In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, President Bush and others have tried to distinguish between a campaign against terror and a campaign against Islam, but citizens of nations that have suffered the brunt of US policy may find it difficult to discern the difference. As home to the world's largest Muslim population and the subject of questionable US influence, Indonesia is just such a place.

One million suspected communists were massacred under General Suharto in Indonesia. The US helped organize the mid-'60s coup that brought him to power and provided military aid. Earlier this year, Indonesians chose Megawati Sukarnoputri in an election more closely aligned with US ideals. But some Indonesians, recognizing that their new president is backed by the same military institution of the Suharto era, remain wary of a supportive US hand.

According to Janet Gunter, project coordinator for the East Timor Visual History Project at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies, world leaders and heads of state, including President Bush, see Sukarnoputri's democratic rise to power as "a victory for constitutional procedure and democracy." But in an op-ed piece distributed through Brown, Gunter notes that the new leader's rise was supported by the TNI, notorious for its crimes against humanity during East Timor's bid for independence, which she calls "one of the most brutal and unaccountable militaries in the world."

Since the US bombing began in Afghanistan, a number of violent and well-attended protests have taken place in Indonesia, many outside of US embassies. While complaints against the US aren't founded on concerns about religious insensitivity, the current atmosphere has provided an outlet for the airing of past grievances.

For Indonesians harboring resentment about past policy, "the United States must demand that Megawati be neither a pathetic servant of the Indonesian military nor a mere representative of wealth and power," Gunter writes. The response could well be influential as the US, after initial military success in Afghanistan, still faces the larger challenge of winning Islamic hearts and minds.

Issue Date: December 7 - 13, 2001