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64Islam, Democracy and Human Rights in Contemporary Indonesiaand inclined to understand Islam from a legal point of view,Salim appeared to be more moderate. He was open-mindedand appreciative of different ideas. As such, Salim oftenpublished two different articles on the same topic, one with hisown name and the other using initials only. The two articleswould have different views about the same topic, so that readerswould not recognize that the authors were the same person.According to Salim%u2019s claims, he deliberately did this to teach peopleto appreciate different opinions. He hoped that by proposingdifferent opinions, society would learn about the impossibility ofabsolute truth. In short, there are many ways to solve a problem.These personal tendencies of Hassan and Salim were alsoobvious in Natsir%u2019s personality. He was also well-known for hisinclination towards debate and polemics. However, he was ableto distinguish between differences in opinion and personalrelationships. Since his youth, for instance, Natsir had beeninvolved in heated polemics with Soekarno. Yet, this did nothinder his personal relationship with him; in some instances,he was even able to make compromises and cooperate with thefirst Indonesian president. Although he did not want to makeany compromises with communism, Natsir still made friendswith PKI (Indonesian Communist Party) proponents, such asSakirman and D.N. Aidit. This kind of personal relationshipwas also obvious in his friendship with Protestant and Catholicleaders, such as A.M. Tambunan and I.J. Kasimo. Yet, at thesame time, Natsir was classified as a front-line opposition figurefighting against Christian missionaries in Indonesia.Natsir%u2019s involvement in %u201cpolitical%u201d movements began whenhe was studying in Bandung. In this city, he was active as oneof the leaders of Jong Islamieten Bond (JIB %u2014The Association of

