Athanasia Safitri
Indonesia has seen ups and downs due to various conflicts and threats to peace from the colonial era, post-independence, and now during the era of democracy. The experiences have shown the connections between the development of democracy, peacebuilding initiatives, and conflict resolution decisions. The reflections that take place afterward inevitably come with multidisciplinary and intersectional approaches in the hope of the realization of a better democracy for Indonesia.
A national seminar titled “Conflict Resolution and Peace Experiences in the Context of Indonesia’s Future Democracy” was held on November 28, 2024, to address the issue. It is a forum for exchanging experiences, learning from best practices, and developing strategic goals in Indonesian democracy, peacebuilding, and conflict resolution. It is a component of UGM’s 75th Anniversary and 15th Lustrum events which touch several fields including those in relation to conflicts violating freedom of religion or belief (FoRB).
The keynote speaker Dr. Mohamad Jusuf Kalla shares complete evidence on how conflict resolution strategies depend on the nature of the conflict whether it is between communities or particular groups, or between the grassroots level and the state government. He underlines that conflict usually occurs when democracy takes the side of liberalism, among other issues of injustice, insecurity, and inequality. Facts sometimes get upside down as there are different facades of interests and it is common that the cause and effect can be overturned quite the opposite.
Reflection with an Interdisciplinary Approach
The first session of the panel discusses reflection of the experiences from sociological perspective, public health issues, and in relation with freedom of religion or belief. The multidisciplinary approach takes a turn to conflicts regarding the practice of religion or belief.
Dr. Zainal Abidin Bagir, the Director of the Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS), shares his thoughts on conflict and FoRB. Through his book of collaboration with other authors from three institutions; CRCS UGM; PUSAD Paramadina, and Sekber Koalisi Advokasi KBB Mengelola Konflik, Memajukan Kebebasan Beragama, he addressed several issues related to the topics. He mentions that the conflicts associated with FoRB today may not be as big as those that took place in Poso, Ambon, and Sampit. They happened on a smaller scale with fewer people getting involved and fewer death figures but in more various places, in the past 20 years.
Religious conflict now is relatively small, compared to those caused by law enforcement, the use of natural resources, and ethnic identity. Bagir continued that after the reformation period in 1998, there has been confirmation of the official guarantee on human rights including FoRB which encouraged the advocacy for FoRB. There is a shift then in the strategy on human rights from law into tension between approaches in managing conflicts.
Bagir underlines the approaches to conflict resolution are based on either power, rights, or common interests. FoRB is not necessarily achieved and protected by law since the law sometimes triggers a conflict. He mentions that many times conflicts occur due to policy or law enforcement, as in the term ‘lawfare’ when people use specific laws to justify their conflicts with others.
The popular Approach to Resolve Conflicts
To develop new ways in conflict resolution is the use of interest-based approaches where the interests of each party need to become common interests, as Bagir quoted Diah Kusumaningrum from the last chapter of the book he mentions earlier. Many conflict resolution efforts can be incomplete since conflict consists of behavioral, attitudinal, and contextual aspects. Not only dealing with conflict resolution, Bagir suggests that people need to be involved more in conflict transformation where every party’s interests do not collide. It can be gained when social relation is restored and justice is created.
The idea goes in line with the topics discussed in the second session about the intersectional approach to peace, security, and democracy in the future. It covers the role of law in building peace especially related to environmental conflicts; gender dimension in peace and human resources conflict; and democracy transition post-violence conflict. Strategies in conflict resolution and peacebuilding may vary based on the means and fields it touches upon.
During the discussion, an audience inquires about a formation forum for practical participation to build peace from every part of the community, including the disabled or minorities. Digital platforms may play an important role in minimizing conflicts on issues such as community health, and discrimination for public service due to social, economic, or religious norms. There is a concern to conduct prevention strategies on extreme radicalism and terrorism, and also avoiding the excessive use of social media that discriminates against a particular group or religion. Above all, these steps should only accommodate the common interests of the people.
