Mustafa Kemal Pasha Ataturk

The contemporary geopolitical landscape is about Islamist terrorists battling Western governments.  Religious extremism is just as bad on the fundamentalist Christian side (go to the American south to experience it first-hand).  The difference is that the Christian extremist aren't as militant as their Muslim counterparts.  Instead of conducting suicide bombings against the 'infidel' rest of the world, Jesus freaks simply picket their opponents, hold placards, lead demonstrations or establish their own separate community to live apart from others (like the Mormons).

Which brings me to another of my heroes, Mustafa Kemal Pasha Ataturk - the founder of modern Turkey.  The Ottomon Empire was the last powerful global Muslim empire.  After it crumbled post-WWI, Kemal Ataturk (a Muslim himself and soldier under the Ottomans) fought off the invading Greeks and stabilized the frontiers so that a new Turkish nation can emerge from the Ottoman ruins.  His experiences told him that Turkey had to modernize to create a better future for its citizens.  That meant shedding its feudalistic past - symbols, habits and culture.  He made bold reforms: adopting the Latin alphabet for the Turkish language, getting women to unveil themselves, banning the wearing of stereotypical fes, establishing modern Western institutions and getting the Turkist people to modernize along Western lines in clothing, culture and habits.

But his most courageous act was to abolish the Caliphate - the basis of Islamic nationhood since the founding of the religion.  He suppressed the Islamists through the military and imposed secularism as the sole state creed.  There would be no usurpation of temporal power by religious figures or movements.  Try anything funny and the army would move in to arrest and execute.  Till this day, Turkey has no official religion even though 99% of its population is Muslim.

For a Muslim leader, Kemal Ataturk was courageous in confronting the medieval, feudalistic religious practices/institutions/customs which obstructed Turkey from moving towards socio-economic progress.  Look at Turkey today - the legacy of his hard work.  If you discount oil & gas wealth as a skewed indicator of socio-economic measurement, Turkey is the most modern, advanced and stable Muslim country in the world today.  For that, I salute Kemal Ataturk - the father of the Turks.  He's a great role model and someone to look up to in this age of religious fanaticism.