Disaster prone Indonesia is populated by people weak in faith, or weak in honesty, depending on your view.

The string of natural and man-made disasters that have plagued Indonesia since 2004, which are estimated to have claimed 200,000 lives, whether the Lapindo mud flow, the southern Java tsunami & earthquakes, the Yogyakarta earthquake, or the Adam Air crash, to name just a few, have caused many to wonder whether something is terribly wrong with the country or the people. But what exactly is wrong excites some debate and controversy.

Muslim political figures put at least some of the blame on the weakness of faith of Indonesians. Hamzah Haz of the PPP said on the 15th that all the disasters may be a warning from God, that God is telling His people to always keep Him in their thoughts and hearts and to obey all His commands and keep away from the things which He has made forbidden. republika

Hasyim Muzadi of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) advises the people to repent their sins and always ask for the help of God, given that all the human means at the country’s disposal, the knowledge, money, the bureaucracy and the security forces, had proven lacking in being able to overcome all the problems. Therefore there was no other way but to plead to the Almighty.

Hasyim said that he had found a relevant passage in the Quran, An Nahl 112, that would be of assistance in the matter. According to his reading of the Quran there were two types of disaster: that caused by the will of God, and that caused by the failings of man, whether man’s destructiveness (such as cutting down of forests leading to floods) or his immorality (like lying).

Hasyim said that the NU was recommending to its members that they fast (puasa sunnah “Tasu’a” and “Asyura”) between 20th and 30th January 2007, the first ten days of the Islamic New Year. Additionally NU followers should repent their sins, be honest, increase their worship activities, do good works and help disaster victims, and also avoid frowned-on behaviour. antara

Tsunami Disaster in Indonesia, 2004.

A foreign observer, Andre Vltchek, author of Conversations With Pramoedya Ananta Toer, in a lengthy and worthwhile read, “Indonesia: Natural Disasters or Mass Murder?” japanfocus, puts the blame for all the deaths caused by disasters on:

non-existent efforts to prevent the loss of life and the lack of basic education.

The (unbridled) profit motive, combined with rampant corruption, “is a formula for disaster”, he says.

Companies care only about their profits, while government inspectors are mainly interested in bribes.

Even the blame for earthquake deaths is laid at the foot of incompetent and corrupt businessmen and officials:

Earthquakes alone do not kill people. Poor construction of houses and buildings are the culprits, together with the lack of preventive measures and preventive education.

He asks:

When will Indonesian people say that enough is enough and when will they demand accountability and justice, exact statistics and a concrete blueprint for solutions?

The media covers each disaster story in great detail but does not question the real cause behind the high numbers of dead, or the high frequency of accidents. The Jakarta Post refused to publish his piece, he says.

When corruption reaches such a scale that it can be considered at least partly responsible for so many people dying then those at fault are, in a way perhaps, guilty of mass murder, he says.