In Reply to: The problem posted by Sargent on Wednesday, 10. November 2004 at 18:33 Bali Time:
SBY seems to be trying to move away from the proportionate party representation system, and there's a bit of biffo in parliament at the moment about who is best to do what. While such a system is limiting, I don't believe it's necessarily any better for the president to be able to pick his own men without any checks and balances. Like when Bush picks a few more ultra-right wing christians to sit on the supreme court bench, there are a few minority groups that can kiss their rights goodbye, if not their asses.
In any event, I do agree that there are degrees of usefulness depending on where the money is spent on education (and, of course, on the other area intended for funding, poverty alleviation). But I don't think it can do any harm. I believe there are a very small number of schools that are specifically designed for recruiting terrorists (from what I can gather from numerous independant reports), and these tend to be privately funded by radical Islamic groups (intentionally) with some help from Mosques (unwittingly). State school curriculums (curricula?) seem less religion oriented, and are less likely to be used as sources of recruitment by Jihadists.
The modern educated youth of Indonesia are enamoured with America and the West. They wear Levi jeans in 35 degree heat, for God's sake. They eat at Mc Donalds and know all the top 40 songs. They have embraced the West's junk culture wholesale. They are out to consume, not destroy. The jihadists could do a lot more damage to the west by convincing Indonesians to buy Indonesian products. So far the bombs and threats have done more to hurt Indonesia than anyone else (which isn't to belittle the suffering inflicted on other victims).
The main perpetrators of violence (other than the "masterminds") have all had virtually no education beyond third year at primary level. They are being duped by relatively few educated or otherwise cunning men with evil intentions. They don't have the knowledge to counter the arguments they hear. They have malleable minds that can be twisted and filled with biased and evil teachings.
I can't say for sure that if Muklas or Amrozi had the benefit of a proper education they wouldn't have fallen in with a bad crowd. But they would have been better prepared to make the choice. If you take a poor man with a simple mind and no prospects, and promise him the earth, it's easy to convince him to do something. Way too easy.