ASU - INDONESIAN INSTITUTIONS EXCHANGE PROGRAM
ON
CONFLICT RESOLUTION
US PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS
Arizona State University (ASU)
Established in 1885 as a teacher-training school, ASU has developed into the
fourth largest public university in the US and has achieved research one status.
It has an enrollment of 45,000 students, consisting of 52% women and 18.8%
African Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans and Hispanics. It is
one of the largest universities serving international students who amount
to 10.8% of the students, coming from 146 countries. ASU has 13 colleges,
80 departments and nearly 50 research centers offering 250 degrees. ASU has
comprehensive academic coverage and is committed to developing diversified
programs ranging from engineering to humanities, from arts to international
studies programs. Four units at Arizona State University will participate
in this project: the Program for Southeast Asian Studies (PSEAS), the Department
of Languages and Literatures (DLL), the Department of Religious Studies (DRD),
and the Morrison School of Agribusiness & Resource Management (MSABR)
at Arizona State University East.
Arizona State University is an Equal Opportunity Employer that strongly encourages
women and minority to apply to any ASU job opening. In addition, ASU is actively
diversifying its programs to include studies of under represented groups,
such as Asia-Pacific Studies, Hispanic Studies and Women Studies Programs.
1) Program for Southeast Asian Studies (PSEAS) and the Department
of Languages and Literatures (DLL)
PSEAS is designed to enhance studies on non-Western populations to support
and advise underrepresented groups. The Program has 40 certificate students
and 30 affiliated faculty members with interests in Southeast Asian countries,
8 of whom have research interests in Indonesia. This project will strengthen
the Program's relationship with Indonesian institutions and expand the research
and teaching activities of the faculties involved. Dr. James Eder, coordinator
of PSEAS, is very supportive of this proposal and will help welcome the Indonesian
participants to the PSEAS and ASU.
DLL is one of the largest departments at Arizona State University. It has
6,399 students and 81 faculty members. In this department students can learn
20 different languages, including Arabic, Hebrew and Indonesian. It offers
425 courses in different fields including literatures, culture, film, theater,
mythology, calligraphy, linguistics and translation. This department helps
broaden the views of ASU students to other countries through study abroad
programs, providing not only a picture of the world and how the world communicates,
but also awareness of differences in this world. Dr. Debbie Losse, the Department
Chair, is very supportive of this proposed project.
Dr. Peter Suwarno, the project director, is an Associate Professor of DLL
and faculty member of the PSEAS. Specialized in language and communication,
his teaching experience and research interests include Javanese and Indonesian
languages, Southeast Asian literatures, linguistics and communication. His
training in communication led to his increasing interest in mediation and
conflict resolution activities.
He has an extensive experience in working with different institutions in Indonesia.
During the ASU East linkage project (ASU-BAU) in 2002, he conducted two three-day
training sessions on communication and mediation at BAU, observed and visited
several conflict sites in West Java, and gave seminars on US vs. Indonesia
conflict resolution styles at University of Diponegoro Semarang and Agricultural
Academies in Yogyakarta and Magelang.
During the ASU-BAU exchange programs, Dr. Suwarno had an important role of
resolving some language problems and cross-cultural misunderstanding encountered
by the Indonesian participants. His extensive experience in organizing advanced
Indonesian abroad program and in training language teachers will greatly aid
the success of the training sessions. His wealth of experience and knowledge
of Indonesian culture as well as his language, communication, and organizational
skills will ensure the success of this project.
2) Department of Religious Studies (DRS)
DRS provides teaching and research activities that explore a wide range of
phenomena related to religion. This fields cover broad areas such as myths,
symbols, values, beliefs, writings, and rituals of individuals and communities
in many different times and places. It brings together perspectives and approaches
from history, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and literature to gain
a more comprehensive understanding of the individuals and traditions that
constitute religions and cultures. The department is gaining increased popularity
and has more than 130 students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It
has 24 faculty members with diverse areas of teaching and research including
Indonesia.
Two prominent religious scholars from DRS who will participate in this project
are Drs. Linell Cady and Mark Woodward. Dr. Cady is a professor of modern
western religious thought, who has an extensive experience in teaching including
at St. Mary's College and Wheaton College, as well as the University of Massachusetts.
The focus of her research is on the relationship of religion and the public/private
boundary, with primary attention on the American context. Topics of her particular
interest include the construction of the modern category of religion, and
its interface with understanding of the secular and the public and the relationship
between religion and civil discourse. Her knowledge and experience in the
relationship of state and religion and the inter-religious relationship in
the US will greatly help in generating the most appropriate resolution on
religious and ethnic conflicts.
