The Student Personality Development Unit of Universitas Brawijaya (PKM UB) through the Center for Character and Diversity Studies (CCDS) of Universitas Brawijaya held a seminar entitled “International Talks: Education in the Shadow of Radicalism”, Tuesday (12/6/2024) at the Raden Wijaya UB Gazebo.
Present as the keynote speaker was Mun’in Sirry, Assistant Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame, and author of the book Education and Radicalism: Data and Theory of Understanding Religious Intolerance in Indonesia.
On the same occasion, the Acting Head of the Student Personality Development Unit (PKM) UB, Mohamad Anas.
In his presentation, Anas provided several critical notes on Mun’im’s research results in the book. First, regarding the conversion theory. Through the conversion theory, Anas said, Mun’im was able to provide a roadmap on how to understand why people become radical and what factors allow radicalization to occur.
Second, there may be differences in values regarding the standards of intolerance.
“For example, is it an intolerant act when a Muslim does not allow Christmas greetings. Is Mun’im’s assessment not too excessive about this? Third, is it enough to overcome radicalism by providing alternative religious studies, remind that in Mun’im’s own findings, the main factor causing people to become radical is not because of religious understanding, but because of friendship ties and traumatic experiences,” he said.
Anas added, one of Mun’im’s very interesting concepts related to radicalization is the term ‘radical reluctant’, that there are people who are half-hearted in becoming radical. Therefore, these people can sometimes repent on their own, especially when they realize that being radical is difficult, there are many demands.
Responding to Anas’ critical comments, Mun’im, who was born in Madura, explained that the book he wrote was an attempt to present a theoretical discourse on the phenomenon of radicalism and intolerance in high schools and several universities in Indonesia. He did this because there is a lot of data available regarding radicalism in Indonesia, but very few academics in the country are able to explain it with an adequate conceptual framework.
“It is unfortunate that there are many new things in Indonesia that Westerners need to know about, such as radicalism, but the results of local research can only be read in Indonesia, not placed in a broader framework,” said Mun’im.
Mun’im further explained that we need to be careful in understanding the phenomenon of radicalism, because the character of radicalism is very diverse. In fact, it is so diverse that we will never be able to define the term radicalism/radical completely.
Regarding Christmas greetings, Mun’im explained why it is included in an intolerant attitude. According to him, there is a view among Muslims that tolerance related to faith is forbidden.
And saying Christmas is considered part of affirming Christian beliefs which some Muslims associate with polytheism. In fact, Mun’im said that Christmas is not an important part of Christian theology.
“Jesus was not born on December 25th but March, so Christmas is not part of Christian beliefs. Those people do not understand what the beliefs of other religions are due to their ignorance,” said Mun’im.
At the end of his presentation, Mun’im said that radical attitudes in everyday real phenomena also arise due to ignorance factors caused by minimal interaction with other people who have different identities. Although Indonesia is known as a pluralistic country, many have never met/become friends with people of different beliefs. Our ignorance is a source of suspicion. The more closed we are, the greater the suspicion will be, while people who interact more often with different people, the higher their tolerance/openness. This is where interaction is important.
Suspicion does not develop when we grow up interacting.
Mun’im’s presence at UB apparently attracted enough enthusiasm from participants to fill the gazebo space which was set up for sitting on the floor. Even the participants were willing to follow the event until the end even though it lasted from 19.00 to 22.00 WIB. The interest was also seen on the UPK PKM Youtube channel, full of participants who watched the event online. (*/OKY/UB PR/ Trans. Iir).
