The Indonesian political magazine Tempo recently published a satirical version of the Last Supper by Leonardo de Vinci. Instead of Jesus it showed ex President Suharto, who died late January, having dinner with his six children. Catholic groups protested and asked the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs to look at Blasphemy charges under the Indonesian Criminal Code. The magazine offered an apology. The Indonesian Bishops Conference and Communion of Churches then declared the case closed.

Christian and Muslim communities are both confronted with occasions where freedom of expression for secular society can result in images, especially via cartoons and films, which some religious people can find offensive.

The Danish cartoons, including a satirical presentations of the head of Islam s prophet with a turban designed to look like a bomb with a lit fuse , published by Jyllands Posten in September 2005, created a bigger international row than the Tempo case.

A dozen Danish papers reprinted the cartoons, in support of press freedom, in mid February 13th, after three men were arrested on suspicion of plotting to kill the cartoonist. Muslim reactions were different from September 2005 for several reasons.

First, the cartoons have become part of history and will end up in history books and museums, including the Danish Royal Library and Danish Media Museum.

Second the cartoons are on the world wide web and on prominent sites like Wikepedia, the web based Encyclopedia. There is much wider access to news and blogs by computer than to newspapers, and the web is less subject to constraints.

Third the climate has changed in Denmark, the Muslim world and globally. The key players (and activist imams ) who led and internationalised the protest in a more Islamacist style in 2005 have gone. Syrian born Naser Khader, head of a new Danish centrist political Party, says Muslim leaders now speak more moderately, reject violence and live in harmony with Danish law, and that Danish-Muslim relations are improved.

For example, although the Danish Muslim Society led by Kasem Said Ahmad regards the re-publication as provocative they have resolved to ignore provocations.

Talking point at OIC

The re-publication of the Danish cartoons have provided a talking point for Islamic leaders debating Islamaphobia at the 57-nation OrganiSation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) held in Dakar, Senegal, on March 13-14.

The cartoon issue gets to the root of the clash between increasingly strongly secular societies, including many religious people who prefer secular values including press freedom , as opposed to the strong feelings of more orthodox religious leaders and followers or those who support religious identity politics to campaign against the West.

The OIC should certainly be concerned at the rise in Islamaphobia. However the root causes of Islamaphobia are more fundamental reflecting not only the political fall out of 9-11 and the mishandling of the war on terrorism by President Bush, but also the growing social and cultural fall out of globalisation and migration. This has provoked a strengthening of right wing anti-immigrant political parties in the EU , although Europeans tend to share the Muslim critique of current US foreign policy.

The OIC is not seen as a particularly effective organisation in terms of global outreach, especially towards non Muslim countries, and it will be interesting to see how it reacts, tactically or more strategically to the growth of Islamaphobia on the basis of an amended OIC Charter than mandates the organisation to advocate moderation and tolerance and focus on development and Muslim solidarity.

The skillful reaction would be for Muslims to build coalitions with other faiths, especially their monotheistic cousins, Christianity and Judaism, by identifying common religious values and similar problems for other religions. Then to reach out to the secular society by supporting press freedom , but asking for more understanding of Muslim feelings.

Three main sources

The weakness in the Muslim case emanates from three main sources.

Firstly the post 9-11 association between Islam, Muslim culture and terrorism has been simplistic and exaggerated based on inconsistent and politicized definitions of terrorism including Al Qaeder, political and tribal militias, sectarian factions, separatists and resistance movements.

Second, these associations are made despite evidence in global opinion polls that 90% of Muslims do not support militant Islamacist positions. Democratic election results in Pakistan and Malaysia, Turkey and Indonesia confirm strong trends towards modernisation and development , increasingly led by non sectarian and secular parties.

Third there is a more fundamental weakness which the OIC must address more effectively. An international Ministerial conference held in Jakarta at the same time as OIC confirmed that 70% of world illiteracy is found in just nine countries : Bangladesh, Brazil , China , India, Mexico, Egypt , Nigeria , Pakistan and Indonesia. The Muslim world remains disproportionately poor and illiterate. Lack of sufficient progress in the modernization of Muslim countries, leads Islam and Muslim culture to be overly linked to backwardness and underdevelopment, without taking account progress in the Gulf, Malaysia and other rapidly modernising areas. This undermines attempts to be taken seriously as a force for modernization and development.

It is not ritual conflict over cartoons that will improve the world climate for Muslims , but the assertion of countervailing power based on growing economic and political strength, and increasing acceptance that Muslim can mean moderate and modernizing.

If the OIC wants support from its own grass roots to help attract more international respect for Islam and its symbols, and for Muslim cultures and communities, then it also has to connect better with the economic and social aspirations of the Muslim street. and the small business backbone of the Muslim world, and make better use of Islamic finance, alongside Western funds, to finance social infrastructure and reduce the gaps between the haves and have nots. This will help provide the mainstream global Muslim leadership that has been sadly lacking and help fill the gaps which are otherwise filled by radical groups.

DR TERRY LACEY is a development economist who has also studied nuclear technology and political violence. He went to school in Malta and has lived in Belgium, Jamaica and West Africa.. He has been a university lecturer, European Commission official and an NGO manager.

Dr Lacey now lives in Jakarta, Indonesia.