Written by Maurisa Zinira

The progress of Islamic studies in Indonesia is quite extensive. This can be seen from the variety of research models that have developed. Although the debate around Islam and the West is still ongoing and religious sectarianism remains strong, Indonesia’s intellectual climate is relatively open to various views and alternative ideas.

In her book Whose Islam? The Western University of Modern Islamic Thought in Islam, Megan Brankley Abbas said that modern Indonesian Islamic thought cannot be separated from the influence of Western universities. This book was discussed at the Reading in Social Science (RISOS) forum held April 22, 2002 entitled “Hantu Imperialisme Akademis? Universitas Barat dan Pemikiran Islam Modern di Indonesia” (The Ghost of Academic Imperialism? Western Universities and Modern Islamic Thought in Indonesia). In her book, Abbas argues that those who studied in the West returned to Indonesia and brought renewal to Indonesian Islamic thought. However, some circles are still haunted by negative stereotypes about the West. She asks whether is true that there is an imperialism agenda in the Western knowledge of Islam? To discuss the topic, the forum invited alumni of Western education such as Saiful Mujani, Yeni Ratna Yuningsih, and Zainal Abidin Bagir whose experiences resonate with what Megan addressed in the book. read more

Wednesday Forum – 27 April 2022

The small, Indian Ocean island known as Sarandib, Lanka, and Ceylon was a site of banishment throughout the 18th century for members of royal families, convicts, servants and others sent there from across the Indonesian archipelago. Descendants of these exiles who remained on the island continued to speak and write in Malay, the archipelago’s lingua franca, and to adhere to a collective Muslim identity for several centuries and into the present. The talk considers if and how earlier religious and literary traditions of banishment tied to the island – those of Adam’s fall from paradise to Sarandib and Sinta’s abduction to Lanka – played a role in the lives of the early exiles and their descendants. read more

Wednesday Forum – 2o April 2022

Religious extremism among students in major campuses in Indonesia remains a cause for concern for Indonesian government officials. Several social and political surveys, journal articles and scholar reports have presented and discussed the rise of religious extremism among youths in Indonesia. But few have discussed religious extremism among students in Indonesian universities. This webinar aims to explore what cause Indonesian university students to subscribe to extreme ideas of Islam and also, to analyse the effectiveness of government and campus policies in tackling student religious extremism in Indonesia major campuses. This webinar argues that university students are lured to subscribe to religious extreme ideas due to increasing religious extremism narratives in public or private spheres. These narratives are internalized in the minds of university students in systematic and structured ways, through regular meetings and online postings, and through public events such as webinars organized by student organizations that promote extreme ideas of Islam. The internalization of such ideology is exacerbated with the lack of narratives on moderate Islam in public and private spheres. The government and campus authorities have formulated and implemented strategies to tackle the religious extremism problems among university students, but they largely work in silos, hence their strategies are not fully effective. This webinar is based on, among others, in-depth interviews with student activists, campus authorities and government officials during a one-month-long fieldtrip in some major campuses in Yogyakarta, Jakarta and Bandung between October and November 2021. read more

Wednesday Forum – 13 April 2022

How can mutual understanding and exchanges among people of different cultures and ethnicities be supported in a manner that recognizes the variety of their worldviews and spatial-temporal-kinesthetic knowledge and cultural and spiritual values? In Diane’s experience, a practice-based approach to the art of intercultural dialogue does not stem from a predetermined method but rather is an organic process that grows from the interactions of the people involved, which will evolve differently in each place depending on its historical and current conditions. One approach that she has greatly appreciated in Indonesia, which has given good results, is by taking into account the place, time and conditions. With this in mind, she will share some aspects one might consider in the fostering of a common field for dialogue. read more

Wednesday Forum – 06 April 2022

In this talk I would like to talk about the role that AI can play regarding religion. Since I come from a Buddhist culture, my example will be mostly from Buddhism, but I intend that my talk will be applicable to AI and other religions too. Among the questions that I will be addressing are: With the advent and rapid development of AI, what kind of impact will AI have on religion? There are many aspects of the impact that we can discuss. AI can be used to help the practicing of religion in various ways. An example of this is the robot monk in Japan. The robot can recite Buddhist sutras and practitioners can gather around it to listen to the sutra. Secondly, AI can be used to help with analyzing religious texts, such as doing concordances and searching for passages. This can be of great help to those who have to go through a large amount of texts everyday. Thirdly, AI can be used as an engine inside apps that aid with meditation. There are several apps that claim to do this. I will then reflect on these developments and will ask what do AI’s increasing roles in our religious lives and practices actually mean. Can AI itself become religious? If so, what does this signify in terms of our religions? read more

International Board Members and Executive Committee of Globethics.net

Written by Jekonia Tarigan

Globethics.net is a global network of teachers and institutions with the vision to embed ethics in higher education. Founded in 2004, Globethics.net strives to educate and inform people, and especially leaders in society so they can contribute to building sustainable, just, and peaceful societies.  Therefore, Globethics.net believes that equal access to knowledge resources in the field of applied ethics enables individuals and institutions from developing and transitioning economies to become more visible and audible in the global discourse is pivotal. Globethics.net maintains the conviction that the transformative effect of ethics is not just for the individual, but for society as a whole. For this reason, Globethics.net develops its resources and programs to meet the following goals: empowerment (developing talents), transformation (placing common good before self-interest), a holistic approach (understanding of in-depth correlations), integrity (making values-based decisions and behaviors), competence (focusing on innovative and collective proficiency), and sustainability. read more

Written by Jekonia Tarigan

In the social sciences, specifically related to Asia, there has long been a distinction between South Asian Studies and Southeast Asian Studies. However, there is a link between the two, the small, Indian Ocean Island known through history as Sarandib, Lanka, and Ceylon. This island was a site of banishment throughout the 18th century for members of royal families, convicts, servants, and others sent there from across the Indonesian archipelago. Descendants of these exiles who remained on the island continued to speak and write in Malay, the archipelago’s lingua franca, and to adhere to a collective Muslim identity for several centuries and into the present. Ronit Ricci’s research examines if and how earlier religious and literary traditions of banishment tied to the island, those of Adam’s fall from paradise to Sarandib and Sinta’s abduction to Lanka, played a role in the lives of the early exiles and their descendants. [i] Ricci presented her findings in Wednesday Forum, a weekly discussion forum hosted by the Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS) and the Center for Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies (CRCS) on April 26, 2022. Ricci is a lecturer in the departments of Asian Studies and Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Since 2013, she has been developing Indonesian Studies at the Hebrew University, the only Israeli university to offer this field of study. Her research interests include manuscript cultures of Javanese and Malay, translation studies, and Islamic literature from South and Southeast Asia. read more

We are proud as UGM announced that ICRS and CRCS UGM were ranked number 47 in the world and number 1 in Indonesia for the Theology, Divinity, and Religious Studies category by Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings (QS WUR) by Subject. We would like to extend our deepest gratitude and appreciation to all who have been supporting us to obtain this achievement.

As reported in Kompas, Universitas Gadjah Mada achieved the 47th ranking in the world and the first nationally in the category of Theology, Divinity and Religious Studies. The Graduate School of UGM offers a Master of Arts degree in Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS) and a doctoral program in Inter-Religious Studies (IRS). The latter is part of the Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS), which consists of Universitas Gadjah Mada, Universitas Kristen Duta Wacana and Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga Yogykarta. read more