Last December 22nd, 2010 was the last edition of CRCS-ICRS Wednesday Forum for the first semester of 2010. The speaker was the Director of the CRCS UGM, Dr. Zainal Abidin Bagir, whose presentation titled “Religious Freedom, Harmony and ‘the Middle Way’: Analysis of the Indonesian Constitutional Court’s 2010 Decision on the Law on Defamation of Religion”.

Starting from an analysis written by CRCS UGM team of which Zainal Abidin was one of team members, they proposed the analysis as a consideration of the Constitutional Court (MK) decision in last April about the Religious Defamation Law (Law No. 1/PNPS/1965). Some NGOs and figures applied for judicial review of that law to the Constitutional Court. For this reason, before making a decision, the Court received considerations from all parties, including CRCS UGM.

Wednesday Forum CRCS-ICRS 22 Desember lalu adalah edisi terakhir diskusi mingguan ini untuk semester ganjil 2010. Yang menjadi pembicara kali ini adalah direktur CRCS UGM Dr. Zainal Abidin Bagir dengan presentasi berjudul “Religious Freedom, Harmony and ‘the Middle Way’: Analysis of the Indonesian Constitutional Court’s 2010 Decision on the Law on Defamation of Religion.

Berawal dari sebuah analisa yang ditulis oleh tim CRCS UGM, Zainal Abidin adalah salah satu di antaranya, sebagai pertimbangan atas keputusan Mahkamah Konsitusi (MK) bulan april lalu mengenai Undang-undang Penodaan Agama (UU Nomor 1/PNPS/1965). Beberapa LSM dan tokoh mengajukan permohonan uji materi atas undang-undang tersebut kepada MK. Untuk itulah, sebelum mengambil keputusan, MK menerima pertimbangan dari semua pihak, termasuk CRCS UGM.

Salah satu perkembangan setelah Reformasi adalah terbukanya ruang-ruang yang lebih luas untuk ekspresi keberagaman. Ini benar termasuk di sekolah-sekolah umum. Buku ini melihat bagaimana sekolah sebagai ruang publik yang bebas untuk semua golongan siswa, kini hendak dan sebagian telah ditafsirkan dan dibentuk berdasarkan paham dan kepentingan satu golongan saja.

Buku yang diangkat dari penelitian yang dilakukan di tiga SMUN di Yogyakarta ini menelusuri praktik dominasi ruang publik itu dan dampaknya, serta mengapa dan bagaimana dominasi itu ditandingi, dilawan, dipermainkan, dinegosiasi, dan dipertanyakan oleh para siswa sendiri. Praktik-praktik resistensi ini merupakan satu contoh pembelajaran pluralisme, yaitu dalam membangun ruang publik yang lebih terbuka, sehat, dan demokratis. Kajian ini juga diharapkan memperkaya kajian mengenai anak muda (youth studies) yang selama ini banyak mengabaikan fenomena yang berkaitan dan yang berada di lingkungan keagamaan.

Endy Saputro

The downfall of the Suharto regime has symbolized the return of civic authority. It has increasingly punctuated by the implementation of decentralization of power at the local level. One striking evidence is the implementation of Pemilukada (local election), for which even though on the one hand is a result of the new democracy in Indonesia, yet on the other hand  it offer expensive “cost” and hardly success. According to Gerry van Klinken and Joshua Barker (2009), this phenomenon asserts that power is no longer centered on the state, but also regional, or even civil. They recommend that analysis of the state in post-Suharto era should no longer focus on institutions, but how the power-area and authorities outside the state operates. Modifying Joel S. Migdal’s term (2001), Indonesia is now entering the era of “state in Society”.

The Problem of building churches in Indonesia has been a long threat among the believers in Indonesia. There were many changes taken place both in the government and the state level in revising the rules towards the maintainence of religious diversity, but no transformation has taken place to end the issue. The constant fear is the tension exist among the people which leads toward escalating conflicts. The formation of People of Religious Forum after the reformation era and the joint effort initiative between the government and Ministerial Regulation of 2006, still did not solve the problem. There are many other factors that need to be thoroughly examined.

Endi Saputro

Research coordinator of CRCS

Since two years ago, “nikah sirry or secret marriage” has been hotly debated in Indonesia. Interestingly, reactions come not only from various muslim scholars who argue for/against nikah sirry, but also from policy makers who sought to draft a bill on very the matter. Despite the disagreement, this book explains fluently, emploting religious perspective, that nikah sirry simply means “marriage which is not officially registered in KUA [Office of Religious Affairs), but it fullfils all the marriage requirements as prescribed in Islamic Law” (p.1). On the other hand, in the context of public sphere, the bill on nikah sirry aims to protect the future of the children resulted from nikah sirry. And it seems that this debate knows no end in sight.