Indonesia: Pluralism and the Fatwa Against Pluralism

Indonesia: Pluralism and the Fatwa Against Pluralism

By Diana L. Eck

I spent ten days in late August in Indonesia at the invitation of the U.S. State Department, giving lectures and participating in public forums in connection with the translation of A New Religious America into Indonesian (Amerika Baru Yang Religius, published by Pustaka Sinar Harapan). My visit came at a time of intense public discussion of pluralism in Indonesia and as Director of the Pluralism Project it was a wonderful opportunity both to participate in the discussion and to learn about the shape of these issues in another multireligious democracy. In late July, the Ulama Council (Majelis Ulama Indonesia, MUI) issued a fatwa denouncing pluralism, secularism, liberal forms of Islam, along with interfaith marriage and interfaith prayer. Yet in mid-August, Indonesia celebrated sixty years of independence as what many would call a pluralist, multireligious, multicultural

state. While Indonesia is often referred to as the world’s most populous Muslim nation, it

is not a Muslim state. It is, rather, a state based on the Panchasila –the basic principles or

values of belief in God, common humanity, the Indonesian nation, democracy, and social

justice. Ten days in Indonesia gave me another glimpse of the many challenges of a

multireligious democracy. 

The distinction between religious pluralism as viewed from the standpoint of a particular

religious or theological perspective and religious pluralism as viewed from the standpoint

of civic life was all too often blurred in the discussion, as it is in the United States. After

all, the MUI speaks to the Muslim majority, but not to the Constitutional issues of

Indonesia’s state. However, in Indonesia (more than 80% Muslim) as in America (more

than 80% Christian) there is a strong presumptive normative consciousness of the

majority. The issues addressed by the Pluralism Project in the American context made for

a timely dialogue connecting our work with that of colleagues in Indonesia. 

The three book-launch events in Jakarta and Yogyakarta, in Java and Padang in Sumatra

were extremely well organized three hour events that included half hour responses from

two Indonesians scholars and then at least an hour of open-mike public discussion. The

respondents included some of the public intellectuals most actively engaged in the

discussion of pluralism in the Indonesian context, including Azyumardi Azra, the Rector

of the State Islamic University in Jakarta, Irwan Abdullah, Director of the Center for

Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, and

Shofwan Karim of the Muhammadiya University in Padang. The open discussions were

fascinating and lively too. While I found an almost universal anger at American foreign

policy, which didn’t surprise me, there was also great interest in the American people, in

the discussion of religious pluralism, and especially in the development of Islam in

America. 

In addition to the public forums, I also had the opportunity to meet in smaller seminar

settings with students and faculty at Atma Jaya University, a Catholic University in

Jakarta; UIN, the State Islamic University in Jakarta, and the Center for Cross-Cultural

and Religious Studies at Gadjah Mada, the only graduate program in religious studies in

Indonesia http://www.crcs-ugm.com/index.php?lang=english.php. I also met with Syafi’i

Anwar of the International Center for Islam and Pluralism

http://www.icipglobal.org/contact_us.html, a research center that shares many of the

goals of the Pluralism Project. Indeed, developing a relationship with other university

departments and research centers that are working on the issues of religious pluralism is

part of the current international initiative of the Pluralism Project. 

The motto of the Indonesian nation is, in some respects, like that of the United States:

"Bhineka Tunggal Ika,” or “Unity in Diversity. The diversity of Indonesia was fully on

display in August, as the nation celebrated its 60th anniversary of independence. The

diversity of cultures and arts was celebrated the first day I was in Jakarta with an

enormous parade of people from all the provinces of Indonesia through the center of the

city, past the Sunday crowds at the curb, past the reviewing stands of government

officials. They were dancers, musicians, and artists, wearing brilliantly hued traditional

dress, body paint, feathers, leaves, and flowers, representing the culture, music, and

dance distinctive to their region. 

