VZCZCXYZ0009
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHJA #3255/01 3260012
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 220012Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2151
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHJA/ISLAMIC CONFERENCE COLLECTIVE
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0111
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 1141

C O N F I D E N T I A L JAKARTA 013255 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
CORRECTED COPY OF JAKARTA 13222 (ADD PARA 1 CLASSIFICATION 
MARKER) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2011 
TAGS: SCUL PREL KISL OIIP OEXP KPAO ID
SUBJECT: OLD/NEW STATE ISLAMIC UNIV. RECTORS ON ISLAM AND 
SOCIETY 
 
REF: 03 JAKARTA 9773 -- ISLAMIC COLLEGE AND 
     UNIVERSITIES IN INDONESIA 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Catherine E. Sweet, Reason 1.4(d) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary.  On November 8, Komaruddin Hidayat, the new 
rector of the State Islamic University's (UIN) Syarif 
Hidayatullah campus, and former rector Azyumardi Azra spoke 
to us about the university, Islam and society.  They argued 
that Indonesia is becoming increasingly conservative 
religiously as a result of the instability that emerged after 
Suharto's fall, with radical Muslim groups taking advantage 
of economic, political and legal vacuums that exist under 
Indonesia's new democratic system.  To Komaruddin, this 
suggests that the radical Islamic movement is more 
psychological than philosophical.  Both envision a special 
role for UIN in training Muslim leaders who can cooperate 
with all nations, and they called for even greater 
cooperation between the university and the U.S.  End Summary. 
 
 
¶2.  (U) On November 8, we paid a courtesy call on Komaruddin 
Hidayat, the new rector of the State Islamic University's 
Syarif Hidayatullah campus, and Azyumardi Azra, whom Hidayat 
is replacing.  Hidayat was elected in October to a four-year 
term as rector.  Azra, who is also a history professor, has 
served a rector since 1998.  (Note. Azra participated in a 
roundtable discussion with President Bush during his 2003 
visit to Bali; Hidayat is scheduled to meet President Bush 
during his upcoming visit on November 20.  A/S Hughes spoke 
at UIN during her 2005 trip to Indonesia.  End Note.) 
 
¶3.  (U) The Syarif Hidayatullah campus is the flagship 
institution within the State Islamic University (UIN) 
network, with more than 23,000 undergraduate and graduate 
students.  According to Azra, students hail from throughout 
Indonesia, making UIN's population even more geographically 
diverse than the prestigious University of Indonesia. 
Instruction is primarily in Indonesian, although some courses 
are offered in English and Arabic, and the majority of 
students major in the humanities or social sciences.  Unlike 
in Indonesia's secular universities, UIN has a faculty of 
religious studies and offers a major in Islamic studies. 
However, UIN teaches "universal principles" in secular 
disciplines -- there is no "Islamic" curriculum for the hard 
sciences, for example.  UIN faculty are heavily involved in 
activities outside of UIN:  more than 50 lecturers teach at 
other universities, others have ties to Islamic boarding 
schools (pesantren), and many are active within civil society 
organizations. 
 
Relations with the U.S. 
----------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) UIN has long-standing strong ties with the Embassy, 
and hosts an American Corner; at present, there are two 
visiting American faculty members.  According to Komaruddin, 
there is still much misunderstanding within Indonesian 
society about the U.S. He said many ordinary Indonesians do 
not differentiate between the political and economic/cultural 
aspects of the country's relationship with the U.S., which 
makes life difficult for defenders of the U.S.  Extremist 
organizations like Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, Abu Bakar 
Ba'asyir's Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia and the Islamic 
Defenders Front (FPI) exploit this ignorance, accusing people 
like Azra and Komaruddin of being "agents of the U.S." or 
part of a "Zionist agenda." 
 
¶5.  (SBU) When asked if it would be useful for the Embassy to 
engage with these groups, both Komaruddin and Azra said it 
would if it were done through bridge institutions like UIN. 
He noted that UIN students and lecturers are from 
conservative areas, and can act as conduits to civil society. 
 Azra suggested that the Embassy help schedule regular public 
lectures (by experts or diplomats) at the university on 
politics, American society, and religion in America. 
 
