IF Thomas Hobbes were still alive, he would write about Ja'far Umar Thalib and Laskar Jihad, because the controversy surrounding the presence of the man and his organization in Maluku is at odds with his theory of politics and society. The English intellectual, known as one of the fathers of democracy, would perhaps even feel the need to update his classic work, The Leviathan, with an additional chapter on the present situation in Maluku.

Co