All of us, from various walks of life, have a responsibility to strengthen the culture of tolerance and uphold human rights. To Muhammadiyah, the message of UN HRCR 16/18 is the embodiment of the message of Islam as Rahmatan lil ‘alamin. That is, the message of Islam that is anti-violence and anti-discrimination in all its forms, be it epistemic, direct, or structural violence.
Islam respects, appreciates, and celebrates the sunnatullah of God’s colorful creation of diversity or kebhinekaan in the spirit of unity and oneness of humanity. Islam is inclusive and impartial in spreading love and mercy (Rahmah), compassion and kindness (Rahim), tolerance and forgiveness (Awfun) to all sentient beings, indiscriminately. Islam respects women and men in the equal relationship of human dignity. Islam is committed to justice (‘Adl) for all humankind; and respects the sacredness of life and the inherent dignity of human existence. These Islamic values are the foundation of all human rights without any distinction as to gender, race, color, language, or religion.
Indonesian Roots of Tolerance and Our Toughest Task
Indonesian people already have strong cultural and historical roots of tolerance. The presence of various religions, faiths, and beliefs, namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Confucianism, entered Indonesia and all were accepted as living religions and beliefs, peacefully integrated with the existing indigenous beliefs. These created the Indonesian society we know today, which is imperatively diverse and plural.
The transformation from the local indigenous beliefs to Hinduism, which was the majority, then changed to Islam as the majority, was almost seamless and peaceful, happening without violent conflict or war in the name of religion. Pancasila which Muhammadiyah has long embraced as darul ahdi wal syahadah, has proven to be the example of the culture of tolerance, the epitome of the meeting point or kalimah sawa’ for all religions, ethnocultural and faith groups in Indonesia. Pancasila uphold the nation’s all noble religions and cultures, without negating one from the other.
The values of Pancasila, religion, and the noble culture of the nation are also unitary value that lives and influences the life of the Indonesian people in Bhinneka Tunggal Ika. Singleness or oneness or oneness unites with diversity or diversity that supports each other. Don’t just celebrate diversity, celebrate unity too so there is balance.
Our toughest task today is to face the trends that are contrary to the culture of tolerance and human rights. In the realm of everyday life, several problems still require attention and commitment from us and all world powers. Among crucial issues on the Mondial scale are the modern humanitarian crisis; poverty in developing countries amidst the abundance of wealth in developed countries; food and energy crisis; economic crisis especially financial and fiscal; environmental degradation and climate change; global migration; discrimination against women, children, disability group and other minority groups; hate speech and hostility, prejudice and xenophobia, corruption, conflict and wars, and various discriminations and issues related with asymmetric social relations in domestic, regional, and global arena.
Islamophobia faced by Muslims in other countries also persist. Cases which involve religious, ethnic, or racial sentiments as constructed by radicalism, are indeed problems that must be solved together. But we beg to remind us all: don’t be reductive in constructing as if the Indonesian nation is radical and intolerant. The potential and capacity of Indonesia as a model for a culture of tolerance and being a moderate and peaceful Islam is far stronger than that of radical and intolerant.
Muhammadiyah Perspectives on Tolerance
Muhammadiyah is a da’wah movement with a mission to deliver Islam as a religion of mercy, peace, and salvation. For Muhammadiyah, da’wah means a process to enlighten, liberate, and empower mankind to attain a meaningful life through religious services and public religious literacy (tabligh) through schools and colleges, mosques and musallas, television, radio, website, books, magazines, leaflets, social media, etc.
In the second paragraph on authentic Islamic values, Muhammadiyah recognizes the need to strengthen governmental measures to prevent religiously motivated discrimination and violence. Based on universally accepted international legal instruments such as the United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution 16/18, we support our government and all states to take measures to fulfil their responsibilities to protect all humankind from religious and racial hatred, and incitement to discrimination and violence in the name of religion.
Muhammadiyah rejects the abuse of our religion in support of discrimination and violence. We believe that Islam has been misused by some for their own political purposes to fuel prejudice and stereotyping and to incite discrimination and violence. Muhammadiyah rejects such abuse, and pledges to counter extremist religious interpretations and actions with our authentic primary narratives of positive peace.
From the perspective of psychology, empathy, love, and attitude toward peace (pacifism) are learned. So is hatred and intolerance. Pacifism or peaceful trait is a set of beliefs and behaviors that enable the creation of harmonious and non-violent relations with other parties (Galtung, 1996). A peaceful attitude is also characterized by a person who likes to seek new experiences, muhasabah (self-examination), gentle, humble, generous, flexible (Costa & McCrae, 2013). The attitude of peace is an important factor in the prevention, management, resolution, and transformation of conflicts.