Radical Students Groups Weak on UIN Campus 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶6. (SBU) Azra and Komaruddin told us that the vast majority 
of UIN students are affiliated with the independent Islamic 
Student Association (HMI) or the unions tied to Indonesia's 
two biggest mass Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and 
Muhammadiyah; all three are moderate, mainstream 
associations.  They indicated that there is a smaller group 
 
associated with the Lembaga Dakwah Kampus, a university-based 
proselytization organization that gave rise to the Indonesian 
Muslim Student Action Union (the student wing of the Islamist 
Prosperous Justice Party, PKS), as well as a handful of 
students who belong to the radical Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia 
(HTI).  Interestingly, the rectors believe that secular 
universities ) notably the University of Indonesia and the 
Bogor Agricultural University ) are the bastions of hardline 
Islamist student groups, not the Islamic university system. 
 
Indonesian Islam:  More Conservative under Democracy 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Azra believes that Indonesia is becoming 
increasingly conservative religiously.  He attributed this to 
the social, political and economic instability that followed 
Suharto's fall and the end of authoritarianism.  According to 
Azra, the country "has not reached equilibrium after 
democratic euphoria."  Because politicians have been unable 
to establish law and order, a legal vacuum has emerged that 
groups like the vigilante FPI have filled by taking the law 
into their own hands.  Komaruddin added that unlike in the 
Suharto era, when the state could forcibly suppress radical 
religious movements, Indonesia is not yet a sufficiently 
mature democracy to regulate and balance against these 
groups.  Furthermore, some of the more extremist 
organizations do not want to be part of the state system; 
they have become even more radicalized on the periphery. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Azra said that the best way to manage such groups 
is through economic progress.  He blamed Indonesia's rampant 
unemployment for creating an atmosphere in which extremists 
may easily recruit supporters (although he added that their 
overall membership is still quite small and fairly constant). 
 Azra observed that Indonesia has been fairly impervious to 
foreign attempts to export radicalism (noting specifically 
Iranian efforts to spread revolutionary Shi'ism in the 
1980s).  However, he said that transnational radical 
organizations like HTI could gain momentum if Indonesia's 
democratic experiment fails. 
 
¶9.  (C) As academics, both Azra and Komaruddin were critical 
of radical groups' lack of intellectual rigor.  For instance, 
Azra recounted his conversations with members of HTI, whom he 
clearly disdains.  He said he challenged them about their 
calls for a return of the Islamic caliphate, pointing out 
that the Ottoman caliphate was an exceedingly corrupt 
institution that was more of a monarchy than a religious 
exemplar.  Komaruddin agreed with Azra's critique, adding 
that movements which use Islam to promote their agenda have 
been neither consistent nor pragmatic.  Rather, he believes 
they are cathartic movements designed to channel frustration 
with ineffective secular governments.  For their adherents, 
Islam has become the most effective way to express their 
grievances.  At base, Komaruddin argued, the radical Islamic 
movement is more psychological than philosophical, drawing on 
an internal anger that derives from a lack of political and 
economic confidence. 
 
UIN's Role in Combatting Radicalism 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) In this regard, both Azra and Komaruddin see a 
special role for UIN:  producing Muslim leaders with 
first-rate academic training who retain strong ties to the 
community.  They said UIN has a responsibility to teach 
Muslims that they can cooperate with any institution or 
country, and pointed out that UIN established the American 
Corner for precisely this reason:  to show that this Islamic 
institution could engage with the U.S.  Both Komaruddin and 
Azra called for even greater cooperation between the 
university and the U.S.  In addition to organizing lectures 
and seminars by U.S. officials and academics, they suggested 
a joint effort to translate American academic materials into 
Indonesian, which UIN could then distribute to its students 
and to Islamic boarding schools, or pesantren, in 
conservative communities. 
 
Bio Notes 
---------- 
 
¶11. (U) Komaruddin Hidayat is an Islamic philosophy professor 
who was previously the dean of UIN's graduate school faculty. 
 He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Middle East 
University in Ankara, Turkey.  Hidayat has previously served 
as the Director of Tertiary Education in the Ministry of 
 
Religion, and as the chief of the 2004 Elections Observer 
Committee. 
 
¶12. (U) Azyumardi Azra, one of Indonesia's most prolific 
Muslim scholars, has long ties with the U.S.  He received his 
M.A. in Middle Eastern Languages (as a Fulbright scholar) and 
a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University.  In 2001, Azra 
returned to the U.S. as a Distinguished International 
Visiting Professor in New York University's Middle East 
Studies program.  He has been part of the State Islamic 
University network since 1985, first as a lecturer, then as 
UIN's Vice Rector for Academic Affairs (1997-1998), and 
finally as Rector (1998-2006). 
PASCOE