Honorary Doctorate and Indonesia-Saudi stories
Khairil Azhar
Regarding the honorary doctorate for the Saudi King awarded by University of Indonesia, let’s start with a question, “What is Saudi Arabia for Indonesia and what is Indonesia for Saudi Arabia?” We will find that it is more than just the abuse over Indonesian migrant workers.
Before the massive supply of migrant workers, prior to the boom of petrodollars in Mideast in the mid of 20th century, Saudi Arabia was only Mecca and Medina for Indonesian Muslims. First, it was merely related to ritual affairs instead of occupation, political or etcetera. Mecca was simply the direction of facing in performing prayers and the place where haj pilgrimage done while Medina was a religious tourism place with its Islamic historical importance.
Second, Saudi Arabia was the destination for many Indonesian Muslim youth s to learn Islamic traditional disciplines, since many of Islamic great scholars with different schools of thought lived and taught in Masjid ‘l-Haram, Mecca. Even some of the scholars were originally from Indonesia such as the famous Sheikh Ahmad Khatib al-Minangkabawi. These scholars hence were not only acting as the intellectual references but also the determinant chains of Islamic link.
Third, amidst the struggle against colonialism, the role of Mecca as the meeting point of Muslims who performed haj pilgrimage as well as the site where progressive intellectualism might develop played a very pivotal role. Mecca became a home for the exchanges of thoughts and to significant extent the center for the dissemination of anti-colonialism.
That’s why, for example, such as recorded in the work of Snouck Hurgronje (1857-1936), Dutch colonial rulers in Indonesia applied strict procedures for the ones who wanted to perform haj or go there for study. We can also see that the like Ahmad Dahlan (1869-1923), the founder of Muhammadiyah, Indonesian second largest Islamic organization, was an alumnus of the intellectual life in Mecca in the late of 19th century.
In the petrodollar era, the relation of Saudi Arabia and Indonesia has changed significantly. With its dominating economy, Saudi Arabia has become the promising destination for job seekers. Very unfortunate, however, what Indonesians can mostly do there is the lowest rank of domestic sectors such as being the housemaids and with very minimum assurance from Indonesian government itself.
And worse, as we know, Saudi Arabia is a country with human right problems: on women, minority, racism and legal justice. Human right organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have been a long time listing cases after cases and never withdraw their standpoints till the present time.
In Saudis common sense, perhaps because the Islamic jurisprudence enacted there does not specifies it, certain occupations such as housemaid is closer in meaning to the word serf, al-‘abd. A housemaid, therefore, with her domestic works, is situated in a relation between a lord and a serf instead of between an employer and an employee with agreed and respected legal contract.
Deeper culturally, there is there xenophobia and racism. Based on the reports of the former workers in Saudi Arabia, for example, there is a kind of unreasonable fear of strangers or foreigners that makes the working relationship easily worsens. And it is certainly something very difficult, not to say impossible, to be changed with the current dominative relationship between Saudis and Indonesians.
Beside importing migrant workers from Indonesia, Saudi Arabia is also an exporter of Wahabism, a radical Islamic school of thought, which is the dominant religious teaching there. This sect was initially propagated by Muhammad ibn al-Wahhab (1703-1792) in 18th century and later his descendants—which are the second in prestige to al-Saud, the royal family—become the holders of Al ash-Sheikh, the country’s leading religious family.
This school of thought, for example, requires the state to enact all levels of Islamic law which are far more rigid than the other schools, comprising of private affairs (al-ahwal al-shakhsiyyah), economy (al-iqtisad), rituals (al-ibadat) and criminal and politics (al-jinayah wa al-siyasah). Officially, Saudi Arabia is taken to have applied all of these laws regardless the reports of human right groups that their implementation is selective: the elites or certain people can be easily saved from being punished.
With the petrodollars, the exporting relatively runs smoothly. In the position of “takers”, for example, many Indonesian Muslims tend to effortlessly forget the local Islamic culture and diversity—which to certain extent are different from the ones embraced in Saudi Arabia but are basically not contradicting universal Islamic values. Even many of opportunist Islamic leaders utilize the principle “aji mumpung”, taking an advantage without thinking of its risk.
Apart from what Mr. Gumilar, the Rector of University of Indonesia, has mentioned in his apology as the commendable services of the Saudi King to Idnonesia, the direct effect of the dissemination of Wahhabism is the radicalization of religious life while many also assume that it significantly contributes to the propagation of terrorism and religious anarchism. For the hardliners, Wahhabism is taken as the referred ideology and what is running in Saudi Arabia is taken as the model, less or more.
With all of these, at least, we are not the ones who can’t express gratitude and keen of looking at the empty part of the glass. It is merely the matter of appropriateness. Intellectual symbol should however for something empathetic instead of political.
The writer is a researcher at Paramadina Foundation, Jakarta.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Indonesian Chinese in an unfinished integration
Indonesian Chinese in an unfinished integration and the premature cultural dialectics
Khairil Azhar
My memory about Indonesian Chinese has been firstly filled with the fact that several towns in West Sumatera there are locations called “Kampuang Cino” or the Chinese neighborhoods. We can find it in Padang, the capital, or in Bukittinggi, the tourist destination town where foreigners are a daily common view.
Interestingly, the neighborhoods are in the lands where Islam is a very dominant religion and the local traditions tend to be strongly held. Even in Bukittinggi, there is a mosque which is situated in the Chinese neighborhood and is side by side with inns, motels or even hotels which can be easily associated as non-Islamic or is against the traditional customs.
In both Padang and Bukittinggi, Chinese citizens are mostly working in trading field and enjoying good status economically. In Padang or Bukittinggi, if we would like to buy traditional gifts of food or handicrafts, we will find that many of the goods with good quality are sold by Chinese.
Lately it becomes a question in my mind that there is a possibility of such a segregation or localization, consciously or unconsciously, which might have happened to the Chinese fellows. Their being compounded in a certain location and to be only able to make their living in an ostensibly field, even though it is in the center of the city or town, might be a clue of what can be called as an unfinished integration, that they are still “another” among the dominating “natives”.
