erichkaunang
Dicky Sofjan, Ph.D.
Core Doctoral Faculty, Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS), Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM)
Since its inception in 2006, ICRS has been generously supported by the Ford Foundation. That amounts to almost twenty years of collaboration from providing core support to funding projects on tolerance, pluralism, sustainability, urban resilience and now polarization. Currently, ICRS is managing a grant from the Ford Foundation entitled “The Impact of Religious Tolerance and Faith-based Polarization on the Promotion of Social and Environmental Justice in Indonesia” (2023-2025).
Leonard Chrysostomos Epafras
United Evangelical Mission (UEM) organized the Asian chapter of the fourth round of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Conference (JCM) in Manila on February 5-12, 2024. The initiative commenced 51 years ago in Germany as the immediate response to the post-Holocaust and post-World War II circumstances. Twenty scholars, religious leaders, and activists of refugee services, including Christians, Muslims, and Jews from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Palestine, convened and discussed the meaning of home and displacement. The conference was organized with the local committee from the United Churches of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP). Dr. Leonard Chrysostomos Epafras from the Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS), Universitas Gadjah Mada Graduate School, was one of the steering committee members and resource persons.
Athanasia Safitri
Our very definition of ‘indigenous’ has transformed from the meaning of originating and a group of people from the earliest times, into the localised belief systems when it is related to religion. One of the parallel sessions which took place in the 5th International Conference and Consolidation on Indigenous Religions in Surakarta on 22-23 November 2023, was a special panel conducted by Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS) UGM. The need to speak out, to listen and respond to various voices from the indigenous communities has triggered the implementation of digital media in several platforms with different goals.
Athanasia Safitri
The 12th International Graduate Students and Scholars’ Conference in Indonesia (IGSSCI) was held on 7-8 November 2023 in the Graduate School of Universitas Gadjah Mada with ten main speakers and over a hundred panel speakers from different nationalities. The theme is ‘Ethics and Accountability in Politics, Sciences, and Professions” offering 15 related topics in four main sessions and 17 panel sessions. Dicky Sofjan, as the head of the organising committee, gave the welcoming remarks and mentioned the awareness of scientific development related to technology and AI. He also underlined the urgency in responding to the conflict in Gaza, and for academics to wisely do their research with good intentions.
Athanasia Safitri
Apart from the plenary session about the Freedom of Religion and Belief (FoRB) which was conducted during the 5th International Conference and Consolidation on Indigenous Religions in Surakarta on 22-23 November 2023, there were three parallel panels about FoRB. It reminds us of the urgency in acknowledging the challenges facing many religious communities and citizens belonging to either the officially recognized religions or indigenous religions in Indonesia that they have had to endure. Thirteen speakers discussed the penal code, state policy, bureaucracy, religious and cultural values, interfaith marriage, and child custody throughout the two-day conference held in PUI Javanologi UNS.
On Friday, December 1, 2023, at the Aula of the Radboud University Nijmegen, Professor Emeritus Frans Wijsen delivered his farewell speech entitled “Exploring Man and Nature: Does the Supernatural Matter?” At Radboud University, Wijsen served for many years in the Department of Empirical and Practical Religious Studies. Since 2022, he has been an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM).
He was honored with the Distinguished Lifelong Academic Achievements Award of the African Academics Network. He also received a copy of the book Beyond the Spirit of Bandung, edited by Frans Dokman and Antoinette Kankindi. The book, available open-access, is dedicated to him on the occasion of his retirement as professor at Radboud University Nijmegen.
Maurisa Zinira
Democracy activists consistently predict polarization. While several groups argue that polarization is inevitable and may even serve as a catalyst for democratic development, uncontrolled polarization can undermine the fundamental principles of a functioning democracy. With the upcoming political year, there is a growing apprehension regarding the detrimental consequences of polarization. Furthermore, political elites may intentionally manufacture polarization to serve their partisan political objectives.
Johanes Koraag
Nowadays Indonesia is still experiencing a situation where there is still a gap between the national demand and availability of donated blood. Based on data from the 2022 PMI Central Blood Donor Unit Annual Report, the need for donated blood in 2022 is 5,515,476 bags of blood. Meanwhile, the blood that was collected from voluntary donors is as many as 3,796,698 bags of blood. The data shows that in 2022 Indonesia lacked 1,718,778 bags of blood. The insufficiency of blood needs certainly has an impact on patients who need these lifesaving blood donations.
Written by Rezza Prasetyo Setiawan
Within the Indonesian postcolonial democracy that is heavily influenced by religion-based identity politics, law and regulations have become the frontiers where interests are contested through the politics of policymaking. The new Criminal Code (Kitab Undang-undang Hukum Pidana, or KUHP), which was enacted in January 2023, was proposed to address these problems and, indeed, it has made progress. However, fundamental reconsiderations are still needed for it to better accommodate justice and to prevent interpretations that allow further marginalization of minority groups. Moreover, the public sphere has also expanded to the digital realm, which necessitates new operational definitions and understandings on freedom of expression, religious freedom, and on the nature of communication itself.
