Fostering the Nation\'s Inclusivism
Pancasila, which should become a “bridge for all differences”, continues to be bypassed and no longer considered to carry its sanctity. Pancasila is positioned as threats to the efforts to develop exclusive practices.
A mural with the theme of religious diversity and tolerance is depicted on a wall in the Mekar Jaya area, Depok, West Java, Tuesday (1/6/2021).
The National Awakening Day and Pancasila Day, which represent the nation\'s inclusivism, have been just celebrated. What is the meaning of the celebration for the nation within the year-long period until the momentum of next celebration is back?
Since the end of Suharto\'s rule and the reformation era that followed, this nation has continued to move toward exclusivism, a phenomenon that is not only forgotten, but also denied its existence. Pancasila, which should become a “bridge for all differences”, continues to be bypassed and no longer considered to carry its sanctity. Pancasila is positioned as threats to the efforts to develop exclusive practices.
The existence of the nation\'s inclusivism room, which has been inherited from the national movement against colonialism, continues to be eroded and shrink. Even in the Reformasi era, a movement to detach from the previous regimes, some political interactions only end up becoming the elites’ political projects with prestige and jargon, ineffective against exclusivism.
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The political elites are busy producing the slogans, “bersama kita bisa” [together we can] that in fact keeps Indonesia behind; “partai setan” [the devil\'s party] which is addressed to the opposite party suspected of not embracing deity; “revolusi mental” [mentality revolution] that comes out without impacted change; and “petugas partai” [party workers] that ignores the people\'s rights as citizens.
Learning from the past
More than half a century ago, at the beginning of the New Order, in urban areas, where people practiced for a long time the principles of Fan Ngin Thong Ngin jit jong (Malay and Chinese are the same), children of the Chinese-Indonesians of Buddhism and Confucian faith underwent their primary education at Islam-based Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Negeri (MIN).
It is not known exactly how many Chinese-Indonesian children completed the basic education at MIN, but one thing for certain is that they persistently remained in their belief system they inherited from their ancestors as they grew up, even though they were educated under the umbrella of another religious tradition in the early stages of their self-identity search.
There are several explanations why Chinese-Indonesian households sent their children to MIN, even though they were not Muslims.
First is the romance of the past. The MIN’s location used to be a Chinese school that had been banned by the New Order regime. The entire building was later converted into public educational premises, for both state and private, from elementary to senior high schools.
There are several explanations why Chinese-Indonesian households sent their children to MIN, even though they were not Muslims.
A mural with the theme of diversity on the wall of a resident\'s house in Chinatown Tambak Bayan, Surabaya, Wednesday (10/2/2021). A number of artists took the initiative to draw murals at several points in Tambak Bayan Chinatown ahead of Chinese New Year.
Second is practical reason, namely because the location of their houses was not far from MIN. Third, the parents were not too pre-occupied with the issue of differences in the belief system. What became their concern most was their children’s education. Fourth, the parents were aware of the importance to provide basic understanding for their children about diversity, both in social and national engagement.
Based on the fact that the compound where MIN was located also housed other public elementary education institutions, as well as the expected future about those students’ families’ political careers, the last was the most reasonable motivation behind their decision to take their children to the Islamic school.
An awareness that the virtue of diversity could serve as a capital to help weave the future had been ingrained when they decided to become an Indonesian and rejected the opportunity to return to their ancestral country.
In fact, most of them did not have any document of citizenship. The family\'s mediocre economic condition, coupled with complicated and corrupt bureaucracy, made it difficult for them to realize their desire to attain an Indonesian citizenship certificate.
When having officially secured Indonesian citizenship, they still had to face stigmatization by the state with them labelled as warga negara keturunan (Indonesian citizens of Chinese descent).
As a result, the concept of Indonesian Citizen (WNI) strayed away its meaning of citizenship being for all. Those who were genealogically of Chinese descent were obligated to equip themselves with a particular identity document called Indonesian Citizenship Certificates (SBKRI). The provision was finally revoked through Presidential Decree No. 56 of 1996.
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Despite being treated discriminatorily, the SBKRI owners as well as those remaining stateless, whose number was quite large in the area at that time, they decided to remain in Indonesia.
The parents were well aware that discrimination was perpetrated only by the state, not by the community with whom their predecessors had lived their daily lives peacefully without any prejudice more than a century.
Their predecessors had even built a symbiotic relationship with the local community in the resistance movement against Dutch colonialists in the mid-19th century, led by a local figure who was later conferred a national hero status.
