Dialogue on Tolerance and Nationality as Prevention of

Religious Radicalism in Higher Education

Wasino

, Endah Sri Hartatik

and Fitri Amalia Shintasiwi

Universitas Negeri Semarang, Taman Siswa Street, Semarang, Indonesia

Universitas Diponegoro, Tembalang, Semarang City, Central of Java, Indonesia

Keywords: Tolerance, Dialogue, Radicalism, Students.

Abstract: The results of academic studies on the tolerance index in Indonesia show a decline in the spirit of religious

tolerance. This attitude is comparable to the increasing issue of religious radicalism in the mass media

community. In the news it was mentioned that several campuses became arenas of developing intolerant

attitudes through closed religious forums. This study aims to model dialogue between student organizations

on campus to narrow the potential for the development of ideas of religious radicalism. This research was

conducted using qualitative methods with a phenomenological design. The data source of this research came

from participants who were functionaries in student organizations. The results showed that 1) the campus

accommodated religious activities of students, but was more dominant towards Muslims; 2) space for

followers of other religions is very limited, especially in the context of building positive dialogue; 3) after

conducting focus group discussions involving various elements of student organizations, a joint agreement

emerged on the dissemination of tolerance ideas in each organization to prevent the development of

radicalism ideas. The implication of this research is that dialogue between student organizations on campus

is needed as a bridge to build a peaceful Indonesia and prevent the development of religious understanding

that is oriented towards contention and division.

1 INTRODUCTION

Religious radicalism in the journey of the Indonesian

people is not something new. From time to time,

radicalism continues to grow with the times. Since

the time of the Indonesian Islamic State which was

pioneered by Kartosuwiryo in West Java (Anderson,

1993) until the Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), the

spirit to establish an Islamic state under the banner

of the Islamic Khilafah continued (Muhtadi, 2009).

Religious radicalism is a problem that is never

finished in the process of disseminating the idea of

nationalism. Efforts to build a new generation that

has a sense of nationalism and patriotism beyond the

old generation is hindered by the still developing

religious radicalism in Indonesia (Arifianto, 2018).

This indicates that the consensus of the nation's

founders still leaves many problems regarding the

meaning of the unity and form of the Indonesian

state. Groups like HTI still use history as their

weapon in arguing about the ideals of forming an

Indonesian state under the Khilafah. Most pro-

Khilafah sympathizers with intellectual

backgrounds, both as lecturers and students. Budi

Gunawan, Head of the Indonesian State Intelligence

Agency (BIN) when speaking at the IV Congress of

the Nahdlatul Ulama University Student Executive

Board (BEM) throughout the Nusantara on April 28,

2018, revealed that about 39 percent of students

from the number of universities had been exposed to

radical understanding. This research was conducted

by BIN in 2017, after the study there were 15

provinces in Indonesia that became BIN's attention

as an area of religious radicalism movement

(‘Radikalisme Agama dan Perguruan Tinggi’, 2018).

Both the results of the Setara Institute research

revealed two forms of religious radicalism in higher

education, namely a form of religious puritanism

and a form of political-ideology. In the form of

religious puritanism, the religious radicalism

movement emphasizes religious methods that are

more stringent in accordance with religious

doctrines. Religious puritanism also appears in the

way of viewing and attitude towards scientific

science. For puritans, science must be built on a

foundation and developed within the framework of

112

Wasino, ., Sri Hartatik, E. and Shintasiwi, F.

Dialogue on Tolerance and Nationality as Prevention of Religious Radicalism in Higher Education.

DOI: 10.5220/0010012401120115

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Social and Political Development (ICOSOP 3 2019) - Social Engineering Governance for the People, Technology and Infrastructure in

Revolution Industry 4.0, pages 112-115

ISBN: 978-989-758-472-5

religious doctrines (Eliraz, 2004; developer,

2019).Research conducted by the Setara Institute

also indicates a decline in the spirit of tolerance

between religious communities in Indonesia.

The explanation above shows the campus

becomes a place that supports the spread of the idea

of radicalism. In a small observation and observation

of the behavior of student institutions on campus

shows the results that student organizations on

campus with various backgrounds and objectives do

not have an effective communication forum to

capture the issues and problems that develop.

