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110Islam, Democracy and Human Rights in Contemporary Indonesiahas put in its constitution that a minimum of 20 percent of thenational budget should be allocated for education, not to themilitary. This is an indication that proves Indonesia%u2019s commitmentto the future of its children, the future of our common humanity.Concurrently with this commitment, shortly after the fallof Suharto, Indonesia democratized and decentralized itssystem. Indonesia abolished and revised several laws andregulations that in the past were very oppressive to the peopleand violated people%u2019s rights. Among these laws were the law on anti-subversion and thelaw on political parties.The law on anti-subversion was very oppressive and oftenused to take away people%u2019s freedom of expression. This type oflaw is still being widely implemented in Singapore, Malaysia,and other neighboring countries. During the global US effort to address terrorism, Indonesiahas been encouraged to return to this system. If that were to bedone, democracy would be damaged. There is a need to combat terrorism side by side withappreciating human rights and the due process of law.Inconsistencies in the West in promoting democracy may leadto the suicide of democracy itself in the third world.A decade after the 9/11 tragedy, it appears to be anappropriate moment for the US to reinvent its pioneering rolein human rights. Former President Jimmy Carter has said thatthe US did not invent human rights, but human rights inventedthe US. Human rights are the spirit of the nation. The pioneeringrole of the US in human rights fields needs to go along with thefight against terrorism.