[ccebook.cn]The World in 2010

this is accompanied by rising Islamophobia. Indeed, a recent Gallup poll indicated that the proportion of
Muslims who understand and appreciate the West is much higher than the number of Westerners who
appreciate Islam.
Hence, political and religious figures must speak out forcefully against discrimination and intolerance—which
they do not do often enough. And this is a two-way street: leaders in the Muslim world must reach out to the
West, just as much as they expect the West to understand Islam. It is heartening that the Vatican openly
supports Turkey’s bid for EU membership, and that a peaceful post-conflict Bosnia has been realised in Europe.
One hopes the same for Kosovo, too.
Still, without a resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the age-old question of Jerusalem, the underlying
resentment of Muslims towards what they perceive as Western injustice and bias will continue to burn. The
timely withdrawal of Western forces from what we all hope will be a stable and tolerant Iraq and Afghanistan
would also help.
Third, we will need to bolster the forces of moderation worldwide. Tolerance and
moderation should be taught to children in schools from a very early age. In
Indonesia, for example, Muslim students in school exams are asked questions about
the Christian celebration of Christmas and the Hindu tradition of Nyepi (a day of
silence in Bali).
Fourth, we will also need to ensure that the world’s civilisations can all benefit from
globalisation. Humanity has never seen a time when all civilisations prosper together.
The remedy is education, which will put marginalised societies on an equal footing
with the West in deriving the benefits of globalisation.
Avoiding the clash
Copyright © 2009 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.
Leaders in the
Muslim world
must reach out to
the West, just as
much as they
expect the West
to understand
Islam
An Islamic renaissance will do much to alter the misperception among some Muslims that they are victims of
global injustice. It will also help to reduce terrorism to what it really is: a crime that is neither a holy war nor
a struggle for justice.
A clash of civilisations is not inevitable. A confluence of civilisations is entirely possible. For millennia, our
archipelago has been home to many currents of civilisation. This is why, in today’s Indonesia, democracy,
Islam and modernity can go hand-in-hand—despite the occasional threats of extremism. We are convinced
that tolerance-building, an urgent task for 2010, must be at the centre of the world’s 21st-century agenda,
just as much as nation-building preoccupied the 20th century.
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