Continuing the struggle against intolerance

Continuing the struggle against intolerance

Muhamad Ali, Lecturer, State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah
Jakarta, muhamad@hawaii.edu

A professor from Germany, Klaus Pahler, said last year, "Most
Indonesians, whatever religion they adhere to, are friendly,
good-humored, and tolerant people." But the weekend bombings in
Bali and Manado, after a slew of bombings in Jakarta in 2000 and
2001, have clearly indicated that there is still the threat of
intolerance -- whatever the real motive of the terrorist acts.

Some argue that intolerance is human, so that it is impossible
to eliminate it, while tolerance is an acquired character. Yet,
many would argue that intolerant people are more likely to suffer
from fanaticism.

Factors that contribute to fanaticism are bigotry,
selfishness, sectarian pride and mutual exclusiveness. Claims of
having a monopoly on the ultimate truth frequently lead to the
ultimate sacrifice of "others."

We may disagree over whether people are intolerant by nature.
Mostly, we find that it is people who are tired, anxious and
desperate that display intolerance. Intolerance and hatred are
more easily manifest at times of crisis than prosperity. In fact,
they express frustration, anxiety of identity and rejection of
the world in which they live.

Intolerance and violence can also take place when one has a
sense of being threatened that can reach a level of confidence
that violence solves all problems -- especially when nonviolent
alternatives are absent or not available. Violence is regarded as
a legitimate tool for self-defense.

Intolerance also comes from ignorance, narrow-mindedness, and
lack of insight. "You are the enemy of what you do not know",
goes one Arabic proverb.

Intolerance may also be brought about by some sort of
extremism. Prejudice and rigidity of thinking are among the
immediate causes of fanaticism and intolerance, which lead people
to impose their will on others, through various forms of
terrorism, either psychological or physical.

Intolerance may also be caused by elites manipulating communal
symbols for their own interests, ostensibly on behalf of group
interests. It is easy for the elite to encourage or provoke their
groups to do harm, fostering in-group solidarity by out-group
enmity.

The struggle against intolerance must take into account the
following. Although intolerance exists in all societies, people
can learn to fight against intolerance. A spirit of moderation in
all aspects of life must be taught, for excessiveness is among
the causal factors of intolerance. It is thus vital to
internalize moderate values such as justice, fairness and
balance, through the institutionalization of nonviolence by
formal, nonformal and informal modes.

We find that our education has partly contributed to
intolerance. Children are taught to hate others from early on.
They are taught one system of truth only. Worse still, they are
not educated to respect other claims of truth. Therefore, to
minimize intolerance, a paradigm shift is indispensable in our
philosophy of education.

However, it is a dangerous gamble to overstate the importance
of too many guidelines, whether moral or otherwise. If almost
every rule is of greatest importance -- like every vaguely
confidential document being classified as "top secret" -- the
most likely outcome is that the evaluative guidelines will
eventually be ignored. In this regard, the role of teachers in
explaining one truth among diverse truths is thus very important.

That is so because to be tolerant we need to respect
pluralism. Exclusivism, which says that there is only one system
of truth and all others are wrong and heretical, has a tendency
to lead to fanaticism and intolerance. This does not mean that
pluralism justifies all, including intolerance. The passive
acceptance of all differences brings about indifference and
encourages intolerance. The truth is that the inclusive and the
pluralist are more easily coexistent with others, because
personal and social relations are based more upon rational
judgment, than on an emotional and primitive one.

In our educational system, the principles of nonviolence must
be integrated into policies, programs, curriculum and the
surrounding environment. Three directions are necessary --
intolerance prevention, which emphasizes peacekeeping strategies
to make schools safe; conflict resolution programs, which use
peacemaking techniques to manage conflicts; and courses on
tolerance that build a consciousness that desires tolerance.

In the family, members must be educated to respect each other.
In public offices, discrimination on grounds of race, religion,
political party and so forth must be minimized. Additionally, the
mass media must support the culture of tolerance and avoid
anything that may lead to intolerance.

In our society, leadership plays a very important role. Very
often that intolerance is first committed by leaders. Violent
leaders can produce violent masses. Leaders' comments that serve
to cool down situations have proved to helped settle conflicts.
Moral appeal for tolerance and self-restraint is very effective
due to our paternalistic community. Nonviolent conflict
resolution must be prioritized. Communalism must be anticipated,
because communal identity is often an easy tool to legitimize
one's intolerance.

The struggle against intolerance also necessitates a
definition of the intolerable through law making as well as law
enforcement. For example, acts of terrorism, anarchy and
vandalism can be categorized as intolerable.

All parties must learn that the opposite of intolerance is
respect of others. Tolerance and nonviolence come from high self-
esteem. The key is how to train all parties to perceive
themselves and others as loving, instead of hating. To be in
harmony with others, we must be at peace with ourselves. Do I see
myself and members of my group respecting and loving each other?
If so, we tend to be tolerant.

The fight against intolerance has certainly still a long way
to go; the results are never completely achieved. However, all
parties must do something about it, otherwise we will never
emerge from this crisis, let alone live together in peace.

The writer is a PhD history student and an East-West Center
Fellow in Hawaii, U.S.