Furthermore, amid the homogenously built society, as if their presence is only a complementary element—whatever they have in hands or whatever they have done for the sake of the people or country—and is never completely accepted as the true members of the society.
Referring to what is called as dialectic process, which is widely accepted as the way the West Sumatrans enrich their treasure of wisdoms, the fact of the localization of the Chinese both in neighborhood and working field is a reflection of the failure of the cultural dialectic process.
As it is proposed in Hegelian method, the dialectic process requires both the thesis (which is here referred as alam or existed modality) and the antithesis (referred as rantau or the new wisdoms). As the effect of the dialectic process—in terms of negation—there should be an aufhebung, the resulted new thesis with best quality which is naturally proven more acceptable and usable.
In the case of the Chinese and Minangkabaunese (the people of West Sumatra), therefore, the cultural dialectic has seemed to be half accomplished as it stopped in the midway. There are many symbols, as the cultural evidences, for example, which have been absorbed in the Minangkabaunese language. But the possibility of the absorption through the dialectic processes has prematurely ended in a time where the dynamic of the society—as the driving force for a change—was disabled by a so far unknown thing. Consequently, there they are, our fellow Chinese who are encircled and enjoy a limited recognizably atmosphere.
In the context of Indonesia, the thing that happened in the West Sumatra seems to be a representation of the whole thing. Even worse, the current policy of the Tangerang district in Banten province to drive out the Chinese from their compound—where they have lived for more than a hundred years for an unknown development purpose—is describing how the more saddening thing is happening and is possibly to keep so.
Now and unfortunately, the state tends to facilitate unfruitful social differentiation. With the more accumulated power in the hands of the policy holders, with their more absolute and obsolete centralistic mechanisms—contrary to the democracy jargons overstated by the state officials—the possibility of unjust policies, especially over the stereotyped segments of the society because of race or religion, is much more likely to occur.
Therefore, the fastest and most possible way of a better integration—which actually means being better accepted and recognized—for the Chinese fellows, rest on the efforts to burden the continuation of the unfinished work, i.e. enabling a fresh start of cultural dialectic which had been the applicable way of enriching Indonesia as a nation in centuries.
And one of the prerequisites that should be noted is that the old definition of “cultural assimilation” which includes the assumption of being forced to culturally accept unnecessary things such as the necessity to change names, Javanization, or possibly Islamization is already out of context. Rather, there should be recognition of an entity as it is with only good governance function of the governmental institutions which can interfere.
Secondly, if a single effort of a conscious citizen doubled with another one, and then some other ones, to voice a dissenting opinion in a crowd, many better things can possibly happen. This way, we’ll open more suspicious eyes and minds and the possibility of another case like the expulsion of Chinese inhabitants of certain land will be narrowed or even never happen anymore. Or, the partitioned compounds of the Chinese in any places in Indonesia will be gradually open and someday unpartitioned.
The writer is a researcher at Paramadina Foundation
Khairil Azhar
My memory about Indonesian Chinese has been firstly filled with the fact that several towns in West Sumatera there are locations called “Kampuang Cino” or the Chinese neighborhoods. We can find it in Padang, the capital, or in Bukittinggi, the tourist destination town where foreigners are a daily common view.
Interestingly, the neighborhoods are in the lands where Islam is a very dominant religion and the local traditions tend to be strongly held. Even in Bukittinggi, there is a mosque which is situated in the Chinese neighborhood and is side by side with inns, motels or even hotels which can be easily associated as non-Islamic or is against the traditional customs.
In both Padang and Bukittinggi, Chinese citizens are mostly working in trading field and enjoying good status economically. In Padang or Bukittinggi, if we would like to buy traditional gifts of food or handicrafts, we will find that many of the goods with good quality are sold by Chinese.
Lately it becomes a question in my mind that there is a possibility of such a segregation or localization, consciously or unconsciously, which might have happened to the Chinese fellows. Their being compounded in a certain location and to be only able to make their living in an ostensibly field, even though it is in the center of the city or town, might be a clue of what can be called as an unfinished integration, that they are still “another” among the dominating “natives”.
Furthermore, amid the homogenously built society, as if their presence is only a complementary element—whatever they have in hands or whatever they have done for the sake of the people or country—and is never completely accepted as the true members of the society.
Referring to what is called as dialectic process, which is widely accepted as the way the West Sumatrans enrich their treasure of wisdoms, the fact of the localization of the Chinese both in neighborhood and working field is a reflection of the failure of the cultural dialectic process.
As it is proposed in Hegelian method, the dialectic process requires both the thesis (which is here referred as alam or existed modality) and the antithesis (referred as rantau or the new wisdoms). As the effect of the dialectic process—in terms of negation—there should be an aufhebung, the resulted new thesis with best quality which is naturally proven more acceptable and usable.
In the case of the Chinese and Minangkabaunese (the people of West Sumatra), therefore, the cultural dialectic has seemed to be half accomplished as it stopped in the midway. There are many symbols, as the cultural evidences, for example, which have been absorbed in the Minangkabaunese language. But the possibility of the absorption through the dialectic processes has prematurely ended in a time where the dynamic of the society—as the driving force for a change—was disabled by a so far unknown thing. Consequently, there they are, our fellow Chinese who are encircled and enjoy a limited recognizably atmosphere.
In the context of Indonesia, the thing that happened in the West Sumatra seems to be a representation of the whole thing. Even worse, the current policy of the Tangerang district in Banten province to drive out the Chinese from their compound—where they have lived for more than a hundred years for an unknown development purpose—is describing how the more saddening thing is happening and is possibly to keep so.
Now and unfortunately, the state tends to facilitate unfruitful social differentiation. With the more accumulated power in the hands of the policy holders, with their more absolute and obsolete centralistic mechanisms—contrary to the democracy jargons overstated by the state officials—the possibility of unjust policies, especially over the stereotyped segments of the society because of race or religion, is much more likely to occur.
Therefore, the fastest and most possible way of a better integration—which actually means being better accepted and recognized—for the Chinese fellows, rest on the efforts to burden the continuation of the unfinished work, i.e. enabling a fresh start of cultural dialectic which had been the applicable way of enriching Indonesia as a nation in centuries.
