1. Islam and TheJakartaPost.com: When Discussing Islam on Mass Media is aGood Way of Getting Money and PrestigeBy Irfan NugrohoI am a vivid reader of TheJakartaPost.com, and one section that I love to read isOpinion Section. From the section I can both learn how to write well and knowfascinating insight on the recent news around the globe.However, I must ease myself off when I found one or two writing discussing Islam onthat section. And the worse one is that of the high frequency of such an opinion, whichunfortunately discussed Islam from the perspectives of non-Muslim westerners andanti-Islam movement.The last time I read about an opinion from a Netherlands Ambassador to Indonesia onwhat Islam actually is. On the same day, there was another opinion about Islam too;but this one was from an anti-Islam movement that is called Jaringan Islam Liberal-JIL (Liberal Islam Network).I read Mr. Ambassadors first before jumping to the JIL-ers opinion. I descried thereis a correlation between Mr. Ambassadors opinion and the JIL-ers one. Not only thecorrelation lay on the same issue Islam; but also, it appears that the JIL-ers opinionhas indirectly proven that Mr. Ambassadors opinion is 100% correct.Mr. Ambassador wrote about his very lack insight about terrorism and Islam. Hestated that he never found any verse in the Quran calling for people to carry out theJeehad. Im not going to focus this writing about his lack view on the meanings of theJeehad, however. This writing is to spotlight on the secret Mr. Ambassador unveiledthrough his opinion.On his opinion Mr. Ambassador told that the easiest way of getting academic funds isby undertaking research as well as holding seminar on Islamic issues, especially Islamfrom the perspectives of non-Muslim westerners and anti-Islam movement.Doubtlessly, Islam has been an interesting topic after the 9/11, and is because Islamalone develops fast and widely in Europe and America, in which this situation is oftenviewed as a threat for anti-Islam movement.Sure everyone who knows that fact will get themselves active in discussing Islam,even though theyre not Muslims. They get money from speaking about Jeehad, as ifthey are experts in Jeehad but they never engaged in the Land of Jeehad.They talk about Islam, but it is seldom to see those people practice the Islamicteachings well. They shout for Islamic movement but in fact, they live ordinary life, notas Islamic movement activists. They deliver criticism over Islam on mass media; thusthey get paid for it.This is the same as what the JIL-er did through his opinion The True Position of Islamin Politics, on the same day when Mr. Ambassadors opinion was published onTheJakartaPost.com.The JIL-er wrote about the political strategies of Partai Keadilan Sejahtera-PKS(Prosperous Justice Party) in term of winning the hearts of Indonesian nationalistvoters in the 2009 General Election. Poorly, he offered very very short argumentationto support his view about this topic; that of assuming the PKSs effort ended in failureas PKS is still fundamentalist thus couldnt attract Indonesian nationalist voters.So why does such writing appear on TheJakartaPost.com? Just because he is goodin English, perhaps, thus his opinion was chosen to publish. Or perhaps, its justbecause TheJakartaPost.coms preference; that of preferring Islamic to non-Islamicissues.On the face of that, I want to assume that the JIL-er wrote such an opinion becausehe was in need for money and prestige. The JIL-er got paid as his writing waspublished on TheJakartaPost.com. Consequently, some people might acknowledgehim as an Islamic politics expert even though the fact shows different thing, he isnot master in Islamic politics at all.Finally, it is, perhaps, true that discussing Islam on mass media is a good way ofgetting money and prestige. You get paid from writing Islamic issues; thus peopleknow you as if youre an expert on that case. In addition, we must also remember that 2. apparently, TheJakartaPost.com, and many other mass media, prefers Islamic tonon-Islamic issues.