Shihab seeks genuine harmony between different faiths

JAKARTA (JP): Inflamed by the country's frequent riots, Alwi Shihab, visiting professor at Harvard University's Divinity School, has committed himself to helping establish genuine harmony in Indonesia, especially between Moslems and other faiths.

This can be achieved if social gaps are minimized, mutual understanding is developed and suspicion among people is eliminated, said Shihab, who is also a visiting professor of Islamic studies and Christian-Moslem relations at Hartford Seminary, also in the United States.

Shihab said recent riots in various Indonesian towns were not triggered by religious sentiments, as press reports have suggested.

"True Moslems, for example, would never say 'God is the Great' while raping women. This is because believers in God never remember their God when they commit sinful deeds," he said. "Also, Moslems would never condemn Jesus while setting ablaze a church because honoring Jesus (and the other messengers of God) is one of six principles of belief in God."

Therefore, Indonesian Moslems must be on alert because the riots might have been masterminded by certain parties who wanted to develop conflict between Moslems and minorities, he said.

Shihab, who obtained his doctorate degrees from 'Ain Syams University in Egypt and Temple University in the U.S, shares his views on this issue.

Question: If you rule out religious sentiments, then what was the main cause of the recent riots?

Shihab: The riots were caused mainly by escalating social gaps resulting from the New Order government's political system. In pursuing high economic expansion, the government facilitated the speedy growth of business conglomeration in the country, while its attention to the development of small businesses was too little.

In the meantime, the government did not provide corridors of living for the ethnic Chinese except for business activities. Such a policy has caused them to get more and more professional in businesses and get richer and richer.

As a result, the social gap between the minority and the majority was getting wider and wider. Therefore, social jealousy developed among the poor majority toward the rich minority, particularly when some of the latter showed off their expensive way of life.

A riot, when it happens, does not have anything to do with religion. But, because most of the rioters were Moslems -- reflecting the country's majority -- and most of the victims were ethnic Chinese, who were mostly Christians, some parties, especially the Western press, tried to relate the riots with religious sentiments.

The Western press, apparently influenced by a thesis on civilization clash, has made Islam a frequent target of criticism and associates it with terrorism. When Israel developed nuclear bombs, for example, no one called them Jewish bombs. But when Pakistan developed its nuclear bombs, the Western press called them Islamic bombs.

A bitter relationship between Moslems and Christians does exist in Indonesia because of such a social gap, an historical background back to the era of Dutch colonialism and the operation of some evangelists in the country -- although their operation is even disapproved of by some other Christians -- who are persuading Moslems to convert to Christianity. But the recent riots, in which some rioters were not Moslems, were caused more by social jealousy.

Q: How do you perceive a genuinely harmonious society in the widely diversified societal groupings of Indonesia?

S: Social gaps must be minimized, mutual understanding must be developed and suspicion among each other be eliminated. Social gaps can be minimized by ending the policy on the acceleration of business conglomeration and by giving more emphasis to the development of small businesses.

Mutual understanding between followers of different religions can be developed by introducing forums for open dialogs, where teachings of different religions are socialized and discussed descriptively, not dogmatically.

We will propose that schools of religions be established at state universities, where students can study other people's religions in a descriptive way. The history and doctrines of Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism, for example, would be discussed without any claim as to which religion would save a person. Thus, Moslems could study Christianity without having to go to seminaries, Christians could study Islam without having to go to pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) and anybody could study Buddhism or Hinduism without having to go to temples.

Knowledge about the religions of dialog partners is important for the development of mutual understanding, which will also help eliminate suspicion. Such knowledge, which is expected to be passed on by academicians to other people, is also important to help eliminate hostility among followers of different religions because a human character shows that people tend to be hostile to what they do not know.

Actually, a long time ago, I made such a proposal and discussed it with leading figures of different religions but they opposed it for fear of backlashes from a security-oriented government.

Suspicion between people should also be eliminated by, for example, assuring other communities, particularly Christians, that no Moslem parties or figures have any plans to turn Indonesia into an Islamic state.

Q: How could you accomplish that idea?

S: It happened to me that during this current two-month summer holiday of mine, some ulema invited me to join them in the establishment of Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa (People's Awakening Party or PKB). Because my idea on the harmonization of different communities coincides with that of PKB's programs, I decided to join them as a cofounder.

I see PKB as a fertile ground for me to develop my idea on community harmonization creatively because the ulema and the other party cofounders, who appreciate my book Inclusive Islam, will support it. The party, therefore, will struggle for the inclusion of community harmonization in state policies.

I felt honored to join the ulema because I was educated at a number of pesantren.

I will continue teaching at Hartford Seminary and Harvard University, both of which will allow me to stay in Indonesia from December until whenever I want to return to the United States (after next May's general election).

I expect that my colleagues at Hartford Seminary and Harvard University will help me develop ideas to promote harmonization of religious followers, particularly between Moslems and Christians, in Indonesia.

The two institutions will also allow us to send Indonesian scholars there for six months to learn ways to improve such harmonization. They will also send about 30 scholars to Indonesia next May to observe for two weeks religious life here, and provide feedback when they go back.

Hartford Seminary's Center for Moslem, Christian Religions, and Harvard University's Center for the Study of World Religions, have a wealth of information on trends of tensions in the world and measures used to overcome such tensions.

Q: Now that Indonesia is facing economic, political and moral crises, what is the best way for the nation to escape them?

S: I think that the economic and political crises correlate with each another and that they have been caused by mistrust. So, the most important thing for Indonesians now is restoring confidence if they want to escape the crises. Because mistrust has also been caused partly by poor morality -- as shown by the flourishing of corrupt, collusive and nepotistic practices -- the country's programs of reform should also be emphasized on the improvement of morality among its leaders.

Because leaders during the New Order government era did not show any good examples in morality, their people tended to follow this way of life.

Q: So what is the best criteria for the next president?

S: I think the most important thing is that the next president must be a figure with strong moral integrity, so that his instructions will be effective. Expertise in economy, technology, etc. can be obtained from advisers.

It is not important whether the next president is a scholar, or whether he comes from the Armed Forces. If he has strong moral integrity and a vast perspective, he will be acceptable to both domestic and international societies even if he is not well known beforehand. (riz)