August 7, 2012
A nation without trust is a nation without a future
by Karim Raslan@http://www.thestar.com.my
“In Indonesia, I’m impressed by how different faiths engage in a mutually-respectful, two-way dialogue and how they interact on a regular basis. It’s something I don’t feel in Malaysia… A nation without trust is a nation without a future.”
IT’S Ramadan. I’m in Jakarta, driving through Menteng when I spot a large banner hanging outside a church: “Selamat Menunaikan Ibadah Puasa.”
There’s a small church logo in one corner but we drive off before I have time to check whether it’s a Protestant or Catholic congregation. Wherever I am in Indonesia however, I’m impressed by how different faiths engage in a mutually-respectful, two-way dialogue, how they interact on a regular basis. It’s something I don’t feel in Malaysia.
With another Merdeka Day around the corner we seem to be still debating about what it means to be Malaysian. As always, I find myself comparing our concept of national identity to how it exists in Indonesia.
South-East Asian stories on the struggle for independence and nation-building tend to focus on how the majority communities have coped with these transitions.
As such, figures from these communities tend to dominate their histories.In Thailand, the heroes are generally Buddhist (and royal); in Malaysia, they’re Malay-Muslim and in the Philippines, they’re Catholic.
Indonesia, however, bucks the trend: their heroes come from all hues and creeds and in a recently released film, titled Soegija, we’re presented with a quintessentially Javanese figure, a Solo-born Roman Catholic priest who earned the respect and friendship of senior Republican figures while ensuring that his “flock” were at the very core of the national narrative.
Born to a Muslim family in 1896 and initially named Soegija, he later added
“Albertus” and “pranata” (i.e. “prayer” or “hope”) after his baptism and ordination respectively, becoming Albertus Soegijapranata (right).
According to novelist Ayu Utami’s biography, Soegija converted to Catholicism when he was 14 and was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1931.
He rose meteorically up the church hierarchy to become apostolic vicar of Semarang and later its archbishop – the first indigenous Indonesian to hold such exalted positions.
Soegija won wide respect for his courage during World War II, working to protect the church from Japanese persecution. Prescient and bold, he also chose to side with the Republicans during the Indonesian revolution, winning the enduring trust and friendship of President Sukarno, among others.
Soegija also championed the use of Bahasa Indonesia in local services. He witnessed the election of Pope Paul VI and participated in the Second Vatican Council, which heralded unprecedented changes in the church.
The years of tireless work caught up with him however and he passed away in the Netherlands on July 22, 1963. His body was returned home where he was declared a national hero and buried in the republic’s pantheon at Giri Tunggal.
Soegija blended his Catholic faith with his Indonesian identity.Indeed, his credo, “100 percent Catholic, 100 percent Indonesian,” still resonates with Catholic Indonesians today.
He saw no contradiction between his indigenous heritage and his faith: being equally comfortable playing the gamelan for Mass as he was reading St Albertus Magnus (from whom he took his name).
Examining Soegija’s life, I cannot help but feel that Indonesia’s approach to race and religion is far better than Malaysia’s. Catholics are clearly in the minority in both countries: they are less than 3% of the population in Indonesia and officially just over one million in Malaysia.
Still, Catholic Indonesians are woven into the fabric of national life. Figures such as the Wanandi brothers, Soe Hok Gie and his brother Arief Budiman, as well as military heroes like Agustinus Adisucipto and Slamet Riyadi highlight the breadth and depth of the community’s contributions.
Of course, Indonesia has had its history of ethnic and religious persecution. But Catholics like Soegija – with his very Javanese-like humility and good humour – are unmistakably Indonesian and respected by all.
It’s hard to think of a Malaysian counterpart for him. Indeed, the sad fact is that many Catholic Malaysians are still, more than half a century after our Independence, regarded as outsiders, even alien.
Still, it’s also worth asking if the barriers to national identity are 
self-imposed?Has there been a prominent Catholic Malaysian leader as committed to the national project as Soegija?
All the same, it’s sad when non-Muslim Malaysians in general are still regarded with hostility and suspicion by some quarters.A nation without trust is a nation without a future.
