Powerful Words from the Past About Fighting Terrorism 5 STEPS TO ELIMINATE TERRORISM

We at BootheGlobalPerspectives posted this article 10 years ago. We think it timely that we review his words a decade later.   Ben B. Boothe, Sr. 

 

Indonesian official comments on solution to terrorism

by Ben B.Boothe, Sr. | ‎Thursday, September 18, 2003, 12:00 PM (CDT)

It was my pleasure to meet Consul-General Dr. R.M. Talib Puspokusumo of Indonesia yesterday. I asked him about Indonesia’s efforts to fight terrorism.

“We are devoted to fighting these radical fundamentalists, because they have attacked our homeland” he said “But we know that military might is not the best solution.”

I asked him to describe his solutions to dealing with terrorism:

He said that there are  5 steps to eliminate terrorism:

1. We must first end the violence and hatred in our own hearts. Ours is an Islamic nation, and we must see that the most important war, is our war within. Each individual must see that he must fight the violence and hatred in his own heart.
2. We must then end the violence in our families and renew the love with our loved ones at home.
3. We must then work in our own communities, to spread love not hatred, peace not terrorism in our towns and villages. To care for those in need. To eliminate the root causes of anger in our villages.
4. We then must expand this to our nation, so that every citizen lives with love and not with fear, with a common goal. Our nation, city by city must deal with the social environment that causes the anger fueling terrorists.
5. We must be resilient and not be discouraged when a deranged terrorist or radical does something bad. We must not over-react and become like the terrorists. To bomb and kill innocents while seeking terrorists only creates more hatred and more disciples of violence.”

It is understandable that Dr. Puspokusumo has been honored by the Holy See of the Vatican and by the nation of Indonesia for his contributions to humanity.

Just before we parted he said:

“This violence by fundamentalist radicals can be an unending cycle of violence and destruction, if we react to it in the wrong way. We must react in a fundamentally way to deal with the core reasons for the anger /hatred, not in a way that creates more violence.”

In 2015, it would seem that Dr Puspokusumo's words were prophetic. Perhaps we should consider his 5 points anew.