THE CENTRAL FACT OF POLITICAL ISLAM...:

In the country where the world's largest number of Muslims live, we paradoxically witnessed in 2014 developments that would have appeared wildly optimistic-even in the heady post-Cold War days of 1990s. In what was arguably the largest single day free and fair election ever held anywhere in the world, on Wednesday, 9th July 2014, an energised electorate, over 85% Muslim, voted in an explicitly pro-reform, pro-tolerance candidate with a reputation for clean administration over his autocratic rival.

Unlike their Egyptian counterparts in 2011, a majority of Indonesians did not vote for Islamist parties in 2014. But just as significantly, and again unlike their Egyptian counterparts in 2013, neither did they vote for a former military authoritarian figure when presented with that clear choice in the case of presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto. In fact, in the days following that now famous pro-Jokowi vote, a grassroots civil society movement known as 'Kawalpemilu' or 'guard the election' was organised to record polling booth results on citizens' smart phones and then tally them so as to prevent the ballots being tampered with. And indeed they succeeded! Observers overwhelmingly accept that the 53% to 47% vote in favour of President Jokowi reflected voting intentions. From the villages of Java to the suburbs of Canberra, literally millions of Indonesian housewives, workers, farmers, students, professionals and expatriates mobilised online to safeguard their hard won freedoms. Nothing more tellingly illustrated both the dynamism of Indonesia's civil society and its digital literacy!

Although not as numerous as those professing more fundamentalist views, there are in the country with the world's largest number of Muslims, voices radically at odds with Daesh's brutal and backward world view. There is a Liberal Islam Network and even Tolerant.Islam.com. We should also not forget that one of the world's largest Muslim cities Jakarta is, in fact, run by a highly respected and democratically elected Christian mayor of Chinese descent, Mr Ahok. This highly inclusive, pluralist and democratic Islamic world deserves our respect and attention as much as the horrors of northern Syria and Iraq.

Recently in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo atrocities, I undertook a journey through another place that is often somewhat patronisingly lumped along with Indonesia in the ranks of so-called 'moderate Muslim' countries. Indeed, Morocco and Indonesia despite their locations at opposite ends of the Islamic world do share a lot in common.

There is the same striking hospitality and grace at the heart of everyday life. On my first day in Morocco, the lighthouse keeper of Casablanca's famous el-Hank phare kindly offered to show me the best view of the city made famous by Bogart and Bacall from the top of his beacon. The same was true of the kids on the buses offering me updates on progress of the Socceroos in the Asia Cup. And the young women on the Casablanca light rail-some clad in headscarf and some not-chatting freely with their male counterparts in an effortless mixture of Arabic and French. Not to mention the easy comradery of the Marrakesh rail car where an older women offered me her heartfelt welcome to Morocco in French, German, Italian and Spanish. And the fascinating discussions with English literature students who expressed their admiration and fascination for both the writings of George Orwell and One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest!

Follow @brothersjudd