Building a pluralist nation

Endy M. Bayuni, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

What is pluralism? Why is it important for Indonesia's future? Like every other "ism", pluralism is a set of values. They include respecting our differences, and striving to work together on the basis of equality. Dialog is also an important part of pluralism in order to nurture relations between people of different backgrounds. And there is also cooperation to achieve common goals.

Many conservative religious leaders have denounced pluralism as going against their belief.

They fear that since pluralism treats all religions as equal, it liberates people to choose and switch between religions.

This of course is a gross misconception.

Pluralism does not make all religions equal. No one has the right to tell you what to believe, and similarly, if you believe your religion is superior, no one can tell you otherwise. Pluralism states that in interfaith relations, there should be equality in positions between people of different faiths for any meaningful dialog to take place.

This requires people to go beyond tolerating "the other".

Many religious leaders are already advocating tolerance to promote interfaith dialog. But tolerance still implies one's own superiority; that one is stronger, more powerful, or is in the majority and can therefore dictate the terms of their relationship with the others.

Such a presumption makes meaningful dialog difficult if not impossible. We need to go beyond tolerating people of other faiths, and that means respecting their beliefs and restraining ourselves from imposing our values or beliefs on them.

The argument for pluralism in religion holds true in other aspects that divide our nation along the lines of race, ethnicity, language, custom, tradition and historical background, and even gender, sexual orientation, generation, social and economic status.

The four main tenets of pluralism (who defined these tenets?) -- mutual respect, equality, dialog and cooperation -- should be applied in promoting peaceful coexistence among people of diverse backgrounds, whether within marriage, in villages or communities, or in a nation.

Pluralism is crucial for Indonesia because of the immense diversity of its 220 million people spread across the archipelago. The people of Europe, by comparison, are far more homogeneous.

* Race: There are two dominant races: Malay in the west and Melanesian in the east. There are also minority groups like Chinese, Arabs, Indians and European/Eurasian.

* Ethnicity/Cultural group: There are hundreds of ethnic and sub-ethnic groups each with its own culture and traditions. Javanese is the largest of the ethnic groups. Other major groups include Batak, Acehnese and Minang in Sumatra, Sundanese, Madurese and Balinese, Bugis and Menadonese in Sulawesi. Then there are the small and often marginalized groups like Betawi in Jakarta, and the Dayak in Borneo and the many tribes in Papua.

* Language: Nearly 400 distinct languages and dialects are spoken in Indonesia. Bahasa Indonesia is the national language and is used in official functions. Most people, however, speak their local tongue in daily activities.

* Religion: All the world's major religions are represented in Indonesia, and they coexist and are often practiced side by side with local and homegrown beliefs that include various forms of animism. Although the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, the government only recognizes five faiths for the purpose of population census. Islam is the largest with 88 percent, followed by Protestantism with 5 percent, Catholicism with 3 percent, Hinduism with 2 percent and Buddhism with 1 percent.

There are not many other countries that are as racially, ethnically, culturally and religiously diverse as Indonesia.

But as in other parts of the world, this diversity is complicated by issues of gender, political ideology, rising regionalism, and social and economic divisions also clamoring for attention. Any debate on pluralism cannot avoid addressing these issues either.

While this diversity has certainly enriched Indonesia, it has also been the source of many violent conflicts, tensions, prejudices and mutual suspicion.

Most of the conflicts that we have seen in the nation's 60- year journey can be traced to the failure of people to overcome their differences, whether in ideology, religion, race and ethnicity, custom, tradition and language, or social and economic disparity, or a combination of two or more of these factors. Even today, one can still sense tensions rooted in the diversity of this nation. Discrimination and marginalization, as well as prejudices, inflicted by one group against another in society remain rampant.

In the past, particularly during the Soeharto years between 1965 and 1998, differences that even remotely threatened to break out into a conflict were suppressed, at times by violent means, in the name of preserving unity. Diversity was sacrificed in favor of uniformity if not conformity, and to protect the Unitary Republic of Indonesia.

Today, we, as a nation are committed to democracy. And promoting pluralism is a much better way of dealing with our differences. Resorting to the use of force and intimidation, as Indonesia has done in the past, only stokes resentment that would explode into violent conflicts later on. Many present conflicts are legacies of past wrong policies.

It is clear that the extent to which Indonesia adheres to and practices pluralism, and thus addresses issues arising out of its complex diversity, will determine the future of this country. As we celebrate our 60th anniversary of independence, we should renew our commitment to the state motto Unity in Diversity by making pluralism part of our daily lexicon.

Our survival as one nation depends on it.