And one of the prerequisites that should be noted is that the old definition of “cultural assimilation” which includes the assumption of being forced to culturally accept unnecessary things such as the necessity to change names, Javanization, or possibly Islamization is already out of context. Rather, there should be recognition of an entity as it is with only good governance function of the governmental institutions which can interfere.
Secondly, if a single effort of a conscious citizen doubled with another one, and then some other ones, to voice a dissenting opinion in a crowd, many better things can possibly happen. This way, we’ll open more suspicious eyes and minds and the possibility of another case like the expulsion of Chinese inhabitants of certain land will be narrowed or even never happen anymore. Or, the partitioned compounds of the Chinese in any places in Indonesia will be gradually open and someday unpartitioned.
The writer is a researcher at Paramadina Foundation
Indonesia and the threat of identity politics
Book Review:
Indonesia and the threat of identity politics
Book’s title : Politik Identitas dan Masa Depan Pluralisme Kita (Identity Politics
and the Future of Our Pluralism)
Author : Ahmad Syafii Maarif et al.
Editors : Ihsan Ali-Fauzi and Samsu Rizal Panggabean
Published by : PUSAD, Yayasan Paramadina, Jakarta
Published in : May 2010
Pages : x + 133
Nowadays, in Indonesian plural society, violence (or the threat of violence) in the name of religion seems to haunt its people, especially the minorities. Pages of newspapers and magazines, or more some news program on TV screen, too often inform—also often perform open discussion with the involvements of clerics, politicians, observers etc.—how social unrest have been caused by certain radical groups.
Taken as the main sample is the violence or threat mostly staged by certain Islamic groups with a variety of religious “truth” claims as the basis of their movements. Among the most famous ones are Islam Defense Front (FPI), Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), and Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI).
Ahmad “Buya” Syafii Maarif, an Indonesian leading Islamic figure veteran, whose essay is taken as the focus of debate in this book, clearly states that instead of accepting the mainstream interpretation of Islam—especially in relation to politics—and recognizing Indonesian state philosophy of unity in diversity, these groups are trying to impose, for instance, an utopia of an Islamic state and the enactment of syaria (Islamic laws). Even HTI, with its transnational networks, struggles for a worldly khilafah, that all Muslims all over the world obligatorily must unite and establish a government negating the current nation-states.
In the essay called “Politik Identitas dan Masa Depan Pluralisme Kita”, originally presented as a lecture commemorating one of Indonesian Islamic Figures, Nurcholish Madjid (1935-2005), Buya Syafii apprehensively discusses the nature of these groups—which he calls as organized crowds of “preman berjubah”, gangsters with religious robes—in the frame of “identity politics”. In this sense, these groups are understood as fighting for their political arguments that focus upon their own interest(s) in the context of a state or world which is based, to most extent, on the feeling of having been suppressed or alienated by “the certain main stream”.
While identity politics in the positive view should be accepted in the context of freedom of expression, its manifestation factually has extended to the permissibility of violence and terror. Therefore, in the context of peaceful mainstream, Buya Syafii’s views the actions done by the hardliners are defiant from the true teachings of Islam which definitely edifies pluralism and democracy. These groups, especially in their political arguments, literally and monolithically interpret Islamic canons resulted in their exclusive form of religious absolutism in politics.
However, amidst the current frauds and the possibility of threats enabled by these groups, Buya Syafii, who graduated from Chicago University in 1983, convinces the continuity of Indonesian pluralism, that unity in diversity is the best choice for Indonesian society. And this is based on his extensive comparative perspectives both in Indonesian and worldly contexts, But it is not without a prerequisite.
The main threat is what he calls as “political pragmatism”, that the incumbents and the people loses their moral and vision. Identity politics is never a danger when Pancasila, the five tenets of Indonesian state philosophy comprising of the belief in God, humanity, unity, democracy and social justice, is comprehended and implemented thoroughly.
The seven other essays compiled in this book, which serve as the comments or analysis of the main article written by Buya Syafii, discuss the above identity politics hard issue from different perspectives.
Martin Lukito Sinaga, a theologian from Lutheran World Federation, offers the alternative of “avoiding” (religious based) identity politics, that a religion should traverses the non-political way to escape from the black hole of identity politics. What should be done is to ascertain the dynamic of the identity for the most advantages and least disadvantages. And Buya Syafii, in his closing article, agrees this solution with a condition that there must be an effort to tame an identity politics to make sure its participation in democracy.
Siti Musdah Mulia, a professor at Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic State University, in her essay, analyzes the threat of identity politics in the ongoing process of the modernization of Indonesian society. So, it is a necessity to facilitate the process with ceaseless efforts of socializing the substances and undeniable urgency of pluralism and democracy. At the same time rehabilitation and assistance should be given to the victims of violence directly or indirectly caused by the radicals.
In his “warning” of the possibility of excessive anxiety in analyzing the groups with identity politics, Eric Hiariej, a lecturer at Gadjah Mada University, proposes the right of any social groups with their identity politics to exist and to be perceived justly. Improper efforts to impose pluralism can risk with the negation of certain other(s) and the failure to properly understand their existence. A group with a specific identity politics, for instance, might have been constructed as “a historical product”, that its presence might serve as a way to resist against an injustice or a medium of right to narrate.
Asfinawati, an Indonesian human right activist, differentiates the rights to think or to dream) anything—including radical thoughts—from what she says as the manifestation of the thoughts. When a dream arrives in a public sphere, certain consensus might constrain its manifested-existence because of its interference with democracy values or other any other individuals or groups. In America or England, for instance, Hizbut Tahrir is allowed while Germany and Netherlands disallow it for its anti-Semitic principle. In building a pluralistic and democratic society, Asfinawati proposes the possibility of dialog, included with the “most stubborn” radicals ever.
Budiman Sudjadmiko, a member of the House of Representatives, states that identity politics is a certainty, something inevitable, as long as its presence does not weaken the foundations of democracy, Pancasila and pluralism. Any groups in the society, with or without identity politics, should serve as the building blocks which are united by mutual understanding.
