"Fundamentalism not unique to Islam"

Our largest neighbour Indonesia is going through a period of dynamic, unpredictable and largely disheartening change--which could have a larger impact on Australia than we can yet imagine. And one of the most detailed and compassionate accounts come from an India-born, Washington-based journalist, Sadanand Dhume in his first book, My Friend the Fanatic.

Dhume discussed his book with Australian author, Linda Jaivin in the atmospheric, brick-lined Richard Wherrett Studio in the Sydney theatre last week, as part of the Sydney Writers' Festival 2008. Following the Bali bombings in October 2002, Dhume travelled across Indonesia with Herry Nurdi, managing editor of fundamentalist mouthpiece Sabili, who hero-worships Osama bin Laden.

"Herry is not a fanatic," said Dhume, however. "The title is misleading. He writes awfully bigoted things, but this is a career choice for him--he is more like a Monday to Friday fanatic. Fanatics are not curious, but Herry is very curious," he said.

To illustrate his point, Dhume talked about his visit to a purportedly moderate Islamic school in Gontor, near Ponorogo in east Java. "The students were forbidden to watch the most famous local dance," explained Dhume. "They were not taught Jihad, but they were taught to be very sceptical of any other cultural influence."

Though triggered by the Bali bombings, My Friend the Fanatic, really explores these slow transformations taking place in Indonesia, until then home to a cultural diversity of Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Muslim faith. In his prologue, Dhume writes about Islam, a relatively recent import to the Indonesia, preceded by a millennium and a half of Hinduism & Buddhism, along with decades of Dutch influence to add.

The literal, harsh interpretation of the faith comes from a powerful minority, he believes. "Islam is a young faith, and with the rise of petro-dollars, some of the world's richest places are supporting the fundamentalist form--and Indonesia is vulnerable to this."

'…the carnage in Bali was only the most visible expression of a much larger churning.' writes Dhume in his prologue. "We are obsessed with terrorism, but more worrying are the changes in day to day life--such as asking women to cover up--that Islamic fundamentalists are bringing in Indonesia," he said at the festival.