Dr. Woodward is an Associate Professor of religions of Southeast Asia, with
special interest in religion and modernization in Indonesia. Affiliated with
the PSEAS, he is well-known for his work on Islam in Java and has extensive
research on Islam and the plurality in Indonesia. His knowledge and experience
working with Moslem communities and institutions in Indonesia is invaluable
in enhancing the success of the project.
3) The Morrison School of Agribusiness and Resource Management (MSABR), Arizona
State University East (ASU East)
Opened in 1996, ASU East has 3,200 students pursuing degrees in agribusiness,
engineering technology and a variety of professional and liberal studies programs.
Located in the fast-growing East Valley, ASU East has the College of Technology
& Applied Sciences, East College and MSABR. The MSABR has formed an alliance
with Bogor Agricultural University (BAU), Indonesia's Ministry of Agriculture
and the Agricultural Academy (Indonesia) to provide faculty and curriculum
development in mediation, civic education and agribusiness areas. One of the
focuses of this exchange program is to train mediators and establish mediation
center at BAU.
Two professors, Drs. Eric Thor and Philip Stiles, will actively participate
in this project. Dr. Thor has three decades of experience working with Southeast
Asia, small business and entrepreneurship, and mediation. Through a 1994 Global
Executives Program on Small Business Incubators, in which he was involved,
eight incubators were established in different islands and regions of Indonesia.
He was a member of President Reagan's, Bush's and Clinton's Emerging Markets
Advisory Board, which assisted Congress and the administration to focus on
emerging trends in Indonesia and other large emerging markets as defined by
the legislation. Since 1997 Dr. Thor has been the Director of the Arizona
Agricultural Mediation Program at ASU East, a project funded by the U.S. Department
of Agriculture. Building on the strengths of this domestic program, he obtained
funding for the Indonesia Academic Enhancement Program (DOS College &
University Affiliation Program cited earlier) designed to assist Indonesian
agribusiness universities in understanding and implementing mediation in rural
areas. In addition, Dr. Thor is a certified agriculture mediator.
Dr. Philip Stiles has forty years experience in International Development,
evaluation and project leadership. He is a Fulbright Fellow in Emerging Markets
and has been working with Indonesia projects for the past five years. He has
taught at BAU and the Rural Academy in Yogyakarta. He has been the co-director
of over a dozen studies in Southeast Asia from Fisheries to Mediation. He
is a certified mediator affiliated with the Arizona Agricultural Mediation
Program and Professor Emeritus at ASU East. Dr. Stiles has donated and delivered
over 40,000 technical college textbooks to several Islamic institutions in
Indonesia.
II. Participating Indonesian Institutions
We will work with Indonesian educational institutions because the participants
can have a broad influence on local communities and the nation in general.
These institutions are three Indonesian State Islamic Studies Institutes and
Academies (IAIN and STAIN): IAIN Walisongo, Semarang (Central Java), IAIN
Raden Intan, Bandar Lampung, (Southern Sumatra), and STAIN Lombok (West Nusa
Tenggara), and one Christian University: Satya Wacana (Salatiga, Central Java).
Indonesian State Islamic Studies Institutes/Academy (IAIN/STAIN)
We selected Moslem educational institutions with homogeneous Moslem faculty,
staff, and students, for the following reasons:
a) Because Indonesia is the largest Moslem country in the world, it is best
to learn about Indonesia through direct interaction with communities of Moslem
scholars in Islamic Studies institutes.
b) Graduates of Islamic Studies Institutes will always be regarded as Islamic
experts and community or group religious leaders, even if they do not necessarily
work in a religious institution. Working directly with these people will have
a great impact in Indonesian Moslem communities and their future leaders.
c) This will help eliminate the myth that Islamic institutions are not open
to working cooperatively with foreign institutions. The exposure of these
institutions to modern styles of mediation and conflict resolution strategies
that emphasize open communication will enhance the effort of Indonesian religious
communities to improve their tolerance of diversity.
1) IAIN Walisongo, Semarang
Located in the capital of Central Java, IAIN Walisongo is one of the best
and highly respected Islamic Studies Institutes in Indonesia. This Institute
has 4,866 students and 243 faculty members. There are four colleges at the
Institute: education, law, theology and missionary. It also has three graduate
degree programs in law, education, and ethic. The institution has several
cooperative projects such as in training and workshop with various NGOs located
in Semarang, which IAIN will invite to participate in some of the ASU-Indonesian
institution project activities. The rector of the institute, Dr. H. Abdul
Djamil, strongly supports the proposed project.
