The winter breeze failed to dampen the enthusiasm of some 200 scholars, religious figures and NGO activists gathered at the Italian Foreign Ministry building for the first international conference ever held on Indonesia's religious harmony, in Rome, Italy.
The topic was intriguing, as much of the public in the West, including Italy, had heard a lot about what the media had dubbed "creeping Islamization" in predominantly Muslim Indonesia.
For most people in the West, at least as Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini put it, the Indonesian model of coexistence was something "unfamiliar" as well, particularly now that they were confronting the issue of immigrants.
Frattini dubbed Indonesia "a good example and experiment" of a pluralist society, where people of different ethnicities and religions shared a room to live, and a place where respect for diversity could find fertile ground to grow.
"Indonesia embodies the added value of cultural diversity and can become the bridge between the West and Islam on the road to world peace," Frattini, who plans to visit Indonesia next year, told the conference.
The Southeast Asian country, added Frattini, had continued to prove its commitment to democracy, which helped found an open and tolerant society, despite the fact that Muslims made up the outright majority.
"Indonesia ensures respect for all religions, and this has led to a strengthening democracy," he said.
Indonesia, the third largest democracy in the world, is gearing up for legislative elections next month and the direct presidential election in July.
There have been concerns about politicization of Islam ahead of the elections, which to some extent was expressed at the conference. Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda, however, dismissed the fears, citing the more than 60 years of Indonesian history that saw efforts to formalize Islamic law doomed to failure.
Hassan said the culture of coexistence was one of the pillars of the Constitution, which represented the wish of Indonesians since the birth of the nation state in 1945.
"The Constitution is a charter that sanctions separation of state and religion, and in which the rule of law and respect for human rights and minorities are the key priorities," Hassan said.
Since the reform movement in 1998, the People's Consultative Assembly have twice voted against a motion to introduce sharia law. A number of regional administrations, however, have made full use of autonomy to introduce sharia-based ordinances, almost without challenge from the central government.
Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, asserted there was nothing to fear from Indonesian Muslims, as most of them shared moderate values.
"Islam in itself provides a built-in and very large room for tolerance. The NU in particular also strives to promote Islam as rahmatan lil' alamin *promoter of world peace* at international forums," Hasyim said.
He insisted Islam in Indonesia followed the cultural selectivity path, as the original cultures had already existed for centuries. The multicultural realities of Indonesia, he added, had shaped the moderate character of mainstream Islamic organizations such as NU and Muhammadiyah.
"Indonesia is a mosaic of more than 200 cultures in one country, as against the Middle East, where one culture is shared among 32 countries," he said.
While a harmonious relationship between democracy and Islam should strengthen Indonesia as a nation state, Hasyim warned that the challenge facing democracy and Islam today was to ensure they could work together to nurture a market-based economy and promote innovation, increase productivity, generate wealth and create justice.
Martinus Situmorang, head of the Indonesian Council of Bishops (KWI), also warned that international acclaim should serve as a challenge for Indonesia to prove the sustainability of religious harmony.
"We should not be carried away by this kind of euphoria, as there are problems that are not necessarily related to religion but that can spark conflicts between people of different ethnicities or religions, such as social injustice," Martinus said.
While calling on Indonesian Catholics to cherish the country's diversity as a precious gift, he urged religious leaders to refrain from practical politics.
"Tensions between faith groups will arise if religious figures exploit religion to win sympathy or support for the sake of their political or group interests," the bishop said.
"The morality and integrity of religious leaders will help tackle the challenges to our unity."
He appealed to the government to stick to the rule of law and take more steps to protect minority groups.
"If Indonesia wants to maintain its tolerant and pacifist nature, minority groups must be protected more than the majority," he said.
"It indicates a mature society, and I believe Indonesia is moving toward this."
ViewPoint
Philip Kun-tjoro Widaja, secretary-general of the Indonesian Buddhist Association (Walubi):
Indonesia's diversity is something we have to cherish. I think different religious groups have intensified communications between each other in search of understanding in the past few years. They have shared tolerance so that they understand the purpose of a ritual or the way of thinking of other religious followers. Tolerance is something extraordinary and the foundation of harmony.
It's impossible to gather everybody to talk about religious harmony. The role of religious leaders is therefore important to disseminate new developments, thoughts and anything related to efforts to uphold unity in diversity to the grassroots. The responsibility is not exclusively handed to religious leaders, but is also the obligation of anyone involved in interfaith dialogues.
The conference represented acknowledgement of Indonesia's achievements in nurturing dialogues among different faith groups. Such a dialogue will find its relevance now that the West is taking on the issue of immigrants who bring along with them their cultures and religions. The world is moving toward that course. The West is witnessing the fast-growing development of Islam, often considered unfriendly.
Indonesia happens to be the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. The way the Muslim majority gets along with other faith groups will serve as a benchmark for religious harmony in the world.
Markus Solo, Holy See official in charge of interfaith dialogue in Asia:
People in Indonesia in fact experience religious harmony and the government protects freedom of religion. There may be challenges facing the harmony, which the West sees as politicization of religion for personal gain or political interests.
We in the West have heard about the extremist groups that cause trouble. Amnesty International has also reported human rights violations there. Those are challenges for the majority group in Indonesia to prove that the country is a peaceful and comfortable place to live in.
The Holy See will send a delegation to Indonesia in November to learn more about the country and to observe and feel how harmony prevails in such a diverse society and how people there tackle the challenges. The Italian foreign ministry has precisely referred to Indonesia as a model for religious harmony, given the fact that Italy is now taking on challenges related to immigrants. Dialogue with the Muslim world is of great relevance today.
What we may lack is probably a transparent and orderly mechanism to make sure the message of the dialogue can reach out to people at the grass roots. We all know that those people are the most vulnerable to the problems. The message from the top may sound wonderful, but it may not transpire at a practical level. We need a joint commission on crisis management where we can discuss and cope with common challenges or other humanitarian problems such as natural disasters.
Bachtiar Effendy, Muhammadiyah director of political affairs:
The principle of unity and diversity remains honored and upheld, but the reality does not always work in tandem, as a number of ethnic and religious conflicts have shown.
There are many issues being addressed by those who are engaged in interfaith dialogues. The issues include religious freedom, human rights, respect for others' beliefs, disarmament, globalization and so forth. Unfortunately, many organizations often fail to tackle some thorny issues that may well have served as sources of conflict. Cases in point include building places of worship, religious proselytization, burials and donations from overseas.
While no one can deny the importance of dialogue, it is equally pressing that practical problems need to be overcome. Undoubtedly, interfaith dialogue has reduced tension or conflict, but often those talks fall short of practical steps to solve the problems, which need a more direct and blunt way of settlement.
Interfaith dialogue has intensified in the last few years, yet religious leaders are confronted with the question of sustainability of the dialogue. The talks may bring fresh and new ideas, but they have the tendency to start from scratch.
Therefore it's important to form a permanent working group, both at national and international levels. This would allow serious issues to be discussed continuously until a workable solution is reached.7
