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IL News 013/2015


Kupang (East Nusa Tenggara), May 21, 2015

“Even though Indonesian people come from different ethnic and racial backgrounds, they can see themselves as one nation (demos nation). This is in contrast with many nations in the world that tend to identify a nation with a particular ethnic or religion (etnos nation).”

Leimena Institute’s President Jakob Tobing emphasized this in his remarks at the gathering to “Build Interreligious Cooperation to Counter Religious Radicalization” in Kupang, Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) province, on May 21, 2015, which was initiated by the Synod of the Evangelical Christian Church in Timor, Indonesian Ulama (Muslim Cleric) Council in NTT province, and Leimena Institute.

Affirming Mr. Tobing’s statement, the ulama council’s Chairman H. Abdul Karim Makarim said that NTT is a province with many islands, ethnicities, religions, languages, customary laws, and cultures, but all of these are “the reality and richness that we need to give thanks and protect, because they are the most beautiful gift bestowed upon us by God.” Human beings as the “leaders on this earth” need to manage this gift according to God’s will, “so that society is not destroyed, because Islam acknowledges the existence of various ethnicities, religions, and nations.”

Due to globalization, however, he realized that radical movement in other parts of the world can easily penetrate and influence the religious society in Indonesia. To understand this global phenomenon, Leimena Institute’s Senior Fellow Dr. Paul Marshall discussed the challenges of religious radicalization in the world. Looking at the historical experiences of Christianity and Islam, radicalization tends to grown in an atmosphere of fear and a situation of great disruption. Globalization brought major disruptions that oftentimes cause fear, for instance in traditional societies.

Surely we can’t just sit in silence or get busy with our own religious communities. Mr. Tobing reminded us to “intentionally give time and space to contiuously build and nurture communication between us.” In line with this, the church synod’s Secretary General Rev. Benjamin Nara Lulu, proposed four types of dialogues / cooperations:

a. Life dialogue, based on daily life where people with different religions live together, willing to interact and respect differences. He remembered, for example, when attending a church conference in Alor island, the person who welcomed him at Mali (Alor) airport was the ustad (Islamic teacher) from the mosque next to the church where the conference would be held.

b. Working dialogue, where different religious communities or institutions can work together on a common humanity project, or even simply to clean the market, beach, etc., like when the Christian and Muslim youths worked together to clean the church office for Christmas and the Central Mosque for Eid al-Fitr (celebrating end of fasting month).

c. Theological dialogue, where different religious leaders discussed together specific theological issues, such as social issues like HIV/AIDS, drugs, etc.

d. Faith dialogue, for example the Religious Safari in NTT province in 1990s, where different religious leaders went together to visit various places and held a dialogue with the people on the responsibility as religious people living together in a society and a nation.

Religious radicalization will “undermine our nation that is well known for its politeness, friendliness, and tolerance,” said H. Makarim. Therefore, he appealed, “we as a nation are obligated to work together with all religious communities to fight the radical groups at local, regional, and global levels. All of this is impossible to be achieved by only one religious group, but it requires moral, spiritual, and even maybe material, consolidation of all religious communities in the Unitary State of Indonesia.” In his closing remarks, Rev. Nara Lulu welcomed this appeal and hoped that “we can follow up on this in practical steps between the Evangelical Christian Church in Timor and the Indonesian Ulama Council in NTT, and even with other religious communities and various church denominations in Nusa Tenggara Timur province.”

“Even though Indonesian people come from different ethnic and racial backgrounds, they can see themselves as one nation.” NTT’s resolve proves this and urged us to make the same resolution. Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity), our national motto, wasn’t born without a fight.