Jakarta tour a lesson in tolerance

Participants visit worship places of different faiths to learn about diversity

JAKARTA: Wearing a black plaid hijab and brown skirt, Amanda Najla stood out among dozens of students visiting the Immanuel Church in Central Jakarta.

The 18-year-old student of the Gontor Islamic boarding school in Ngawi, East Java, was among those participating in a tour to five landmark worship places in the city, which aims to restore tolerance amid rising sectarian issues that have gripped the country in recent months.

Guided by religious leaders of diverse faiths, the tour group also visited the Jakarta Cathedral, Istiqlal Mosque, the Hoseiji Buddhist temple and Pura Aditya Jaya.

Amanda, who comes from a religious Muslim family in Tangerang, Banten, was on a long holiday and her parents had asked her to go on the trip.

She had just completed her studies at the Islamic high school, which is popular among upper middle class Muslim families in the country.

“My family always taught me about tolerance because we live in a country that consists of people of various ethnicities and religions,” Amanda said.

Despite living in a conservative surrounding, she said it was important for people her age to understand the country’s religious diversity and legacy of pluralistic civilisa- tions that had occupied the archipelago for centuries.

“Because all of us were the next generation that determined the country’s future,” Amanda said.

Differences, she added, should not be perceived as a source of hostility.

Elia David, 14, also joined the tour because his mother asked him to do so.

David, who is a Christian, said he had never been to other places of worship besides his church.

“It was nice. I learned about religious diversity in this country. I feel lucky that various religions co-exist in Indonesia, something that other countries may not have,” he said.

The tour was jointly held by Komunitas Bhinneka and Komunitas Penjaga Budaya Sekar Nusa in collaboration with the Jakarta administration and Jakarta Transportation Agency.

Around 60 junior and senior high school students from different religious backgrounds joined the tour.

It was conducted for the first time in Bandung, West Java, last month to remind students of Indonesia’s diversity and the importance of co-existing peacefully, Komunitas Bhinneka spokesman Endah Nurdiana said.

Despite being a diverse country, intolerance still exists and has even grown among some youth groups. According to a Setara Institute survey conducted in high schools in Jakarta and Bandung in 2015, 69.6% of respondents considered religious practices conducted by people of different faiths deviant acts, while 16.7% of them said people should be allowed to practice their religion.

However, 95.5% said they were willing to befriend those who practised a different faith, while 3% said otherwise.

The grand imam of Istiqlal Mosque, Nasaruddin Umar, said religious diversity in the country was like a painting in that it could not be beautiful if it only used one colour.