The second World Peace Forum, being held jointly by Muhammadiyah and the Cheng Ho Multi Culture Trust and supported by the Center for Dialogue and Cooperation among Civilizations (CDCC), is currently taking place in Jakarta from June 24-26. With the strategic and timely theme, "Addressing Facets of Violence: What can be Done?", this is a very momentous event for Indonesia, and especially the host Jakartans, where violence just occurred earlier this month.
The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) attacked peace activists under the banner of religion (Islam). The attack is just one of many severe violent acts in the decade of post-New Order Indonesia. Religious radicalism and violent jihadist groups have grown significantly, enjoying the freedom and young democracy in the country. What should Muhammadiyah and the government do after the international peace dialogues?
The peace forum has helped to revive the image of Indonesia away from being new hub of radical movements and toward a tolerant and moderate country. This image development is very significant to maintain not only our strategy for foreign policy but also to reconstruct the new Indonesia. A new Indonesia where democracy is peacefully implemented and people preserve multiculturalism and pluralism as the identity of Indonesia, as agreed by the nation's founders in 1945.
Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second-largest Islamic civil society organization after Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), plays a very significant role in supporting peace. This is very strategic for Muhammadiyah, which initiates the peace by making coalitions with the West.
In this forum, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende along with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono presented very good messages of peace. The coalition is an important circle of peace building, which is imperative in this period of world transition.
This year, Nahdlatul Ulama will also manage an international forum for peace coordinated by the International Conference of Islamic Scholars (ICIS) which will be attended by World leaders as well. Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama have to be supported by the government and the international community to preserve peace in the region.
In this sense, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama, as the largest civil society organizations in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, have played strong roles in peace building.
The international cooperation is now challenged by the rise of radicalism and terrorism, which some people regard as "simple" and "not dangerous". The killings in Maluku and Poso, and bombings in Indonesia and the rest of the world, conducted by terrorist groups grow from the spirit of radicalism and religious militancy.
According to the research of LP3ES (2007), the numbers of radical groups involved in violent jihad are very small, not more than 1 percent of Indonesian populations. Of 10,000 Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia, around 200 are introducing radical jihad curriculum.
Hence, the quantity of radical groups is much smaller than mainstream moderate and tolerant groups. However, it will continue to grow if government and civil society of Indonesia and the world do not take actions to develop a peaceful Islam, supporting interfaith and intercultural dialogues and endorsing good education for poor people.
LSI polling in 2007 on the commitment of Muslims to sharia implementations were understood in a variety of ways by people. When they are asked to conduct sharia as part of their daily Muslim activities, the number of voters of sharia implementation is very significant.
However, when they are asked what they think of hudud (cutting hand) of criminals, the number of proponents is very low. People misunderstand the meaning of sharia, and they have actually implemented it in their daily life as part of the culture. The peaceful Malay culture of Islam is a good assimilation between Middle Eastern Islam and Southeast Asian culture.
Mainstream Muslim civil society organizations have to unite and continue making coalitions for preserving peace and strengthening their role in teaching moderate and tolerant Islam. This is one of the tasks for the participants of the World Peace Forum.
The writer is a lecturer of the department of international relations at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta. He can be reached at bsholeh@yahoo.com
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