Hefner Speaks in Indonesia
During January 2016, Robert Hefner traveled to several islands in Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country in the world. Hefner is a Professor of Anthropology and International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, as well as the Director of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs, an affiliated thematic Center of the Pardee School.
In collaboration with the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at Notre Dame University, Hefner is directing a multi-site project on “Scaling Pluralism: Social Supports for and Against Pluralist Co-Existence in Indonesia.” The project is looking at efforts at citizenship and peacebuilding in parts of Indonesia ravaged by communal conflict, or threatened with outbreaks of religious extremism.
After a talk on “Religious Tolerance and Intolerance in Indonesia: Social Supports, Future Challenges” at the Mizan Institute in Jakarta (the Institute is a Muslim democratic publisher and association), Hefner gave an interview to Kompas, the largest circulation daily in Indonesia. In it, and as in his talk, he praised the efforts of many Indonesian government and non-governmental organizations to build and defend multi-religious citizenship in the face of religious intolerance, and international terrorism.
One of the most serious will be the efforts of violent extremists in groups like ISIS to export their terror to Europe and Muslim majority countries like Indonesia, in an effort to undermine inter-religious relations and destabilize their countries.
The interview was featured in a front page article the next day, under the title (in Indonesian): “Indonesia is an Example of Multiculturalism: But Moderates Must Strengthen Their Efforts for Pluralism and Civic Peace.”
As Hefner set out the next morning to visit another Muslim think tank, ISIS terrorists launched their first direct attack in the Indonesian capital, with a suicide bomber and three armed extremists attempting to carry out a mass slaughter at a Starbucks and well-known shopping mall in downtown Jakarta. His Muslim-democrat hosts at the Maarif Institute that day opted to go ahead with their public event in a demonstration that they would not be intimidated by the terrorists.
Hefner said, “Both in the police reaction to the ISIS attack, and in the public statements and actions of major Muslim organizations, the Indonesians showed real courage and a determination to live their lives in defiance of terror. In this, like the Parisians after the November 13 bombings, they were indeed a a model for all of us in the challenging times to come.”
Hefner has directed 19 research projects and organized 18 international conferences, and authored or edited nineteen books. Learn more about him here.