Jennie M. Xue

Romancing the Koran in Indonesia

by Jennie S. Bev

Indonesians have been flocking to a wildly popular novel by a young Indonesian named Habiburrahman El-Shiraz, and now an equally popular new movie, Ayat-Ayat Cinta, (translated as Love Verses). At first blush the work sounds hopelessly and religiously romantic, just like Kahlil Gibran’s poems to his mysterious lover whom, in the end, he never even met.

But don’t be fooled. Love Verses is far from a story of innocent platonic love between pen friends. It is about romanticizing polygamy and re-packaging fundamentalism in a modern Hollywood way. Both the book and the film have been embraced by Indonesian Islamists, who may see it as a chance to embed Islamist ideology into the wider moderate majority. Parliament chairman Hidayat Nur Wahid, who represents the Islamist-oriented Prosperous Justice Party, reportedly met with the cast of the film and praised the story because it was written by an author who had attended Islamic boarding schools and could popularize Islamic teaching.

Prophetic mindset

by Jennie S. Bev

Easter is associated with the resurrection of the Savior. For two millennia, Jesus Christ has been regarded as the one who sacrificed himself to save humankind with his divine power as granted from God.

However, not many people, even Christians, realize that we all have the qualities Christ had. They are called prophetic qualities, which are reserved for us, human beings, to save ourselves, humankind and the universe. Everyone, including those who consider themselves polytheists, pantheists, agnostics or even atheists, possesses the ability to make a drastic change in the lives of themselves and others by adopting the so-called “prophetic mindset.”

Gender equalities and urgency for fair masculinism

by Jennie S. Bev

March 8th is international women’s day.

Indonesian culture and laws reflect a utopian message that men and women live in harmony, in an environment that each gender understands and executes their responsibilities wisely. In this notion, men serve as the heads of the family, the protectors, and the breadwinners, while women as the caretakers of the family members and caring mothers. Alas, not everyone is wise both as a person and an individual of a certain gender, the world is not perfect, and Indonesia is not a utopia, thus such image of perfection is merely a mirage, which comes with consequences.

Today is the 21st century, the era of globalization that Joseph E. Stiglitz has been advocating for fair trade. It is the era in which Web 2.0 citizen journalism has emerged into citizen diplomacy with its real-time technological apparatus that have changed the global culture on digerati and quotidian communities’ levels. It is the era in which women have to work as hard as, or even harder than men, to make differences at world level, not merely for their own families. It is the era that women are equally important politically, socially, economically, and individually.

Islam and competing in doing good

by Jennie S. Bev

Indonesia is a country with three legal systems: civil (continental), Islamic, and adat (customary). Above all, Indonesia is said to be a country based on the concept of rule of law, which is reflected in the 1945 Constitution. But there are also gray areas throughout, and this unique environment serves as a fertile breeding ground for multitudes of interpretations in legal, political and cultural domains.

Based on the rule of law, no one is above the law and the truth occupies the highest form of intent. The continental legal system in Indonesia, which originated from the Dutch imperialism era, is based on this principle.

However, according to Seyyed Hossein Nasr, an Islamic scholar who was educated at MIT and Harvard, in The Heart of Islam, "The rights of God stand above the rights of human beings."