Scholars call into question survey linking Islam and violence

Muslim scholars are questioning a recent survey that suggested there is a relationship between Islam and violence in Indonesia, saying the survey was not based on a true understanding of Islamic doctrines and of economic and cultural factors in the country.
According to the survey of 1,200 Muslims in 30 of Indonesia's 33 provinces, 0.1 percent of respondents admitted involvement in demolishing or burning churches constructed without official permits.
Another 1.3 percent said they had committed "intimidation" of those they considered to have blasphemed Islam.
The survey, conducted by the Center for Islamic and Social Studies (PPIM), was carried out from 2001 to this year. It also found 43.5 percent of respondents said they were ready to "wage war" on threatening non-Muslim groups.
PPIM researcher Jajat Burhanudin attributed these hostile tendencies to a simplistic understanding of Islamic teachings.
Chaider Bamualim, chairman of the Center for the Study of Religion and Culture (CSRC), questioned the survey's methodology and said the researchers' perceptions of Islamic norms and doctrines may be inaccurate.
Based on the percentage of respondents who said they had committed, or were willing to commit violence, Chaider said it was highly questionable that hundreds of thousands of Muslims have admitted using violence in the name of religion, "and that Islamic educational institutions such as the pesantren and madrasah have encouraged their students to commit violence," he said.
Chaider, an alumni of the Gontor Islamic Boarding School, said Islam had a great number of norms and doctrines, but only a small number allowed the use of violence, in a context which could not be compared to that of groups presently using violence and intimidation in the name of religion.
The rector of Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic University, Azyumardi Azra, said most violent incidents have been triggered by economic and cultural factors.
"The agents behind the violence are incidentally Muslims but it is exaggerating to conclude that the way the Muslims have behaved is encouraged by religious factors," he said.
Azyumardi, who addressed a discussion on the survey last week, said local cultures were quite familier with the use of violence.
He cited the custom of revenge called carok in Madurese culture and tribal wars in Papuan culture.
Azyumardi added that poverty and the high rate of unemployment in urban areas have also encouraged poor Muslims to use force or join militant organizations to express their frustration over unfavorable economic conditions, rampant corruption and political instability.
The two scholars agreed, however, that clerics and other Islamic figures, in cooperation with the government, should work diligently not only to review old Islamic doctrines and norms to make them applicable to the modern age, but also to seek role models for Muslims.

Quake-proof construction standards 'ignored'

In the wake of the tragedy in Yogyakarta, in which thousands died in collapsed houses and buildings, experts warned that earthquake-resistant construction standards must be strengthened to prevent future disasters.
"The number of victims in Bantul and Yogyakarta could have been minimized had they built quake-proof houses," said Surono, a geophysicist at the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center.
As of Monday afternoon the government put the death toll from Saturday's temblor at 5,200 in Yogyakarta and neighboring areas in Central Java. About two-thirds of the deaths occurred in the coastal Bantul regency, south of Yogyakarta.
Surono said Monday the proximity of population centers to the quake's epicenter contributed to the high death toll. Yogyakarta is about 37 kilometers from the epicenter, which was 33 kilometers beneath the sea.
Quake-resistant construction would at least have given people time to get out of houses and buildings before they collapsed, Surono told The Jakarta Post.
Wayan Sengara, an expert from the Department of Civil Engineering at Bandung Institute of Technology, said most houses in Yogyakarta sustained some structural damage in the earthquake, such as collapsed or cracked walls. But many of the more strongly constructed hotels in the city only suffered light damage, like broken windows.
A government decree issued in the 1970s and revised in 2002 requires local governments to follow quake-proof construction standards, which vary according to the different levels of seismic activity in their respective regions.
"Quake-proof construction increases the cost of a building by about 10 to 15 percent," Wayan said.
This extra cost is one reason the standards are often ignored, Wayan said, along with the government's failure to educate the public about the importance of quake-resistant construction. And though there are agencies to supervise building standards, it is thought contractors often get around these standards through bribes.
An expert in structural and earthquake technology at the Public Works Ministry, Suwandojo Siddiq, said pictures of 200 damaged houses in Yogyakarta showed they were all constructed from concrete, while more traditional building materials such as woven bamboo would be harmless in an earthquake.
However, given that concrete is now the preferred building material for houses, he said the best way to make houses quake-resistant was by using steel reinforcements.
"People build houses differently in Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan," Suwandojo said, adding quake-proof construction techniques should be adjusted to different areas of the country.
The director of construction at the Public Works Ministry, Antonius Budiono, said officials from the department traveled to the regions each year to monitor construction standards in different areas of the country and inspect buildings.
"Buildings should be checked every five years," he said.
Antonius said the Jakarta government had done the best job of enforcing construction standards. In 1996 a magnitude 6.0 earthquake resulted in minimal damage to high-rise buildings in the capital

"The Jakarta Post"

Hinduism

It may one day be shown by students of prehistory that Indonesians were sailing to other parts of Asia long ago. Records of foreign trade, however, begin only in the early centuries AD. A study of the Roman historian Pliny the Elder's Natural History suggests that, in the 1st century AD, Indonesian outriggers were engaged in trade with the east coast of Africa. Indonesian settlements may have existed at that time in Madagascar, an island with distinct Indonesian cultural traits. The geographer Ptolemy, in the following century, incorporated information from Indian merchants in his Guide to Geography concerning "Iabadiou," presumably referring to Java, and "Malaiou," which, with its variants, may refer to Malayu in southeastern Sumatra.

