religion of terrorist. Some of them also saying that the real Islam is not so keen to this idea. She could be banned!

Based on both prejudices, I made this post. Not to flame, not to judge, but to share my view and my understanding.

History of Factions

Well, according to my understanding, Islam had a major era when they did preserving the literatures. There was a time when they did become the face of science. When Europeans still playing in the dark age, the Moslems was blooming with philosophies and science. So, when you said this type of Moslem, I doubted they would even bother developing hate against Miku fan.

Unfortunately, the Crusades made this Islamic culture washed away. In that war, Ulama (Islamic Priest) made so many hate Fatwas (decrees). A faction was born, extremists that would love to fight for survival in many ways. I guess when you are in a pitch, there would be a chance that you want to retaliate back. Even if that's going too far.

Fast forward to today's world, both of them actually survived. The modern Moslem faction with wide mind and the strict faction. They both have evolved and manifested in the modern era.

In case of Indonesia, I find those two factions based on their graduation. Gusdur and many that graduates from Egyptian Islamic college are gentle ones. Habib Rizieq and many that graduates from Yemen and the likes are the strict ones.

Years before the fall of Soeharto, the strict ones were being oppressed and silenced. But, not long before the downfall, their voices heard. And since the Reformation era, they bloom.

Detached and Cultural Wisdom

There are many factions in Christianity also. Based on the local geographic, many variations of Christianity. This variation indeed because of the local culture there. Some incorporate this culture into the worship. And I would say that there are also bizarre and nasty types of Christianity.

Based on this understanding, I too see this in many religions, including Islam. Indonesian Islam is a complex example of that. There is a mix of detached Islam and cultural wisdom in this region. Acculturation with Buddhism, Hinduism and perhaps local religion (Kejawen) made this Indonesian Islam quite a bit flavoured.

Some of Moslem people I encounter (yup, my friends included) believes that Moslem is  one Religion. When I asked them about Shiah, they would tell me that that faction also part of Islam. And I usually took a silence from that answer.

They didn't know that Indonesia is mostly from Sunni faction of Islam. They didn't really know that Shiah and Sunni was in bad term with each other. They didn't know what happened in Middle East. This detached mind was the unique ingredient that flourish diversity and tolerance among Indonesian.

Interestingly, these recent years many Islamic decisions infused by strict Moslem into education. For example, many public schools are required to use long skirt for women. In my days of school and in my father times which depicted in old movies, there were many young women wear short skirt to schools.

Since the downfall of Saddam, this strict Moslem is making the scene so much. They also infiltrate to Indonesia. Their objective is one: making their version of Islam as the one and only. Well, that's a fair thinking. Every religion does that.

Even if they try to make Indonesia into a strict religion, I think they will fail. The young minds are also flourished with liberal view from Internet. Don't get me wrong; in my time, stencils are hard to get. Today, we could see how young people could watched porn from their smart phone and Internet provides them much more. Even I scared how they develop savage language in the game forum.

Furthermore, they even produce the IAV (Indonesian Adult Video) themselves. Once upon a time, there was a hype in high school students to make love and post them on the Net. The trend was positive because the media exploit this trend and I find it very disturbing that so many people are attention whores.

I constantly amazed by how these two polars flourished in the same country. Who will win? Well, I don't know much about that. We can only say, whose donor will win them over.

It sucks to be in a country with so much potential to prosper. So many marionettes and puppeteers. I can only hope that my table served well and no riot ever happens. AMEN!

Now, back to this Islamic Miku. This picture should also notify people that not all Moslem are bad. Just like Christianity, there are also friendly faces among them. Poke them and give friendly shout to them.