Despite of psychological constraints which affect humans to naturally be differentiated and grouped, Yayah Khisbiyah conveys the very strong possibility of harmony in a plural society. Intolerance and hatred in the name of religion, for instance, might be made possible by a library of infamy, such as mass media or even schools. One of the best ways to overcome this tendency is to establish peace pedagogy, that human characters should be constructed gradually and continuously through direct exposures of democracy and pluralism values and practices.
Tonny D. Pariela, a professor at Pattimura University, who provides the last essay of the book, presents an empiric datum of the possibility of the continuation of pluralism and democracy in Indonesia. Based on his research in Wayame Village in Maluku Province, for instance, the writer proposes the process of what he calls as “social chemistry”. In this process, while the different groups of the villagers keep their original identities, they could form a new bigger identity which serves as the survival strategy against the continuing conflicts in Maluku.
This book, despite of its compilation nature, is surely another corner stone for the knowledge about democracy building in Indonesia. It at least maps the relatively current viewpoints of Indonesian intellectuals or human right and educational activists. Besides, it can function as an introductory reading related to the issue of identity politics and pluralism, not only in Indonesia but also in the wider context because of the perspectives used by the writers.
With the focus on identity politics related to religion, this book serves as a medium
for us, as the editors write, “… to face new challenges which should be carefully faced, since identity politics is a double-edged sword: while its appearance promises an advantage (such as the possibility of widening the rights of women which was previously started from a recognition of their gender identity), its expressions in the public sphere should be managed well in order not to violate any other’s identity groups or even any individuals in a group… there should be no deprivation nor privilege because of any reasons.”
Reviewed by Khairil Azhar, a researcher at Paramadina Foundation
Indonesia and the threat of identity politics
Book’s title : Politik Identitas dan Masa Depan Pluralisme Kita (Identity Politics
and the Future of Our Pluralism)
Author : Ahmad Syafii Maarif et al.
Editors : Ihsan Ali-Fauzi and Samsu Rizal Panggabean
Published by : PUSAD, Yayasan Paramadina, Jakarta
Published in : May 2010
Pages : x + 133
Nowadays, in Indonesian plural society, violence (or the threat of violence) in the name of religion seems to haunt its people, especially the minorities. Pages of newspapers and magazines, or more some news program on TV screen, too often inform—also often perform open discussion with the involvements of clerics, politicians, observers etc.—how social unrest have been caused by certain radical groups.
Taken as the main sample is the violence or threat mostly staged by certain Islamic groups with a variety of religious “truth” claims as the basis of their movements. Among the most famous ones are Islam Defense Front (FPI), Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), and Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI).
Ahmad “Buya” Syafii Maarif, an Indonesian leading Islamic figure veteran, whose essay is taken as the focus of debate in this book, clearly states that instead of accepting the mainstream interpretation of Islam—especially in relation to politics—and recognizing Indonesian state philosophy of unity in diversity, these groups are trying to impose, for instance, an utopia of an Islamic state and the enactment of syaria (Islamic laws). Even HTI, with its transnational networks, struggles for a worldly khilafah, that all Muslims all over the world obligatorily must unite and establish a government negating the current nation-states.
In the essay called “Politik Identitas dan Masa Depan Pluralisme Kita”, originally presented as a lecture commemorating one of Indonesian Islamic Figures, Nurcholish Madjid (1935-2005), Buya Syafii apprehensively discusses the nature of these groups—which he calls as organized crowds of “preman berjubah”, gangsters with religious robes—in the frame of “identity politics”. In this sense, these groups are understood as fighting for their political arguments that focus upon their own interest(s) in the context of a state or world which is based, to most extent, on the feeling of having been suppressed or alienated by “the certain main stream”.
While identity politics in the positive view should be accepted in the context of freedom of expression, its manifestation factually has extended to the permissibility of violence and terror. Therefore, in the context of peaceful mainstream, Buya Syafii’s views the actions done by the hardliners are defiant from the true teachings of Islam which definitely edifies pluralism and democracy. These groups, especially in their political arguments, literally and monolithically interpret Islamic canons resulted in their exclusive form of religious absolutism in politics.
However, amidst the current frauds and the possibility of threats enabled by these groups, Buya Syafii, who graduated from Chicago University in 1983, convinces the continuity of Indonesian pluralism, that unity in diversity is the best choice for Indonesian society. And this is based on his extensive comparative perspectives both in Indonesian and worldly contexts, But it is not without a prerequisite.
The main threat is what he calls as “political pragmatism”, that the incumbents and the people loses their moral and vision. Identity politics is never a danger when Pancasila, the five tenets of Indonesian state philosophy comprising of the belief in God, humanity, unity, democracy and social justice, is comprehended and implemented thoroughly.
The seven other essays compiled in this book, which serve as the comments or analysis of the main article written by Buya Syafii, discuss the above identity politics hard issue from different perspectives.
Martin Lukito Sinaga, a theologian from Lutheran World Federation, offers the alternative of “avoiding” (religious based) identity politics, that a religion should traverses the non-political way to escape from the black hole of identity politics. What should be done is to ascertain the dynamic of the identity for the most advantages and least disadvantages. And Buya Syafii, in his closing article, agrees this solution with a condition that there must be an effort to tame an identity politics to make sure its participation in democracy.
Siti Musdah Mulia, a professor at Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic State University, in her essay, analyzes the threat of identity politics in the ongoing process of the modernization of Indonesian society. So, it is a necessity to facilitate the process with ceaseless efforts of socializing the substances and undeniable urgency of pluralism and democracy. At the same time rehabilitation and assistance should be given to the victims of violence directly or indirectly caused by the radicals.
In his “warning” of the possibility of excessive anxiety in analyzing the groups with identity politics, Eric Hiariej, a lecturer at Gadjah Mada University, proposes the right of any social groups with their identity politics to exist and to be perceived justly. Improper efforts to impose pluralism can risk with the negation of certain other(s) and the failure to properly understand their existence. A group with a specific identity politics, for instance, might have been constructed as “a historical product”, that its presence might serve as a way to resist against an injustice or a medium of right to narrate.
