Comments by "Rutvik" (@rutvikrs) on "Showpiece Muslim democracy Indonesia bans sex outside marriage, live-ins, tightens contraception" video.

When people in the non-left and liberals bring up Indonesia as a shining example of "Hindu roots"(Garuda airlines being the favourite) and "Liberal Islam", I end up enquiring the last time they updated themselves. It will drive home some harsh truths. Read my thread in the replies to this comment for some insights I found.
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1. Majority of Indonesians do not like to acknowledge Hindu roots and India. This includes Balinese Hindus who I have been in touch with. Reason? VHP and RSS are not great mediums. Their trust has eroded on the Indian diplomatic system which secured them thier status as a recognised religion. 2. Indian diplomats are hyper obsessed about their frame of domestic politics and policies. There is no official recognition of their identity in Indian systems. They have completely avoided their language Balinese and Bahasa. They have shifted to trade as a locus. 2. This leaves non-governmental and civil societies to converse with the groups and these groups are severely under equipped to deal with them. There is only so much one can listen to about how Sanskrit and Tamil influenced them, how we share gods and philosophies. A person who runs a social media outreach for Indonesian Hindus told me he only gets replies and DMs that amount to "do you know Tamil/Sanskrit" and "You used to be a part of us" and the indirect "Cholas conquered you". There is no further conversation, no monetary support, no sharing of literature or history, and not even an enquiry on their current challenges. The person shut down the handle last month. 3. The only success is a couple of people from VHP who are sharing information with them but even there, they are not happy with the effort or localisation.
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5. But there is one group that has had tremendous success in appeal, Tablighi jamaat. They have chapters across the country, lakh+ individuals travelling between on a regular basis and significant influence on the Indonesian population. What is the stated goal of this organisation? To reform Sunni Islam towards the original followers/tenets. Read, ridding influence of the local and syncretic cultures. This means no mazars, no dargahs, no unislamic naming conventions, introduction of hijabs among a plethora of moves easier understood as Wahabisation(there are minor differences but for the sake of understanding). Just to be clear, this process does not yield terror, it does breed deracination and social mobilization towards islamification which indirectly leads to social support base for radicalism. 6. Liberals in India have played a massive part to enable the Tablighi movement by the virtue of ignoring the implications of their stated goal and actively whitewashing the history. Particularly infuriating is the case of Titumir being made into a freedom fighter to Muhammad Khandlavi being favourably documented. People will find it hard to believe that this movement which spans Pakistan to Malaysia had its roots in Mewat. Even Iran, Saudi and Central Asian Muslim countries have banned them. But Indonesians and Malaysians more so see India through this movement.
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7. We have already seen the bearing of this movement prominently in the naming convention. The tribe of Muslims with Hindu names is diminishing by the day. Teenagers in the country sound more Arab than Indonesian or Indian or Hindu. So it's a matter of time before Garuda airlines, Laxmi notes and names like Indradevi, Vishnuputra are consigned to history. 8. It's important to recognise that tabhligi is not political. It is avowedly disinterested in it and cedes ground to politics that is even more Islamist. Special claps to liberal intelligentsia which always makes it a point to mention Indian muslims are Indian first but chose to ignore a movement that sought to take out the Indian from the "Indian muslim". 9. So it's time for us to deal with it. Hindutva should start removing Malaysia and Indonesia from Akhand Bharat, IR buffs should start forgetting about Indosphere including this region, defence analysts should start worrying about 3.5 fronts(Fun fact:Indonesia supported Pakistan in the 65 war and broke into Indian maritime regions in Andaman and Nicobar while the war was in progress.) But the most important thing is "Garuda airlines and goddess Laxmi on Indonesian currency". OK?
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@TheSoLuna2 this opinion is after 6 years of contact with Hindu diaspora. Since you want to correct me and obviously know about the topic, could we start with why Ram Madhav was sent to R20 at Bali as a firefighter?
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@surojeetchatterjee if you bothered to read the entire thing. I out myself as someone associated with Sangh and Hindutva. What I am reporting is the view of Indonesian Hindus and how they are dissatisfied with our effort. The people who are succeeding are Tablighi Jamaat.
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@well_said7846 you can never change it. Right now, to the Indonesian Hindus we sound like a Brit who's clueless about colonialism. What we can do is develop effective platforms and lines of communication. I fear it's too late.
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@surojeetchatterjee I do what I can when I have spare time. Right now, I used my time hopefully to educate at least one person that jt's ceased being a Hindu problem but is a national one. I am not a full time worker for the Sangh so your comment is a nothingburger bringing in gaumutra now. Not sure you have anything substantial to converse on.
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@TheSoLuna2 this comment is a comparison on the level of engagement we have with sangh between us. Anyone within knows Ram Madhav to be a crisis manager. If you haven't figured it out yet, I am part of the Sangh. Post pandemic there has been a total breakdown of communication between Hindu diaspora in Indonesia and Hindu activists. Ram Madhav has been sent specifically because Tablighi has drummed up the corona jihad news coverage and a lot of Indonesians perceive India negatively. Hindu groups in Bali avoid association with any Sangh personnel due to internal politics.
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@well_said7846 I volunteer for Sangh. Otherwise I have a career in consulting and academia. Can't share beyond that. On why Sangh, I started reading primary sources to get back at Sanghis, became one. There are several other reasons of course.
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