Religious leaders' help needed to end conflicts

Religious leaders' help needed to end conflicts

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Religious leaders must accept pluralism to
prevent the country from disintegrating as religious intolerance
has been threatening national unity, a scholar warned here on
Tuesday.

"We must acknowledge that there are interreligious conflicts.
And if religious leaders are open to pluralism, they will become
an integrated strength that can minimize conflict among the
people," said Sumartana, head of the interfaith dialog forum
INTERFIDEI, in a seminar on Religion and the National Integration
Process.

The event was held at the State Islamic Institute (IAIN) Sunan
Kalijaga in Yogyakarta.

Sumartana explained that it was not easy to end the prolonged
sectarian violence in Ambon because religions were involved in
the conflict.

The conflicts between Christians and Muslims in the Maluku
province and its capital Ambon have claimed thousands of lives
from both sides. Observers said that the government has made no
adequate effort to stop the fighting, which started almost two
years ago.

According to Sumartana, religious leaders have different views
and opinions from the people involved in the fighting. "The
religious leaders have their own perceptions. Some of them are
open to dialog with leaders of other religions, while many others
are not."

"Religious organizations have yet to convey proper
understanding to their supporters about respecting differences.
None of the organizations have provided honest and adequate
information about the good aspects of the other religions."

"The teaching of religion in Indonesia is 'theological
killing', so there is little possibility for religious followers
to respect one another."

Said Aqil Siradj, chairman of the large Nahdlatul Ulama, and
Ahmad Syafii Maarif, chairman of Muhammadiyah, did not speak in
the seminar.

Political culture

In another seminar held also in Yogyakarta on Monday, noted
historian Kuntowijoyo said that Indonesia's political culture had
been idle, taking the country to a point of disintegration.

"Consequently, a new political culture is badly needed to
strengthen the country's unity," he said.

Speaking at a seminar on national unity at the Jayakarta Hotel
here, the Gadjah Mada University professor said that Indonesian
people tended to look back, causing their political knowledge and
behavior to become stalled. "The result is that Indonesia has
failed to catch the golden momentum to become a great nation,
despite the fact that it got its independence 55 years ago."

"Our political culture has been too static. We always reject
breakthroughs in politics by, among other things, gagging those
who voice rational ideas," said Kunto.

"Furthermore, the administration has been dominated by
individuals bent on political maneuvering, rather than creating a
system (of government) with a clear course."

He said Indonesia had been imprisoned by political rhetoric
for years. "We lived in socialist rhetoric during first president
Sukarno's tenure. The reality was that we lived in a
dictatorship.

We were in development rhetoric under former president
Soeharto, while the fact was that the country had been full with
(unfair) conglomeration. Now the rhetoric is democracy, but the
fact is we have a one man show," he said.

He reiterated that besides new political culture, the country
also needed a president who had vision and mission and did not
like political improvisation.

"The country also needs clear ideology," he said.

He explained that political improvisation was sometimes very
expensive, citing President Abdurrahman Wahid's agreeing to
changing the name of Irian Jaya to Papua and the hoisting of the
Morning Star flag in Irian Jaya. "The policy had very negative
political consequences that had not been anticipated."

"The state ideology of Pancasila must become a radical
ideology, meaning that it can not be manipulated by the head of
state. Sukarno made Pancasila concise by formulating Trisila and
Ekasila, while Soeharto translated Pancasila as a means to
support capitalism. There are signs that the current President
would imitate his predecessors." (23/sur)