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Islam, Democracy and Human Rights in Contemporary Indonesia39thirst of the intellectuals and thinkers. But, most importantly,steps to be taken on how can we absorb and implement theIslamic values to be converted into action in the life of mankindto respond the present and future challenges.As a nation, we should be grateful that the Islamic valuesinherited from Prophet Muhammad have been, are, and willbe prominent in the state of affairs of our nation. No one candeny the fact of history that the spirit of Islam is a significantfactor to unite the diverse ethnic groups inhabitants of thearchipelago to become one nation, Indonesia. The dwellerswhose Islamic tradition present and practiced in those islandsintentionally opted to use Malay language as a language ofreligious intellectuals and as language of communicationsbetween and among ethnic groups, which subsequently haddeveloped to become Indonesian language. The spirit of Islamto respect the dignity of mankind and to base its conviction onthe freedom from all aspects of oppression and suppression isthe solid foundation in the teaching of Islam to advocate theIndonesians to free themselves from foreign domination andcolonial power. There is no such ideology which can be welldeveloped without making inquiries about the values of Islam,be it nationalism of socialism. This also pertains to thecommunists in the early 20th century, using Islamic idioms,whenever they had the opportunity to introduce their thoughtsand ideas to be acceptable by the society. Of course, it is nodoubt for the untainted Muslims to be the firsts in the line ofdefense to reject such communist-inspired doctrine.The solid respect of Islam to the dignity of mankind isnoticeably reflected in the Preamble of the 1945 Constitution. It was Hajj Agus Salim, considered as the father of Muslim