By Dr Dicky Sofjan
Core Doctoral Faculty
Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS)
Graduate School of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Yogyakarta, Indonesia
[By Invitation Only]
Date: 1 April 2016
Venue : ISIS Conference Room, Level 2
Overview
In the past few years, following the tumultuous period of reformasi, Indonesia has been experiencing what scholars have termed “the conservative turn”. Such a phenomenon has been marked by the rising level of intolerance in society and the rampant intra- and inter-religious conflicts occurring in some parts of the archipelago. This poses a major problem for the so-called “Indonesian Islam”—with Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama being its “social anchors”—hence potentially changing the country’s political landscape and democratic trajectory. The talk will thus argue that it is imperative and timely to reassess Indonesia’s Islamic liberal tradition and pluralistic culture, which the country has been famous for. It will also examine how the religious fault lines have led to political reconfiguration, policy divergence and social polarization, which concurrently and ultimately could pose a serious threat to Indonesia’s security, identity and integrity.
