Inter-faith forum 'no solution to social unrest'

JAKARTA (JP): Observers say the suggested establishment of an inter-faith forum to detect and prevent religious tension will be futile if current social conditions persist.

Political observers Deliar Noer and Ariwibowo, sociologist Loekman Soetrisno and Moslem propagator Hussein Umar separately agreed yesterday that religious issues were the easiest to manipulate to ignite unrest among people already discontented with their lot.

The differences in religious teachings, however, were not to blame for the conflicts, they agreed.

The observers were commenting on the suggestion by Baharuddin Lopa of the National Commission on Human Rights that an independent body for the promotion of religious harmony be established at various levels in the country.

"Such a forum will serve for people to raise their complaints and as a tool for noticing problems threatening relations between religious believers," Lopa said recently.

Deliar disagreed.

"Problems related to polarizing issues such as ethnic groups and religions are just a part of the greater social problems," Deliar said. "People can be easily upset over hunger and the inability to satisfy it."

The university lecturer said many government policies failed to solve people's chronic problems, namely social and economic disparities.

"The ever widening economic gap breeds social jealousy which affects people's lives. (In such situation) hunger can easily be manipulated for other causes, such as religion and thoughts," Deliar added.

Indonesia has for the past several months witnessed a flurry of violence which left a number of people dead or injured and scores of buildings damaged. Despite evidence of religious tension, observers still believe the unrest was caused by chronic social, economic and political problems.

This was reflected in a recent survey conducted by the Center for the Study of Development and Democracy (CESDA). It found that 97 percent of the 1,000 people surveyed in the major Indonesian cities of Medan, Jakarta and Surabaya, would help or at least be concerned if neighbors of different faiths were in difficulties.

Deliar, known for his critical views on many government policies, called on the government to "embrace all elements" in society in a national dialogue to seek a better solution to the social tension.

"So far I do not see enough commitment from the government. Don't ask me why, ask the government," Deliar added.

Radical

Loekman Soetrisno, a lecturer at the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University, said in Yogyakarta the government had to pay greater attention to the poor in order to prevent the urban masses from becoming radical.

Speaking in a discussion at the campus here yesterday, Loekman said people became radical because they were tired of being disadvantaged by social economic disparities.

"There are possibilities that the world's economic globalization won't be able to feed people, so there will always be social upheavals in the future," he said.

Hussein Umar seconded the opinions of Deliar and Loekman, saying a better solution to the current situation was not to establish such a forum, but to list social problems considered to be potentially troublesome to religious coexistence.

"There is already a communication forum between religious believers members which is pretty independent in my view," said Umar, who is secretary-general of the Islamic Propagation Council and a member of the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectual (ICMI).

According to Umar, the government has only reacted to "symptoms" of social problems rather than taking care of issues which could potentially cause problems.

He cited two complaints the council frequently received, namely the way some religious groups preached their faith to people of other faiths, and the construction of houses of worship "without consideration for surrounding environment".

Meanwhile, Ariwibowo, third deputy dean of Airlangga University in Surabaya, told Antara he was in favor of the suggested forum. He said such forums would be useful in handling problems like the violence that occurred in the East Java town of Situbondo or the West Java town of Tasikmalaya.

"The forum, by holding dialogues, will be capable of putting out the fire before it grows big," Ariwibowo said.

Ariwibowo suggested the forum should comprise of even more members than the 25-strong National Commission on Human Rights, so they could be more "aggressive" in handling public complaints about social religious problems.

"The forum would need people with high integrity, those who can stand above many interests instead of being caught by a particular institution's vested interests," Ariwibowo added. (06/23)