Therefore, students are very easily fragmented and

utilized by groups in the name of religion who want

to change the country's foundation (Fealy, 2004;

Lim, 2005). Religious radicalism is a problem in

Indonesia considering that Indonesian society

consists of various tribes and religions. Radicalism

has the potential to trigger disharmony in society

that threatens the integrity of the nation-state. As a

multicultural country, Indonesia has large social

capital to advance social life (Suparlan, 2014),

multiculturalism, according to Banks, is an

inseparable idea in community management in

developed countries (Banks, 2008). Multiculturalism

serves as a guideline to build religious harmony, in

the context of religious radicalism, multiculturalism

is a concrete idea that can be used to counter

narratives produced by radical groups and jihadists

(Castro, 2013). Religious radicalism that develops

on campus must be interpreted as infiltration of

radical groups and jihadists in the intellectual world

which is full of struggles of ideas and thoughts.

Constitutional methods are inadequate to stem the

development of radical ideas. Efforts to habituate

social agendas that occupy all groups of students

from various backgrounds are a more humane way,

given that the meeting has the potential to bring

together ideas from each group to create an

understanding of the problems faced. From there a

resolution can be drawn up on efforts to create

tolerance and social harmony on campus and the

community that begins with dialogue between

student organizations.

Based on the above reasons, this research

question 1) how is the communication model

between student organizations appropriate to counter

the development of the idea of religious radicalism

on campus? This research focuses on the language

and functionary actions of student organizations

from various backgrounds. Language and action

imply their ideas of tolerance and nationality (Hegel,

Rauch and Sherman, 1999).

2 METHOD

This research was conducted using qualitative

methods with a phenomenological design (Creswel,

2009). The phenomenon of this research is the

widespread influence of radicalism and the

development of these ideas on campus. This

research is specific and intense at Semarang State

University. This study involved 60 participants, they

were functionaries of student organizations with

various categories, the most striking of which were

religion and social politics. Organizations that have

religious ideologies such as Islamic Spirituality,

Christian Spirituality, Hindu Spirituality, Buddhist

Spirituality, and Konghuchu Spirituality.

Organizations with socio-political backgrounds on

campus are the Student Executive Board (BEM) and

the Student Association (HIMA). In addition, there

are organizations that combine religious and socio-

political ideas known as off-campus student

organizations, such as the Indonesian Muslim

Student Action Unit (KAMMI), the Indonesian

Islamic Student Movement (PMII), the Student

Movement of Liberation, the Islamic Student

Association (HMI). The data of this study were

collected using interview techniques and focus

group discussions. Data analysis in this study used

an interactive model (Miles et al., 1994).

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The development of religious radicalism in tertiary

institutions is a reflection of the unmet fulfillment of

the responsibilities of tertiary institutions (Hadiz,

2008). It also means that the momentum of religious

radicalism is the driving force for universities to

form a holistic and universal epistemic worldview.

DT1 argues:

"Higher education has never mediated or brought

together student organizations in a forum to

discuss the issue of religious radicalism, so that

groups considered radical and jihadists can be free

to move, but we understand that campus managers

and students have the same prejudice and

sensitivity about the issue".

The importance of the meeting forum

between student organizations was also

conveyed by DT3:

"Inter-group dialogue is needed to form a

collective understanding of the campus

community, we have concerns about the issue of

religious radicalism, there are several mosques or

prayer rooms in the faculty that are free to be used

by any group, some of our members indicate one

Dialogue on Tolerance and Nationality as Prevention of Religious Radicalism in Higher Education

113

mosque at a particular faculty has been used for

the activities of radical groups and jihadists".

This is a serious threat to the campus,

considering that groups with a strong Islamic

outlook need a place or arena to develop, from a

narrow to broad arena. Infiltration of radical

ideology based on religion is indeed tempting for

students, this is the biggest problem that must be

understood by campus managers(Azra, 2004; Hosen

and Mohr, 2011; Wasino, Kurniawan and

Shintasiwi, 2019). Student organizations such as

spiritual groups have a more open view of religious

radicalism, DT2 argues:

"The development of religious radicalism on

campus no longer needs to be covered up, we are

very aware of their existence and continue to build

strength bases on campus mosques, in addition

they take advantage of moments when other

groups of organizations based on nationalism do

not have enough criticism and literacy, so their

development is very rapid, I think policy

interventions need to be carried out, especially in

faculties, for organizations that are based on more

moderate religions and accept differences, this is

also a gap for radical groups and jihadists to

infiltrate, their groups are large and vocal, so do

not just mention that they are a small group and do

not have the power".