The classic work by Milton Rokeach (1960) conveys that Closed Mind (versus Open Mind) is the root of suspicion, dogmatic thinking, authoritarianism, prejudice, intolerance, and exclusivism. Psychologists identify the “Dark Triad” in personality traits that are contrary to pacifist traits, namely Machiavellianism, Narcissism and Psychopathy (Broccoli et al., 2020). Other researchers show that exclusivism increases prejudice, a priori, and hatred towards different parties, and sharpens the demonization of cultural and religious groups (Allport, 1954; Hull, 1992; Pettigrew, 1997; Kaymakcan and Leirvik, 2007).
How did the enmity and division of “US versus THEM” begin? It begins from the internalization of values and norms through socialization by various societal agencies: families, communities, schools, religious institutions, and the media, exacerbated by divisive politics.
In sum, all the positive and negative traits of the culture of tolerance and peace are learned too. Therefore, hatred and intolerance must be unlearned to change them into characters of loving, tolerance, and pacifism. The educational process is a powerful instrument and investment to instil an attitude of empathy, tolerance, mutual understanding, love, and peace. We commit ourselves to implementing various programs and activities to further strengthen our shared core values mentioned above.
Muhammadiyah has been serving as a platform for intra-religious and interreligious initiatives, notably in education, humanitarian action, and advocacy. Muhammadiyah together with ‘Aisyiyah, continues to play a constructive role in global relations, considering a world full of those crucial problems. Many elements of Indonesian society certainly cannot walk and work alone in carrying out its national and global roles.
We need to forge cooperation with various parties at home and abroad so that collective efforts can be developed to tackle both local and global problems. Muhammadiyah has been and will continue to implement best practices, in collaboration with multi-stakeholders domestically and internationally, driven by the message of “Islam rahmatan lil-‘alamin” (QS Al-Anbiya: 107) and by the spirit of Al-Hujarat: 13.
Muhammadiyah Best Practices on Tolerance
Muhammadiyah and Aisyiyah strive and thrive to become Uswah Hasanah, an excellent role model in displaying a culture of tolerance and human rights, to help achieve a peaceful, just, prosperous, and civilized life based on authentic Islamic values. Education is the primary and largest movement in Muhammadiyah. Since its establishment in 1912, Muhammadiyah has been a pioneer of modernity in Islamic schools.
Muhammadiyah provides education services for all, regardless of religion, social status, and economic class. Poor people are the priority of Muhammadiyah’s educational services. To name but a few, Muhammadiyah’s best practices for promoting the culture of peace and tolerance and upholding human rights are as follows:
- KrisMuha: Muhammadiyah provides education for all, not only for Muslims, but also for Christians, Catholics, Buddhists, and other religions. In the Eastern parts of Indonesia, notably Papua and NTT, most students in Muhammadiyah schools and universities are Christians. Muhammadiyah does not do proselytization to convert to Islam, but instead provides religious education according to their faiths. Hence, they become pious in their own respective religion but at the same time feel and think culturally as Muhammadiyah, and so they claim themselves proudly as “KrisMuha” (Christian but Muhammadiyah).
- Internalization, Institutionalization, and Actualisation of Revitalized Pancasila Education as Behaviour in Daily Life (Pancasila Sebagai Laku) for University Students: This is part of Harmoni Project which started in 2019, aims to build youth awareness of the risks of violent extremism, intolerance as well promote inclusion, and equality to build the resilience of Indonesian society against intolerance, discrimination, and violent extremism.
- Empathy Training for Kindergartens: Instill the empathetic characters in the early age of children during their formative years.
- “Islamic-based Peace Education” for Junior Schools in UMS Solo-Central Java, “Sekolah Kebangsaan” and “Islam & Kemuhammadiyahan from Human Rights Perspectives” by Maarif Institute.
- Eco-Bhinneka through interfaith collaboration to mitigate climate change while nurturing socioreligious diversity.
- Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy, in collaboration with Leimena Institute, training more than 4.000 madrasah teachers on co-existence and interfaith collaborative competencies.
- Peace journalism and progressive Islam media channels: e.g., IBTimes.id, Rahma.id, KalimahSawa.id.
- Peace Generation, Peacesantren Welas Asih (compassionate boarding school) in Garut founded and developed by Irfan Amalee.
- In the international arena, Muhammadiyah collaborates bilaterally and multilaterally with various endeavors. To name a few: Muhammadiyah Disaster Management Centre; International Contact Group for peace process in Bangsamoro; International Buddhist-Muslim Relations Forum (BMF with core members of Thailand-based International Network of Engaged Buddhists, Malaysia-based International Movement for a Just World, Muhammadiyah, New York-based Religions for Peace, and Finland-based Networks for Traditional and Religious Peacemakers; biannual World Peace Forum, collaboration between the CDCC with Muhammadiyah Central Board and Cheng Ho Multicultural Educational Trust.
We hope that the Jakarta Plurilateral Dialogue can produce novel views and a strategic agenda for strengthening culture of tolerance, actions for positive peace, and human rights across multi stakeholders across religions and faiths, as well as across nations and civilizations. We all aspire that commitment and message of UN HRCR 16/18 does not only stop at declarations and conferences but can be realized in the real life of all citizens of the world.
Editor: Soleh