Banjarmasin, wahidinstitute.org
In coordination with the Institute for Social and Islamic Studies (LK3) of  Banjarmasin, the Wahid Institute (WI) held a workshop titled ‘Monitoring and Advocating Pluralism’ in Hotel Pesona, Banjarmasin, Monday – Wednesday (4-6/8/2008).

Ten of WI’s partners from various regions throughout Indonesia attended the workshop. They included Abidin Wakkano (Maluku Interfaith Institute), Syamsurrijal Adhan (Makassar LAPAR), Erna Kasypiah (Banjarmasin LK3), Gazali Rahman (Palangkaraya LDIK), Nur Kholik Ridwan (Rumpun Nusantara), Yusuf Tantowi (Lombok LENSA), Tedi Kholiluddin (Semarang eLSA), A Zainul Hamdi (Surabaya C-MARS), Levi Riansyah (Malang Puspek Averroes), Dindin Abdullah Ghazali (Bandung INCRES) and participants from WI, M. Subhi Azhari and Nurun Nisa. Dr Rumadi was facilitator.
During the event, these researchers and activists of religious freedom discussed a two year program for advocacy of pluralism in Indonesia.

In the introduction, Rumadi mentioned that the program was a continuation of the Pluralism Watch program which had been running for two years. The difference was that the program would be expanded to cover a wider area. If before it only covered four regions – West Java, Yogyakarta, East Java and South Sulawesi – it would now cover 8. “Partners from Ambon, Central Kalimantan, Semarang, and Banjarmasin have now joined us,” Rumadi added.

Broadly speaking, this event contained an in-depth discussion on the concept of pluralism and religious freedom in Indonesia, an explanation of the program, organization of the program and the network, and a discussion of the action and strategy implementation agenda in the field.

The two speakers for the discussion session were Dr Mudjiburrahman, Antsari Banjarmasin IAIN lecturer, and Executive Director of WI, Ahmad Suaedy.

In his speech, Dr Mujdiburrahman said that, right from the start, religious conflict has occurred as a result of the diversity in Indonesia. “This kind of conflict revolves around debate over three things,” Mujib explained. First, ideological conflict between groups wanting Islam as the state ideology and those emphasizing nationalism as the basis of the state.

Second, differing religious understandings between different Islamic movements.

Third, differences in issues concerning the essence and orientation of Indonesian culture, including how foreign culture should be dealt with.

The first conflict materialized over the issue of including/omitting the Jakarta Charter. The second conflict occurred with the formation of the two mass organisations, NU and Muhammadiyah. And the third conflict appeared over the controversy between the Cultural Manifest group, supported by intellectuals from the secular nationalist movement and also the Islamic movement, and artists from LEKRA (Peoples’ Art Institute), supported by the communist party and the government. In this conflict, the Muslim group themselves declared a cultural manifesto based on Islamic doctrine as it is given by MASBI (Council for Muslim Culture and Art). Muslim groups outside the Islamic movement tended towards universal humanism, with Pancasila as the national foundation, while Muslims from the Islamic movements tended to advocate Islam as the foundation for Indonesian culture.

The most evident and lengthy conflict is that of the first. The road taken, Mujib said in his working paper titled “Understanding Conflict Amongst Muslims in Indonesia”, was one of political compromise. The seven words in the Jakarta Charter – “the obligation for Muslims to obey syariah (Islamic law)” -  was replaced with “Belief in one God”. But the Jakarta Charter debate is still not finished.

“The New Order dissolved the debate over the Jakarta Charter,” said this doctor from the University of Utrecht, Holland. The New Order did not allow public discussion of the Jakarta Charter from 1969. It is only fitting that the Jakarta Charter Debate surfaced again during the Indonesian reformation.

“The difference is, if NU and Muhammadiyah had been major supporters of the Jakarta Charter in the beginning, now they hold the opposite position,” he explained. The proponents of the Jakarta Charter in the reformation era have been Islamic parties such as PPP, PBB, and the Justice Party (now the Prosperous Justice Party, ed.).

The spread of regional laws based on Islamic syariah (Islamic law) is a continuation of the to-ing and fro-ing of the Jakarta Charter issue. “I once interviewed a priest about Islamic law regional regulations in Makassar,” Mujib said.

The priest not only had no problem with KPPSI (Committee for the Monitoring of Islamic Law Implementation), the force behind the release of Islamic law regulations, but was also supportive of the regulations. “He said, we just let it be. This is part of the democratization process,” he added. The Jakarta Charter, highly influential in the emergence of such regulations, is also a part of the democratization process.