The above view represents the thoughts of most

of the campus community, religious radicalism is

indeed the most difficult to eradicate(Jati, 2013),

because it involves other people's beliefs. In the

historical record, the group who wanted the

establishment of the Islamic State of Indonesia under

Kartosuwiryo in a very fast growing rapidly

throughout Indonesia (Van Bruinessen, 2002). This

has become a valuable lesson to build a more

tolerant future of Indonesia, in this context the

campus situation has not made it possible to form a

new force or alliance against radical groups and

jihadists. So we need an alternative movement based

on thinking about multiculturalism and social

hamonization to prevent religious radicalism from

expanding and strengthening.

Religious radicalism on campus has become the

spotlight of the government, but until now there has

been no strategic action to counter the spread of

radical ideas (Sumandoyo, no date; Arifianto, 2018).

DT4 argues:

"Discussion forums that raise national themes need

to be multiplied by the campus, so that in the

forum HIMA, BEM, and Spiritual Groups of

various religions are able to dialogue and redefine

the direction of the nationalist and patriotism-

oriented student movement. such academic talk is

rarely carried out, it is only natural that there are

many gaps for radical groups and jihadists to

develop their teachings on campus”.

This view is in line with Azra argue, who

explains that religious radicalism on campus should

be addressed through strategic policies on campus,

lest efforts to address the issue of radicalism damage

campus freedom, as the campus authority holder has

the right to hold academic forums in discussing this

crucial issue (Azra, 2006). The results of the Focus

Group Discussion conducted resulted in several

important agreements, namely the need for student

organizations with various backgrounds to hold

regular discussions about nationality and diversity. It

is intended to familiarize multicultural behavior and

ideas for students. Religious organizations need to

conduct joint studies on multiculturalism from

various perspectives, this aims to close the

possibility of prejudice and stigma between religious

groups. The meetings were a concrete effort to build

a model of tolerance dialogue that provided

opportunities for the growth of religious harmony

from within the campus. In the Focus Group

Discussion activity, DT2 argued:

"All student organizations should support efforts

to disseminate the ideas of nationality and

tolerance, especially we must call for this campus

to be brave against radical actions that are contrary

to religious and cultural values. In addition, this

kind of dialogue is needed to equalize perceptions,

lest, as fellow campus members, we are

prejudiced. We must unite against efforts to

disintegrate the nation".

The meeting activity has proven that dialogue is

a need for students to be able to formulate steps to

deal with strategic issues in the community.

Radicalism and religious jihadism are efforts to

divide the Indonesian nation which has been born as

a multicultural nation, however the will of the will is

not desired by every citizen of the nation. The

results of this study also support Banks, Azra, Hosen

and Sirozi, that actions and thoughts about religious

radicalism must be prevented humanist, to show

their groups about humane religious life. Awareness

efforts through dialogue of tolerance and nationality

need to be multiplied in campuses to form new

opinions about religious thoughts that are more

moderate and far from violence (Azra, 2002; Sirozi,

2005; Banks, 2006; Hosen, 2013).

4 CONCLUSION

Religious radicalism needs to be taken seriously by

the academic community in university. Management

of student activities needs to be done with

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consideration of issues that are developing in the

community. Campus as an intellectual arena and has

freedom in it is often used by certain groups to

disseminate ideas that are contrary to the basic

philosophy of this country. Efforts to prevent the

spread of the idea of religious radicalism by

conducting dialogue of tolerance and nationalism

between student organizations. In addition, students

also need to be directed so they can network with the

entire campus community. The power of that

relationship can effectively prevent the development

of radical ideas. By establishing good relations

between students and lecturers, alumni and student

organizations both intra or extra, lecturers who in

fact as parents within the campus are able to direct

so that the activities carried out by students are

always in the right corridor and in accordance with

the principles of the state and religion. Campus can

be a funnel in voicing ideas of tolerance and

nationality through social capital, namely

intellectuality and solidarity of the academic

community.

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