Speculation over the fate of pluralism in the country is rife, following the demise of former president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, dubbed recently by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as the father of pluralism.
While some people, especially the marginalized and minorities, seem pessimistic that pluralism can be preserved without Gus Dur — its long-acknowledged guardian — others see many notable figures, mostly Muslim scholars, who have the potential to be a successor to Gus Dur.
It may sound premature, however, to envision that the struggle for preserving the universal values Gus Dur had laid down will die down so easily in his absence. It is also too early to say that Gus Dur is replaceable. There may be dozens of Muslim scholars who share Gus Dur’s philosophy on life, yet few, if any, have a consistent spirit for fighting against religious intolerance, unjust practices and other atrocities.
Given what he devoted to this nation, hero status for Gus Dur is underway, being processed by the government. And this has won support from all people nationwide. Yet without being officially awarded hero status, Gus Dur is and will be, in the eyes of many, remembered as a true hero who gave his own life for the sake of the marginalized and the oppressed.
The pressing issue of concern now should not be whether Gus Dur deserves to be officially named a national hero, but should instead center on how Gus Dur’s legacy of maintaining universal values acknowledging differences in faiths, beliefs, ethnicities and races can be preserved by his contemporaries, and more importantly, by younger generations.
For the latter, education is the most effective way of raising their awareness of the importance of building harmonious relations with those of different faiths and ideologies. Education helps instill students’ sensitivity toward the socio-cultural, political and ideological differences among other people.
One of the tangible ways of doing this is to encourage students to read multicultural literature — works by different authors from different religious, ethnic and class backgrounds. In a pluralistic and multiethnic nation like ours, reading multicultural literature regardless of the genre (be it religion, politics, culture) or religion or ethnicity of the author should be mandatory, as it can help tone down a zealous attitude toward one’s ideological stance. In the long run, students will develop a sense of mutual understanding among people of different backgrounds.
The insights gained from a wider reading of multicultural literature will not only provide students with strong background knowledge necessary for broadening their horizons, but can also promote a deeper understanding of, for instance, other religions, cultures and ideologies. Armed with these insights, students unconsciously learn how to counter prejudices and stereotypes they may have had about other religions and ethnicities.
In fact, studies show that multicultural literature serves as a kind of mirror for students and is experienced by many as validating. More importantly, from what they have read students gradually learn invaluable principles of tolerance, inclusiveness and understanding.
As a scholar and Muslim intellectual, Gus Dur must have been an avid reader of multicultural literature. His leisure pursuit in savoring multicultural literature of different genres and authors sharpened his mind and gave credence to what he called Islam Rahmatan lil alamin (Islam spreads peace and tolerance, not conflict and atrocity). In essence, Gus Dur’s wisdom and much of his inclusive thinking about Islam-state relations were surely shaped, to a considerable extent, by what he read during his life.
Much of Gus Dur’s legacy (most notably, Islamku, Islam Anda dan Islam Kita or My Islam, Your Islam, Our Islam) have, thanks to his wide reading, been penned in print, thus allowing younger generations to fathom and reflect on his wisdom on the promotion of inclusiveness and pluralism in this blessed multiethnic nation.
It is thus no exaggeration to recommend using Gus Dur’s works in print as an obligatory source of reference for multicultural studies, for Muslim and non-Muslim students in the country. Although Gus Dur has faded away, his thinking, manifested in his written works, will always withstand the test of time.
The writer is an associate professor at Atma Jaya Catholic University, Jakarta, and the chief editor of the Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching.
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