JP/21/T03

JP/21/T03

Building a pluralist nation

Endy M. Bayuni
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

What is pluralism? Why is it important for Indonesia's future?

Like every other "ism", pluralism is a set of values. They
include respecting our differences, and striving to work together
on the basis of equality. Dialog is also an important part of
pluralism in order to nurture relations between people of
different backgrounds. And there is also cooperation to achieve
common goals.

Many conservative religious leaders have denounced pluralism
as going against their belief.

They fear that since pluralism treats all religions as equal,
it liberates people to choose and switch between religions.

This of course is a gross misconception.

Pluralism does not make all religions equal. No one has the
right to tell you what to believe, and similarly, if you believe
your religion is superior, no one can tell you otherwise. Pluralism
states that in interfaith relations, there should be equality in
positions between people of different faiths for any meaningful
dialog to take place.

This requires people to go beyond tolerating "the other".

Many religious leaders are already advocating tolerance to
promote interfaith dialog. But tolerance still implies one's own
superiority; that one is stronger, more powerful, or is in the
majority and can therefore dictate the terms of their
relationship with the others.

Such a presumption makes meaningful dialog difficult if not
impossible. We need to go beyond tolerating people of other
faiths, and that means respecting their beliefs and restraining
ourselves from imposing our values or beliefs on them.

The argument for pluralism in religion holds true in other
aspects that divide our nation along the lines of race,
ethnicity, language, custom, tradition and historical background,
and even gender, sexual orientation, generation, social and
economic status.

The four main tenets of pluralism (who defined these tenets?)
-- mutual respect, equality, dialog and cooperation -- should be
applied in promoting peaceful coexistence among people of diverse
backgrounds, whether within marriage, in villages or communities,
or in a nation.

Pluralism is crucial for Indonesia because of the immense
diversity of its 220 million people spread across the
archipelago. The people of Europe, by comparison, are far more
homogeneous.

* Race: There are two dominant races: Malay in the west and
Melanesian in the east. There are also minority groups like
Chinese, Arabs, Indians and European/Eurasian.

* Ethnicity/Cultural group: There are hundreds of ethnic and
sub-ethnic groups each with its own culture and traditions.
Javanese is the largest of the ethnic groups. Other major groups
include Batak, Acehnese and Minang in Sumatra, Sundanese,
Madurese and Balinese, Bugis and Menadonese in Sulawesi. Then
there are the small and often marginalized groups like Betawi in
Jakarta, and the Dayak in Borneo and the many tribes in Papua.

* Language: Nearly 400 distinct languages and dialects are
spoken in Indonesia. Bahasa Indonesia is the national language
and is used in official functions. Most people, however, speak
their local tongue in daily activities.

* Religion: All the world's major religions are represented in
Indonesia, and they coexist and are often practiced side by side
with local and homegrown beliefs that include various forms of
animism. Although the Constitution guarantees freedom of
religion, the government only recognizes five faiths for the
purpose of population census. Islam is the largest with 88
percent, followed by Protestantism with 5 percent, Catholicism
with 3 percent, Hinduism with 2 percent and Buddhism with 1
percent.

There are not many other countries that are as racially,
ethnically, culturally and religiously diverse as Indonesia.

But as in other parts of the world, this diversity is
complicated by issues of gender, political ideology, rising
regionalism, and social and economic divisions also clamoring for
attention. Any debate on pluralism cannot avoid addressing these
issues either.

While this diversity has certainly enriched Indonesia, it has
also been the source of many violent conflicts, tensions,
prejudices and mutual suspicion.

Most of the conflicts that we have seen in the nation's 60-
year journey can be traced to the failure of people to overcome
their differences, whether in ideology, religion, race and
ethnicity, custom, tradition and language, or social and economic
disparity, or a combination of two or more of these factors. Even
today, one can still sense tensions rooted in the diversity of
this nation. Discrimination and marginalization, as well as
prejudices, inflicted by one group against another in society
remain rampant.

In the past, particularly during the Soeharto years between
1965 and 1998, differences that even remotely threatened to break
out into a conflict were suppressed, at times by violent means,
in the name of preserving unity. Diversity was sacrificed in
favor of uniformity if not conformity, and to protect the Unitary
Republic of Indonesia.

Today, we, as a nation are committed to democracy. And
promoting pluralism is a much better way of dealing with our
differences. Resorting to the use of force and intimidation, as
Indonesia has done in the past, only stokes resentment that would
explode into violent conflicts later on. Many present conflicts
are legacies of past wrong policies.

It is clear that the extent to which Indonesia adheres to and
practices pluralism, and thus addresses issues arising out of its
complex diversity, will determine the future of this country. As
we celebrate our 60th anniversary of independence, we should
renew our commitment to the state motto Unity in Diversity by
making pluralism part of our daily lexicon.

Our survival as one nation depends on it.