Najwa Abdullah – Indonesia has pushed ahead with initiatives to promote religious moderation. Such programmes, however, need to address deeper issues.

A wave of initiatives promoting religious moderation has gained recent prominence in Indonesia's urban areas and more rural villages and hamlets. Increasingly, culture has assumed a central role in the process, with the spirit of communal life inherent in traditional kampongs and the vibrant medium of film becoming new frontiers in the expressions of tolerance and moderation. However, to create lasting change, these programmes must address deeper underlying issues.

Throughout Jokowi's decade-long leadership (2014-2024), Indonesia grappled with deepening religious polarisation, particularly following the Ahok saga (2016-2017) and in the run-up to the 2019 presidential election. These contexts set the stage for the resurgence of terms like "religious moderation" and "moderate Islam" in state and public discourses. This culminated in the introduction of the Moderasi Beragama (Moderation of Religiosity) policy in 2019 by the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MORA). This has been further strengthened by Presidential Regulation Number 58 in 2023 on "the consolidation of religious moderation".

Through its four-pronged strategy, encompassing national commitment, tolerance, anti-violence, and the accommodation of local cultural traditions, the Moderasi Beragama campaign seeks to extend its influence beyond institutional boundaries and further into the cultural realm. It has made new strides in supporting cultural and community-led initiatives and events, albeit with a disproportionate emphasis on showcasing harmony and image-building.

A key example is the Kampung Moderasi Beragama (Kampong of Religious Moderation, or KMB) programme, which seeks to emphasise harmonious community life and encourage moderate religious attitudes at the village and hamlet levels. Privileges are given to areas considered rich in religious and ethnic diversity. While the programme has been implemented nationwide, its distribution, however, remains uneven. Densely populated East Java – home to the largest support base of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) – accounts for the highest concentration of KMBs.

Currently, its key focus is to promote mosques run based on moderate religious perspectives, which means that all imams and preachers associated with the site advocate moderate views, alongside mosque administrators who also maintain a similar stance. Another key indicator is the coexistence of places of worship for Indonesia's officially recognised religions within the vicinity of the kampong. In the aftermath of the 2018 attacks on churches, Surabaya, alongside other East Javan cities such as Malang and Kediri, aspires to lead the initiative, with multiple districts envisioned as model kampongs (kampung percontohan) for other communities to emulate.

In the creative sphere, Moderasi Beragama taps into the growing interest in cinematic arts among the youth by organising Festival Film Pendek Moderasi Beragama (FFPMB), a short film festival and competition themed around religious moderation. It features Alissa Wahid, national coordinator of the Gusdurian Network, and Deddy Mizwar, a veteran filmmaker, as part of its jury panel. The festival drew an impressive 299 short film submissions in the 2024 edition. Notably, over half of those entries were created by students, including those from madrasah and pesantren in diverse regions such as Lampung, Maluku, and Papua.

Moderasi Beragama campaign echoes the broader aims of another cultural initiative, the Undang-Undang Pemajuan Kebudayaan (Law on the Advancement of Culture, UUPK), introduced in 2017 by the Directorate-General of Culture at the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Research (MECR). They share a common focus on tolerance, diversity, locality, and integration. To some extent, the UUPK policy marks a key departure from previous approaches by emphasising not only the preservation but also the utilisation (pemanfaatan) of Indonesia's diverse cultural heritage. It therefore signifies an attempt to represent the broader spectrum of the country's religious and ethnic diversity, including those outside of Java.

Here, the role of Dana Indonesiana, a national framework that funds cultural projects and facilitates international festivals, is particularly important. Among its beneficiaries is the Madani International Film Festival (MIFF). Since 2018, it has aimed to celebrate Muslim diversity nationally and globally, and more specifically, counter the dominant use of film by Islamists in recent years for their specific dakwah goals. With support from the MECR, screenings after the Covid-19 pandemic in iconic locations such as Jakarta's Taman Ismail Marzuki arts complex and Istiqlal Mosque have reinforced the festival's cultural significance.

To this extent, MIFF marks a new synergy between the state – now more eager to cultivate a progressive image and present Indonesia's moderate Islam on a global stage – and the cosmopolitan, highly-educated artistic circles based in Jakarta. In the capital, liberal causes often came into conflict with the state's interest in maintaining support from conservative Muslims.

Overall, Jokowi's contentious leadership has catalysed a multitude of initiatives aimed at mainstreaming religious moderation practices at a popular level. In some ways, the Moderasi Beragama campaign seeks to showcase urban areas like Jakarta and Surabaya as beacons for religious and cultural harmony. Specifically, alongside the Cultural Advancement Law, it exemplifies an interesting fusion of national strategic and cultural agendas, bringing closer state actors, Muslim activists, artists, and concerned citizens through platforms such as the FFPMB and MIFF.

However, the state's promotion of religious moderation remains trapped in a cycle of performances and celebration, where the appearance of harmony takes precedence over the substantive work of addressing deeper issues such as class and sectarian tensions that cause polarisation. In this regard, Moderasi Beragama is not without its share of criticism from Islamic circles within the country.

Some suggest that the emphasis on preserving cultural diversity is ironic when the government's extractive development policies continue unabated, eroding cultural spaces and harming local communities' livelihoods. Moreover, the continued dominance of NU in shaping the discourse on religious moderation, coupled with increased surveillance of religious activities – as seen in the KMB case – not only puts into question the state's neutrality, but also risks intensifying resistance from groups who feel their religious values are being challenged or sidelined. Therefore, while the current efforts serve as a commendable starting point, more needs to be done to achieve the kind of introspection and critical engagement required for long-term success.

[Dr Najwa Abdullah is a Visiting Fellow with the Regional Social & Cultural Studies Programme at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. Her research interests include media and communications, popular culture, cultural policy, postcolonial thought, and contemporary Islam.]

Source: https://fulcrum.sg/mainstreaming-religious-moderation-in-indonesias-urban-spaces