Indonesian Theology: Searching Sued Not Entertained!

Petrus Pit Duka Karwayu

In the last few months, the Indonesia mass media has been enlivened with at least
three major issues: the relocation of the capital city of Jakarta to Kalimantan, Ustaz
Abdul Somad's lecture which was considered insulting to Christianity, and the
stereotype of Papuans who were likened to 'monkeys'. For the first news, it might be
rarely discussed among the lower classes, but those related to race and religion then
became news headlines.
This reminds us of what Goenawan Mohamad wrote in Tempo 21-31 March 2019
ago, "Jesus in European paintings, fair-skinned, though not impossible, as the expert
tried to reconstruct….". Mohamad’s argument was responding to Daniel Defoe's
novel that was published in 1719.
The novel, which is now read in a post-colonial literary perspective, seems to
summarize the two major issues above which also have theological potential. Sadly,
theology in Asia and Indonesia, in particular, is a minority theology with little direct
power of influence on the public scene; in general, they are not in a position to give
directions to public opinion or strongly influence decision-makers (Philippine Studies,
January 1971, 192-217). It is rare for Indonesian theologians to take a theological
position.
For example, G30/SPKI and the tragedy in 1998 that helped fill the dialectic of
history of the XX century ago. The tragedy of two decades in Indonesia has been left
open without reconciliation. Not surprisingly, the idea of Prof. Dr. JB Banawiratma
about the Yesus Guru Sejati as a pedagogy of discipleship was claimed to legitimize,
given his theology developed in the 1970s when Suharto's totalitarianism came to
power. But the claims of theology Banawiratma was unfair because the panorama of
theology at that time was strongly influenced by the research of Clifford James Geertz
(1926-2006) in the area of Pare, Kediri, East Java. Geertz divided Javanese society
into three major groups: priayi, santri, and abagan-- and never imagined that their
distribution would be used for political business (Kompas.9 / 8/18 ). The consequence
for Indonesian theology is the idea of a dialogue of life which is the missiology matrix
in Asia runs haltingly.

Struggle for Contextualization

 On 1-3 March 2019, the Theology Faculty of Sanata Dharma University
Yogyakarta held an International Conference with the big theme "Doing Theology in
Contemporary Indonesia: Interdisciplinary Perspectives". The seminar, which lasted
for three days, involves many participants that the majority of the faculty of
philosophy-theology of both Catholic and Protestant. Some of them are affiliated with
theological philosophy research associations; AFTI (Association of Indonesian
Philosophy and Theology), AAFKI (Association of Indonesian Divine Philosophers),
AsTeKIA (Indonesian Catholic Theological Association), and from the Kentungan
Wedhabakti Faculty itself. This means that the International Conference involves
almost all Faculties of Philosophy-Theology in Indonesia.
This International Conference was arguably special because it was attended by
'insiders' of the FABC who at least understood very well the potentials of Asian
phenomena that were the source of theology. They are Prof. Felix Wilfred, an Asian
theologian from Madras University and editor of the International Journal of
Christianity in Asia and the International Journal of Concilium and Dr. Clarence
Devadass, theologian and director of the Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia Catholic Research
Center, and especially Executive Secretary of the Office of Theological Concerns of
the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conference .
From the discussion that lasted for three days (8-10 October), the issue regarding
the richness of local traditions including mysticism became a topic that was quite
widely discussed. The conference also influenced the lecture model at the Faculty,
where almost all lecture assignments were expected to have links to the culture of
each student. Interestingly, the current generation of students seems to be taboo with
culture. Some directly use Google to find out about their own culture. Irony!
This cannot be considered trivial. The richness of culture in Indonesia, is it just
nostalgia? Who can ensure that these cultures are still up to date contextualized for
theological reflection? If this is left unchecked, then, in fact, the basis of Indonesian
theology seems to be built on intuitive theological experiences-nostalgia. We
reminisce about cultural issues and forget the political turmoil that will inevitably
correlate with Indonesian theology and culture.
People do not dare to enter a more sensitive realm, which has been left vacant in
history, for example, as I mentioned above the G30 / SPKI humanitarian tragedy and
1998. At the time when the community protested, the leaders of the nation were
indifferent to human rights issues, the church (especially theologians) was like an
envelope never opened.
In November 2000, a group of people led by YPKP (1965-1966 Murder Victim
Research Foundation) gathered in the forest in the Wonosobo area to dig up 26 human
bones, 21 of whom were victims of mass killings carried out by the military under the
command of General Suharto as a result of the events of 30 September 1965. The
bones were returned to the family members for proper burial. But on March 25, 2001,
when the funeral was held, a group of people calling themselves FUIK (Kalhu
Ukhuwah Islamyah Forum) strongly refused the funeral of PKI victims in the Keloran
area. They even threatened the caretaker ceremony, rob, and destroy the crates and
ravage the bones of the victim (W. Herlambang: 2013.3). This phenomenon is not
included in verbal violence which is banal with opportunistic interpretations of history.
This again has the potential to be theologically questioned.
Catholic theology in Indonesia is so flexible that it is unable to take a firm
position in the context of plurality in which injustice always reveals itself. This is a
note of Habermas's public square discourse which excludes the voices of marginal
people and does not represent minority voices. We, so far, have built a dialogue with
other religions, but the dialogue that was built seemed to the extent that it did not
interfere with the interests of one another. Finally, the fact of plurality into a
promising field of theology is, must now be buried meetings because each element
forming the plurality of potential homogeneity.
I imagine, if at this time Pope Francis intended to open the archives of Pope Pius
XII to evaluate it because it was judged to be silent during the killing of Jews in the
XX century, then in the coming years Indonesian theological archives would be
opened to evaluate our silence about the past two tragedies significant in the history of
the nation.
Conclusion
Indonesian theology is a theology of minorities but respected. That is, although
sometimes its presence is considered threatening, on the other hand, its ideas are
awaited in this promising plurality of Indonesia. Indeed, our theology is still in search
of identity, but voluntary relics from the church community are also to be expected.
That is why, even though plurality sometimes seems to promise nothing, the
movement of the Spirit is not a minority. It is not limited by plurality whose
measuring lines are made thick in our context.
Bibliography
Herlambang, W., Post-1965 Cultural Violence, translated from Müller's "Cultural
Violence: Its Practice and Challenge in Indonesia", South Tangerang: Living
Elephants, 2013.
Philippine Studies Vol. 19, No. 1 (January 1971), pp. 192-217
http://www.jstor.org/stable/42634808?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_cont
ents

Name: Petrus Pit Duka Karwayu

Status: The Student of the Institute Pontifical Theology Contextual, Sanata
Dharma, Yogyakarta
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