Franz Magnis, an adopted Indonesian

Christina Schott, Contributor, Jakarta

Whenever Franz Magnis-Suseno shows up, he doesn't have much of a chance of remaining anonymous. It doesn't take long for everybody to recognize the tall bule (western foreigner) with the shiny white hair and impressionable charisma.

His look should not deceive you. His passport is Indonesian. Twenty five years ago, the Catholic priest, born 1936 in Germany as Franz Graf von Magnis, chose to become an Indonesian citizen.

"I felt I had found the right place for me here. Consequently, I wanted to identify myself with the country where I am staying," said Franz Magnis, who added the Javanese "Suseno" to his name when he obtained Indonesian citizenship.

"Of course, I am characterized by the German culture and my upbringing there. But I've been living in Indonesia for 36 years and my sympathies and antipathies were shaped here. I don't see myself anymore as a German."

Neither do the Indonesians. Since 1977, Franz Magnis has headed the prestigious Driyarkara School of Philosophy in Central Jakarta and has become one of the best known and most respected intellectuals in Indonesia.

The "German Professor" has participated in so many official meetings, seminaries and even governmental commissions, that even customs officials welcome him home when he arrives at the airport.

His Javanese accent helps him as well to be accepted by his compatriots. Especially in terms of interreligious dialogue, many Indonesians - from all religions - consider him an indispensable figure.

"Every religion is at its root human. Therefore, I see it as my task to promote social thinking and to make people communicate with each other," Father Franz says, who himself has a lot of Muslim friends.

"The most important thing is to stay in contact: Knowledge is the only way to get rid of fears and mistrust." As if to stress his words, he points to a 20-year-old picture of himself and his close friend Gus Dur, the nickname of former president Abdurrahman Wahid, which hangs on his office wall.

Franz Magnis was already a member of the Jesuit order when he came first to Indonesia in 1966 - inspired by letters he received from his Jesuit brothers on Java.

In Yogyakarta he began learning Javanese before being able to say a single word of Bahasa Indonesia and continued his studies in theology, philosophy and politics.

"My first motivation was my belief: I thought, I could be more useful to the church in Indonesia than sitting around in German libraries," he said. "But by that time, I became familiar with a lot of other problems as well. Today, I see myself as an Indonesian intellectual whose task is among others to watch critically what is going on in this country."

Due to the political situation in Indonesia during the New Order era, he was right in thinking that specializing in Marxism and Communism could be useful. Later on, he was often called as an expert - for example in the trials against the allegedly left- wing students and PRD members at the beginning and the middle of the 1990s, trying to prove that they were neither Communists nor against the country's state ideology, Pancasila.

Some people misunderstood these efforts and considered the Catholic Father a Communist himself. When the Anti-Communist Alliance started sweeping bookshops in 2001, some of Franz Magnis' books were burned as well.

"They didn't even know the content of the books they burned," he says. "Upon my invitation, the same people came a month later and we talked for one and a half hours. When they left, we had made peace and they took a signed copy of my book with them."

Natural authority and perseverance -- these are the most effective powers Franz Magnis owns. His students have an enormous respect toward him -- you won't hear a trace of the usual nasty remarks about teachers. Revolutionary activists become suddenly well-bred pupils in the presence of their professor. If they were not well behaved he would have told them off.

The Rector of Driyarkara is very proud of his students and helps them whenever he can.

"They are really doing well, I appreciate their interest in democracy and social justice," he said. In his eyes a lack of moral values in the life of young people is the biggest danger for growing radical movements.

"We need an open society based on Pancasila: That's absolutely necessary for this country's peaceful unity," Franz emphasized. "Therefore, we need to support all measures that will help stabilize our young democracy and the re-establishment of a constitutional state without corruption."

Used to defending his point of view in front of religious leaders, he adds immediately that the sovereignty of the people doesn't mean to him a contradiction to the sovereignty of God.

"No person can reign without higher moral principles, if they don't want to lose their legitimacy," he argued. Therefore, no war or armed conflict -- like the one in Maluku -- has anything to do with the doctrines of Islam or Christianity in his opinion.

Franz Magnis also makes a clear difference between increasing Islamization in the religious and the political sense.

"It's true the younger Muslim generation have intensified their religious duties. But up until now I have not seen any political consequences - on the contrary, in the last General Election only around a third voted for Islamic parties," he mentions.

The Jesuit, who was always a very decisive man, counts on the moderate policies of big Muslim organizations like Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) or Muhammadiyah to pacify the country's radical splinter groups.

"My strongest wish is that relations between Christians and Muslims can improve further. We need to continue the deepening of our mutual understanding as much as the reducing of our prejudices and preconceptions. We don't need to turn around, but to strengthen the already existing trend."

At the same time he appeals to the good sense of foreign partners like the United States.

"It's a hopeless attitude to see everything only in black and white. After all, no side is holier than the other one."