I Made Arsana Dwiputra | CRCS | Article

Brawls among school students become a major issue in Indonesia recently due to the level of their violence became deadly. Five high school students dead on August and September brawls. Some say exposure to violent media influence students’s aggressive behavior. A study on school gangs in Yogyakarta may help us to understand violent acts among school students.

A recent study by Hatib Abdul Kadir, a 2010 graduate of the CRCS who is now a lecturer in the Anthropology Department of the Brawijaya University in Malang, shows the role of religious identity in student gang life. In his study published by The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology  titled “Political Gangsterism and Islamic Masculinity in Young Moslem Post New Order: Gang Hostility and Mass Fighting among Islamic High School Students in Yogyakarta,” Hatib (as he is usually referred at CRCS) argues that religious aspect is neglected in understanding school gang life because most studies in this issue relate school gang life to economic and political situation. Student participation in gang is seen as a response to economic deprivation or hostile state authorities.

I Made Arsana Dwiputra | CRCS | Thesis defense
In Bali, the notion of “religion” is embedded with that of “tradition”(adat) (Picard, 2002; 111-114). It is especially the case among the young generation of Balinese. One would, therefore, be confused if he or she strictly understands both notions as essentially separate entities. The young Balinese Hindus perceive and practice both “religion” and “adat” as one thing, although both entities are often discursively claimed to be different. Ideas and practice of so called “religion” and “adat” for the young Balinese Hindus are here then understood as their religiosity.
The contemporary religiosity of the young Balinese Hindus has been challenged by their everyday life, especially in economic life. The young Balinese Hindus under discussion are those who live in cities for work but go back to their villages for their religious (adat) observance. In one hand, the people have to remain “religious” which also means to observe adat practices, by regularly going back to their villages, and on the other hands, they are tightly conditioned with their job schedule and time in cities. These people have to deal with two different life situations. In (traditional) villages, community life is characterized (or idealized) with collectivity and conformity. Whereas in cities, the modern urban life tends to impose individuality and competition. These two situations are apparently in conflicts, and in occasions the young generation of Balinese Hindus disobey their adat (religious) obligation.
In the midst of such a conflictual situation, a religious movement of Sai Baba emerges. It comes to offer a solution for the young generation of Balinese Hindus. The solution is a kind of “middle way” that conforms both the busy modern urban life of cities and the traditional one of villages.
“Traditional” Hinduism of Bali, which is believed to be originating from India, is again under challenges by the young generation. It is too burdening for some and difficult to deal with the modern urban life. Sai Baba movement emerging to respond such a situation attracts many modern Balinese Hindus. Sai Baba is a kind of a new born Hinduism. It accommodates Middle Class Balinese Hindus who think that traditional Hinduism (as religion or as adat) is too complicated. Sai Baba offers an effective and practical religious doctrine and ritual applicable to daily life of modern Balinese Hindus. Since adat obligation such as attending birth and death ceremonies is a must — it can cause social sanction for Balinese (especially those who are married) if they disobey adat, a new way of being religious has been invented: ‘religious commuter’. In their villages, they observe their adat and so become ‘normal’ Balinese Hindus just like their fellow Balinese Hindus, but when they come back to cities they embrace Sai Baba, through which they conviniently observe their religion and at the same time do their businesses.
“Religious commuters” of the modern Balinese Hindus in Buleleng, North Bali is the main topic of the thesis of Gde Dwitya Arief Metera, CRCS student batch 2009. He defended his thesis before four critical and enlighting examiners: Dr. Mark Woodward, the professor of religious studies at Arizona state University, USA whose research interests include the dynamic relationship between Islam and Javanese culture, Dr. Zainal Abidin Bagir, the Chair of Center for Religious and Cross Cultural Studies (CRCS)-Graduate school of Gajah Mada University whose academic concerns include religious blasphemy in Indonesia, Agus Indiyanto, a lecturer of Anthropology Department at Gajah Mada University who is now doing a research on the social economic life of Urang Awak (Minang West Sumatra), and Anak Agung Ari Dwipayana, a leading political commentator and also a lecturer of Social and Political Department, Gajah Mada University. Analyzing the emergence of a new religious movement in Bali, Gde proposed that in Bali today, there are three competing religious systems operating and attracting the modern Balinese Hindus. First is the traditional Hinduism (agama), second is the Balinese tradition (adat) and the third is Devotional (Sai Baba). Rather than polarizing the three, Gde concluded that they are practiced simultaneously by Balinese Hindus. All three systems overlap in practice.
In his thesis, Gde Dwitya offers two opposing conceptual domains: “home” and  “work place” that followers of Sai Baba movement are simultanously dealing with. He explains that “home” refers to villages and represents the habitus of Modern Balinese in which those people have to deal and comply with adat obligation. “Work place,” argues Gde, is where the people have to be engaged in the busy life of urban areas. The followers of Sai Baba regularly (when they are off from work) go back to their villages to observe their adat. They do so because (the complicated) adat may not be performed in cities. In cities, in addition to doing their job for income, they come to Sai Baba center for religious activities. Those people are what Gde came to define as “religious communters.” They are engaged in two somewhat opposing conceptual domains. They commute between traditional sphere of ‘tradition’ (adat) in villages and new religious movement (Sai Baba) in workplace, in the city. Gde emphasized that engagement in these two different domains has taken place in Bali since the last thirty years as the result of economic transformation.
Another issue in relation to the life of religious commuters addressed by Gde regarded to different disposition of time. At “home” (village), time is disposed in accordance with Balinese calendar that disposes adat performances. At workplace (city), those people deploy Gregorian calendar that disposes work schedule. Occasionally, those people have to face situation when adat observance take place during the working days. They have to have to choose either working at workplace or going back to their villages for their adat performance. Skipping both adat or work once or twice may be understandable, but it would be a serious problem if they miss either work or adat often times. At workplace, they will be fired, and at home they will be sanctioned.
In his defense, Gde received critical comments on his clear-cut distinction of the conceptual domains (village/home-city/workplace) from examiners.  Gde seemed to simplify the two categories as mutually exclusive: nothing maybe shared. Gde’s finding that modern Balinese Hindus have mostly joined Sai Baba Movement is also problematic. Many of them are still able manage their time for adat observance and for work, and so they do not have to join Sai Baba movement. Gde admitted examiners’ comment and critics and he diplomatically responded that his research’s might not be easily applied to other geographical localities outside Singaraja, his fieldwork site and further research to examine the complexity of Balinese adat/religious/work life outside Singaraja is very much needed.
Gde’s study on Sai Baba’s movement in Bali, as also admitted by examiners, contributes to the scholarship of Balinese religion. Gde’s contribution is especially on his account of the current global economic developments that trigger the emergence of a new kind of spiritual movement like Sai Baba (Ed-Anc)

