Opinion

THE CURRENT PHENOMENON OF YOUNG INDONESIAN MUSLIMS AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CRITICAL EDUCATION

Abd A’la*

It has become matter of fact that youth all over the world and along history has always been becoming agent of changes. From time to time, they dynamically urge reformation and such for their communities. The young generations always come out as pioneer for the changes and development.
Speaking on Indonesia, as early as twenty century, on October 1928 AD youths from several areas where later known as Indonesia showed their significant role by organizing and delivering pledge. In this historical moment known as Sumpah Pemuda 1928, (1928 Youth Pledge) they stated that they are really one nation, one language, and one fatherland. In Indonesia history, the pledge has become one of movement triggers toward Indonesia independence in 1945.
In independence days, the Indonesian youth –most of them are Muslim –still play considerable role. In 1974, they brought about mass demonstration against the policy of totalitarian regime. The culmination of their role showed in 1998 where they were successful to overthrow the Soeharto from its presidency.
In spite of that, their activities do not always aim at and run for the sake of people and the concern of the state. Some of them tend to metamorphoses as an idea and movement being in contradiction the universal values, and even tend to threaten public areas. This condition emerges since they have such as vested interest, narrow horizon, or certain ideology making them trapped in primordial, sectarian, or radical movement referencing to complex problems, which one of it is due to dogmatic and or formalistic education. The Moslem Youth in Indonesia is one of being snared in the condition. Such phenomenon is that become stronger nowadays.
The current phenomena
Toward Soeharto step down in 1998, radical Muslims began to spring up in Indonesia. On August 17, 1998, FPI (the Islamic Defender Front) was established. Entering the twenty-first century, the fundamentalists had more domains to develop in the area due to prevalence of freedom being enjoyed by Indonesian people. On behalf of the freedom, some radical Muslims founded organizations that in turn were going to seize that freedom. Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI) was established in Yogyakarta on August 2000 with Abu Bakar Ba’asyir as the head. This organization had armed wing called Lasykar Mujahidin. Previously, in 1994 Ja’far Umar Talib, a veteran of Afghanistan war established Forum Komunikasi Ahli Sunnah wal Jamaah (FKASWJ) with its paramilitary wing, Lasykar Jihad.
In general, these radicals group and such strive to uphold Islamic shari’ah in their strict understanding. Internally, they implemented the Shariah such as Lasykar Jihad stoning to death its member proved adultery. Together with this, they urge the State to implement it formally for Indonesian people, particularly the Muslim. In this frame, they perform actively amar ma’ruf nahi munkar (command of kindliness and prevention of denial) such as wickedness control.
The Islamic radical groups as literalist assume that their ideas about Islam represent strongly the Islamic tenets. In the same time they emphasis on Islamic symbols, as it exist in early Arab-Islamic tradition because of their believing that it is Islam itself. They argue that this symbol is intrinsic of Islam itself. Nuance of Arab-Islam become strong phenomena among them. As far as correlated to this only performance, there is no noteworthy problem to discuss. The problem emerges since they hold on to one-sided claim truth, from which they blame other opinions differing from theirs as deviate and unislamic having to wipe out. These views are benchmark of almost the radical fundamentalist. Due to such views, they often perpetrate violence and act of damaging in public areas.
Ironically, the State apparatus seem neglect it in one case, and act so slowly in other cases. Even, the State had link with some Islamic radicalism. Hefner –citing ICG – showed that after the formal founding of the Lasykar Jihad in February 2000, out-of-uniform member of the Indonesian National Military helped to train Jihad fighters at a training camp outside of Bogor, West Java.
In concert with such phenomenon, terrorism and destructive power took place in some regions such as Bali bombing of 12 October 2002, which killed 202 people and hundreds more, lethal blasts at Jakarta’s Marriott Hotel on 5 August 2003, blast near the Australian Embassy on 9 September 2004, and bombing in Bali on 1 October 2005.
To what extent, there is relationship between the violence and the Indonesian Islamic radicalism. As the fact shows, some of the perpetrators of the first Bali bombing are alumna of the Ngruki Pesantren, the head of which is Abu Bakar Ba’asyir who is widely regarded as the spiritual leader of Jamaah Islamiyah, beside formally as the president of MMI.