Asfinawati, an Indonesian human right activist, differentiates the rights to think or to dream) anything—including radical thoughts—from what she says as the manifestation of the thoughts. When a dream arrives in a public sphere, certain consensus might constrain its manifested-existence because of its interference with democracy values or other any other individuals or groups. In America or England, for instance, Hizbut Tahrir is allowed while Germany and Netherlands disallow it for its anti-Semitic principle. In building a pluralistic and democratic society, Asfinawati proposes the possibility of dialog, included with the “most stubborn” radicals ever.
Budiman Sudjadmiko, a member of the House of Representatives, states that identity politics is a certainty, something inevitable, as long as its presence does not weaken the foundations of democracy, Pancasila and pluralism. Any groups in the society, with or without identity politics, should serve as the building blocks which are united by mutual understanding.
Despite of psychological constraints which affect humans to naturally be differentiated and grouped, Yayah Khisbiyah conveys the very strong possibility of harmony in a plural society. Intolerance and hatred in the name of religion, for instance, might be made possible by a library of infamy, such as mass media or even schools. One of the best ways to overcome this tendency is to establish peace pedagogy, that human characters should be constructed gradually and continuously through direct exposures of democracy and pluralism values and practices.
Tonny D. Pariela, a professor at Pattimura University, who provides the last essay of the book, presents an empiric datum of the possibility of the continuation of pluralism and democracy in Indonesia. Based on his research in Wayame Village in Maluku Province, for instance, the writer proposes the process of what he calls as “social chemistry”. In this process, while the different groups of the villagers keep their original identities, they could form a new bigger identity which serves as the survival strategy against the continuing conflicts in Maluku.
This book, despite of its compilation nature, is surely another corner stone for the knowledge about democracy building in Indonesia. It at least maps the relatively current viewpoints of Indonesian intellectuals or human right and educational activists. Besides, it can function as an introductory reading related to the issue of identity politics and pluralism, not only in Indonesia but also in the wider context because of the perspectives used by the writers.
With the focus on identity politics related to religion, this book serves as a medium
for us, as the editors write, “… to face new challenges which should be carefully faced, since identity politics is a double-edged sword: while its appearance promises an advantage (such as the possibility of widening the rights of women which was previously started from a recognition of their gender identity), its expressions in the public sphere should be managed well in order not to violate any other’s identity groups or even any individuals in a group… there should be no deprivation nor privilege because of any reasons.”
Reviewed by Khairil Azhar, a researcher at Paramadina Foundation
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Muslims, conflicts, and wisdom
Khairil Azhar
Around two weeks before 9/11 tragedy, one of my Muslim fellows who lives in the West has been wondering my commitment and attitude as a Muslim related to the long lasting conflicts in the Muslim regions in the Middle East, especially in Palestine, or the more recent one in Uighur, China. Or, if his response had come up after the anti-Muslims protests in England, 9/11/2009, he would have said I was neglecting what happens to Muslims there.
He stated that I am only concerning with the peace in Indonesia in some of my writing at one of English newspaper in Indonesia, and am neglecting the peace for other parts of the Muslim world.
Perhaps, if it could answer his question, I would like to tell him and my western fellows this way.
First of all, it is because I am here living in Indonesia along my life where Muslims are majority. Despite of the purely politicized Islamic issues in the heating political atmosphere and economic frauds as well as some bombing actions by the terrorists to get attentions, we live relatively in peace side by side with non-Muslims.
I am used to sharing many things with my non-Muslims neighbors in the housing complex where I live. Even I and my family feel closer to them at times rather than to my Muslim fellows for some reasons related to societal values.
I also work day to day together with some western fellows, Americans or Europeans, Australians or New Zealanders, and there have never been any sensitive problems occur. We are accustomed to seeing foreigners mingled amid the crowd of high class people or in the ranks and files one with smiling faces.
I therefore wonder about what are actually happening there, in the place where that Muslim fellow lives.
On the other hand, to any extent, despite of the news or views related in the mass media or other sources all over the world about the relation between the Muslims and the Western world and the fact that I have never been abroad, a conflict which transforms into a war or any other forms of violence is unexceptionally a disaster for humanity. Therefore, the conflict deals with the very being of the humans experiencing or seeing the conflict.
If there is a human tragedy in Palestine, where people from different religious backgrounds are in conflicts, it is not only the duty of the people there to overcome the problem but also the duty of any single individual who cares about peace.
So is the conflict in Uighur, where the Muslims reportedly oppressed. It is not only a Muslim should care. Any single person, a Muslim or a Christian, a Chinese or an American, as long as he has empathy, love and affection, would involve himself to help the process of realizing and maintaining the peace and to ensure the process or returning the rights of the oppressed.
It is absolutely improper that a Muslim badly reacts and then blames the others for having not cared about those conflicts.
Moreover, even though I am a Muslim, it is a must that I help my Chinese fellows, for instance, if they are in disasters, without having to look at whether they are Muslims or Christians, Jews or Buddhists. It is a big mistake, however, if there is an obligation that I should help my Muslim fellows at first while there are the others who need my help more.
What a Muslim actually needs then is the hikma or the religious wisdom through which he could positively fruitfully look at what’s going on in front of his eyes. If he uses such wisdom, for example, he would be able to see that even though a conflict is taken into account by many as a conflict dominantly occasioned by religious symbols, it is however something wrong to blindly take it as a religious war and then he emotionally uncontrollably forgets to be wise.
Through the hikma way, a Muslim could realize that the religious symbols utilized in the conflict are factually acting as only the representations of the supra-structure of the decisive conflicting underlying infra-structures such as economic or political interests. He should be fully conscious that the religious symbols are the most visible features of the conflict and therefore are the easiest things to be exploited as the tools for war campaigns or for any other purposes.
In another word, any Muslim who comprehends that religions play the most in a conflict has become the victim of over-simplification point of view. And any kind of simplification over a problem will never address a solution. The most possible end will be negative reactions such as done in the bombing actions or propagation sermons containing hatred and animosity.
Hopefully, the wiser a Muslim looks at what is going on related to those conflicts in the world, whether they are related to Islam or not, the broader the way to diminish the misinterpretations among the others about Muslims and vice versa. At the end, if it happens, peace can be enjoyed by more people in the world.
