May 9, 2005
Dear Family, Friends and Colleagues,
Recently I read in Nietzsche, “One must still have chaos
in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.”
Perhaps Indonesia, like Nietzsche, has a bit too much chaos in
her soul, but I love the dancing stars born out of this lovely
land. The Western press only tells about the sensational chaos:
violence, conflicts and the most stupendous earthquakes and tidal
waves in human memory. But to me, this trembling land of 17,000
islands, volcanoes and ancient civilizations is like a great dancing
star, full of movement, beauty and mystery. The most significant
event in Indonesian history this year was not the tsunami but
rather the peaceful, democratic election of a strong and moderate
government. In 1998 the people rose up and deposed the authoritarian
President Soeharto and began a process of political, economic
and cultural reform. Democratic freedoms, economic crisis, and
a power vacuum at the center brought many conflicts out into the
open. Finally, structural changes allowed the first direct election
of a president with enough power to rule. We all held our breath
as corrupt politicians, old generals, family dynasties, and Islamic
radicals all jockeyed for public favor. However, the people of
Indonesia showed remarkable political maturity and chose an intelligent
reformist from the military with a strong track record of advocacy
for constitutional, democratic policy. Of course it is far too
early to pass judgment of the government of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
but it appears that stability has returned to Indonesian politics.
Farsijana and I are at the end of our current term in Indonesia.
Next week we fly to the Netherlands for the public defense of
Farsijana’s dissertation (“Politics, Ritual and Identity
in Indonesia, A Moluccan History of Religion and Social Conflict”)
and “promotion” to the Ph.D. on May 18. On June 15
we leave Yogyakarta for our six months, PC(USA) “interpretation
assignment.” We will be centered in Berkeley, but expect
to do a lot of traveling. Send us an email at Bernie
and Farsijana if you want us to visit you.
Our last two letters centered on the tsunami. This letter focuses
on Muslim-Christian relations. It is amazing how we’ve been
welcomed into Muslim communities. We have many interreligious
activities at our house. That was in our “private space”
and “free time.” But in the last few years we’ve
been invited into the public space of Muslim institutions that
empower us to share with a wider and more diverse community. Farsijana
was elected the district head of the Indonesian Woman’s
Coalition (KPI), whose members are mostly Muslim. Then she was
invited to run for national office by Gus Dur, as part of a Muslim
party ticket. That gave her a wonderful opportunity to campaign
for interreligious reconciliation in an area of recent civil war.
With support from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, she planned
a “Moluccan Cultural Dialogue” that brought 50 Moluccan
kings, including 25 Muslim and 25 Christian kings, to Yogyakarta
for a dialogue on Moluccan culture and peace. Farsijana and a
committee of Christian and Muslim Moluccans worked for months
in preparing “pre-seminars” and contacting the key
kings who were involved in the thick of the civil-religious war
in the Moluccas. Both the sultan of Yogyakarta and the governor
of Moluccas helped moderate the heated discussions. Last month
Farsijana went to Ambon to visit some of the participants and
see the effects. She was delighted to find that the governor is
using the cultural approach of the dialogues as a method for promoting
Muslim-Christian reconciliation.
Meanwhile, I’m teaching a heavy load of graduate courses
to Muslim students. With permission from Duta Wacana Christian
University and PC(USA), I’m teaching master’s and
doctoral classes at both the Islamic State University (UIN, formerly
IAIN) and at Gadjah Mada University (UGM), the oldest national
university in Indonesia. This is a great honor and wonderful opportunity
to learn. Islam is extremely diverse, and my students run the
whole gamut, from very liberal, almost secular Muslims, to radical
fundamentalists. I’m teaching courses on political and social
philosophy, the philosophy of social science, justice and human
rights, the sociology of religion, the philosophy of religion,
and global issues (democracy, civil society, pluralism, etc.).
I never know what questions will come. I may be asked about the
attack on Iraq, the meaning of the Trinity, Foucault’s conception
of knowledge as power, why Jesus died, global capitalism, or why
America supports Israel. There are usually one or two gentle but
firm feminists in the class as well as several equally committed
chauvinists.
One of my doctoral students at UIN is a self-proclaimed radical
Muslim fundamentalist. When he and others were over to our house
for dinner one evening, he joked that he was my “terrorist
student.” Farsijana asked him, “Terrorist according
to whom?” He answered, “According to America!”
and everyone broke out laughing. He invited me to come visit the
Pesantren Ngruki, which is the fundamentalist boarding school
that graduated most of the people involved in the Bali bombing.
He himself wrote his M.A. thesis defending the Ngruki teaching
on Jihad. At Ngruki I spent two hours in deep discussion with
the director of the pesantren. He was remarkably open,
and we found many areas of both agreement and disagreement. I
had to revise my negative prejudices that he would be a close-minded
fanatic who hated Americans. Perhaps he too revised his prejudices
about Christians. I was reminded of my own deep commitments when
I read on the pesantren wall: “Be a good Muslim,
or die!” Now we are beginning the process of emotional and
mental change required for reentering European and American society.
I don’t like the cultural jarring, but it’s good for
us, keeps us awake, and preserves a little chaos in our souls.
Warm greetings from Yogyakarta,
Bernie and Farsijana
The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
128 |
