Setelah Reformasi 1998, dalam situasi transisi menuju demokrasi, Indonesia dikejutkan dengan makin maraknya konflik-konflik bernuansa agama dan etnis, dan beberapa di antaranya hingga memakan korban jiwa dalam hitungan ribuan. Demokrasi membuka saluran yang tersumbat selama beberapa dasawarsa sebelumnya, dan ternyata tidak otomatis membawa pada kedamaian dan kesejahteraan. Identitas agama dan etnis, khususnya, menjadi bahasa utama untuk membolisiasi massa. Apa yang pada periode Orde Baru diasumsikan sebagai “kerukunan”, sebagai  ciri yang dibanggakan  Indonesia sebagai masyarakat majemuk, ternyata tampak hanya seperti bangunan yang rapuh. Dan yang lebih penting, ternyata kita tampaknya belum sepenuhnya memahami kemajemukan Indonesia dan bagaimana mengelolanya.

Subandri Simbolon | CRCS | Interview

CRCS continues its role as a meeting point for international scholars, researchers and students. One of them is Rim Fillali, a Moroccan student at the International Relations of Gadjah Mada University. This semester, Rim takes two courses at CRCS including “Theories of Religion” and “Religion and Film.” Rim shares her comparative views of social, religious and political situations in Indonesia and Morocco as Muslim countries.

Indonesia has been practicing interfaith dialogue longer than any other country in Asia, or even in the world. This kind of dialogue has been institutionalized since the 1960s and strongly promoted by the government, practiced in society and developed by academics, but the experiences and ideas that have evolved from these practices have not been documented or analyzed academically. Therefore, Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS) which considers interfaith relations as one of its main academic concerns, published a book entitled “Dialog antar Umat Beragama: Gagasan dan Praktek di Indonesia (Interfaith Dialogue: Ideas and Practices in Indonesia)”. This publication was of great interest to the Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, who invited CRCS to discuss the topic further. Below is the interview with Dr. Zainal Abidin Bagir who represented CRCS at the discussion as one of the book’s authors.

How the future of democracy, particularly Pilkada 2010 (Direct Elections for Local Leaders) process, in Indonesia? How the role of Islamic political parties in local elections and its constraint of democracy in Indonesia, which has been running for nearly a decade? The interviewer from CRCS in the person of Hatib Abdul Kadir met Priyambudi Sulistiyanto, a lecturer at Flinders Asia Center, Flinders University, Australia at a book review, where he was the speaker, for Deepening Democracy in Indonesia? Direct Elections for Local Leaders (Pilkada) (2009) which he is the main editor with Maribeth Erb.

Interview with Melanie Budianta

CRCS: How far can the narrative voice give power to people who are discriminated, especially women, in Indonesia?

Melani: The real narrative is all around us, but it is still voiceless. “Narration” could be buried alone. There are mothers who kept diary, or kept records about their daily experiences in their heart. Nevertheless, minorities are more capable in keeping their own self-censoring. However, the narrative contains knowledge that perhaps could fill the big narratives of the state. Therefore, it is important to find their narrative and voice. If the person does not have a position to voice out, it is important to find someone else to help his or her voice heard. For example, my elder sister, Ibu Yunita, if she is invited to speak in a seminar about her research about farming, he often brought along a farmer to the campus. Then the farmer speaks in the academic forum. Oftentimes, it touches many people because so far people often hear topics only from the researchers.

I had finally interviewed Professor Tomas Lindgren after doing his fieldwork for the second time in Ambon (the first one was done in 2005 and now 2009) in a cafe in Yogyakarta. Prof. Lindgren interviewed people who were directly involved in the conflict and several Ambonese scholars who talked about the conflict in Ambon which happened for five years (1999-2004). There were a great deal of important findings and analyses that he revealed during this one on one interview.

CRCS: What are you doing this time for your research?