OLD/NEW STATE ISLAMIC UNIV. RECTORS ON ISLAM AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L JAKARTA 013255

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

CORRECTED COPY OF JAKARTA 13222 (ADD PARA 1 CLASSIFICATION
MARKER)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2011
TAGS: SCUL PREL KISL OIIP OEXP KPAO ID
SUBJECT: OLD/NEW STATE ISLAMIC UNIV. RECTORS ON ISLAM AND
SOCIETY

REF: 03 JAKARTA 9773 -- ISLAMIC COLLEGE AND
UNIVERSITIES IN INDONESIA

Classified By: Political Officer Catherine E. Sweet, Reason 1.4(d)


1. (C) Summary. On November 8, Komaruddin Hidayat, the new
rector of the State Islamic University's (UIN) Syarif
Hidayatullah campus, and former rector Azyumardi Azra spoke
to us about the university, Islam and society. They argued
that Indonesia is becoming increasingly conservative
religiously as a result of the instability that emerged after
Suharto's fall, with radical Muslim groups taking advantage
of economic, political and legal vacuums that exist under
Indonesia's new democratic system. To Komaruddin, this
suggests that the radical Islamic movement is more
psychological than philosophical. Both envision a special
role for UIN in training Muslim leaders who can cooperate
with all nations, and they called for even greater
cooperation between the university and the U.S. End Summary.



2. (U) On November 8, we paid a courtesy call on Komaruddin
Hidayat, the new rector of the State Islamic University's
Syarif Hidayatullah campus, and Azyumardi Azra, whom Hidayat
is replacing. Hidayat was elected in October to a four-year
term as rector. Azra, who is also a history professor, has
served a rector since 1998. (Note. Azra participated in a
roundtable discussion with President Bush during his 2003
visit to Bali; Hidayat is scheduled to meet President Bush
during his upcoming visit on November 20. A/S Hughes spoke
at UIN during her 2005 trip to Indonesia. End Note.)


3. (U) The Syarif Hidayatullah campus is the flagship
institution within the State Islamic University (UIN)
network, with more than 23,000 undergraduate and graduate
students. According to Azra, students hail from throughout
Indonesia, making UIN's population even more geographically
diverse than the prestigious University of Indonesia.
Instruction is primarily in Indonesian, although some courses
are offered in English and Arabic, and the majority of
students major in the humanities or social sciences. Unlike
in Indonesia's secular universities, UIN has a faculty of
religious studies and offers a major in Islamic studies.
However, UIN teaches "universal principles" in secular
disciplines -- there is no "Islamic" curriculum for the hard
sciences, for example. UIN faculty are heavily involved in
activities outside of UIN: more than 50 lecturers teach at
other universities, others have ties to Islamic boarding
schools (pesantren),and many are active within civil society
organizations.

Relations with the U.S.
--------------


4. (SBU) UIN has long-standing strong ties with the Embassy,
and hosts an American Corner; at present, there are two
visiting American faculty members. According to Komaruddin,
there is still much misunderstanding within Indonesian
society about the U.S. He said many ordinary Indonesians do
not differentiate between the political and economic/cultural
aspects of the country's relationship with the U.S., which
makes life difficult for defenders of the U.S. Extremist
organizations like Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, Abu Bakar
Ba'asyir's Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia and the Islamic
Defenders Front (FPI) exploit this ignorance, accusing people
like Azra and Komaruddin of being "agents of the U.S." or
part of a "Zionist agenda."


5. (SBU) When asked if it would be useful for the Embassy to
engage with these groups, both Komaruddin and Azra said it
would if it were done through bridge institutions like UIN.
He noted that UIN students and lecturers are from
conservative areas, and can act as conduits to civil society.
Azra suggested that the Embassy help schedule regular public
lectures (by experts or diplomats) at the university on
politics, American society, and religion in America.

