Obama and Muslim-majority treated their own aspirations

Obama and Muslim-majority treated their own aspirations

The United States President Barack Hussein Obama delivered his long-awaited and wide-ranging speech Thursday, June 3, 2009 on American and Muslim relations, offering a hand of friendship to Islam and addressing an array of quandaries and conflicts dividing the two cultures.

President Barack Hussein Obama urges a new chapter in ties between the U.S. and Muslims in a speech Thursday in Cairo University, Egypt quoting the Holy Quran as he expounded on Islam's glories and rights, the legitimate rights of Israel and the Palestinians, Iranian nuclear aspirations, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, women's rights, economic development, and religious rights and democracy in the Muslim world.

The address, billed as a fence-mending mission between the United States and Islam, urged those present and the people across the globe viewing the speech on television to enter a new, productive and peaceful chapter in their relationship. One of the Obama speeches he quoting from the Koran for emphasis, President Barack ObamaBarack Obama called for a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims" Thursday and said together, they could confront violent extremism across the globe and advance the timeless search for peace in the Middle East.

In a gesture to the Islamic world, Obama conceded at the beginning of his remarks that tension "has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations." "And I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear," said the president, who recalled hearing prayer calls of "azaan" at dawn and dusk while living in Indonesia as a boy.

What Mr Obama said that in Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations are true, not event in the Cold War era, but in the presents time, in some of Moslem’s countries their government still treated their citizens aspirations, thorough formal local constitution, the citizens do not have a freedom of speech, freedom to find a suitable work and some times their lost their freedom of their will.

Indonesia in the Cold War era, especially the Soeharto rezim era, we ever live in scaring to practicing our religion believes. Event our majority peoples are Moslems we some times could not freely to practicing our Qur’an doctrines. I have five sisters, one of them when She entered the High School in 1980, she could not use her Moslem dress of ‘’head-scarves’’. She should chosen, she can continuing her study but wear off the head-carves, or out of her School if she continuing her Islam believe by using her Moslem dress of ‘’head-scarves’’.

I do not believe that even our country population the majority is Moslem’s, but in era of 80's, we feel that we live in the colonialism era, like when Netherlands or Japanese occupied our countries. Some of our peoples in that times afraid to show that they are practicing a good Moslems.

When I has studied at California State University, Fresno, in 1982-1983, I am surprised that this country have to practice a freedom of speech, freedom of will to their citizens to chose their religion, event there are not believe in Good or secularism, event their ideology are communism. As we know that since the earliest of 70’s all of students from all over the world, including from some Moslem’s countries were entering the United States School, from Elementary School to University, including some students from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turky, and Malaysia.

In the 80’s, when Reza Pahlevi still rule the Iranian government, the majority of foreign students whose entered the US School were from Iran. But, in 1983, when Khomeini of Iran rules their countries, Malaysian students were the majority of foreign University Students. We saw that a lot of Iranian, Malaysian, and students from some Moslem countries such as Saudi Arabia can use their Moslem’s dress of head scarves when they were active enter the class.

My sister now lives in San Diego, California for more than 17 year, because she got married with American who convert to Islam when he still as a University Students in San Diego. You now what, my sister practice Islam more than all my sisters in Indonesia. She use Moslem’s dress of ‘’head-scarves’’ not only open her face, but close all her face like Moslem women in Afghanistan in Taliban eras.

Still the United States government in Washington or local government in California appreciate her freedom of choise and her freedom to choose one of her ideology practicing in daily lives.

Actually, the Moslem’s Holy Qur’an teach us about freedom of speech, freedom of our will and freedom to chose our religion or our ideology. Like I quote from ‘’Al-Qafirun’’Allah said that ‘’I give a freedom of choice to you to convert any religion or ideology. Either you are Christian, Jews, Buddha, Hindu, or Secular. ‘For you is on your religion and for me my religion’. So, Allah gives us freedom of our choice to choose our ideology or religion freely.

Now, our freedom of speech, freedom of our choice and freedom of our choose to chose or President, Governor, Mayor, and our House of Representative more democratic than before, event not hundreds percent at all, because some of the citizens lost their right to chose their candidates in the last April 9 of Indonesian House of Representative pool.

Now, we can also practice our religion freely, event some of our brother trying to force their believe to other peoples that they should follow their ‘’truly’’ religion. Our freedom our speech are also better, event some of our persecutors not professionally to implement our constitutions. Prita Mulyasari, for example, our persecutors sue her by Articles 27 of the Electronic Information Transaction Law. The articles carry a maximum sentence of six years in jail, event she only send an email to her friends complaining the mistreatment of one Hospital in Tangerang, Banten provice, Indonesia.

One of the Obama speech in Cairo, he quotes that the Holy Qur’an said that if We kill one human being, like we have big sin like we kill all the human being, when we save one peoples, we can get a reward from Allah like we save all the peoples in the world. So, Barack Obama is right, terrorism is not belong to Moslem, and Terrorism are belong to the ‘’devil’’ who Allah says can get a punishment in the here after. Qur’an said we as a human being should live in peace together, so we can live in harmony and secure for the sake of our happiness dream, not only in this short times in the world, but also for the continuing live in the here after. That is the Holy Qur’an said, not me.