Religion, a bonding agents?
Religion, a bonding agents?
Santi W.E. Soekanto, Contributor/Jakarta
Place 10 Australian and eight Indonesian journalists on a bus to
travel the length of Java Island to visit Islamic sites, such as
Abu Bakar Ba'asyir's Al Mukmin Islamic boarding school
(pesantren) in Ngruki, Solo, and you are bound to experience
tension.
Suspicion, too, reared its ugly head in various directions.
Some of the Indonesian participants of the Journey Into Islam in
Indonesia study tour suspected the Australians of being "spies",
and out to "gauge the Indonesian Muslim's strength."
Some of the Australians, whose reading material included The
Trouble with Islam, suspected their Indonesian hosts of
"concealing the truth" about alleged terrorism in their midst.
Some aired their suspicion openly, others talked behind people's
backs.
What also resulted was laughter, and satisfying exchanges of a
wealth of insight and information between the two sides, so much
so that all participants overcame any discomfort that arose and
stayed to the end of the trip.
The program ended with statements of goodwill and a greater
understanding of what really mattered -- such as peace and
friendship, and a willingness to understand other people's
positions, even without compromising one's stance.
Organized by the Melbourne-based Asia Pacific Journalism
Center (APJC) in collaboration with various Indonesian partners
including the Liberal Islam Network (JIL) and its "foe", the
"literal Islamic" Jaringan Jurnalis Profetik (an association of
Muslim journalists many of whose members are affiliated with the
Prosperous Justice Party), the tension was inevitable, simply
because of the involvement of "polarized groups" in the program.
Ulil Abshar Abdalla, the leader of JIL, for instance, was
originally reluctant to accept the idea of visiting Al Mukmin
because "I don't have contacts there, only enemies aplenty."
Al Mukmin, too, originally rejected the request for a visit
because "they have been burned too many times" by journalists
from the United States, Singapore and Australia.
However, a special trip by the tour organizers to the Salemba
Penitentiary in Central Jakarta to meet Abu Bakar Ba'asyir in
person resulted in the permission to visit Al Mukmin, thankfully.
Darussalaam Modern Pesantren in Gontor, Ponorogo, East Java,
on the other hand, openly rejected the request for a visit
because of the involvement of JIL, "whose preaching against the
exclusive claim of truth", they believe, ran counter to the
essence of the Islamic faith.
Repeated pleading by the organizers finally yielded the
desired permission to visit, but only under the condition that no
letters bearing the name of JIL be sent to the school.
Despite the initial glitches, the trip took off nicely on May
21 in Surabaya with a visit to the office of Jawa Pos newspaper
and with its CEO Dahlan Iskan, where the Australian journalists
expressed amazement at the scale of operation of one of
Indonesia's major media corporations.
Next came the visit to Sunan Ampel Mosque, founded in the 15th
century by one of the earliest Muslim teachers, Sunan Ampel,
where participants witnessed an interesting blend of Islamic
worship and Hinduism/mysticism.
The following visit to Hidayatullah Pesantren, an urban
boarding school, won the Australian participants' approval, not
only because they were greeted by smiling children bearing
souvenirs and a table laden with fruits and snacks, but also
because the boarding school was run in a professional manner that
has elicited support even from among local garbage collectors.
Here, some of the Australian participants began what later
proved to be the main line of their interviews: "What do you
think of terrorism/extremism/fundamentalism? Do you support
pesantren that teach radicalism?"
Here also, the Australians began to receive what later proved
to be the standard response to such queries: "Islam teaches
tolerance. We teach our students to be tolerant to differences
among Muslim groups, and with other groups."
Next came the visit to Tebu Ireng Pesantren, established more
than 70 years ago by KH Hasyim Asyhari, the grandfather of former
Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid and the founder of
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). The current leader, Jusuf Hasyim, provided
hospitality and the opportunity for the participants to
experience what it felt like to sleep in a pesantren.
The trip to Gontor proved to be memorable for everybody.
Syukri Zarkasy, the leader of the pesantren, which currently
has 12,500 students in its 7 campuses, gave an efficient tour of
the compound -- which impressed his guests -- but prevented
participants from interviewing students and was curt in his
responses to the questions posed to him by the Australian
journalists.
"I am not a stupid kyai, interviews with students can be
twisted," he said. "Don't they have other questions?" he mused to
one of his staff, after repeating to himself over and over that
"No, Islam does not teach violence, that Gontor abhors acts of
terrorism, and that Amrozi was a recruit of the United States".
On May 25 came the trip which, by their own admission, the
participants looked forward to the most: the Al Mukmin Pesantren.
It went down quite well, with the Australian journalists
firing questions (many about, well, terrorism) at Wahyuddin for
almost two-and-a-half hours. Not once did Wahyuddin stop smiling
as he handled the "interrogation," which was followed with lunch
at the house of a teacher.
Later, an Australian recounted how during the meal he "texted"
his friends back home just to tell them that he was having lunch
at the home of Abu Bakar Ba'asyir's adopted daughter.
A short tour of the compound was conducted, which participants
later said was disappointing because no student was willing to be
interviewed, despite the permission given by the school leaders.
"They're simply wary, even traumatized, we used to receive
journalists almost every day and then they had their words
twisted by the reporters," said one teacher.
As the group returned to the bus, young locals in the areas
surrounding the pesantren hailed the Australians with "Hello
Mister, don't twist your stories."
"I wonder ... in Australia I read accounts about Gontor, it's
a modern pesantren and is quite well-known, but we had such a
hard time there, but in the "heart of darkness" that is Ngruki,
we received such warmth, such hospitality," one Australian
participant mused.
Another expressed suspicion that the group of youths
practicing a martial art in a corner of the school was part of
the military training allegedly held by the pesantren. This was
received with laughter by several Indonesian participants,
"That's silat, silly, and millions of people in Indonesia know
silat."
That particular day ended with participants in good spirits
and a visit to Al Muayyad Pesantren in Solo, where its leader,
Muhammad Dian Nafi expressed his belief that conflict can be
reduced if groups can reduce their "claim of truth."
Nafi, who was educated in public schools rather than in
pesantren, spoke of how his institution is open to non-Muslim
groups wishing both to learn and to teach.
The group continued their trip with visits to Majelis
Mujahidin Indonesia (the Indonesian Council of Mujahiddeen for
the Implementation of Sharia) in Yogyakarta.
The Australians asked its leader, Irfan S. Awwas, whether the
organization supported the ideals of Osama bin Laden because it
sold T-shirts bearing his picture.
Interestingly enough, no question was asked in Daarut Tauhid
on whether the pesantren of Muslim preacher Abdullah Gymnastiar
in Bandung, West Java, supported communism, despite a young man
there who was wearing a T-shirt bearing the famous portrait of
Che Guevara.
The program ended on May 29 in Jakarta with both sides
exclaiming, not only had it been worthwhile, but that more such
programs are needed to overcome what, according to one
participant, had initially seemed to be an unbridgeable gulf
between Islam and the West.
The writer is a journalist and was the project manager of the
Journey Into Islam in Indonesia program. She can be contacted at
santi_soekanto2001@yahoo.com