The Rise Of The Second Caliphate

Sunday afternoon over 100 thousand activists crowded into the Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia shouting "Allah hu Akbar" and denouncing democracy and secularism the attendees called for the return of a global caliphate, a one world Islamic state. Many of the Indonesian attendees had traveled for hours from smaller villages and towns outside the capitol to attend the massive rally in Jakarta. Despite his plans to address the rally, Indonesian authorities requested that cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir refrain due to security concerns. Two other radical speakers from Australia and Britain who had planned to speak at the rally and had landed in Jakarta on Friday were refused permission to enter the country. Smaller simultaneous conferences in support of this rally were help in various other countries including Britain, Denmark, Malaysia, Netherlands, Pakistan and Palestine.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international, Islamist political party whose goal is to unite all Muslim countries in a unitary Islamic state or caliphate, ruled by Shariah law and headed by a Caliph. Banned in several countries including China and Saudi Arabia, Hizb ut-Tahrir is flourishing in the West under the guise and pretense of "freedom of religion", tolerance and you guessed it, multiculturalism. At times employing violent symbolic imagery the leaders of Hizb ut-Tahrir in England preach their hatred of democracy, freedom and secularism and call for the overthrow of the government with impunity. Enfeebled by their own inconsistencies and bound by the chains of political correctness, England's commitment to - and in defense of human dignity, individual freedom and social justice has become like a candle in the wind.

And while a hapless Saint George finds himself hopelessly sliding down the dragon's throat in England, you'd think that someone might have noticed the recrudescent rise of political Islam in Southeast Asia. Surely someone would have noticed what was happening in small towns and the and villages. Well... think again.

On the 22th of May, America's ambassador-designate to Indonesia, Cameron Hume would give a glowing assessment on Indonesia to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations citing, of all things, the success of U.S. policies in promoting Democracy in Indonesia. Two days later, on the 24th of May, I would post an article here entitled "Challenges Ahead For Cameron Hume" where I would dispute and question the veracity of some of the claims made in Mr. Cameron Hume's testimony. Mr. Hume either was not aware or didn't seem to think it necessary to inform the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that US tax dollars have been inadvertently spent in Indonesia to promote the establishment of a caliphate and the promotion of Shariah law. Next time try to remember, feets on the ground in Southeast Asia trump brains in think tanks in Washington every time sir.

With over one billion adherents spanning the globe, it's often been believed that Islam is too big and too diverse for any coherent political action and the West still seems to find themselves unable to accept the fact that Islam is as much a political ideology as it is a religious one. Being perhaps one of the most protean belief systems on the planet it's even more difficult to imagine that Islam could ever become a single amalgam. Recent events in Indonesia might end up making the unthinkable become a reality.

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