Regular voyages between Indonesia and China did not begin before the 5th century AD. Chinese literature in the 5th and 6th centuries refers to western Indonesian tree produce, including camphor from northern Sumatra, and also to two resins that seem to have been added to the seaborne trade in western Asian resins and were known in China as "Persian resins from the south ocean." Indonesian shippers were probably exploiting the economic difficulties southern China was suffering at the time because it had been cut off from the ancient Central Asian trade route. Certain small estuary kingdoms were beginning to prosper as international entrepots. Their location is unknown, though Palembang's commercial prominence in the 7th century suggests that the Malays of southeastern Sumatra had been active in the "Persian" trade with southern China.

GANESHA

Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the biggest festivals held every year in Maharashtra. The Ganesh itself that makes this festival a mammoth one. A journey to ancient Hindu-influenced parts of this world which almost all of them reside in Southeast Asia reveals the fact.

Hinduism was a big part of the beliefs of Indonesians. Decrepit and remnants of more than 300 years (some are more than 1000 years) aged temples found and excavated in Indonesia. There located prominent Ganesh statues. Most of them are still intact and preserved in museum and some are still on their places where they were placed more than one hundred decades ago. There are at least more than 15 spots all over Indonesia where Ganesh statues were found. Below are the sites.

• Bara Temple, Tuliskaiyo village, Blitar Regency, East Java. Built in 1239. An immense statue of three meters height Ganesha.
• Ratu Boko, few kilometers from Prambanan Temple. There is an unfinished statue of Ganesha. Built in 9th Century.
• Lorojongrang or Prambanan Temple. This magnificent Shivaite temple derives it name from the village where it is located. Locally known as the Loro Jongrang Temple, or the Temple of the "Slender Virgin", it is the biggest and most beautiful Hindu temple in Indonesia. Built in 9th Century.
• Penataran Temple. The dated temple. Is engraved on the lintel of the door western side. In the cellar there is a statue of Ganesha. Earliest inscription reveals year 1197 (12th Century).
• Balaputradewa Museum, Palembang, West Sumatera. One of its collections is statue of Ganesha dated back from Sriwijaya Kingdom (7th - 13th Century)
• Sambisari Temple - Jogyakarta. A statue of Ganesha is on the East side of the temple. Built in 9th Century.
• Pura Luhur Uluwatu, Bali. Statues of Ganesha herald at the gate. Built in 15th Century.
• Complex of tombs of the last Hindu Madura and early Islamic Kings. 16th Century. Statue and relief of Ganesha are inside the complex.
• Torongrejo village, Wukir Mt. Malang - East Java. Archeological excavation revealed Ganesha statue dated back from Singosari Kingdom(13th Century)
• Ujung Kulon National Park, West Java. Ujung Kulon National Park is the first national park, founded in Indonesia. The park (80,000 ha) lies on a peninsula in southwest Java and includes the islands Pulau Peucang, Pulau Panaitan and the Krakatau archipelago. On 1 February 1992, the Proposed Ujung Kulon National Park complex and the Krakatau Islands Nature Reserve were declared a World Heritage Site. An early Hindu archaeological relic of a Ganesha statue from the first century AD founded in pulau Panaitan on the summit of Mt. Raksa.
• Pura Blanjong, Sanur- Bali. A Brahmin dominated complex. There inside located Ganesh statue and Bali's oldest inscription dated 914 AD.
• Gebang Temple, Jogyakarta. A blend of Buddha-Hindu temple. A Ganesh enchased on its architecture.
• Gedongsongo Temple, Candi Village, Ungaran Mt., Semarang - Central Java. Nine small temples with Ganesh relief. 8th Century.
  

Rulers of the Majapahit kingdom

Rajasa Dynasty

• 1293-1309: Raden Wijaya (Kertarajasa Jayawardhana)
• 1309-1328: Jayanagara
• 1328-1350: Tribhuwanatunggadewi Jayawishnuwardhani (Queen) (Bhre Kahuripan)
• 1350-1389: Rajasanagara (Hayam Wuruk)
• 1389-1429: Wikramawardhana (Bhre Lasem Sang Alemu)
• 1429-1447: Suhita (Queen) (Prabustri)
• 1447-1451: Wijayaparakramawardhana Sri Kertawijaya (Bhre Tumapel, converted to Islam)

Girindrawardhana Dynasty:

• 1451-1453: Rajasawardhana (Bhre Pamotan Sang Singanagara)
• 1453-1456: throne vacant
• 1456-1466: Giripatiprasuta Dyah/Hyang Purwawisesa (Bhre Wengker)
• 1466-1474: Suraprabhawa/Singhawikramawardhana (Bhre Pandan Salas). In 1468, a court rebellion by Bhre Kertabhumi forced him to move his court to the city of Daha, Kediri.
• 1468-1478: Bhre Kertabhumi
• 1478-1519: Ranawijaya (Bhre Prabu Girindrawardhana). He is Suraprabhawa's son and managed to regain the Majapahit throne lost to Kertabhumi. In 1486, he moves the capital to Kediri.
• 1519- c.1527: Prabhu Udara