How did this happen? It’s to do with the choices we make as a nation. Indonesia chose to make its national identity available to anyone who would take the name of “Indonesian” without any cost to his or her ethnicity or religion.
Malaysia, too, gave formal citizenship to its diverse peoples, but race and religion still made a difference whether one was embraced or excluded from the national life. Which approach is better? These are the questions we need to ask ourselves.
Catholics in Malaysia? What about the other denominations?
They are really pissed off, but won’t say a thing. It has to do with the Eucharist/Holy Communion, The Kitab being ‘branded’ as a scurrilous book, the appellation of Allah and persistent denigration of their rights. Never-mind, they don’t count and are too stupid to make a difference, according to UMNO strategists.
As for other Christians who contributed to the “Cause”, i can only name one of any prominence/substance: the late TS Dr Tan Chee Khoon, a devout Methodist – whom the Tunku once remarked how much he resembled a preacher in parliament.
The divided society in our midst is due to the blatant discriminatory policies by the government of the day and divisive indoctrination conducted by BTN on our youths who aspired to join the civil service.So who to blame for the present sad state of affairs! It will take one generation or more to bridge the divisions among the races in this beloved country of ours.Malaysia has so much vaunted potential for astounding progress,prosperity and development to developed country status even before other tigers but short of good leaders who can put the interest of the nation above self.
When I was in UM in ’66 I was young and foolish. I wanted to be a Malaysian. But I was not accepted to be one. My grand father was born here. SO was my father and I. But I was a “china” and I was kafir. In time I had a family. All my friends and family said I was naive. The children tried to see their father’s point of view. But after going to school and meeting the teachers who taught them, they gave up. They have gone. I am still here, wondering…
Wonder no more, dear Fairy. Ol’ Frank and I must have crossed paths with you in campus. You’re right you were naive then. Hey, we were young once. Being naive is the privilege of being young. Ol’ Frank took a pee on Hyacinth Goddard’s leg and told her it was raining. And she believed. She even wore her raincoat to bed. So wonder no more, dear Fairy ( I still can’t figure out whether you’re male or female but I’m willing to bet that you’re male). Get yourself a ticket and put yourself on the first plane out while you still can.
Good luck.
I spend a lot of time in Jakarta, in Banjarmasin (Kalimantan) and in many cities in Sulawesi as I am involved in iron ore mining and coal mining in Mamuju, Poso, Buol, Gorontalo and Manado. My partners and I built school buildings for the young kids in most of the places where we have our mines and at each venue, and being Malaysians, we used to ask Chinese, English or Malay schools? The answer from the local head of the community has always been a blank stare and the answer has always been the same “sekolah asas” and that is only one type – an Indonesian school where all subjects are taught in Bahasa Indonesia except for English Language, of course.
Pancasila is a must every Monday and nobody ask nobody what religion they are.
And Karim Raslan was right, as in Jakarta, in all churches across Manado there are banners which pronounce the best wishes to the Muslims for the holy month of Ramadhan.
Will we ever see these in Bolehland?
fairy,
it is a question of identity, we are born malaysians, the only real home we have is malaysia and all our other domiciles are only second homes. even though we are comfortable and well to do abroad the yearning for the good old days in malaysia does increase with our age. we still have hope that malaysia would change for the better and become the beautiful and peaceful coountry that it once was.
the people who have left for distant shores to escape discrimination and for a better future – are they traitors? if they had stayed back and fought would malaysia be better today? that I doubt!
what happened and is happening in malaysia is comparable to daylight robbery, the majority of malaysians have stood passive and watched them rob and rape the country in the name of religion and race.
Greenbug got it right about the “sekolah asas” and the use of “Bahasa Indonesia” except for English subject in Indonesian schools.
Perhaps Malaysia did not start correctly especially in education which does the proper & necessary weaning during childhood & youth so as to ensure the adulthood will be in the appropriate nationalistic groove. We should have only one type of “sekolah asas” to begin with for every Malaysian using “Bahasa Malaysia” as the medium of instruction with English and other languages taught as separate optional subjects.
As for the names used/adopted by citizens, in Thailand everyone seems to have Thai name, in the Phillipine Spanish sounding names and in Indonesia they use Indonesian names. Is it too late for us to change this situation else we will forever be divided?