One of the consequences of diversity in Southeast Asia is the emergence of many dynamic and never-ending questions to discuss. One question that keeps us thinking is, how does this region survive with hundreds of local beliefs and at the same time apply public policies regarding religious rules? Dr. Dicky Sofjan discussed the answers to this question in the SEA Talks # 8 discussion, on the afternoon of Thursday, June 16, 2016. In his presentation, Dr. Dicky explained that the logic of religion in society is often different from public policy. This can not be separated from the influence of the democratic system adopted by almost all countries in Southeast Asia. According to him, the application of democracy raises the existence of unintended consequences, as well as the phenomenon of abuse of laws, decentralization that causes inequality, and also multi-interpretation of the beliefs of one group. On the other hand, the state also has great authority through the prevailing system. Like Malaysia, which applies Islam as a national religion and is listed in the constitution. This rule then legitimizes the expulsion of Ahmadiyah worshipers in one of the mosques in Malaysia as well as rules that lead to minority discrimination.
Southeast Asia itself is considered as a ‘salad bowl’ for its diversity. Just imagine, the people in this region are almost all different, ranging from language, culture, including understanding about something, to the smallest things to appetite. This challenge is faced by each country in determining its public policy. Religious issues suffer almost the same fate in every country in Southeast Asia. In Singapore, the state divides its people in different groups between Chinese, Malay and India. In Malaysia, Islam is used as the national religion that underlies all policies. We see that in Cambodia, the people are still traumatized by the Khmer Rouge atrocities that carried out Muslim ethnic cleansing in the 70s. Or in the Philippines, abortion is still a debate at the government level because there is opposition to the Catholic church. It is no different than in Myanmar, which has a very strong Buddhist dominance, so that radicalism emerges against the Muslim minority. In Brunei, Chinese citizenship is still a debate until now. Then we reflect on Indonesia, that the interfaith debate or even within religion itself continues to occur and has the potential to cause conflict.
Through the initiation of the Center for Southeast Asian Social Studies (CESASS), the American Institute for Indonesian Studies (AIFIS), and the Indonesian Consortium for Religion Studies (ICRS) the discussion raised the theme “Religion, Public Policy, and Social Transformation in Southeast Asia”. Besides Dr. Dicky, there was also Mahaarum Kusuma Pertiwi, MA, M.Phil, who was the discussant, as well as several academics, and students who were interested in this study. For both, the study of religion is important, because 8 out of 10 people in the world embrace religion and / or belief. Dr. Dicky and his team at the Indonesian Consortium for Religion Studies (ICRS) collaborated with researchers from nine countries to conduct research for three years and will produce books from the results of this study. This study seeks to see the relation between public policy and religious freedom in Southeast Asia by using the comparison method. The results expected from this research in the coming year will build a new theory (theory building) regarding the study of religion and public policy. In addition to comparative studies as Dr. Dicky et al. Mahaarum also added not to override the importance of contextual studies especially in the context of implementing public policy.