Religions

in the midst of

Political

Competition

in Indonesia

The presidential election will only be held in April 2019, but the tension of it can be felt already. For sure, there are many political agendas designed by the 2 pairs of campaigning contestants. Will Indonesians be dragged into the tension of the competition?

It was interesting that ‘Marga Mulya’, a Protestant Church in Western Indonesia (GPIB), Yogyakarta held a seminar, entitled, “Religions in the midst of Political Competition in Indonesia”, on September 22nd, 2018. There were three speakers in this seminar: Prof. Dr. Cornelis Lay, a lecturer at Faculty of Social and Political Sciences-Gadjah Mada University; Prof. Dr. Syafii Maarif, a chairman of Muhammadiyah National Committee in the period of 2000-20005; and the last speaker was Rev. Dr. A. A. Yewangoe, a Chairman of Indonesian Church Communion (PGI) in the period of 2004-2014. These three speakers had a consensus that religion must become a platform and a basis for morality and ethics in politics.

“Now, our society enters a new phase of Indonesian politics with electoral politics as the new standard. Everyone feels engaged inside politics. Everyone becomes politicians, churches become politicians, activists become politicians, everyone is involved in caring something that is not his/her job”, Prof. Cornelis said. In his opinion, religion and politics can complete each other. Religion values can be transferred into politics so that politics could be more orderly. “The discrepancy between fundamentalist Christian and Islam created a sense that Indonesian politics is trapped by those two things. The politics of identity increases, and it brings us to hate each other”, he said while giving an example of the fight between Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush.

Next, Buya Syafii Maarif stated that religion actually brought peace and harmony, but its adherents did not practice it. This is not the fault of religion or its holy book, but it is the fault of the person that did not understand what he/she believes in. He said confidently that deceiving people under the name of religion is so easy because their common sense has already been clouded by the lust of interests. Therefore, rational people must fight against such irrational culture. “Dear audience, being rational is very important”, he said, that was followed by laugh and applause from the attendants. Buya also left a message for the youth that they must not stay away from politics. Meanwhile for the adherents from multiple religions, he hoped that they involved in politics and not to turn a blind eye to it. Buya also hoped that everyone continues building a genuine relationship, not a fake one with others.

On the same occasion, Prof. A. Andreas Yewangoe said that politicization of religion and religionization of politics are classic issues and it is not new for us. We are as rational people must evaluate ourselves continuously to tackle this old issue. “Religion can be liberating and enslaving at the same time”, he said. “It depends on how people interpret the verses of their holy books. If it is interpreted with a negative view, it could be a verse used for a power abuse. It means that religion has lost its function,” he added assertively. However, he reminded that religion isn’t always negative. A reign that is managed positively will be a positive one. He thought that religion and politics might walk hand in hand and not assail each other, provided that the religious leaders are smart in sorting out between moral politics and praxis.

This seminar attended by roughly 200 persons was closed by the performance of Interfaith Voices singing religious songs from various religions. It is true what Aristoteles said, “Politics cannot be separated from human”. Today became worthy for Stube HEMAT students to understand politics. (SIP).