Dr. Abdurahman Mas'ud is the contact person and will be the PI from the Indonesian
side. He is the director of the graduate degree program at IAIN Walisongo
and obtained his Ph.D. in Islamic Studies (Interdepartmental Studies, UCLA,
USA) in 1997 with a Fulbright Scholarship. He is currently the Director of
Walisongo Research Institute and Chair of IAIN Walisongo Research Center.
He has been a consultant to Basic Educational Project (Central Java, Indonesia)
and Semarang Institute for Moslem Educational Studies in Indonesia.
2) IAIN Raden Intan, Lampung
Established in 1967, IAIN Lampung has over 3,000 students and 600 faculty
and staff members. It has four colleges and one graduate program. We selected
IAIN Lampung because we believe that it is important to learn from and to
have an impact on communities outside of Java that have not had much exposure
to and cooperation with the western world. Second, the province of Lampung
consists of complex multiethnic communities, consisting of Javanese, native
Sumatran and other small minorities. Third, there have been ethnic conflicts
in some areas involving Javanese migrants and Lampung native villagers. While
there has been no known serious religious conflicts in Lampung, it is one
of the provinces that has been experiencing radical religious group uprising.
In 1989 the Indonesian military crushed members of a rebel radical Muslim
group in the South Lampung village of Talang Sari III, resulting in at least
30 people killed. In recent years, there have been increasing numbers of complicated
land disputes leading to demonstrations in front of the governor's office,
riots, and ethnic conflicts.
Our contact persons and representatives from IAIN Raden Intan, Lampung are
Mr. Henry Iwansyah and Dr. Noor Chozin Sufri (rector). They have been in communication
with other participating Indonesian institutions and are very eager to help
make this proposed project successful.
3) STAIN Lombok
STAIN Lombok is an Islamic Studies Institute in the Eastern part of Indonesia.
Lombok is an island that has a Moslem majority population, whereas all islands
east of Lombok are mostly inhabited by Christians. Lombok is frequently hard
hit by serious ethnic and religious conflicts. In 2000, an Islamic religious
speech incited riots that descended into looting sprees leaving at least one
person dead, no less than 10 churches burned, a number of houses belonging
to Christian and Chinese burned or ransacked, and thousands seeking refuge
on the neighboring island of Bali. In 2001, a bomb rocked Lombok targeting
an American mining company of Newmont Nusa Tenggara. Since 2001, two villages,
Bongor and Parampuan, have been frequently engaged in war leading to a number
of deaths from both sides. Until today, tension continued to grip the border
between the warring villages in Lombok. This is a challenging but compelling
situation in Lombok. The participation of STAIN Lombok will greatly aid the
Lombok communities generate suitable strategies for resolving their conflicts.
Our contact persons and representatives from STAIN Lombok are Mr. Ahmad Amir
Aziz and Mr. Lukman Hakim (rector). They very interested in this proposed
project, because Mr. Lukman Hakim had attended one of the mediation training
sessions that Dr. Peter Suwarno conducted at BAU.
4) Satya Wacana Christian University (UKSW)
The project also includes Satya Wacana Christian University which has a mostly
Christian faculty and students as well as some Moslems, Hindus, and Buddhists.
This university has a strong theological school and a graduate degree program
in religion and society. We selected this Christian university for the following
reasons:
a) it represents the minority communities.
b) the diversity of the university provides different views from different
religious groups that will help build tolerant attitude toward diverse groups
of various cultural and religious backgrounds.
Established in 1956, UKSW has 13 schools and colleges, 4 graduate degrees
and 7 professional non-degree programs. UKSW is one of the leading private
universities in Indonesia, attended by 9,500 students from different ethnic,
cultural and religious backgrounds from different parts of Indonesia. Thus,
although it is supported by Christian denominations, UKSW portrays itself
as Indonesia mini, as most, if not all, ethnic and religious groups are represented
in its campus.
Our contact person from UKSW is Dr. Raema Andreyana, who is the deputy rector
for international relation. Actively engaged in the discussion of this project
is reverend Dr. John Titaley, the rector of UKSW and Co-PI from the Indonesian
institutions. He is also the founder and former head of the graduate degree
program in religion and society of the university. He actively participates
in many inter-religious dialogues and conferences on inter-religious relationship
in Indonesia as well as abroad. As a well-known religious leader originally
from Ambon, he has been actively engaged in the religious conflicts in Ambon
and Poso.