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MUI aims to curb religious conflicts
The Indonesian Ulema Council has proposed a “comprehensive” look at the relationships between Muslims and other religious communities, to counter the escalation in inter-faith conflicts
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he Indonesian Ulema Council has proposed a “comprehensive” look at the relationships between Muslims and other religious communities, to counter the escalation in inter-faith conflicts.
The council, known as the MUI, submitted its proposal Wednesday to Vice President Boediono, who “welcomed” the idea and promised to study it further.
MUI deputy chairman for propagation Amrullah Ahmad said after meeting the Vice President that the project, called the National Propagation Map, would provide the government with information on relationships between Muslim and non-Muslim communities in each region, to facilitate early detection of potential conflicts.
“We are lacking this kind of information, which could be very useful in preventing conflicts. It will also help the government produce correct policies in accordance with the real situation in the field,” he told The Jakarta Post.
Amrullah said “slow” government responses to interreligious conflicts, such as the recent stabbing of a church leader in Bekasi, West Java, reflected a lack of information.
“They didn’t understand the situation in the field. They had to research it first, resulting in slow responses,” he said.
The review, Amrullah said, will look at how Indonesian Muslims practice Islamic teachings on a daily basis, including on tolerance and respecting people of different beliefs.
It is expected to look at the implementation of Islamic teachings in the prevailing social, economic, cultural and political context.
“The examination will be in the interest of Muslims and of inter-religious harmony in Indonesia,”
he said.
Amrullah added the MUI was seeking government support for the implementation of the project, taking into account that it would require some kind of extensive survey.
The MUI, he said, would firstly try to gather relevant information from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the Religious Affairs Ministry, the Home Ministry, and local governments and others.
“However, as there is information that we still need to survey and the MUI doesn’t have the capacity
to conduct such a big survey alone, we need to cooperate with the government and local
administrations…”
Separately, vice presidential spokesman Yopie Hidayat said the Vice President considered the proposal to be an interesting new idea that he would like to learn about further before deciding whether the government should accept it.
“The Vice President said it could probably be integrated, for instance, with the BPS’ surveys. He will learn about the proposal first and has asked the MUI how the program would actually work based on the experience of pilot projects conducted in a few regions,” Yopie said.
Amrullah said pilot projects were carried out in the West Sumatra capital of Padang and the Central Java town of Magelang.
While receiving plaudits from international observers for its brand of moderate and peaceful Islam, Indonesia, with the world’s largest Muslim community, is often dealing with recurrent conflicts between Muslims and minority groups.
A recent survey conducted by the Center for the Study of Islam and Society shows that intolerance is on the rise among Indonesian Muslims, resulting sometimes in their rejection of new church buildings.
Some analysts argue such conflicts are often caused by economic discrepancies, political conflicts and other non-religious factors.
