UGM spearheads comparative religion program

By Sri Wahyuni

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Asians, especially Indonesians, no longer have to go to the United States to pursue religion comparative study at postgraduate level. Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University (UGM) has recently opened the program, the first of its kind in Asia.

The program's first batch of 23 students were selected from some 34 applicants. One is a Hindu, two Christians and the rest Muslims.

There are 28 lecturers -- 11 of them are foreign, mostly from the Middle East and U.S.'s Philadelphia Temple University.

The local lecturers are from UGM, Yogyakarta's Kalijaga Institute of Islamic Religion (IAIN), Yogyakarta's Duta Wacana Christian University, Yogyakarta's Sanata Dharma Catholic University and Satya Wacana Christian University in Salatiga, Central Java.

Among the courses being offered is Abrahamic Religions which is an introduction to Christianity, Islam and Judaism. The program also offers Wisdom Religions which includes Hinduism, Buddhism and Kong Hu Cu. Other courses include Religion and Social Sciences, Religion and Natural Sciences, Islam in Indonesia, Christianity in Indonesia and Islam/Christianity in Southeast Asia.

The lectures are in English. According to the program's managing director, Ahmad Mursyidi, the decision to conduct the lectures in English was made because it is an international program and designed to accommodate students from all over the world.

"Students for this academic year are all Indonesians but next year we will accept foreign students," said Mursyidi, adding that the program is the first in Asia.

The fact that only 23 students have enrolled for the program, according UGM's rector Ichlasul Amal, was due to the relatively limited time in distributing information about the program.

"This program came from 'the top'. Everything was carried out in rush," Ichlasul said, referring to a joint agreement between three Indonesian ministers, namely the minister of national education, minister of religion and minister of foreign affairs, on which the program was established.

A number of state-run universities, including Kalijaga Institute and the Jakarta-based University of Indonesia, had been considered as possible venues for the program but UGM was finally chosen.

"I don't know why they finally chose UGM to host the program. But I think it's probably because we have the School of Philosophy here," said Mursyidi, who is also currently the rector of Yogyakarta's Muhammadiyah University.

According to Mursyidi, some state-run institutes of Islamic religion in the country have religion comparative study programs. However, they are undergraduate programs and all the lecturers are Muslims although they are dealing with other religions. As a result, their understanding of the subject may not be accompanied by empathy, he added.

Mursyidi believes that once empathy is formed among followers of different religions, it may be possible, in the long-term, to reduce inter-religion tension, as in Ambon.

UGM's rector Ichlasul Amal added that harmony among followers of different religions was very important. "Learning religion comparative study will, hopefully, be able to create mutual understanding among followers of different religions," he said.

Free

As the program is fully funded by the government, in this case the Ministry of National Education, all the 23 students are exempted from the tuition fee of Rp 6 million a year, as they have been given scholarships by the ministry's Directorate General of Higher Education.

The scholarship also covers their other expenses, such as Rp 575,000 (US$60) a month for living costs, Rp 70,000 a month for books and Rp 110,000 a month for research.

Some of the students, however, said it was not only the scholarship that made them apply for the program. Most of them said they did so to get a chance to do an in-depth study of other religions.

"As a Christian, I do feel that I have been too one-sided in my understanding of religions," said Izak Y.M. Lattu, a student from Ambon, who is also a Satya Wacana Christian University graduate. He added that an incomprehensive understanding of religions had often incited conflict among followers of different religions.

Another student, I Nyoman Kiriana, a graduate of the state-run Hindu Religion College Denpasar in Bali, acknowledged that the spirit of brotherhood among followers of different religions have actually been among Indonesians since a long time ago.

"Yet, we only understand other religions in bits and pieces. That's why I applied for the program. I want to learn about other religions directly from their sources," Kiriana said.