Celebrating Ramadhan and Xmas with religious tolerance<\/p>\n
Mochtar Buchori, Educator, Legislator, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Do Muslims resent Christians in Indonesia? And conversely, do
\nChristians hate Muslims in Indonesia? On the surface at times it
\nis the way it looks like, but I do not think this feeling of
\nmutual enmity permeates throughout all layers of Islamic and
\nChristian communities in the country.<\/p>\n
I do not know precisely how the situation is among Christians,
\nbut I know that among Indonesian Muslims there are those who can
\nget along, and even become friends, with Christians, beside those
\nwho hate them.<\/p>\n
In the eyes of the tolerant Muslims, Christians are fellow
\nIndonesians, fellow human beings, who happen to have a different
\nbelief system. In their view, attitudes towards followers of
\nother religions should not be based upon the \"otherness\" of their
\nreligion, but upon their religiosity and their \"character\"; upon
\nthe extent to which they consistently observe the values
\nprescribed by their religion and by society.<\/p>\n
A real \"good\" Christian will, in their view, exhibit a
\ncharacter, a personality that is very much similar to that of a
\nreally \"good\" Muslim.<\/p>\n
The attitudes of Muslims in Indonesia towards Christians
\ncovers a broad spectrum, ranging all the way from feelings of
\nenmity or hostility to feelings of amity or friendship. Between
\nhatred at the one end of the spectrum and friendship at the
\nother, there are innumerable nuances in the middle.<\/p>\n
The general rule in this regard is that whenever a group of
\nMuslims view Christians as a group of a faceless crowd, the
\nsentiment that usually arises is that of encountering an unknown
\nsocial entity, toward which they cannot foster any feeling of
\nsympathy.<\/p>\n
This kind of mindset can easily develop into a feeling of
\nanimosity. I know of persons who disliked Christians and
\nChristianity so much that they refused to use words whenever they
\nwanted to refer to Christians as a whole. They just made a cross
\nsign, using their right and left forefingers.<\/p>\n
Could you imagine what might happen if these persons meet
\ntheir \"counterparts\" from the Christian side, especially when
\nsuch persons happen to have followers who harbor similar rancor?<\/p>\n
This is an important question, because, according to my
\nChristian friends, there are also militant zealots within
\nChristian communities who are always ready to be parts of a
\nviolent mob.<\/p>\n
What makes tolerant Muslims abandon their animosity against
\nChristians? It is when Muslims begin to perceive Christians as
\nindividuals, as human personalities. When you reach this stage of
\nhumanity, the feeling of facing an unknown social entity in the
\nface of a group of Christians vanishes, and its place emerges the
\nfeeling of facing real individuals, real human beings, who are
\nendowed with positive and negative traits, showing pleasant and
\nless pleasant characteristics.<\/p>\n
A case in point was the late Romo J.B. Mangunwijaya, a
\nCatholic priest, architect, novelist, and an ardent defendant of
\nmarginalized people. Indonesian Muslims who knew him, myself
\nincluded, respect him. No one among us hated him. What we saw --
\nand still see -- in him was first and foremost a great humanist.<\/p>\n
We, his Muslim friends, either overlooked or ignored the fact
\nthat he was a Catholic priest. In a Catholic church in
\nYogyakarta, when a requiem mass was held to honor him, many
\nMuslims, friends and admirers of the late priest, attended the
\nservice to show their reverence for him.<\/p>\n
At the end of this Catholic service, this group of Muslim
\nfriends chanted in unison the Islamic verse, \"Allaah hu Akbar!
\nInna lillaah wa innalillahi roji'un!\" Great is Allah! From Allah
\nthy come, and to Allah thy shall return.\" At that moment the line
\nthat divides Muslims and Christians vanished. What was hanging in
\nthe air was a deep sense of grief, arising from the feeling that
\na beloved friend had departed.<\/p>\n
At this juncture of our history the question is how to
\neradicate the feeling of mutual hostility and nurture feelings of
\ngoodwill among members of these two major religious communities?
