“What people need to understand is that at the heart of it, this isn’t a new story. The recent conflict in Rakhine isn’t something that just started in the summer of 2012. There is a historical legacy of persecution against the Rohingya community in Rakhine that dates back decades. Framing this as a religious issue of Buddhism vs. Islam belies its complexity. Instead we see ethnic Rakhine staking a claim for political space and natural resources and ‘protecting’ and ‘defending’ their identity. Add strong elements of racism, discrimination, the complete failure of anyone inside Burma to seek realistic solutions, the interests of self-serving politicians looking at elections in 2015, and the self-serving interests of the international community into the mix, and you have what is happening right now – an entire community consisting of hundreds of thousands of people, namely the Rohingya, being treated as if they are not even human.”

Kedaulatan Rakyat 5 Agustus 2014

*Ahmad Khotim Muzakka

Bagaimana nasib pluralitas pasca-pemilihan presiden 2014? Pertanyaan ini patut dikemukakan mengingat Indonesia dihuni Beragam manusia dari berbagai kultur, kebudayaan, dan agama. Berbicara pluralistas tidak sekedar menonjolkan hitung-hitungan matematis seberapa besar anggaran Negara yang dialokasikan kepada tiap golongan ataupun kelompok. Namun, juga memperhatikan bagaimana pemerintah mengakomodasi berbagai kecenderungan dengan tidak menegasikan eksistensi minoritas.

Opini | CRCS | Suhadi

Inti dari rekonsiliasi adalah memulihkan hubungan antara pihak-pihak yang bertikai menjadi kembali normal. Menyimak perkembangan kampanye Pemilu Presiden-Wakil Presiden (Pilpres) yang  panas belakangan ini, rekonsiliasi dan pencegahan konflik pasca Pilpres mutlak diperlukan.

Setelah Reformasi 1998, kita telah mengalami tiga kali Pilpres, plus satu kali yang akan kita jalani dalam beberapa hari lagi. Sebagaimana kita pahami, Pilpres kali ini sungguh berbeda dengan tiga Pilpres sebelumnya. Salah satu perbedaan yang mencolok terletak pada jumlah pasangan yang mencalonkan diri, kalau dalam tiga kali Pilpres sebelumnya selalu terdapat lebih dari dua kandidat, dalam Pilpres 2014 hanya ada dua kandidat.

Opini | CRCS | Ahmad Khotim Muzakka

PEREBUTAN RI-1 semakin menarik ketika masing-masing kubu—baik Prabowo Subianto maupun Joko Widodo—berhasil menarik gerbong yang memiliki hubungan dengan kiai dan pesantren. Tidak bisa ditampik bahwa restu kiai memiliki nilai dan diduga kuat bisa menjadi penarik massa pemilih.

Hadirnya Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa (PKB) di kubu Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla merepresentasikan perwakilan ”partai kiai” karena secara historis dan ideologis partai ini lahir dari rahim pemikiran para kiai. Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur), sang pendiri partai, merupakan contoh nyata bahwa partai ini memiliki hubungan historis kental dengan dunia kiai meskipun, pada akhirnya, terjadi pecah kongsi antara kubu Muhaimin Iskandar dan Gus Dur. Namun, aroma tersebut masih melekat kuat.

WedForum | CRCS | Ida Fitri

Jaye Starr, an American Muslim visiting the ICRS/CRCS programs through the Henry Luce Foundation exchange program, started her talk at the Wednesday Forum by inviting the audience to express their perceptions or questions about Islam and Muslims in America. She then provided an overview of Muslims in America from an historical and demographic perspective. Of the 7 million Americans Muslims living in America today, 2% are European, 2% are South-East Asian, 25% are from the Middle East, 30% are African American, 33% come from South-Central Asia, and 5% come from other backgrounds. Starr explained the necessity of examing the historical background of Islam and Muslims in America today.

Wedforum | Hary Widyantoro 

Islam and politics has been difficult to separte. This is reflected in the situation in some Muslim countries, such as Mali and Somalia where violent struggles have shifted to periphery. In other regions, revolutionary movements like the Arab Spring were hampered by the politics of religion. On February 19, 2014, Dr. Andreas Radtke, the political counsellor in German Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, discussed these issues of political Islam in global terms at the regular Wednesday Forum lecture series hosted by CRCS and ICRS.