E. Java youths promote religious tolerance

E. Java youths promote religious tolerance

Damar Harsanto and Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Malang, East Java

Its image tainted by the suspected involvement of radical
youths in the deadly Bali and Makassar bombings last year, Islam
in Indonesia may take consolation in some Muslim youths who have
proven themselves to be highly motivated and zealous about
creating a more pluralistic and peaceful Indonesia.

Youths represent the future, and these young people represent
the true face of Indonesian Muslims. Their struggle for social
change is praiseworthy, despite the lack of real support.

Meet the Averroes Foundation, a group of Muslim youths based
in Malang, East Java, who have been striving for more than seven
years to publish books and to hold discussions and seminars for
the promotion of a more humane, civilized, modern and
multicultural society.

"Averroes was established by ordinary Muslim youths, not
privileged ones. On one hand, we lack facilities and financial
support from big parties, but on the other hand, this makes us
free to carry out whatever plans we have, as we are not
restricted by grand, vested interests," said Saiful Arif,
chairman of the Averroes Foundation.

Taking the Western name of Islamic philosopher Ibn Rushd,
Averroes was established in 1995 by several Muslim university
student activists who got tired of piecemeal reactions to rapid
changes in the country's political and economic arenas. These
activists were willing to do something more reflective and
intellectual by arranging in-depth discussions and research which
laid the groundwork for long-term thinking.

Averroes was established on March, 20, 1995, and has been
focusing its activities on discussions over issues pertaining to
religion, humanism and culture. It also finances its own
publications.

"Our main objective is to promote intellectual enlightenment
in our society. We want to empower the people to be a more
critical and thoughtful society," said Averroes director of its
study center and culture development, Paring Waluyo Utomo, who is
in the final year of his study at Brawijaya University.

In 1998 and 1999, this Muslim youth group invited Catholic
priest Benny Susetyo, and Catholic observer of the Centre of
Strategic Indonesian Studies (CSIS) J. Kristiadi, in addition to
noted young Muslim scholar Ulil Abshar Abdalla, to join forces
with Averroes to become independent advisors.

Since its inception, the group has published 20 books with
wide-ranging themes, mostly promoting inter-religious dialog and
multiculturalism. Its latest publication focused on the interplay
between the Catholic church in Indonesia and the government. Each
title has a print run of between 1,000 and 3,000 copies.

Dozens of draft manuscripts are on hold, as the group has been
forced to delay publication owing to budget constraints.

What might be impressive about Averroes members is that these
youngsters have made such tremendous achievements financed only
with money collected from their personal allowances.

"Every month we have to contribute between Rp 50,000 and Rp
100,000 to cover operational costs and meet our target to publish
a book monthly," said Paring.

The amount collected is only enough to cover operational costs
totaling Rp 500,000 a month, including the rent for a small house
which serves as the group's office, and to pay for the
electricity and phone.

Averroes needs additional funds of at least Rp 7 million to Rp
8 million a month to meet its book publishing target.

"There are no rewards for Averroes members, as all royalties
are distributed among those who have helped in the publishing
process and the authors. But, of course, that's a meager amount,"
said Saiful.

"Averroes is really in a critical state as it could disband
anytime due to budget constraints," said Saiful, who also works
as a freelance copyeditor.

Paring said that the group would be more independent in
financing if it had at least Rp 25 million in cash to produce the
draft books.

Besides publication, Averroes has reserved this year a column
in the Surabaya-based daily newspaper Jawa Pos to disseminate
inter-religious and multicultural discourses.

Following mounting allegations over the involvement of
pesantren Islamic boarding schools in terrorism, Saiful said such
allegations did not affect Averroes's own activities.

"Our business runs as usual, because we refuse to be reactive
to the incidents, since this would disturb our daily activities.
We have a priority, which is our long-term program," said Saiful.

Saiful recalled that in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001
attacks on the U.S., Averroes overreacted by holding seminars and
discussions on global violence. "As a result, our publishing
activities were neglected... We don't want that to happen again."

Averroes, Saiful said, would leave all immediate response to
current events to other activists, like members of the Indonesian
Islamic Students Movement (PMII) who have joined hands with other
religious youths such as the Association of Indonesian Hindu
Students (KMHDI), the Association of Indonesian Catholic Students
(PMKRI) and Buddhist youth group Hikma Budi, to discuss actual
issues and take concrete actions.