Azyumardi Azra: An Independent Intellectual

KOMPAS/REGINA RUKMORINI

Azyumardi Azra

Several days after Princess Diana's burial, in July 1997, Azyumardi Azra and I arrived in London. Bahtiar Effendy, from Amsterdam, came to join us the day after. After a discussion about Indonesian Islam (in which Azyumardi was the star), Bahtiar and I left for Mecca from London for Umrah (minor pilgrimage). Azyumardi returned to Jakarta. Azyumardi and Bahtiar later became professors, the first in Southeast Asian Islamic history and the second in politics. Both are now gone.

Prior to our discussion, this great historian showed me a dissertation.

In Canberra, Australia, on the campus of the Australian National University (ANU), I met my thesis supervisor, Prof. MC Ricklefs, in April 1994. Prior to our discussion, this great historian showed me a dissertation. “This is a very good dissertation,” said Ricklefs. He asked, “Do you know him?” I looked at the thick dissertation, 19th Century Southeast Asian Ulama Network, and found Azyumardi's name as the author. I said to Ricklefs, “Sure, I know him.”

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I deliberately mention two cities with academic reputations in the context of Azyumardi's departure on Sunday, 18 September 2022. Canberra and London are places where the world's scientists reside. In these two cities, both very far from Lubuk Alung, a small town in West Sumatra, where he was born in March 1955, I could not “run” from Azyumardi. In Canberra, I "was struck" with Ricklefs' praise, while in London, moments after we arrived, Azyumardi was awarded the CBE from the Queen of the United Kingdom.

In Ciputat, in the early 1980s, due to his talent as a thinker, I listed Azyumardi's name as an article writer for the Kompas daily. Since 1978, I have been a writer for this big daily. So, for the first time, together with me, Azyumardi's name was listed in the Kompas daily, in the article, "The Political System of Humanity" (8/4/1981).

One day, I asked Azyumardi to write about the political thoughts of the philosopher Nietzsche. The manuscript was given to me. After I edited it to provide a theoretical outline, I asked him to include his name and send it to Kompas. Azyumardi hesitated and said, "Shouldn't there be a name for kak [older brother] Fachry?" Because I am the elder, he called me Kak. I said, “The writing is good. You don't need to hesitate." Sure enough, the article was published by Kompas.

Ciputat Intelectual Community

Since the early 1970s, Nurcholish Madjid had emerged as a "shaking" thinker. After becoming the general chairman of the Ciputat Branch of the Islamic Student Association (HMI), then the chairman of the West Java HMI Coordination Board (Badko), he was elected as the general chairman of the HMI

Executive Board (PB). After that, Nurcholish came up with ideas that had never been thought of by Muslims throughout Indonesia's modern history. With immeasurable intellectual courage, Nurcholish amplified the slogan, “Islam Yes; Islamic Party, No”.

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Azyumardi Azra

As a member of HMI in the mid-1970s, I also proposed the Ciputat Intellectual Community association. The goal was to create a “collective Nurcholish”. For our age, Nurcholish was too senior. So, we made him our model. The tasks of the Ciputat Intellectual Community were unlimited discussions, sharing literature and guiding juniors.

Azyumardi, along with others, entered the range of this intellectual community. I let Azyumardi collect my writings, classify them and make a preface to become a separate book.

Azyumardi's efforts were like a midwife to my book, Religion, Islam and Development, published by PLP2M in Yogyakarta, in 1985. That was Azyumardi's first edited book. In "Introduction to the Editor" of Religion, Islam and Development, Azyumardi wrote about me: “Under the flamboyant tree at the IAIN Ciputat campus, I looked at the young man in awe, a little confused. Admiration, because at a young age he was able to write in the national mass media. Confused, because of his appearance: of medium stature, with long hair and shabby clothes. That young man is Fachry Ali.”

His father encouraged him to find a place under the intellectual influence of Nurcholish Madjid in the Ciputat Intellectual Community.

Here we see the early process of Azyumardi articulating the power of intellectual talent as the realization of his father's dream. Even though he worked as a carpenter in his village, Azyumardi's father was determined that his son would get a good education. It was he who directed Azyumardi to continue his studies at IAIN Ciputat, not IKIP or Andalas University, as Azyumardi aspired to. His father encouraged him to find a place under the intellectual influence of Nurcholish Madjid in the Ciputat Intellectual Community.

So much was Azyumardi's influence on a global level that my intellectual and mentor at LP3ES and the editor-in-chief of KAMI Daily, Nono Anwar Makarim, asked for his recommendation for an event in the United States.

Since then, Azyumardi's intellectual articulation has been unstoppable. After being active, together with Komaruddin Hidayat and Iqbal Abdurrauf Saimima, in the Panji Masyarakat magazine, led by Rusjdi Hamka, and continuing his studies in the United States, Azyumardi appeared as a qualified intellectual. He received a global academic award. So much was Azyumardi's influence on a global level that my intellectual and mentor at LP3ES and the editor-in-chief of KAMI Daily, Nono Anwar Makarim, asked for his recommendation for an event in the United States.

As an intellectual, Azyumardi continued his ideas and aspirations as a student activist. In 1978, as a student leader at IAIN Ciputat, Azyumardi was searched by the army for leading a demonstration. He, after “hiding” in the hospital, was found and experienced the New Order prison.

ABK

Azyumardi Azra

So, when we now see the productivity of Azyumardi's criticism of the government in his writings, we must see it as a continuation of his intellectual unrest since he was a student. In the midst of the silent rectors and the silent campuses, Azyumardi, along with a few other intellectuals, continued to speak critically. His critical voice was authoritative because it was supported by his internationally recognized scholarship. Moreover, Azyumardi was also a member of the global-democracy team formed and led by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The sudden departure of the professor is a loss to Indonesia and the world.

(This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo)