Meta Ose Ginting | CRCS | Wednesday Forum Report

Elizabeth Inandiak began her presentation in Wednesday Forum with the familiar fairy tale opening “once upon a time.”  A distinguished French writer who has lived in Yogyakarta since 1989, she herself is a story teller.   In her newest book Babad Ngalor Ngidul (Gramedia, 2016), she tells how she came to write her children’s book The White Banyan published in 1998, just at the end of the New Order.  She explained that the book grew out of the tale of the “elephant tree” tale that she created herself after she “bumped” into a banyan tree while she was wandering in her afternoon walk back in 1991. Her story became reality when shemet Mbah Maridjan, the Guardian of Mt. Merapi, and was shown a sacred site at Kaliadem on the slopes of Mt. Merapi, a white banyan tree.  Her new book about the conversation between the North and South areas of Yogyakarta takes its name from Babad (usually a royal chronicle, but here of two villages) and the phrase Ngalor-Ngidul, which in common Javanese means to speak nonsense but for her is about the lost primal conversation between Mount Merapi as the North and the sea as the South.
Quoting the great French novelist Victor Hugo’s remark that “Life is a compilation of stories written by God” Inandiak highlighted how meaning is found in stories which come before larger systems like religion.  In her book and her talk, she told stories from her experiences with the victims of natural disasters in two communities, one, Kinahrejo, in the North and one, Bebekan,in the South.  Inandiak explained that the process of recovery after a natural disaster is a process with and within the nature. It is about the reconciliation between human communities and nature. In natural disasters people mostly lose their belongings such houses, money, clothes and domesticated animals, but, she said, the most important thing is not to lose their identity. Houses can be rebuilt, but once people lose identity they don’t know how to rebuild anything else. Inandiak spoke about the disaster as a conversation between the North and the South. This is also a kind of stories that helps people deal with their situation, by accepting that disaster are part of natural cycles.
Inandiak also spoke about rituals.  First there were the rituals enacted by Mbah Maridjan and Ibu Pojo, the shamaness who was his unacknowledged partner, to connect human communities and nature. The offering ritual they made to Merapi included three important layers that describes their own identities: ancestors, Hinduism and Buddhism, and  Islam especially Sufism. Despite all the issues that Mbah Marijan and Ibu Pojo faced before they died in the 2010 eruption, they insisted what they were doing is an act of communicating with the nature that was their home.  Second, in order to overcome the difficulties after a disaster, stories and ritual mean a lot for reestablishing the victims’ identity. By doing rituals like dancing or singing, they connect to the wishes that become true. The wishes that they made bring such a different in their perspectives in continuing life. Through ritual people want to get connected with nature and Inandiak told how she helped these villages rebuild their identities.
In the question and answer session, we were moved by many fascinating question about the relation of nature and person. One of them is how the three layers in Javanese ritual—reverence for ancestors, Hinduism and Buddhism, and Islam, particularly Sufism—deal with the interference of world religion.  Inandiak responded that there must be many changes brings by the world religion, especially in Kinahrejo, where Mbah Maridjan faced pressure from fundamentalists. The way villagers perceive myth changes from time to time. Their Muslim-Javanese identity is something they need to maintain in negotiation. In answering the issues about participants in the rituals wearing hijab, Inandiak argued that these layers should be clearer. They are not rooted in one story. But to maintain the customs is also important.
Inandiak closed her presentation with a remarkable message that disasters come from the interaction of people and nature but no one should feel guilty or think that any disaster is the result of sin or human mistakes. The most important things are not to give up and to work to rebuild identity.

Dinamisme Pemikiran Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal

Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal adalah salah satu pemikir Islam papan atas abad 20. Rekontruksi adalah buku filsafat Iqbal yang paling penting. Dia memaparkan serangkaian refleksi mendalam tentang persinggungan antara sains, agama dan  filsafat. Iqbal menjadi jembatan timur dan barat, antara Islam dan agama-agama lain. Antara tradisi dan modernitas, wahyu dan akal, spiritualitas dan intelektualitas. Antar seni, ilmu pengetahuan, dan agama.
Penerbit              :  Mizan 2016
Tempat                :  Auditorium Fakultas Filsafat UGM, Gedung C lantai 3
Waktu                  : Rabu, 9 November 2016, Jam 09.00-12.00 wib,
Pembicara          : Dr Haidar Bagir, Dr. Mukhtasar Syamsudin, Ammar Fauzi Ph.D
Panitia                 : Riset STFI Sadra dan Fakultas Filsafat UGM

Abstract
The Islamic Otaku Community (IOC) is an Islamic fan-based community, which encourages young Muslims—male and female—who are actively engaged in otaku fandom to stay committed to Islamic norms and values. Hijab Cosplay can be perceived as a unique site which brings together two worlds, the sacred/ascetic activities of being a Muslimah and the secular/hedonistic activities of the otaku, in which young Muslimah not only choose, appropriate and reproduce characters from Japanese anime, manga and games, but also (re)claim their femininity as Muslimah in relation to it. In this talk, I aim to discuss how Muslim femininity is remediated through the practice of hijab cosplay, which is posted and circulated on the IOC fansite, and how the female dressed body as a mediation of femininity is actively mediated in another medium. Since the goal of remediation is to refashion or reform the earlier version of the medium, I consider the ways in which young Muslimah attempt to refashion and reclaim Muslim femininity through fandom practices. Since cosplay is not confined to the act of costuming, but is also immersed in wider fan practices, I also look at the remediation of Muslim femininity in Islamic Mangaka (fan arts and fans writing produced and posted by IOC members).