The writer is currently the International Program Officer at Lazuardi Global Islamic School in Jakarta. He graduated from Sharia Faculty at Sharif Hidayatullah Islamic State University, Jakarta.
Around two weeks before 9/11 tragedy, one of my Muslim fellows who lives in the West has been wondering my commitment and attitude as a Muslim related to the long lasting conflicts in the Muslim regions in the Middle East, especially in Palestine, or the more recent one in Uighur, China. Or, if his response had come up after the anti-Muslims protests in England, 9/11/2009, he would have said I was neglecting what happens to Muslims there.
He stated that I am only concerning with the peace in Indonesia in some of my writing at one of English newspaper in Indonesia, and am neglecting the peace for other parts of the Muslim world.
Perhaps, if it could answer his question, I would like to tell him and my western fellows this way.
First of all, it is because I am here living in Indonesia along my life where Muslims are majority. Despite of the purely politicized Islamic issues in the heating political atmosphere and economic frauds as well as some bombing actions by the terrorists to get attentions, we live relatively in peace side by side with non-Muslims.
I am used to sharing many things with my non-Muslims neighbors in the housing complex where I live. Even I and my family feel closer to them at times rather than to my Muslim fellows for some reasons related to societal values.
I also work day to day together with some western fellows, Americans or Europeans, Australians or New Zealanders, and there have never been any sensitive problems occur. We are accustomed to seeing foreigners mingled amid the crowd of high class people or in the ranks and files one with smiling faces.
I therefore wonder about what are actually happening there, in the place where that Muslim fellow lives.
On the other hand, to any extent, despite of the news or views related in the mass media or other sources all over the world about the relation between the Muslims and the Western world and the fact that I have never been abroad, a conflict which transforms into a war or any other forms of violence is unexceptionally a disaster for humanity. Therefore, the conflict deals with the very being of the humans experiencing or seeing the conflict.
If there is a human tragedy in Palestine, where people from different religious backgrounds are in conflicts, it is not only the duty of the people there to overcome the problem but also the duty of any single individual who cares about peace.
So is the conflict in Uighur, where the Muslims reportedly oppressed. It is not only a Muslim should care. Any single person, a Muslim or a Christian, a Chinese or an American, as long as he has empathy, love and affection, would involve himself to help the process of realizing and maintaining the peace and to ensure the process or returning the rights of the oppressed.
It is absolutely improper that a Muslim badly reacts and then blames the others for having not cared about those conflicts.
Moreover, even though I am a Muslim, it is a must that I help my Chinese fellows, for instance, if they are in disasters, without having to look at whether they are Muslims or Christians, Jews or Buddhists. It is a big mistake, however, if there is an obligation that I should help my Muslim fellows at first while there are the others who need my help more.
What a Muslim actually needs then is the hikma or the religious wisdom through which he could positively fruitfully look at what’s going on in front of his eyes. If he uses such wisdom, for example, he would be able to see that even though a conflict is taken into account by many as a conflict dominantly occasioned by religious symbols, it is however something wrong to blindly take it as a religious war and then he emotionally uncontrollably forgets to be wise.
Through the hikma way, a Muslim could realize that the religious symbols utilized in the conflict are factually acting as only the representations of the supra-structure of the decisive conflicting underlying infra-structures such as economic or political interests. He should be fully conscious that the religious symbols are the most visible features of the conflict and therefore are the easiest things to be exploited as the tools for war campaigns or for any other purposes.
In another word, any Muslim who comprehends that religions play the most in a conflict has become the victim of over-simplification point of view. And any kind of simplification over a problem will never address a solution. The most possible end will be negative reactions such as done in the bombing actions or propagation sermons containing hatred and animosity.
Hopefully, the wiser a Muslim looks at what is going on related to those conflicts in the world, whether they are related to Islam or not, the broader the way to diminish the misinterpretations among the others about Muslims and vice versa. At the end, if it happens, peace can be enjoyed by more people in the world.
The writer is currently the International Program Officer at Lazuardi Global Islamic School in Jakarta. He graduated from Sharia Faculty at Sharif Hidayatullah Islamic State University, Jakarta.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
What we do expect for you, our new president
Khairil Azhar
Our beloved Indonesia has been sixty four years on the seventeenth of August 2009. Having achieved this age surely should have made it mature, compared to its younger neighbors such as Vietnam or Brunei and etcetera. With its own maturity, Indonesia should have been able to stand erect in front of any other countries with such a dignity and pride. Our Indonesia, after the long years of maturing process filled with conflicts and many kinds of sacrifice from its people, at least should have got such ability to sustain her people by herself.
If it is the fact, for instance, Indonesia does not have to embarrassingly let many of its citizens to behave as if they were beggars here and there in any other countries anymore. Indonesia does not have to see, for instance, how many of the migrant workers have become the victims of strange violence in the post-slavery era. If the maturing process has been successful, we also would not see anymore how the peasants in Sidoarjo fill their days with protests and demonstration because their lands are now being washed away by the mud.
But have we achieved this maturity with all of its advantages? This is the thing that we wish we could talk to you our next president.
Learning from the previous two long regimes ruled our country, firstly we really would like to say that it is enough to liken this country as merely a loaf of bread. You should manage yourself not to cut it into slices and give each slice to your sons, wife, relatives, friends and whoever has helped you to gain the seat—while at the same time the rest of the people of the country just get the remnants.
Please do not take the people as only your kawula, the servants who serve you with whatever you need and obey whatever you say such as the thing usually happened in the feudalistic era. It is also not anymore an era when a country is inherited by a husband to a wife or from a father to a son or sons as if it were a country with republic system but veiled with monarchial one for the sake of certain family or clan.
We also beg your willingness for not establishing another new sophisticated tyrannical regime with both visible and invisible repression causing mild violence to severe suffering of the people. It is enough to see the already huge pyramid of sacrifice in the past where million of innocent people buried underneath. Please you guarantee that there will be no more victims shot by the soldier or police guns such as the result of domestic conflict happened in Poso and Aceh.