The Islamic Youth, Radicalism, and its Roots
Many members of the Islamic radicalism groups consist of the youth. This trend parallelize with strengthening of islamisation in Indonesia happening since eighty decade of the twelve century. On those times, the students sent to Middle East who were influenced with Muslim Brotherhood came back to the country. Coming to Indonesia, they promoted the ideology and dakwah methodology of Muslim Brotherhood within such as Indonesian Students Association (PII) having close link with the Indonesian Council of Islamic Predication (DDII), the committee sending the students to the Middle East. From this cycle, the ideology spread in the secular universities in Indonesia. Some Muslim students there develop their identity through the symbols regarded as Islam originating from Arab as well as studying Islamic fundamentalist dogma.
However, the number is less than moderate one, but from time to time, their number increases significantly. After Soeharto stepped down, some of them become as truly as radical fundamentalists. Not only are interested in Arab-Islamic symbols, but due to effect of radical dogma they also carry out violent and activities. For instance, most –if not all –of perpetrators of Bali bombing – such as Imam Samudra and Muhlas –are the youth. Likewise is in other violence.
The involving of Muslim youth to radicalism roots in complicated factors. Globalization with it negative impact, certainly, contribute to the trend. The globalization metamorphosing to neo-colonialism make the people of the third world, most of them are Muslim; react to this phenomenon with their own ways. Some of them respond it by wise strategy, and the rest counter it through an instant way.
Regarding to Indonesian Muslim youth, some of them are fascinated in the latter. They are interested in fundamentalism since this thought give utopia-like promise unavailable in moderate one. In perspective the radicalism, religion is perceived as model of reality, representation of object, concrete, displaying congruence with the depicted object. Therefore, they strive to make lives in the whole world as similar as the “concrete” religion tenets they understand.
Besides, they construct the religion as media for rallying factor for the mass, and the religious symbol as crying banner to provoke the mass enthusiasm. They carry out all of this as instant reaction against the globalization, or the West generally which they perceive as the causes of world crisis, chiefly in Muslim world. The result, then, is the rampant violence, anarchism, and riots over the country.
It looks that they have a narrow horizon, and prejudice-based perception. They identify the life in dichotomy, in biner opposition. They argue Islam and its religiosity are always right, and others, particularly the West is ugly, as representation of modern jahiliyya.
The Importance of Education
To solve the problem, then, the education could play an important role. The education has to prepare man/women with knowledge and substantive religious values from which they have great possibility to increase their ability mainly in three aspects, spiritual, emotional, and intellect. In the same time, the education could transform them into attitude in which they can develop live and world conforming to sunnatullah. Through this education, people not only understand and respond reality holistically, but also comprehend human problems in global and regional contexts, and Indonesian as well.
Based on that goal, this institution need to reconstruct its system, curriculum, syllabus, as well as teaching method. The system must completely stand on the education vision in which the elements are developed as firm unity supporting the system. The subjects in the curriculum must contain of theories supporting individual life and social one, with the results people with their plurality could live in togetherness, but at the same time they do not lost their autonomous as an individual or a group differ from the other. In term of syllabus, the topics should represent the subject matter as well as its correlation with life phenomena. The teaching method, then, ought to maintain all of them through dialogical process.
This reconstruction strongly requires wise policy, which both of the government and the private organization must implement it based on the only educational values, and engage not with power-based political interests and such. We have to stress this issue since the politicization of education become stronger nowadays resulting weaknesses of education to generate educated man and women ready to respond modernity, and life in general. In this condition, the youth are interested in fundamentalism since it promises hopes which educational institution cannot do. Conversely, if the education institution could reconstruct the system, it would breed the youth generation ready to become agent of changes, they could contribute to the world positively.