The Australia-Netherlands Research Collaboration (ANRC)

22 - 24 September 2008
Workshop convened by Dr Edward Aspinall from The Australian National University and Dr Gerry van Klinken from the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies
The state and illegality in Indonesia
held at The Australian National University, Canberra

Outcome summary
will be posted soon

7 & 8 July 2008
Workshop convened by Prof Martin van Bruinessen from Utrecht University and the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) and Dr Greg Fealy from The Australian National University
Studying Islam in Southeast Asia: state of the art and new approaches
held at Snouck Hurgronjehuis, Leiden

Outcome summary
There were 25 participants including researchers and postgraduate students from four Australian, four Dutch and two Southeast Asian Universities or institutions. The aim of the workshop was to reflect critically on the current state of scholarship on Southeast Asian Islam and consider new approaches and possible collaborations to understanding Islamic politics, culture, society and law in a regional context. The workshop was divided into three broad themes: (1) governance and bureaucratic administration of Islam; (2) transnational Islamic networks in Southeast Asia; and (3) Islam, media and performance.

Most presenters not only discussed their current research but also critiqued the existing literature on regional Islam, considering in particular methodological and epistemological shortcomings. On historical matters, various speakers remarked that the historiography of Indonesian Islam continued to be influenced by colonial assumptions and that new approaches which looked more critically at Dutch policy preoccupations were needed. Discussions on the issue of Islam and state dwelt on the contested interpretations of ideal religion-state relations, both in Indonesia and Malaysia, and the ways in which states are encroaching more extensively into the religious lives of citizens. Close attention was given to the modalities of incorporating elements of the sharia in national legislation and local regulations in both countries, with participants putting forward different interpretations of data to support arguments about the extent of the impact of Islamic law.

The transnational Islam session looked at the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, Salafism, Hizbut Tahrir and Tablighi Jamaat as well as more liberal currents of Islamic thought in various parts of Southeast Asia. Papers analysed the reasons for the growth in popularity of these movements and need for new multi-disciplinary methodological approaches in order to illuminate different facets of the Islamist ideology and life. The final sessions considered a variety of Islamic cultural expressions in Indonesia and Malaysia, including dance and musical forms, as well as the rhetorical styles and doctrinal content of popular preaching. Presenters looked at how political, religious and commercial forces shape these popular cultural forms.

16 April 2008
Policy Forum presented by Dr Robert Cribb from The Australian National University
Myths about mass violence: lessons from Indonesia
held at Campus Den Haag, Leiden University, The Hague and co-sponsored by the Australian Embassy, The Hague

Abstract
The sudden outbreak of mass violence remains an urgent but perplexing problem in international affairs.  Seemingly peaceful societies can descend suddenly into internecine conflict, suggesting deep undercurrents of conflict and hatred that need to be identified and remedied in order to forestall future violent outbreaks.  Indonesia unfortunately has a rich history of mass violence.  Although the targets of this violence have been sometimes ethnic, sometimes religious and sometimes political, close examination suggests that  deep conflicts and hatreds have been less important in sparking mass violence than the periodic weakness of the state, the withdrawal of state protection from specific groups and the dynamics by which violence escalates.  This conclusion in turn suggests, against conventional wisdom, that managing the early stages of violence is of greater importance in preventing human disaster than broader preventive measures.

12 December 2007
Policy Forum presented by Dr Greg Fealy from The Australian National University
Islamisation in Indonesia: A Critical Analysis of Trends
held at Campus Den Haag, Leiden University, The Hague and co-sponsored by the Australian Embassy, The Hague

Abstract
A common theme in recent media coverage and some academic writings is that Indonesia is undergoing rapid Islamisation and that this is making Indonesian Muslims more conservative and exclusivist, if not radical.  References are made to the emergence of the terrorist organisation Jemaah Islamiyah, to the proliferation of Islamist vigilante and paramilitary groups such as FPI, AGAP and Laskar Jihad, to the implementation of sharia-derived bylaws in many districts, and to the seeming growing community intolerance of ‘deviant’ Muslim sects, such as Ahmadiyah and Wahidiyah.

This presentation will critically examine the evidence regarding Islamisation.  It will draw on recent election results, public opinion surveys, and studies of trends in radical activity and local sharia-isation to argue that claims of growing Islamic militancy and conservatism are greatly exaggerated.  Moreover, it will critique the media and scholarly discourse on Indonesian Islam and analyse the reasons for the popularity of this ‘radical Indonesia’ interpretation.

4 September 2007
Preliminary workshop convened by Dr Greg Fealy from The Australian National University
International Dimensions of Indonesian Islam
held at The Australian National University, Canberra

Outcome summary
There were 22 participants including postgraduate students and representatives from five AustralianUniversities and two Indonesian Islamic universities. The main research priorities that emerged from the discussions were:

1. the need to trace the personal ‘life histories’ of Muslims who move across different streams of thought and doctrine as this illuminates broader trends in Islamic religiosity;
2. the desirability of considering the contribution of Indonesian Islamic thought and practice for the wider Islamic world;
3. greater attention to regional cultural and literary contexts in studying Indonesian literature; and
4. the importance of studying Islamic artistic expression in Indonesia in order to explore the relative impact of foreign and domestic forces.

The workshop also noted the need for workshop participants to make available their expertise to policy makers and government analysts, as a way of ensuring that a nuanced view of regional Islamic dynamics was informing government responses.