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Intolerance gives birth to terrorism: Activist
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Intolerance: A billboard featuring a female student wearing a hijab is displayed at the corner of Sanata Dharma Catholic University in Yogyakarta. The Muslim People Forum (FUI) in the city has forced another university, Duta Wacana Christian University, to take down a similar billboard, claiming it will mislead Muslim students. (JP/Tarko Sudiarno)
T
he government must further promote religious tolerance in schools throughout the country as part of its effort to curb the early growth of terrorism, an activist says.
The chairman of a Jakarta-based human rights watchdog, the Setara Institute, Hendardi, said counterterrorism efforts have so far focused on law enforcement but failed to touch the roots of terrorism: intolerance.
“Intolerance is the initial step for terrorism; thus education really matters,” Hendardi said on Friday.
“This why I believe that efforts to counter terrorism must also involve students and teachers. That is still lacking from de-radicalization programs."
(Read also: Christmas service in Bandung canceled due to protest)
Hendardi emphasized that it was becoming more urgent to promote tolerance in schools throughout the country as students were more vulnerable to radical views.
In order to get a picture of the situation, Setara published the results of a study it conducted early this year to examine the tolerance of high school students in Jakarta and Bandung. It found that although most students could still be considered tolerant, intolerance had caught the interest of more students.
The study, which involved 760 students throughout the two cities, found that 61 percent of students were tolerant, but 35.7 percent of students could be considered passively intolerant and 2.4 percent were radical, while 0.3 percent were prone to becoming terrorists.
“Law enforcement efforts by the police is a final stage action. It is dealing with the first stage issue, which is intolerance, that really matters,” Hendardi emphasized. (jun)