The continual compromise, for Mujib is the best thing for the nation. “It’s better that it continues” he stressed. “If one group wins, a revolution will occur. “And it’s the people who lose out if there’s a revolution,” he concluded.

Ahmad Suaedy, presenting on the second day, said that pluralism, the trait of religious diversity in Indonesia, has now become an apparition within society. “Anti-pluralism has even become a commodity of hard-line Islamic groups,” he added.

With this tendency, civil society needs to be intensively involved. "Issues of inter-religious relations have already made it to the international level, especially the instance of the June 1 Monas tragedy," he explained.

Taking the issue of freedom to the international level requires data. “Without data, we can’t talk on any level,” Suaedy said. The WAHID Institute, as a part of civil society, has started collecting data, which has already benefited many people.

However, it does not mean that civil society’s task of advocacy is over because data has been collected. “We have not yet connected both national and international laws on human rights [on which freedom of religion is based] with Islamic teachings and values,” Suaedy added.

For this, further discussion is needed on the Cairo Declaration and its capacity as a universal Islamic declaration of human rights. It is necessary because Indonesia is a member of the Islamic Conference Organisation (OKI) which issued the declaration in 1990 in Cairo, Egypt. “On the international level Indonesia is actually more subject to OKI than to its own constitution,” said Suaedy, relating his experience in Geneva last June of the session held by PBB on reports of religious freedom from every country.

Civil society also needs to draw attention to regulations within the country. The Joint Regulations of the Minister of Religious Affairs No. 9, 2006 and the Minister for Internal Affairs No. 8, 2006, for example have many traps for the government.

In joint regulations, the government’s job is to uphold religious harmony, to enrich the Forum for Religious Harmony (FKUB),” Suaedy said. It is a big task. “In the context of upholding harmony, local governments can be prosecuted if inter-religious violence occurs,” he added.

Joint regulations, Suaedy believes, can become a measure of success or failure of local governments. “What we are looking for, in regards to this, is a way to promote the upholding of inter-religious harmony as an instrument that measures the success or failure of a local head,” he added.

In response to this presentation, Tedi Kholiluddin from Semarang described FKUB in Central Java. “NU and Muhammadiyah know that FKUB is a bureaucratization of inter-religious harmony,” Teddy said.

However, they continue to be involved with FKUB in order that FKUB is not dominated by hard-line Islam. “Now the challenge is whether we are able to change our paradigm towards joint regulations and whether FKUB will accept our issues,” he continued.

Suaedy said that FKUB must continue to be monitored and pushed so that their agenda is constructive. “Although the regulations on FKUB are indeed unorganised,” he admitted.

In the program explanation session, there were at least two main agendas expected to be implemented during the two year program on Monitoring and Advocating Pluralism: First, maximizing data collection and its use in advocacy, and second, network extension.

In connection to maximizing data collection and use, WI and participants from local networks will collect data through media clippings, field investigations, and research into selected cases.

The network will publish the data they obtain in the Monthly Report on Religious Issues, in yearly reports on religious freedom in Indonesia, in books, in publications at www.wahidinstitute.org, in press conferences, and in the four-monthly newsletter Nawala, over a period of two years.

“There are eight categories to be researched, they are the issues of: violence in the name of religion, places of worship, freedom of religion and belief, religious fatwa, inter-religious relations, morality, religiously-based regulations, and freedom of thought and expression,” Rumadi said.

Meanwhile, in relation to strengthening networks, WI and participants will intensify coordination and communication through several national workshops, which are planned for mid-2009 in Makassar, and mid-2010 in Jakarta. Besides this, WI will also hold monitoring activities once in every area in accordance with the program coordination framework.

Within the framework of strengthening the national network, WI will also work with PPIM UIN of Jakarta, Paramadina Institute, and Equality Institute. “This is necessary in order to develop a joint strategy and avoid program overlapping at the national level,” said Budhi M Rahman, an observer of this event.

In every area a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) will also be held in order to strengthen support for local partner programs at the lowest levels of society. “In this activity, our partners can include key actors such as kiai, priests and other religious leaders,” Suaedy explained.

Outside of this agenda, a hearing will be held at parliament in an effort to influence policy makers. “Local networks will also do this at their local parliament,” Rumadi added. (Nn)