The Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Indonesia (FISIP UI) in collaboration with Class of 1977 Alumni Association held the talkshow “Diversity of Indonesia: Social Capital for Nation Building” on Thursday, 16 February, at the Juwono Sudarsono Auditorium at the Depok campus of FISIP UI.
The talkshow was held in order to discuss the results of a national survey on socio-religious intolerance and radicalism among Muslims in Indonesia in 2016 conducted by the Wahid Foundation together with the Indonesian Survey Institute in 34 provinces in Indonesia. The results of this survey were delivered directly by Yenny Wahid as the Director of the Wahid Institute in the presence of students and academics of UI and other invitees.
The survey produced interesting results, showing a high level of tolerance in the nation to keep upholding the Unitary Republic of Indonesia and the importance of religious freedom and democracy. In more detail, the survey results show more than 72% rejected radical violent acts in the name of religion, 88.37% said that the people need religious freedom, 65.35% thought that the state should protect developing ideas in the society, 82.3% said that Pancasila and the Constitution were appropriate for Indonesia, and 67.3% were in favor of democracy. However, the data also show challenges faced by this nation, among others, law enforcement, bureaucratic reform and social media hoaxes and hate speech that can quickly and massively influence public opinion.
Based on the survey results, the talkshow was held, presenting guest discussants Dr. H. Sudibyo Markus (VP for International Relations of PP Muhammadiyah) and featuring discussants from the Class of 1977 Alumni Association from various perspectives in order to contribute to the academic analysis of the problems and challenges facing Indonesia now. The discussants from the Alumni presented the following topics: Pluralistic Society in the Dynamics of Social Change and Social Cohesion by Prof. Dr. Emy Susanti, MA (Lecturer of Department of Sociology, Airlangga University); Human Rights-Diversity, Intolerance and Protection of Minorities by Rafendi Djamin (Human Rights Activist); The Response of Indonesian Foreign Relations by Niniek Kunaryati (Advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs); and Integration and Tolerance in the Age of Global Communication by Henny S. Widyaningsih (Lecturer of Communication Studies FISIP UI, and Commissioner of the Central Information Commission).
These activities were also organized as part of the celebration of the 40 years of friendship of the Class of 1977.