Sudarto | CRCS | Artikel

Apakah reformasi ada manfaatnya? Cita-cita luhur reformasi 1998 yang diperjuangkan dengan gegap gempita oleh segenap mahasiswa dan masyarakat Indonesia untuk perbaikan bersama dirasa belum kunjung tiba, justru dalam banyak kasus malah memperlihatkan terjadinya pembusukkan, sehingga era reformasi tidak terasa lebih baik dari era sebelumnya yaitu “Orde Baru”. Ada persoalan apa di Indonesia saat ini? Demikian pertanyaan Prof. DR. Muahfud, MD. pada acara Stadium Generale pembukaan perkuliahan mahasiswa Pasca Sarjana Universitas Gajah Mada, dengan tajuk, “Membangun Etika dalam Kehidupan Berbangsa dan Bernegara”, Senin 17 September 2012 di gedung Graha Sabha Pramana, Bulaksumur, UGM.
Tidak dapat disangkal bahwa reformasi telah berhasil mengantarkan Indonesia untuk melakukan berbagai perbaikan diantaranya: berhasil mengamandemen UUD 1945, penghapusan Dwi Fungsi ABRI, pembentukan Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK) yang independen, kebebasan pers, dan kebebasan berekspresi. Pendek kata semua perangkat prosedur demokrasi telah tersedia sebagai buah reformasi, namun kebaikan dan kemajuan yang menjadi tujuan reformasi belum dapat dirasakan oleh seluruh rakyat Indonesia.
Persoalannya menurut pakar hukum tata Negara dan HAM yang juga alumni UGM ini, ternyata terletak pada meresotnya moral, etika dan karakter Indonesia, yang pernah dikagumi oleh bangsa bangsa lain utamanya di Asia  sebagi bangsa yang memotivasi untuk merdeka. Menurut Mahfud, merosotnya moral terjadi pada hampir semua lapisan masyarakat, dari rakyat biasa hingga  penyelenggara Negara, dan elit-elit politik, dalam bentuk korupsi, money loundring, dan suap-menyuap, dan bentuk lainnya.
Kemerosotan moral tidak terkecuali terjadi juga di perguruan tinggi, sehingga tidak salah jika perguruan tinggi ikut bertanggungjawab atas merosotnya moral bangsa. Di perguruan tinggi tidak jarang ada tindakan yang dapat merusak citranya demi berbagai tujuan, seperti: plagiarisme, gelar sarjana aspal (asli tapi palsu), pemalsuan karya akademik dan bentuk tindakan yang menyimpang dari etika akademis lainnya misalnya, demi bayaran seorang professor doktor rela membuat dalil-dalil akademis, bahkan membela para koruptor dengan hanya mengutak-utik kaedah-kaedah akademis baik di bidang hukum maupun sosial lainnya.
Oleh sebab itu menurut Prof. Mahfud MD, menjadi penting bagi perguruan tinggi untuk tidak sekedar melahirkan orang-orang yang pandai menganalisis persoalan, melainkan juga memiliki kecerdasan yang berimbang, yang  antara lain dapat dilakukan melalui pembangunan tradisi akademik yang sehat dan tradisi prosefional yang beretika dan bermoral. Bagi Ketua Mahkamah Konstitusi ini, seorang ilmuan tidak boleh netral nilai, ia harus memihak kepada persatuan dan kepada demokrasi musyawarah mufakat bukan demokrasi yang menang-menangan, sekaligus mereka harus memihak kepada nilai-nilai kebenaran dan keadilan dalam hukum yang merupakan hasil penggalian dari norma agama dan norma baik yang berlaku di masyarakat.
Mengakhiri urainnya, Prof. Mahfud menyatakan bahwa Indonesia sedang dalam bahaya besar, bukan dalam pengertian bahaya yang disebut dalam UUD, yakni bahaya perang (pasal 12) dan ihwal kondisi mendesak (pasal 22), namun Indonesia dalam bahaya korupsi dan bentuk ketidak jujuran lainnya.  Indonesia saat ini juga sedang berada dalam ancaman disintegrasi sosial setelah sebelumnya muncul disorientasi atau ketidakjelasan peta masa depan dan ketidak percayaan terhadap penyelengara negara sehingga menimbulkan perlawanan dari rakyat secara membabi buta. Ini semua menurutnya bermuara dari persoalan merosotnya moral dan etika (Ed-njm).

