AUG 6 — I arrived in Indonesia at the time two of the country’s largest Islamic groups Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah were about to hold their congresses in East Java and Sulawesi respectively.
These two Islamic organisations were nothing to be trifled with merely by looking at their memberships. NU boasts 50 million members (the latest statistics claims more than 80 million) while Muhammadiyah has 30 million.
Former president Abdurrahman Wahid used to be NU’s president who was catapulted into the presidential palace thanks to the power of the organization.
Outsiders could be forgiven for believing that these two organizations holding their congresses concurrently would significantly heat up religious topis.
Isn’t it so when religion-oriented political parties and organizations in Malaysia hold their congresses?
Endy Bayuni, senior editor of The Jakarta Post, happened to be by my side at the Japan-Asean Media Forum.
I asked him whether the concurrence of NU and Muhammadiyah congresses would bring on some sort of social tension in his country.
“You are in Indonesia, friend, not the Middle East!” he replied smilingly.
“So what? I thought you’d seen religious conflicts and even terror attacks here?”
“This I have to admit. In a country of 250 million, it is inevitable to find a handful of extremists and isolated incidents, but Muslims in Indonesia are generally moderate and accommodating. Most of them reject religious radicalism.”
“Well, it used to be so in the past and indeed can be so now. What about the future? Things don’t look so bright now judging by the global trends! The situation in my country Malaysia, which used to draw the envy of many in the past, has just got increasingly worrying now!”
“But Indonesia is not Malaysia!” he protested.
For the next couple of days, Bayuni and I, along with several other friends including Associate Professor Leonard Sebastian of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, went into deeper talks on Islam in Indonesia.
In a country with 90 per cent of its population Muslims, the face of Islam is surprisingly far from what we might imagine.
The Jakarta Post had significant coverage of the congresses on that day, with its front page headline “NU vows to maintain tolerant, peaceful Islam” and an inside page dedicated to the interview of Muhammadiyah’s president, also talking about modern Islam.
A conventional religious organisation, NU has been in existence for over a century. It used to advocate the idea of Nusantara Islam instead of “Arabic Islam.”
Under the concept of Nusantara Islam, Indonesia boasts its own history and cultural legacies, including the presence of Hinduism, Buddhism and native cultures long before Islam was introduced to the archipelago.
Nusantara Islam accommodates all these elements and holds in high regard the country’s cultural diversity. It opposes the stiff religious stereotypes but upholds the values of peace and justice in Islam.
Its leader KH.Said Aqil Siradj has declared that his organization staunchly safeguards the five principles of Pancasila, that includes the defense of the country’s secular system.
NU is strongly against the establishment of an Islamic state because this has contravened the Pancasila.
“Building a nation upon the basis of religion is a threat to national solidarity,” he asserted.
Such a belief is not only universally accepted by NU members, but has also made it into the mainstream thinking of the country’s overwhelming Muslim population.
At second place, while Muhammadiyah might pale by comparison in terms of history and membership, its members nevertheless comprise mostly of intellectuals, professionals and government officials.
It does not confine its activities to sermonising but also public well-being and overseeing of government policies. It dedicates itself to charity, building schools, hospitals and welfare institutions, among others.
Its outgoing president Prof H Din Samsudin emphasized in his job report that one of the most important activities during his tenure had been to spearhead interfaith dialogues, a task he hoped his successor would carry on.
I fully accept Bayuni’s view that Indonesia will remain peaceful and progressive in the foreseeable future against the backdrop of NU and Muhammadiyah dominating the Islamic thoughts in this vast archipelagic republic.
But here in Malaysia, even non-Muslims can feel Arabic Islam beginning to creep into their day-do-day lives, and this has been resolutely reflected in attire, lifestyle, thinking and even government policies.
Islam Hadhari, once fervently promoted during former PM Tun Abdullah’s time, nevertheless died a premature death, marking also the demise of similar localized and modernized Islamic discourses in this country.
Things might not look that gloomy after all. Who knows Indonesia’s Nusantara Islam might not drift across the Java Sea to the Malay peninsula some day?
By the way, isn’t the country lying within the confines of Nusantara itself? — Sin Chew
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
