Achmad shook his head. “Your question implies an admission that you yourself are unable to carry on the debate. I am not a communist, but if conditions in our country should continue as they are today, with a leadership that continues to deceive the people, with corruption on the rampage, disintegration, and confusion, then I shall become one!”
Murhalim shrugged his shoulders. “It’s a bit difficult to continue a debate when one is accused of being unable to continue it.”
“I am not an expert on Islam,” Ies intervened, “but I want to introduce a thought for all of us to consider: could not Islam be made the mainstay of our people’s spiritual uplift? A modernized Islam, with a new dynamism?”
“Islam? What utter naivety!” said Achmad quickly. “I once talked to a man from a Middle East countr
