I grew up in a society where our belief is ingrained as identity, and human quality is judged upon our level of devotion to a certain religion. But after eight years away from home, I realized what we have been missing is tolerance.
I spent younger days in one of the good Islamic school in Bogor, Indonesia – where we had to follow daily afternoon prayer mass and spent every Friday with ‘keputrian’ or ‘women’s affairs’ activities while the boys went to Friday prayer. We had to wear long pants/skirts and long sleeves t-shirts as uniforms, and for girls, wearing head veil once a week is mandatory. We’ve been told to be tolerant to other Muslims and to strive to be the best version of Muslim. We exactly knew that Qur’an is the perfected version of God’s guidance, and being told that whoever that does not follow Islam is mistaken. Day by day, we were encouraged to obey the rules of Islam. Those who are disciplined will be given points, and those who are misunderstood will be punished.
Somehow it feels like we were inculcated to a meticulous religious doctrine that consequently shaped the way we judge others. Students with head veil were seen as the ‘good ones’, and those rebels with tight shirts, tight skirts and pretty hairs were seen as the ‘bad examples’. How could we not think of the consequences of this invisible discrimination?
On a different note, Lisa Surjawati who spent her early days in public schools, think that the Islamic pressure within her school shown something similar. They still had to wear head veil and attend religion class every once a week. Lisa is not a Muslim, and this particular class had enforced her to be kicked out of the room and spent two hours outside class doing some leisure activities. This sense of ‘exclusivity’ has left a black page on her high school memories – why it seems like only Muslims deserve attention, even within public education?
Religious education in western countries seemed to have taken a further step away from what we have been taught. Its multicultural and multi-faith education has never been trying to put religious doctrine but rather, fostering peaceful coexistence, solidarity, and mutual respect amid the diverse society. In the West, students have never been told to be devout religious human beings.
Indonesia is a home to more than 85% Muslims in the population and makes it renowned as the world’s largest Muslim country, with currently growing influence on Islamists that threaten our concept of pluralism. Although it seems that moderate Islam still rule the country, but the recent Sunni radicalism, rising number of Islamic clothing such as head veils and religious intolerance, along with the latest ‘Ahok’s blasphemy’ case and 212 rally incident that are purely alarming.
It only happened last year when the ex-Jakarta Governor, Ahok, showing his disappointment to unfair judgment of the Islamists toward his performance. His statement has led to widespread belief that he had committed blasphemy against Qur’an, Islam’s holy book, as well as Muslims. Although he apologized, and language expert has stated that his statement was not blasphemous, the Islamists refused to forgive or perhaps reevaluate their Qur’an but rather, taking that incident as a severe fallacy that needs to be defended at all costs. Ahok has been sent to jail for two years – after a long haul massive protests from Islamists to take him out of the governor election, and soon after the Muslim party has finally been elected as the new governor.
This has brought up a fear that Indonesia’s secular democracy might become more uncertain – how could we bring fairness if there is no tolerance or ability to separate religions and politics? Is this justice for all citizens in our country?
As Indonesians, we’ve been hearing the old Javanese phrase ‘Bhinneka Tunggal Ika’, Indonesia’s motto that holds a very profound connotation: ‘Unity in Diversity’. Not to mention our five principles, ‘Pancasila’, as a strong touchstone that everyone has to memorize since the first day we went to school. But why all those ‘shared values’ now sound more like a gimmick rather than a real ethic? Where is tolerance to diversity in public schools? If only public schools can be neutral, putting aside religion in the private sphere, and teach us more on the multicultural heritage of the country, we could have probably been able to strengthen our secular democracy.
If we’re still concern with the unity of our country, why can’t we be aware of the growing influence of Islamists that’s threatening our ‘Pancasila’? Indonesians should really re-evaluate our religious education and bring back the moderate Islam. Indonesians should evaluate our perspective on religion and maybe, just maybe, it is good to actually have a little look back in ourselves and re-evaluate our devotion to religion – have we really develop characteristics of devout Muslims?
We should understand that religious education has a positive correlation to civic engagement and democratic attitudes. We should acknowledge, that religious instruction can contribute, in the long run, to social cohesion that will keep democratic society together. Through the right education, our country can teach future citizens about the civic norms and responsibilities that should control our democratic society. We need universal values to be taught within our schools and put aside the Muslim-styled uniforms to appreciate others with different religion. We should emphasize more on the pluralistic values, at least, in public education.
Maybe we are lacking the quality that might turn ourselves to irrational religious teachings? Is it in our textbooks, or teacher’s ability to transfer their wisdom? This remains a tough question. Instead of battling over the amount of hours that should be spent in religious subject or complaining on how challenging it is to change curriculum and train the teachers, perhaps it is wiser for us to express willingness in placing back our missing ‘Bhinneka Tunggal Ika’ pieces together, giving more space to develop tolerance towards different opinions, and last but not least – consider having religious education be taught at home rather than school.
SundaySerenades 