Rounded Analysis On Contested Issues; Spotlighting Blind Spots; Politics, Religion, Travel, Books
The role the country's single largest religion has played in the development and enhancement of pluralism has been linked to Indonesia's adoption of the Islamic middle path or ummah wasat thanks to Islam's peaceful propagation and integration into diverse ethnic, cultural, and social realities
Indonesia stands out among the world’s 20 biggest economies on the back of the stability it has maintained through harmony among its myriad ethnicities and linguistic groups decades after its crony-capitalist system collapsed in the face of the 1997 Asian financial crisis
Nahdlatul Ulama has cited ISIS’s attempt to create a so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria and argued it will inevitably be disastrous and contrary to the basic purposes of Sharia—the protection of religion, human life, sound reasoning, family, and property
A statue of Hindu Goddess Saraswati was installed at the embassy of the world's most populous Muslim country in 2013 in Washington DC as a symbol of religious freedom in Indonesia, which is governed by principles of humanitarianism and democracy
Scholar Abdallah bin Mahfudh ibn Bayyah crafted the legal framework that inspired the declaration connecting early Islamic sources and the Prophet Muhammad's Charter of Medina with international human rights law for a model of equal, contractual citizenship as an Islamic principle
Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s biggest Islamic organisation, is an antithesis of the Taliban but it is hardly known perhaps because its progressive ideas do not fit into the dominant narrative about Islam particularly when Islamophobia is lucrative and many demagogues globally have tapped into it for political power
Myriad delights, religious landmarks, and cultural richness—including the world's tallest Hindu statue—testify to the commitment of Indonesia, a Muslim-majority country, to multiculturalism and religious freedom
Zakat, Islam's third pillar mandating Muslims to give 2.5% of savings to charity, has transformed lives in nations like Indonesia and has the potential to alleviate global poverty and contribute to UN Sustainable Development Goals if utilized professionally