1st International Conference on Sufism (ICS):
Building Love and PEace for Indonesian Society “Rahmatin lilalamin“

 Date: Friday, November 18th, 2016
Time: 08.00 – 16.00 WIB
Venue: Room Persatuan, 3rd floor Faculty of Philosophy Universitas Gadjah Mada

Abstract
Acknowledged by UNESCO in 2009 as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, batik is produced through an introspective creative process in which the artist uncovers a truth and presents local wisdom and beauty.  In this way, it can be an effective means to communicate symbols, ideas and messages about peace, respect and interreligious tolerance in order to counter the growing radicalism in Indonesian society.  Aniek Handajani will present her new book Batik Antiterorisme Sebagai Media Komunikasi Upaya Kontra – Radikalisasi Melalui Pendidikan dan Budaya (co-written with Eri Ratmanto and published by UGM Press, 2016) as well as several works of batik she has commissioned in order to encourage public discussion about terrorism and peace.
Speaker
Aniek Handajani is a staff at the East Java provincial office of the Ministry of Education and an English lecturer at the Faculty of Education, Islamic University, Lamongan. She earned her Masters in Education at Flinders University in Australia and is an educator and activist for inter-religious peace. Currently, she is a Ph.D. candidate at Inter-Religious Studies (ICRS),  UGM, researching terrorism and deradicalization.

Anang Alfian | CRCS UGM | SPK News
“Kita tidak akan mencoba mengurangi keragaman karena itu sia-sia, dalam konteks negara demokratis, semua punya hak dan kewajiban yang sama”.
Uraian Zainal Abidin Bagir, fasilitator SPK dari CRCS UGM, itu menjadi titik tolak diskusi para pertemuan SPK hari ketiga pada Kamis 6 agustus 2016. Bertempat di Disaster Oasis Kaliurang Yogyakarta, Bagir mengawali diskusi dengan memperkenalkan beberapa pendekatan terkini dari berbagai mahzab pengelolaan keragaman seperti seperti John Rawls (nalar publik), Abdullahi An-Naim (nalar kewargaan), Bikhu Parekh, Tariq Modood (kewarganegaraan multikultural), maupun Chantal Mouffe (“pluralisme agonistik”). Berbagai pendekatan ini memberikan gambaran bahwa metode pengelolaan keragaman pun tidak tunggal. Ide pluralisme kewarganegaraan ditawarkan sebagai pisau analisis dan perumusan model pengelolaan keragaman yang mampu menjawab tantangan Indonesia saat ini. Lantas fasilitator yang akrab dipangggil Pak Zain ini mengajak semua peserta memikirkan kembali paradigma pengelolaan keragaman yang tidak hanya mewadahi kerukunan tetapi juga mendorong ke arah keadilan sosial. “Isu pluralisme tidak semata-mata sebagai isu koeksistensi, yaitu kerukunan dan  perdamaian tapi juga keadilan sosial” ujar Pak Zain.
Pada sesi berikutnya, Trisno Susanto memfokuskan bahasan pada politik keragaman di Indonesia dengan mendalami masalah-masalah hukum terkait dengan RUU Kerukunan Umat Beragama (KUB) dan RUU Perlindungan Umat Beragama (PUB) . Menurutnya, Indonesia menganut prinsip governed religion yaitu agama sebagai sesuatu yang dikendalikan oleh pemerintah. Namun, pada pelaksanaanya hal ini menjadi sangat problematis. Posisi penghayat, misalnya,  tidak mendapat jaminan hukum di hadapan RUU PUB. Ini berbeda dengan pemeluk enam agama yang diakui di Indonesia. Padahal pengakuan terhadap legalitas identitas ini menjadi penting ketika berhadapan dengan kebijakan publik.
Yang unikmenarik, pada sesi diskusi bertema“ Konseptualisasi Pengelolaan Keragaman” ini para peserta tak hanya mendengarkan suara sumbang terhadap kebijakan pemerintah, tetapi juga upaya- upaya pemerintah  yang sebenarnya sudah sejalan dengan kepentingan keragaman, “Pemerintah sebenarnya sudah mengutamakan pranata adat untuk penyelesaian masalah di wilayahnya sendiri,” cetus Fahdli, salah satu peserta SPK. Menurutnya, masalah yang kerap terjadi adalah tidak tersampaikannya aspirasi karena distorsi berbagai kepentingan. Untuk itu, advokasi harus dikawal dari bawah hingga ke atas, bahkan sampai pada implementasinya.
Antusiasme peserta semakin terlihat ketika mereka menjabarkan berbagai perspektif mulai dari peran pemerintah, diskriminasi yang terjadi, hingga berbagai pengalaman mereka di daerah. “Penghayat di Brebes itu gak bisa dimakamkan di pemakaman Muslim,” sebut Wijanarto, peserta dari Dinas Pariwisata, Pemuda dan Olahraga, Kabupaten Brebes. Tak dapat dipungkiri memang, diskriminasi terhadap identitas minoritas masih menjadi pertanyaan yang terus mencari jawaban penyelesaian. Materi pengelolaan keragaman ini tak hanya berusaha membantu khazanah teoritis para peserta sebagai aktivis dan pegiat kemanusiaan dalam advokasi mereka tetapi juga menjadi langkah awal dalam memahami tantangan pengelolaan keragaman yang makin kompleks di Indonesia.