From the bottom of our heart, our next president, we wish we could say enough to everyday look at millions of people living in poverty while you enjoy all luxurious things in the palace with your people. It is the time to more realistically realize the presence of the lost generation born and grown up because of lack of proper nutrition in many places of the country such as in the remote villages in Nusa Tenggara or along the streets of Jakarta.
And it is certainly so disturbing us, our next president, that at the same time so lot of foods and drinks are thrown out without feeling guilty at your houses or palaces because of the trivial reason such as how the wastefulness is just because you do not like the food or drink anymore.
Please try to look, mister president, at how most of the people of your country need nowadays not more than just three plates of rice and some glasses of water? Even for a single person, Sir, a humble man only needs less then a millionth of your expensive everyday living cost.
We also demand you to be honest our president. Please explain to us how your officially released wealth could afford the expensive campaign cost in your and your family member political careers. How did you finance your son’s success in the previous legislative election, for example, when your wealth was reportedly only a third of the cost? Where did you get the money for the current presidential campaign that the total is many times over the amount of the money you have?
And if you are financially supported by other parties, what did you say to the donators in return of what they have spent? How many percent of this country resource have you promised to be shared with them? Did you remind yourself that the thing you do to make you become the president has many consequences that more or less actually are burdened onto the shoulders of common people instead of onto the ones who are flattering you everyday?
Do not get upset, Sir. This is our right to ask the questions.
When we saw your campaigns and debates on TV screen, many of us actually felt very disappointed. You talk about the crops the peasants have harvested but for more than three years you seem to be not caring with more than a thousand acres of the paddy fields become the sea of mud in Sidoarjo. You also talk about the agricultural success when you let one of your people to cheat the peasants with the super paddy seeds but they then failed entirely to harvest.
You talked in your commercial about peace and freedom from Sabang to Merauke but you seem to not realize that too many of the minorities nowadays are in fear of having to do many things differently from what they are taught by their religious teachings or culturally inherited from their ancestors.
We are on the sideline of majority tyranny, Sir, where diversity has been gradually rhetoric and talk and the dominance is to show off the dangerous symbols and to repress alike.
Still on TV screen, Sir, in one of your commercials, we watch you enjoying the green and wide yard in your palace when at the same time fire is roasting thousands of acres of turf and forest from Sumatra to Papua islands. Many species have been killed this way while thousands of them are then in danger because they do not enjoy the greenery and freedom as before. Millions of the next generation would only enjoy the stories of the so-called green carpet of equator while at the same time they painstakingly live in the drying and heating up world.
You also should stop taking advantage of the rank and file constituents after your victory, Sir. Too many of us have used our wits only for a short-term purpose because of the daily basic need is more powerful dictating us in making our decision. Please remember that a large number of us have chosen you based not only on the huge expectation for something better but also on being unknowledgeable situation or because we have been in the even greater bitterness of life.
If you take your victory as the result of your right choice of political consultants and advisors you should remind yourself that both the amount of money and the seats you promise them are actually making the life of people still the same or even worse. Be careful please, our president, there are cunning foxes everywhere in the world, and there are very likely some surrounding you while you unconsciously do not realize them.
We are also actually questioning the free schooling you promise on TV screen everyday, Sir. We know that the commercial is not for free. Millions or even billions is the cost certainly. Where is the money from? Is it from the required 20 percent national budget for education? If it is, why did you allow the educational ministry spent the huge amount of money for that widely known unnecessary commercial? Why did not you ask him to wisely build more schools or to train the teachers to be better educators with that money? And why has the commercial been started since the early time of the national election, Sir?
We do hope you are really as willing as a humble man when you thank the peasants for their crops. We ask you herewith to care with the victims of the consecutive transportation accidents and not only care with the supports from the allegedly actors behind the tragedies.
There are too many hopes, Sir. But we do believe you understand all of them if you are really close to all of us. That’s why we plead you for doing something and not remaining still and quiet. We have seen enough of your charming and elegant style to attract our attention because it eventually does not change anything.
Perhaps many of us are still bewitched, but please complete your enchantment with real works or someday we may betray you. We need a working leader who is able to make a decision regardless how critical the situation is immediately. If you are still doubtful in deciding something because you have to consider the shares of the people surrounding you let us work hand in hand to struggle for the rights of the people only and leave them alone with their dirty businesses.
We are on your side, Sir, if you listen to what we wish. Not much. Each of us only need likely a millionth of your expensive living cost plus a peaceful atmosphere to our own faith and cultures. Thank you for reading this, Sir.
The writer is a teacher.
Our beloved Indonesia has been sixty four years on the seventeenth of August 2009. Having achieved this age surely should have made it mature, compared to its younger neighbors such as Vietnam or Brunei and etcetera. With its own maturity, Indonesia should have been able to stand erect in front of any other countries with such a dignity and pride. Our Indonesia, after the long years of maturing process filled with conflicts and many kinds of sacrifice from its people, at least should have got such ability to sustain her people by herself.
If it is the fact, for instance, Indonesia does not have to embarrassingly let many of its citizens to behave as if they were beggars here and there in any other countries anymore. Indonesia does not have to see, for instance, how many of the migrant workers have become the victims of strange violence in the post-slavery era. If the maturing process has been successful, we also would not see anymore how the peasants in Sidoarjo fill their days with protests and demonstration because their lands are now being washed away by the mud.
But have we achieved this maturity with all of its advantages? This is the thing that we wish we could talk to you our next president.
Learning from the previous two long regimes ruled our country, firstly we really would like to say that it is enough to liken this country as merely a loaf of bread. You should manage yourself not to cut it into slices and give each slice to your sons, wife, relatives, friends and whoever has helped you to gain the seat—while at the same time the rest of the people of the country just get the remnants.
Please do not take the people as only your kawula, the servants who serve you with whatever you need and obey whatever you say such as the thing usually happened in the feudalistic era. It is also not anymore an era when a country is inherited by a husband to a wife or from a father to a son or sons as if it were a country with republic system but veiled with monarchial one for the sake of certain family or clan.