It proved that the positive way of thinking clicked with the attitude of the local community, who were also aware of the importance of living in diversity.
A number of vehicles pass in front of the diversity-themed mural adorning the overpass supporting poles at Prof Dr Latumeten, Tambora, West Jakarta, Sunday (11/8/2020). Harmony in the midst of the diversity of Indonesian society will always be maintained if all its citizens practice tolerance and mutual respect.
It was therefore not surprising when the Confucian or Tri Dharma temples held an annual exhibition in the context of the Tiong Goan festival, usually celebrated in the middle of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar, Malay families did not show disinclination to savor celebratory moments, mingling with the crowds inside the temple sparkled with decorative, colorful lights and candles.
The smell and streaming puff of hio (incense) did not deter Malay families from the enthusiasm to watch the Chinese-Indonesian items on display.
Outside the temple, ghost statues that would be burned and the stages filled with various offerings became another highlight of spectacle for the visitors from various ethnicities and religions. Several parents and students from the MIN school were seen actively involved in festival activities to make the event a success.
Gripping concern
In the Reformasi era, Chinese-Indonesian children in urban areas – who had increasingly taken up education at state schools – had begun to turn to private educational institutions with primordial identity being more obvious. Primordial ties are also evident in other groups of community.
On the other hand, state schools are becoming a hegemonic place. Meanwhile, intellectual and economically-well off class of society are intervening, resulting in the wisdom, which has so far functioned to work as an adhesive, being replaced by exclusivisism mentality that does not respect differences.
Social changes that are occurring in all social groups in society have also created another reality that is moving away from the self-identity having been formed from the history of more than a hundred years back.Vertical and horizontal mobility is shaping up different individuals and groups of society than before, as new generations of the society continue to drag themselves into dichotomy, marked by self-acclaimed differences from the others.
Religious and social marginalization faced by the Chinese-Indonesian community have often "forced" them to seek an alternative identity. In earlier times when name changes and religious conversions were required in sociological naturalization, the process produced figures that served to bridge two different groups as they grew up, because there was no psychological burden behind them.
When religious conversion occurred in adulthood, the ongoing process evoked both personal and social emotions, which sowed distrust and prejudice between different groups of society.
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Teachers and students attend a ceremony to commemorate National Education Day on Wednesday (2/5/2018) at Taman Siswa on Jl. Taman Siswa in Yogyakarta, which was founded by national education hero Ki Hadjar Dewantara. National Education Day, which is commemorated on May 2, coincides with the birthday of Ki Hadjar Dewantara, a symbol of national education revival.
Waiting for state awareness
The situation is increasingly perturbing. When the world of education, which should serve as an impetus for breeding and growing inclusivism in the frame of Indonesianism, turns out to be the agency of producing room for exclusivism.
Students only recognize the differences and Indonesia in their textbooks, classrooms, or devices, not in real life experiences, while political elites continue to exploit exclusivism as a commodity, both for personal and clique interests.
Amid such a situation, the latest regime is present, offering the concept of "freedom of learning" in the field of education, and "free campus" particularly for higher education. This supposedly good idea has quickly turned into merely a lip-service, as bureaucrats and other interest-vested groups use it only to please the regime and reach personal gain.
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The keyword “freedom” is perceived more as liberalism principle, which has allowed the rights to "use appropriate learning method", with the students not realizing the high socio-cultural, political, and economic costs that must be paid.
In fact, almost a hundred years ago, Soewardi Soerjaningrat, more popularly known as Ki Hadjar Dewantara, succeeded in organizing a liberating educational process.
When the Dutch colonial government finally declared the Taman Siswa movement to be illegal, it had already produced graduates not only possessing various skills that optimize the left and right brain but also having the aptitude to synchronize skills with conscience to yield an independent, inclusive and adaptable Indonesian.
The graduates were not only equipped with skills and intellect, but also mentality, spirituality and national cultural perspectives to get ready independently and without exclusivity to face the global challenges.
Bambang Purwanto
If the elites are really aware about the history that Ki Hadjar Dewantara was the inspiration, why didn\'t the country find inspiration holistically about freedom of learning from the deeds that Ki Hadjar Dewantara had practiced for a long time in order to bring about mentality revolution without losing the nation\'s inclusivism room and wasting the budget?
Bambang Purwanto, Lecturer of the Department of History, School of Cultural Sciences UGM.
This article was translated by Musthofid.
