THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary-December 5, 2016- Topic 1
Indonesia’s
blasphemy protests
The 200,000 white-clad Indonesians
took to the streets of Jakarta to call for the arrest of the city’s governor, Basuki Purnama. Mr. Purnama, who is a “double minority” for being
ethnically Chinese and a Christian, riled the sentiments of certain hardline
sections in September when he said a Koranic verse had been used to trick
voters into believing that Muslims ought not be led by a non-Muslim. Since
then, Indonesia has been convulsed by protests, including one near the presidential palace in early
November that turned violent. The embattled Mr. Purnama has been slapped with
blasphemy charges, and an investigation is ongoing. His political proximity to
President Joko Widodo does not appear to have slowed the momentum of the
protests. Prior to winning the presidency in 2014, Mr. Widodo was the governor
of Jakarta, and Mr. Purnama, a frontrunner in the February 2017 governorship
election, is on track to forge a pathway to even higher political office. Mr.
Widodo has been silent on the motives driving the latest protest, even as he
appeared at the scene to praise its relatively peaceful tenor. However, the
recent arrest for treason of at least eight people, including Rachmawati
Soekarnoputri, daughter of Indonesia’s founding father Sukarno, suggests that
other political factors may be at play, including an attempt to whip up public
sentiment against Mr. Purnama securing a second term as governor.
Given the Jakarta-centric locus of
the protests, it is likely that anger over Mr. Purnama launching large-scale
slum evictions in the city has brought many from among the poorer sections to
their feet. Yet the fact that the demonstration was orchestrated by the
right-wing Islamic Defenders Front Party, which also set up charity operations
in the affected North Jakarta neighbourhoods, indicates that support for
Islamist ideology from local residents has been a critical factor. This
development, if it gains wider momentum across the countryside, could be a
retrograde step for Indonesia, which has until now, like neighbouring Malaysia,
stood out as a regional bulwark against extremism, maintaining secular
tolerance of Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist minorities. Adventurism of this
sort could endanger the accommodating fabric of Indonesian society years after
the post-Bali bombing purge of fundamentalists. This is especially a matter of
concern in the context of suspicion that hundreds of Indonesian youth recently
travelled to Syria to join the Islamic State. While Mr. Widodo’s encouraging
remarks to the protesters are understandable, the onus is on him to take a
stand against allowing the latest turn of events from turning into a launching
pad for a more intolerant national ethos.
Vocabulary
Clad: clothed.
Example: They were clad in T-shirts and shorts
Synonyms: dressed, clothed, attired, got up, garbed, rigged
out, togged out
Ethnically: of or relating to a population subgroup within a larger or dominant
national or cultural group with a common
national or cultural tradition.
Example: Leaders of ethnic communities
Synonyms: racial, ethnological, cultural, national, tribal, ancestral, traditional
Riled: make someone annoyed or irritated.
Example: It was his air of knowing all the answers that riled her
Convulsed: of a person suffer violent involuntary contraction of the muscles,
producing contortion of the body or limbs.
Example: She convulsed, collapsing to the floor with the pain
Synonyms: shake uncontrollably, go into spasms, shudder, jerk, thrash
about
Embattled: of a place or people involved in or
prepared for war, especially because surrounded by enemy forces.
Example: The embattled Yugoslavian republics
Blasphemy: the act or offense of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things;
profane talk.
Example: He was detained on charges of blasphemy
Synonyms: profanity, sacrilege, irreligion, irreverence, taking
the Lord's name in vain
Forge: make or shape a metal object by heating it in a fire or furnace and beating
or hammering it.
Example: For a dark blade such as this, the metal is forged in a magical fire of
burning ice.
Synonyms: hammer out, beat into shape, fashion
Eviction: the action of expelling someone, especially a tenant, from a property;
expulsion.
Example: The forced eviction of residents
Synonyms: expulsion, ejection, ousting, removal, dislodgment, displacement
Orchestrated: arrange or direct the elements of (a situation) to produce a desired
effect, especially surreptitiously.
Example: The developers were able to orchestrate a favorable media campaign
Synonyms: organize, arrange, plan, set up, bring about, mobilize, mount, stage
Retrograde: directed or moving backward.
Example: A retrograde flow
Synonyms: backward, backwards, reverse, rearward
Purge: an abrupt or violent removal of a group of people from an organization or
place.
Example: A purge of the ruling class is absolutely necessary
Synonyms: removal, expulsion, ejection, exclusion, eviction, dismissal