Exploring the Religious Plurality in Indonesia

IL News 008/2015

A Public Lecture by Leimena Institute in Ciputra University, Surabaya

Saturday, April 18, 2015

A Public Lecture in Ciputra University Surabaya, with the theme of “Citizens in the Religious Plurality in Indonesia”, has been delivered by Matius Ho and Budi Setiamarga from Leimena Institute on Saturday, April 18, 2015, from 08.30 to 11.00 am. The lecture, attended by around 200 students of the Civic Education course, was held as a collaboration between Leimena Institute with The Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Humanities of Ciputra University.

Through the topic “Indonesia and Religious Plurality” the students were walked through the past history of Indonesia in which its society were already plural since long ago, with more than 13.000 islands, with around 1.300 ethnicities, and 700 languages. Despite the differences in tribes, races, religions and languages, the history showed that Indonesian already learned ways to live in plurality and harmony since thousands of years ago.

Mpu Tantular, a past Indonesia poet, stated in his book “Sutasoma” a verse which contains the phrase “Bhinneka tunggal ika tan hana dharma mangrwa” which means “…different, but the same by nature. Because there is no dual truth.” The phrase Bhinneka Tunggal Ika then became Republic of Indonesia’s slogan, which wasn’t just a good idea, but also a perfect phrase to describe the true identity of the Indonesians.

In this public lecture, the students were also invited to learn about “Religious Freedom in the World’s Religious Plurality”. Several survey results showed that the religious freedom in many parts of the world is getting worse with the increasing rate of Human Rights violation, especially in the case of religious freedom, including in Indonesia.

In relation to religious freedom, Indonesia has several main obstacles to overcome, which is the weakness of law enforcement, the influence of religious radicalism from outside of Indonesia, the people’s ignorance, and the suspicion from one religion to another. Because of that, Indonesia is encouraged to fight for better law enforcement, building a sense of belonging, growing friendship and educate the people in problems regarding citizenship in order to reach a better future for Indonesia.

The relation between “The 1945 Constitution, International Law and Religious Freedom” was delivered as an effort to raise student’s awareness about the importance of the rule of law in Indonesia, in regards to the guarantee of religious freedom that was clearly stated in article 28A to 28J and article 29 of the 1945 Constitution and article 18 of ICCPR. Thus, Indonesian citizens have to be aware of it and need to get involved in the efforts to make it into reality.