\nFailure to do this will certainly thrust this nation into an
\nendless chain of religious conflicts, which ultimately may cause
\nthis country to collapse.<\/p>\n
What do we have to do to make ourselves move from the present
\nchaotic condition into a more orderly and civilized life?
\nWe will be able to chart the path toward this goal only if we
\nunderstand the origin of animosity, both among Muslims and among
\nChristians.<\/p>\n
I often ask myself, \"Where do the seeds of this hatred come
\nfrom among Muslims? Does Islamic education consciously purport to
\nmake young Muslims hate Christians?\" I do not accept, and refuse
\nto accept the assertion implied in this last question. But
\nsomehow this impression persists in my mind.<\/p>\n
In my case, I was never told to hate Christians. Yet there was
\na time in my life when I felt uneasy, inferior and a little bit
\njealous towards Christians.<\/p>\n
In hindsight, I think it was the oft-repeated message that
\nIslam is the only right religion -- meaning that other religions
\nare less right -- that might be the origin of my negative
\nfeelings in the past towards Christians and Christianity. This
\nwas reinforced by my social experiences during the Dutch colonial
\ntime, and at the end my aversion toward Christians and
\nChristianity was shaped.<\/p>\n
For five years I harbored the feeling that Indonesian Muslims
\nwere treated less favorably by the Netherlands Indies colonial
\nadministration. Everything in my personal life stressed my
\ninferior status. My school, of the Muhammadiyah organization, was
\nhoused in a shabby rented building, situated next to a Catholic
\nchurch that looked very mighty in my eyes.<\/p>\n
The words Soli Deo Gloria were written with protruded letters
\nabove the main gate in an arch form. They are still there today.
\nThis church was located on a high ground, while my school's
\nlocation was at a lower level on the verge of a river.<\/p>\n
Every Sunday I felt the pains of being a member of a
\npolitically discriminated against group. When I went to school on
\nSundays -- Muhammadiyah schools were open on Sundays and closed
\non Fridays, I would see people visiting the church for morning
\nmasses, all well dressed. And on my way to my school I had to
\npass a Christian school that was equally close to the same river
\nnear my school, but located in a two-story long building with its
\nname Hollands Inlandse School Met De Bijbel, written with big
\nletters across the long wall of the upper floor.<\/p>\n
This kind of daily experience led to a feeling of inferiority.
\nI felt inferior towards my friends who studied at Christian
\nschools. I had the feeling that they received better instruction
\nthan I did. One day, when a Catholic friend and I walked and
\nplayed in a field outside our village, he took a flower and
\nexplained to me the anatomy of that flower, explaining the
\nfunction of each part. I felt so dumb, because we were formally
\nat the same grade level, but enrolled in two different schools.<\/p>\n
It took quite a long time for me to overcome these feelings.
\nIt was my social experiences in my village community and later in
\na multi-religious boarding school that softened and finally
\nerased my negative feelings toward Christians.<\/p>\n
One of my teachers in the village was a Catholic, and he was a
\ngood teacher. My father, known by the population in the entire
\nsub-district as the kyai or religious teacher of the area, got
\nalong very well with this Catholic teacher of mine.<\/p>\n
It was my father who repeatedly told me to be tolerant,
\nreligious and otherwise. He often quoted one quote from the
\nProphet's saying or the hadits, \"Don't look at who is saying
\nwhat, but listen to what is being said\".<\/p>\n
This instruction to be tolerant was later repeatedly
\nreinforced in my boarding school. It was there that I learned to
\nrespect and to live harmoniously with friends from other
\nreligions.<\/p>\n
Can we create, in this pluralistic society of ours,
\nopportunities for learning to know each other, for learning to
\nconquer our rancor, and for learning the art of living together
\npeacefully and harmoniously?<\/p>\n
May this holy month of Ramadhan and the spirit of the coming
\nChristmas light the fire of tolerance in the hearts of our
\npolitical leaders, so that they will be able to lead the people
\ntowards religious reconciliation that will ensure the survival of
\nthis nation. Amien!<\/p>",
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