An Independence Day supplement to The Jakarta Post was titled “Living Diversity” and

included articles on the ongoing struggled to discover what “Unity in Diversity” really

means in Indonesia. One of the lead articles was by Azyumardi Azra, the Rector of the

State Islamic University, calling for a rethinking of religious pluralism from the Islamic

point of view, looking closely at the Qur’an as a text that “establishes the legitimacy of

differences, diversity, and pluralism.” There were also personal stories of pluralism,

written in the real lives of Indonesians, such as the story of a woman whose mother is

Balinese Hindu and father is Muslim who is married to a man who is Chinese Indonesian

Catholic. Their child, little Nayanda, was born with a Muslim prayer whispered in her ear

and Hindu, Catholic, and Muslim grandparents looking on. And there were heart

breaking stories of the devastating communal violence between Muslims and Christians

in Poso in Central Sulawesi and in Ambon in the province of Maluku, stories in which

neighbors have become enemies overnight. The editors entitled their own comment

“Pluralism: Beyond Unity in Diversity.” “We all need to build the bridges that somehow

connect us in spite of our differences,” they wrote, “If we want to go one step beyond

unity in diversity, pluralism is the way forward.” 

While the fatwa condemns “pluralism,” it also seems to have an understanding of

pluralism which views all religions as essentially the same, equally valid and with

relative truths. The Fatwa Commission chairman Ma'ruf Amin, was quoted in The

Jakarta Post (July 29) as saying, "Pluralism in that sense is haram (forbidden under

Islamic law), because it justifies other religions." Maruf added that people should be

allowed to claim that their religion is the true one and that other faiths are wrong.

However, he stressed that the council accepted the fact that Indonesia was home to

different religions and that their followers could live side by side. "Plurality in the sense

that people believe in different religions is allowed," Ma'ruf explained. "As such, we have

to respect each other and coexist peacefully." In one sense, then, the fatwa condemns

attitudes and ways of thinking it defines only vaguely and negatively --such as pluralism,

secularism, and liberalism. It is not surprising that many respected Indonesian leaders

have responded with stinging critique to the fatwa, including former president

Abdurrahman Wahid, Azyumardi Azra of the State Islamic University, and Ulil Abshar

Abdalla of the Liberal Islamic Network http://islamlib.com/en/page.php. 

In my own view, of course, pluralism is not at all premised on the equal truth or validity

of all religious perspectives and traditions. It is not premised on the idea that all religions

are the same, not at all. The language of pluralism is not the language of sameness, nor is

it simply the language of difference, but it is the language of dialogue. Pluralism is not

about erasing differences, but about engaging differences in the creating of a common

society. The language of pluralism is the language of traffic, exchange, dialogue, and

debate. From a civic standpoint, it is the language any democracy needs in order to

survive. From a religious or theological standpoint, it is the language of faith, held not in

isolation from those of other faiths, but in relation to them.

Another set of discussions and conversations focused on the ways in which “religion” is

recognized by the state in Indonesia and in the U.S. In the U.S., there is no officially

recognized religion, aside from the recognition of the Internal Revenue Service for tax

purposes and the multitude of ways in which ceremonial civic recognition has become

more complex and inclusive –such as Muslim invocations in legislatures and Iftar fast-

breaking meals in the White House and on Capitol Hill. Indonesia, in the compromises

worked out at the time of its independence, recognized five religions -- Islam, Hinduism,

Buddhism, Protestant Christianity, and Catholic Christianity. This arrangement has led to

countless issues that even a government Department of Religious Affairs (Agama is the

term used) has not been able to solve. Is Confucianism a “religion?” Javanese traditional

practice? Must a Sikh be officially a Hindu? What about the Ahmadiyyas who call

themselves Muslim but are the focus of another fatwa of the MUI, which insists they are

not? What happens when a Muslim marries a Catholic? What “religion” is listed on the

child’s national identity card? Is it possible not to have a “religion?” As I often told

Indonesian audiences, we have no Department of Religion in the United States

government, but we do have Departments of Religion in virtually every college and

university. 

It is not only, of course, that religion can be, and should be, a subject of study, but

religious pluralism is also an important subject of study. How is it that complex,

multireligious societies negotiate the issues of religious difference? This brief and very

stimulating visit to Indonesia made clear to me that the issues of religious pluralism can

benefit from comparative study.