Inter-faith forum 'no solution to social unrest'

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)