Indonesia Pushes Promotion of Religious Moderation in Netherlands

PPIM.UINJKT.AC.ID – The Education and Cultural Attache of the Indonesian Embassy in Den Haag, Din Wahid, elaborated several programs that could help promote religious moderation in the Netherlands.

“There are several things we have done. One of them is by supporting the efforts of Indonesian people in the Netherlands in spreading moderate Islam, showing that Indonesia has a tolerant Islamic thinking, and emphasizing that Indonesia is very diverse in various aspects: ethnicity, languages, classes and religions,” Din said on Friday (4/9).

He was speaking in a virtual seminar series of #ModerasiBeragama (Religious Moderation) themed “Religious Moderation and Cultural Diplomacy”, which was organized by the Center for the Study of Islam and Society (PPIM) of the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta through Convey Indonesia program.

The lecturer at the Faculty of Ushuluddin, UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, also said that the program was held to spread positive understandings towards Islam. According to Din, Muslims in the Netherlands often suffered negative stigma, because people in the country assumed that Muslims were radical and refused to adapt with western values.

“The attack on the WTC [World Center Tower in New York], the Madrid bombing, the London bombing, and the publication of 2008 Fitna movie has triggered assumptions that Islam is identical with violence,” said Din, who is also a researcher at the PPIM UIN Jakarta.

Therefore, Din said that moderate Islam could be a solution to the problems that often occurred in the Netherlands. The moderate Islamic understanding implemented in Indonesia could promote the noble values ​​of Islam, which were in line with the ideas of European Muslims that tended to develop more inclusive thinking and accept universal human values, such as democracy, gender equality, and so on.

The virtual seminar on Religious Moderation is held every Friday via “Convey Indonesia” and “PPIM UIN Jakarta” official Youtube channels. The discussion, moderated by Convey Indonesian Team Leader Jamhari Makruf, also presented other speakers, including Abdurrahman M. Fachir (Vice Minister of Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry 2014-2019) and a number of Educational and Cultural Attaches from the Embassies of the Republic of Indonesia – Prof. Mustari (Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand), and Dr. Lili Nurlaili (Indonesian Embassy in Manila, Philippines).

Writer: Andita Putri Ghassani
Editor: Zhella Apriesta