We also beg your willingness for not establishing another new sophisticated tyrannical regime with both visible and invisible repression causing mild violence to severe suffering of the people. It is enough to see the already huge pyramid of sacrifice in the past where million of innocent people buried underneath. Please you guarantee that there will be no more victims shot by the soldier or police guns such as the result of domestic conflict happened in Poso and Aceh.
From the bottom of our heart, our next president, we wish we could say enough to everyday look at millions of people living in poverty while you enjoy all luxurious things in the palace with your people. It is the time to more realistically realize the presence of the lost generation born and grown up because of lack of proper nutrition in many places of the country such as in the remote villages in Nusa Tenggara or along the streets of Jakarta.
And it is certainly so disturbing us, our next president, that at the same time so lot of foods and drinks are thrown out without feeling guilty at your houses or palaces because of the trivial reason such as how the wastefulness is just because you do not like the food or drink anymore.
Please try to look, mister president, at how most of the people of your country need nowadays not more than just three plates of rice and some glasses of water? Even for a single person, Sir, a humble man only needs less then a millionth of your expensive everyday living cost.
We also demand you to be honest our president. Please explain to us how your officially released wealth could afford the expensive campaign cost in your and your family member political careers. How did you finance your son’s success in the previous legislative election, for example, when your wealth was reportedly only a third of the cost? Where did you get the money for the current presidential campaign that the total is many times over the amount of the money you have?
And if you are financially supported by other parties, what did you say to the donators in return of what they have spent? How many percent of this country resource have you promised to be shared with them? Did you remind yourself that the thing you do to make you become the president has many consequences that more or less actually are burdened onto the shoulders of common people instead of onto the ones who are flattering you everyday?
Do not get upset, Sir. This is our right to ask the questions.
When we saw your campaigns and debates on TV screen, many of us actually felt very disappointed. You talk about the crops the peasants have harvested but for more than three years you seem to be not caring with more than a thousand acres of the paddy fields become the sea of mud in Sidoarjo. You also talk about the agricultural success when you let one of your people to cheat the peasants with the super paddy seeds but they then failed entirely to harvest.
You talked in your commercial about peace and freedom from Sabang to Merauke but you seem to not realize that too many of the minorities nowadays are in fear of having to do many things differently from what they are taught by their religious teachings or culturally inherited from their ancestors.
We are on the sideline of majority tyranny, Sir, where diversity has been gradually rhetoric and talk and the dominance is to show off the dangerous symbols and to repress alike.
Still on TV screen, Sir, in one of your commercials, we watch you enjoying the green and wide yard in your palace when at the same time fire is roasting thousands of acres of turf and forest from Sumatra to Papua islands. Many species have been killed this way while thousands of them are then in danger because they do not enjoy the greenery and freedom as before. Millions of the next generation would only enjoy the stories of the so-called green carpet of equator while at the same time they painstakingly live in the drying and heating up world.
You also should stop taking advantage of the rank and file constituents after your victory, Sir. Too many of us have used our wits only for a short-term purpose because of the daily basic need is more powerful dictating us in making our decision. Please remember that a large number of us have chosen you based not only on the huge expectation for something better but also on being unknowledgeable situation or because we have been in the even greater bitterness of life.
If you take your victory as the result of your right choice of political consultants and advisors you should remind yourself that both the amount of money and the seats you promise them are actually making the life of people still the same or even worse. Be careful please, our president, there are cunning foxes everywhere in the world, and there are very likely some surrounding you while you unconsciously do not realize them.
We are also actually questioning the free schooling you promise on TV screen everyday, Sir. We know that the commercial is not for free. Millions or even billions is the cost certainly. Where is the money from? Is it from the required 20 percent national budget for education? If it is, why did you allow the educational ministry spent the huge amount of money for that widely known unnecessary commercial? Why did not you ask him to wisely build more schools or to train the teachers to be better educators with that money? And why has the commercial been started since the early time of the national election, Sir?
We do hope you are really as willing as a humble man when you thank the peasants for their crops. We ask you herewith to care with the victims of the consecutive transportation accidents and not only care with the supports from the allegedly actors behind the tragedies.
There are too many hopes, Sir. But we do believe you understand all of them if you are really close to all of us. That’s why we plead you for doing something and not remaining still and quiet. We have seen enough of your charming and elegant style to attract our attention because it eventually does not change anything.
Perhaps many of us are still bewitched, but please complete your enchantment with real works or someday we may betray you. We need a working leader who is able to make a decision regardless how critical the situation is immediately. If you are still doubtful in deciding something because you have to consider the shares of the people surrounding you let us work hand in hand to struggle for the rights of the people only and leave them alone with their dirty businesses.
We are on your side, Sir, if you listen to what we wish. Not much. Each of us only need likely a millionth of your expensive living cost plus a peaceful atmosphere to our own faith and cultures. Thank you for reading this, Sir.
The writer is a teacher.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
National exams: Irrelevant, waste of time, money
The Jakarta Post
Khairil Azhar , Jakarta | Wed, 04/29/2009 1:26 PM | Opinion
Around one year ago, in the May edition of our school bulletin, one of the ninth graders wrote, "In previous years, when I was in grade seven and eight, I felt how warm and kind my teachers were. Learning was usually something fun and enjoyable.
Read the article:http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/04/29/national-exams-irrelevant-waste-time-money.html
Khairil Azhar , Jakarta | Wed, 04/29/2009 1:26 PM | Opinion
Around one year ago, in the May edition of our school bulletin, one of the ninth graders wrote, "In previous years, when I was in grade seven and eight, I felt how warm and kind my teachers were. Learning was usually something fun and enjoyable.
Read the article:http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/04/29/national-exams-irrelevant-waste-time-money.html
What does democracy mean to Islamic parties?
Khairil Azhar , Jakarta | Sun, 05/24/2009 10:38 AM | Opinion
The leaders of Islamic parties immediately reacted negatively to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's (SBY) choice of Boediono as his vice-presidential running mate.
Read the article at http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/05/24/what-does-democracy-mean-islamic-parties.html
The leaders of Islamic parties immediately reacted negatively to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's (SBY) choice of Boediono as his vice-presidential running mate.
Read the article at http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/05/24/what-does-democracy-mean-islamic-parties.html
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