Jakarta Post, Indonesia
June 2 2007
Sovereignty and justice in Kosovo
Daniel Hummel, Jakarta
The Indonesian government needs to seriously consider the message it
is sending to its citizens when it supports sanctions against a
sovereign Iran, while hesitating to support Martti Ahtisaari’s
recommendations on the independence of Kosovo based on sovereignty
concerns.
The government needs to analyze the issue and be clear about the
roots and history in order to work toward a future within the purview
of its own moralities.
Fear that the UN decision has set a precedent for other small nations
to seek independence is unfounded. Often, the drive for independence
comes from injustices.
Serbia’s claim of sovereignty over Kosovo is weak.
Kosovo was once the homeland of ethnic Albanians, who have faced
numerous Slavic invasions throughout their history. The Ottoman
Empire under Murad I fought Serbia’s Prince Lazar on the fields of
Kosovo in the 14th century, in which Serbia lost and became a vassal
state of the empire.
After the loss of Ottoman power and breakdown of centralized control,
Serbia became dominated by exploitative governors. One notable moment
in its history involved the Janissaries — an elite core of Turkish
infantry — at the end of the 18th century who murdered the Ottoman
governor and assumed control of Serbia.
They oppressed the Serbs and massacred its population, often in
conjunction with fanatical Muslim elements. They were eventually
suppressed by the Serbs themselves.
The sultan was weak and afforded little help, and this precedent
generated hatred toward Ottoman authority. This, along with Russian
support, gave them the will to rise up against Ottoman rule.
Later in history, when the southern Slavs formed Yugoslavia, it
developed into a kingdom and then later a socialist republic, which
collapsed in 1989. After this, various former provinces fought for
independence, as the Slavic-run state failed to represent any of them
traditionally or religiously.
This led to violence, particularly in Bosnia in the early 90’s when
Radovan Karadic, the leader of the Bosnian Serbs, declared in Bosnian
parliament that the Muslims "would disappear from the face of the
earth."
The current Kosovo crisis began in 1998 when its countrymen fought
for independence and Milosevic began what was referred to as
"operation horseshoe" — a Serbian plan to ethnically-cleanse Kosovo
of all Albanian-Muslims. These atrocities lead to NATO and U.S.
bombing operations in the region, after which the UN declared the
special status of the province.
The Indonesian government should not focus on the historical claims
of Kosovo. Instead, the large-scale injustices that have occurred in
Kosovo and the current political situation in Serbia should be
analyzed.
Serbia is just as nationalist today as it was at the time of the
Kosovo violence. The people supported their incarcerated president
and now most of the Serb war criminals are still free, due to Serb
support. The Serbs still consider the abuses that took place, such as
rape camps, were simply normal conditions of war and therefore, do
not see the generals as criminals but freedom fighters.
Indonesia, as the most populous Muslim country in the world, must
approach this issue from an Islamic point of view. Sovereignty, in
Islam, is left not to man but to God. The purpose of a nation is to
foster the positive things in this world; it is not in itself the
purpose of its existence. This means that a nation must promote
humanity; a moral and technical evolution.
When a state acts in a way that violates human rights, it has
violated its sovereignty and is subject to dismemberment. It was this
reasoning that caused the early Muslims to disperse beyond the
surrounding tyrants of the Medinan State.
During the decline of the Ottoman Empire many abuses occurred that
made the empire’s rule irrelevant and caused the Europeans to
advocate for the abolishment of it.
In Bulgaria, many massacres occurred under sanctions of the Sultanate
through Tatar irregulars. Armenians were massacred on the Anatolian
mainland by Kurdish irregulars and Turkish forces.
It is obvious that secular nationalism has not been able to solve
problems within civil society. The state needs to adopt a more
benevolent view. In a way, secularism has allowed religious societies
to ‘reboot’ and a more enlightened view of the role of religion in
society is now needed.
The only way forward is to allow the Kosovars to assume rule to the
best of their ability.
The writer, who holds a BA in international relations from
Pennsylvania State University, works with Trisakti University in
Jakarta on its Islamic Economics and Finance program.
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