Subandri Simbolon dan Franciscus C. Simamora | CRCS | Artikel

Kelas international, luasnya networking baik di dalam maupun di luar negeri, dan besarnya peluang memperoleh beasiswa adalah alasan utama mahasiswa angkatan 2012 untuk kuliah  di CRCS.  Kelas internasional memberikan banyak kesempatan bagi mereka untuk berinteraksi, berdiskusi dengan mahasiswa dan dosen dari berbagai negara. Penguasaan bahasa Inggris menjadi hal yang sangat penting dalam menempuh proses pendidikan juga penelitian yang dinamis. CRCS, selain menawarkan beasiswa, juga membuka pintu yang lebar untuk memperoleh beasiswa dari berbagai pihak. Tawaran beasiswa ini menjadi daya pikat bagi mereka untuk tetap memberikan yang terbaik. Dan juga, koneksi CRCS memberikan tantangan dan anugerah tersendiri bagi mahasiswa. Mereka berharap bahwa dengan fasilitas tersebut, mereka akan terbantu dan terdorong untuk lebih maju.

Bret Lewis, Ph.D, Arizona State University

Henry Luce Foundation Exchange Student 2010

Abstract.

Established in 2000–2001, the Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS) is the only master’s level religious studies program at a non-religiously affiliated university in Indonesia. In many respects, the program is experimental, operating within the dynamic political and religious environment of the Muslim world’s youngest and largest democracy. Like other large democracies such as India or the United States, the Indonesian government and courts have their challenges and opportunities in navigating a multiplicity of religions. In Indonesia, this took on particular urgency in the context of religiously-charged conflict in the 1990’s and early 2000’s which helped lead to the establishment of the CRCS. This paper seeks to explore how students and key faculty relate to the program’s mission and approach to the study of religion while tracing the development of religious studies as a discipline in Indonesia. Special attention is paid to the political and, at times, controversial aspects of approaching religion with secular and pluralistic frameworks and language. It was informed by interviews and surveys conducted between January and May of 2010.

Dr. Zainal Abidin Bagir adalah Ketua Program Studi Agama dan Linatas Budaya,

Sekolah Pascasarjana, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta

Beberapa hari terakhir ini muncul banyak tanggapan atas apa yang disebut sebagai tuduhan intoleransi agama di Indonesia oleh Dewan HAM PBB. KH Hasyim Muzadi menyebutkan, Indonesia sebetulnya adalah negara Muslim paling toleran di seluruh dunia dan lebih toleran dari negara-negara Barat yang mendiskriminasi Muslim. Justru ketika Muslim menjadi korban intoleransi, tidak ada yang berbicara HAM. Prof Yunahar Ilyas membuat pernyataan senada dan memberikan bukti toleransi Indonesia, mulai dari adanya perayaan hari besar agama-agama sampai akomodasi menteri-menteri non-Muslim. Ia juga mengatakan bahwa tudingan intoleransi itu mungkin disampaikan ‘LSM-LSM yang tidak suka dengan Islam’. Sayangnya, sebagian tanggapan itu tampak tidak tepat sasaran, yang terjadi di Dewan HAM PBB di Jenewa pada 23 dan 25 Mei 2012 yang lalu adalah bagian dari Sesi ke-13 dari Universal Periodic Review (UPR) di mana negara-negara anggota PBB diwajibkan mengirim laporan tentang situasi HAM di negaranya. Dewan HAM tidak membuat suatu resolusi, tidak menilai suatu masyarakat atau negara toleran atau tidak, namun masing-masing negara secara terpisah mengajukan tanggapan atas laporan pemerintah itu dan memberikan rekomendasi.