Religious leaders' help needed to end conflicts<\/p>\n
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Religious leaders must accept pluralism to
\nprevent the country from disintegrating as religious intolerance
\nhas been threatening national unity, a scholar warned here on
\nTuesday.<\/p>\n
\"We must acknowledge that there are interreligious conflicts.
\nAnd if religious leaders are open to pluralism, they will become
\nan integrated strength that can minimize conflict among the
\npeople,\" said Sumartana, head of the interfaith dialog forum
\nINTERFIDEI, in a seminar on Religion and the National Integration
\nProcess.<\/p>\n
The event was held at the State Islamic Institute (IAIN) Sunan
\nKalijaga in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
Sumartana explained that it was not easy to end the prolonged
\nsectarian violence in Ambon because religions were involved in
\nthe conflict.<\/p>\n
The conflicts between Christians and Muslims in the Maluku
\nprovince and its capital Ambon have claimed thousands of lives
\nfrom both sides. Observers said that the government has made no
\nadequate effort to stop the fighting, which started almost two
\nyears ago.<\/p>\n
According to Sumartana, religious leaders have different views
\nand opinions from the people involved in the fighting. \"The
\nreligious leaders have their own perceptions. Some of them are
\nopen to dialog with leaders of other religions, while many others
\nare not.\"<\/p>\n
\"Religious organizations have yet to convey proper
\nunderstanding to their supporters about respecting differences.
\nNone of the organizations have provided honest and adequate
\ninformation about the good aspects of the other religions.\"<\/p>\n
\"The teaching of religion in Indonesia is 'theological
\nkilling', so there is little possibility for religious followers
\nto respect one another.\"<\/p>\n
Said Aqil Siradj, chairman of the large Nahdlatul Ulama, and
\nAhmad Syafii Maarif, chairman of Muhammadiyah, did not speak in
\nthe seminar.<\/p>\n
Political culture<\/p>\n
In another seminar held also in Yogyakarta on Monday, noted
\nhistorian Kuntowijoyo said that Indonesia's political culture had
\nbeen idle, taking the country to a point of disintegration.<\/p>\n
\"Consequently, a new political culture is badly needed to
\nstrengthen the country's unity,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a seminar on national unity at the Jayakarta Hotel
\nhere, the Gadjah Mada University professor said that Indonesian
\npeople tended to look back, causing their political knowledge and
\nbehavior to become stalled. \"The result is that Indonesia has
\nfailed to catch the golden momentum to become a great nation,
\ndespite the fact that it got its independence 55 years ago.\"<\/p>\n
\"Our political culture has been too static. We always reject
\nbreakthroughs in politics by, among other things, gagging those
\nwho voice rational ideas,\" said Kunto.<\/p>\n
\"Furthermore, the administration has been dominated by
\nindividuals bent on political maneuvering, rather than creating a
\nsystem (of government) with a clear course.\"<\/p>\n
He said Indonesia had been imprisoned by political rhetoric
\nfor years. \"We lived in socialist rhetoric during first president
\nSukarno's tenure. The reality was that we lived in a
\ndictatorship.<\/p>\n
We were in development rhetoric under former president
\nSoeharto, while the fact was that the country had been full with
\n(unfair) conglomeration. Now the rhetoric is democracy, but the
\nfact is we have a one man show,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He reiterated that besides new political culture, the country
\nalso needed a president who had vision and mission and did not
\nlike political improvisation.<\/p>\n
\"The country also needs clear ideology,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He explained that political improvisation was sometimes very
\nexpensive, citing President Abdurrahman Wahid's agreeing to
\nchanging the name of Irian Jaya to Papua and the hoisting of the
\nMorning Star flag in Irian Jaya. \"The policy had very negative
\npolitical consequences that had not been anticipated.\"<\/p>\n
\"The state ideology of Pancasila must become a radical
\nideology, meaning that it can not be manipulated by the head of
\nstate. Sukarno made Pancasila concise by formulating Trisila and
\nEkasila, while Soeharto translated Pancasila as a means to
\nsupport capitalism. There are signs that the current President
\nwould imitate his predecessors.\" (23\/sur)<\/p>",
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