Radical Students Groups Weak on UIN Campus
--------------


6. (SBU) Azra and Komaruddin told us that the vast majority
of UIN students are affiliated with the independent Islamic
Student Association (HMI) or the unions tied to Indonesia's
two biggest mass Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and
Muhammadiyah; all three are moderate, mainstream
associations. They indicated that there is a smaller group

associated with the Lembaga Dakwah Kampus, a university-based
proselytization organization that gave rise to the Indonesian
Muslim Student Action Union (the student wing of the Islamist
Prosperous Justice Party, PKS),as well as a handful of
students who belong to the radical Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia
(HTI). Interestingly, the rectors believe that secular
universities ) notably the University of Indonesia and the
Bogor Agricultural University ) are the bastions of hardline
Islamist student groups, not the Islamic university system.

Indonesian Islam: More Conservative under Democracy
-------------- --------------


7. (SBU) Azra believes that Indonesia is becoming
increasingly conservative religiously. He attributed this to
the social, political and economic instability that followed
Suharto's fall and the end of authoritarianism. According to
Azra, the country "has not reached equilibrium after
democratic euphoria." Because politicians have been unable
to establish law and order, a legal vacuum has emerged that
groups like the vigilante FPI have filled by taking the law
into their own hands. Komaruddin added that unlike in the
Suharto era, when the state could forcibly suppress radical
religious movements, Indonesia is not yet a sufficiently
mature democracy to regulate and balance against these
groups. Furthermore, some of the more extremist
organizations do not want to be part of the state system;
they have become even more radicalized on the periphery.


8. (SBU) Azra said that the best way to manage such groups
is through economic progress. He blamed Indonesia's rampant
unemployment for creating an atmosphere in which extremists
may easily recruit supporters (although he added that their
overall membership is still quite small and fairly constant).
Azra observed that Indonesia has been fairly impervious to
foreign attempts to export radicalism (noting specifically
Iranian efforts to spread revolutionary Shi'ism in the
1980s). However, he said that transnational radical
organizations like HTI could gain momentum if Indonesia's
democratic experiment fails.


9. (C) As academics, both Azra and Komaruddin were critical
of radical groups' lack of intellectual rigor. For instance,
Azra recounted his conversations with members of HTI, whom he
clearly disdains. He said he challenged them about their
calls for a return of the Islamic caliphate, pointing out
that the Ottoman caliphate was an exceedingly corrupt
institution that was more of a monarchy than a religious
exemplar. Komaruddin agreed with Azra's critique, adding
that movements which use Islam to promote their agenda have
been neither consistent nor pragmatic. Rather, he believes
they are cathartic movements designed to channel frustration
with ineffective secular governments. For their adherents,
Islam has become the most effective way to express their
grievances. At base, Komaruddin argued, the radical Islamic
movement is more psychological than philosophical, drawing on
an internal anger that derives from a lack of political and
economic confidence.

UIN's Role in Combatting Radicalism
--------------


10. (SBU) In this regard, both Azra and Komaruddin see a
special role for UIN: producing Muslim leaders with
first-rate academic training who retain strong ties to the
community. They said UIN has a responsibility to teach
Muslims that they can cooperate with any institution or
country, and pointed out that UIN established the American
Corner for precisely this reason: to show that this Islamic
institution could engage with the U.S. Both Komaruddin and
Azra called for even greater cooperation between the
university and the U.S. In addition to organizing lectures
and seminars by U.S. officials and academics, they suggested
a joint effort to translate American academic materials into
Indonesian, which UIN could then distribute to its students
and to Islamic boarding schools, or pesantren, in
conservative communities.

Bio Notes
--------------


11. (U) Komaruddin Hidayat is an Islamic philosophy professor
who was previously the dean of UIN's graduate school faculty.
He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Middle East
University in Ankara, Turkey. Hidayat has previously served
as the Director of Tertiary Education in the Ministry of

Religion, and as the chief of the 2004 Elections Observer
Committee.


12. (U) Azyumardi Azra, one of Indonesia's most prolific
Muslim scholars, has long ties with the U.S. He received his
M.A. in Middle Eastern Languages (as a Fulbright scholar) and
a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University. In 2001, Azra
returned to the U.S. as a Distinguished International
Visiting Professor in New York University's Middle East
Studies program. He has been part of the State Islamic
University network since 1985, first as a lecturer, then as
UIN's Vice Rector for Academic Affairs (1997-1998),and
finally as Rector (1998-2006).
PASCOE