Children: A fertile age for fostering multicultural relations

Purwanti Kusumaningtyas ,  Salatiga   |  Mon, 11/23/2009 1:37 PM  |  Opinion

After playing with his friends recently, my son asked me a tough question about whether only Muslims could go to heaven. He is a non-Muslim and he told me about how his friends had mocked him, saying that he would end up in hell, while they would be in heaven because they were Muslim.

Such a conversation between children could easily be overlooked, but I personally see it as the seed of a bigger and more serious conflict in this pluralist country.

The fact that Indonesia has hundreds of local languages, ethnic and sub-ethnic groups, and different customs and traditions, makes it a fertile land for conflict.

Even though it can be viewed as the treasure of the nation and the state, it is also inevitably a potential source of conflict.

When it comes to discussions about religion, people generally tend to evade them in order to avoid conflict. One commentator from an online news source discussing multiculturalism and education noted that, "such multicultural education has been conducted by Islam, so such a type of education is not needed. It is pretty secular."

The first sentence seems to appreciate Islam as a multicultural religion, but the second sentence does not show much of a multicultural perspective at all.

Such a dichotomous way of perceiving a group or a belief as the most righteous will only categorize other groups as wrong or other. The concept of "we / they" only segregates people into boxes and of course it separates people from a harmonious life. Such thinking creates an atmosphere full of suspicion and prejudice.

The main reason is that people from different religious backgrounds have lived in their own boxes of religions. They never see other boxes or even hear about what happens in the other squares.

They only hear misleading information that discredits other boxes and consequently positions their own box as the best and the most righteous. This way of thinking and living will certainly maintain the concept of "we/they." It encourages "otherness" more and more.

The first and only thing that is needed is openness. It can be achieved when people of various religious backgrounds sit together and share their stories openly. Openness also means dialogue.

Therefore, inter-religious dialogue should be fostered more. It should not be an arena for believers to prove their religion or belief is the best or the most righteous, but should be used for each party to share what they believe in, their customs, rituals and traditions.

What these people have to do is to tell, share and listen.

The idea of openness is for everybody to be open to what she/he believes and to be open to listening to the others' stories and different beliefs.

The next step that will follow openness is the spirit of understanding. To share and listen to the different stories of others will encourage people to understand each other.

Denotatively, it means hearing, having information, being informed, learning, and having knowledge.

Thus, only through openness will people gain knowledge and information. And with firsthand information about certain religions people will form knowledge free of bias.

Stories from Muslims about the true idea of Islam will erase the stigma of Muslims as closely related to terrorism. Stories from Christians will change the stereotype that it is the religion of the imperialists. In short, when information is from the right source, it will reduce bias and eventually minimize prejudice and suspicion.

Furthermore, when the atmosphere of openness and understanding is introduced to children from an early age, the story of my son's experience will not be repeated.

Children are open to many new things. Their nature as true explorers needs to be completed with facilities. And it is the job of parents and teachers to provide a harmonious multi-religious environment.

You may think that inter-religious dialogue is only for adults. But in fact, it is possible with children also. Of course, it is not conducted through discussion and formal classes, but can be effectively used through games and plays.

My experience with a pilot project named, An Inter-religious Forum for Children Kita Beda Kita Sama (We are different, we are the same), proves that children are open to socializing with all people in this plural nation. When they play together, they do not bother about what backgrounds their friends are from.

The programs the children have been invited to join, children from both Sunday schools and afternoon lessons of the Koran (TPQ/TPA, Taman Pendidikan Al-Quran) have proved that they can play together as they also learn to know and understand each others' beliefs.

The forum held events such as learning the Lebaran tradition in Indonesia, watching wayang Wahyu to learn both the Christian story of the birth of Jesus and the art of wayang, as one part of Javanese culture and a field trip to a pesantren (Islamic boarding school).

Besides that, they also visited the police headquarters to play with police officers and learn about different divisions in the police.

These events are designed to expose differences to children in the program.

They learn through these activities that people are different in many ways and that they should not make such differences a source of conflict. They learn that differences are the source of beauty through simple activities such as drawing pictures together, coloring pictures together and playing cooperation games in mixed groups.

None of the children complained about being grouped with others from different religious or social backgrounds. What they enjoyed most was the time spent together playing and learning about such differences.

Many of them became friends and continue to communicate. Children from the Islamic boarding school are happy to receive visits from children from the churches and on the other hand, children from the churches invite those from Islamic school to visit their churches.

Such friendships would not have flourished if these children were not provided the space to create such dialogues.

Their dialogue is not in the form of serious and hard debates or formal discussions, rather they willingly use their universal language: games and plays.

Inter-religious relations are only one tiny part of multicultural relations in this country built over hundreds of ethnic groups with a myriad of local dialects, local languages, customs, traditions, and cultures. However, it is more sensitive to talk about it in the Indonesian context.

If Indonesian people really want a harmonious life in this pluralist nation, we need to own and implement multicultural and multi-religious perspectives to create an inclusive environment for everybody.

And fostering multicultural education can start with children because children are like sprouts that will grow in beautiful harmony when they are fertilized and watered with openness and understanding through dialogue

The writer is the co-founder and co-facilitator of the Inter-religious Forum for Children Kita Beda Kita Sama Salatiga, and a lecturer at the English Department at Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga.

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