Shihab seeks genuine harmony between different faiths
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)