Cultivating the Spirit of Mutual Assistance for Independence, and Blocking the Threat of Radicalism

By: Syukri Nur Ihsan )*

Talking about the 74th birthday of Indonesia, which is entering the digital era now, will certainly find progress and challenges in it. Progress because many creations and innovations that were born by the smart and creative generation thanks to Indonesia received demographic bonus. However, there are also challenges that are quite worrying about the continuity of the spirit of this nation’s independence in the future, namely the danger of hoaxes and radicalism.

“Organized truth can be defeated by organized sleaze”. This phrase is appropriate in describing the phenomenon of radicalism today. Radicalism as a representation of sleaze can defeat peace as a manifestation of truth. It is a fact that radical people are actually only a handful of people, but they are organized. Conversely, those who long for peace are in large numbers, but cannot congregate.

Sparkling kamajuanjuan information and technology coupled with penetration of social media makes humans able to provide for themselves. Whatever he wants, just click, it is available in plain sight. The most obvious effect is the fading of mutual cooperation culture in the midst of society. The mutual cooperation culture is the joint of life in bringing comfort and peace. On the other hand, the growth of selfishness in the midst of society is often used by certain parties to create terror and create dis-harmony.

Jiwa Mutual Cooperation Supports National Leadership in the Future

Under these conditions, counter terrorism cannot be done if it is not done together. Counteracting the virus of radicalism requires collective work with a congregational spirit. Community cooperation in contributing to create a conducive situation can be done in the following ways:

First, maximizing the role of traditional and religious leaders. The involvement of community and religious leaders at the local level can prevent – at least minimize – viruses and access to radicalism. So far, prevention works have mostly been centralized, with strict procedures and procedures. At the local level, the roles of traditional and religious leaders are very functional.

The strategic role of traditional and religious leaders can be seen from the customary slogan coded as syara, where both are like two sides of a coin, inseparable. Problems faced by the community – if not entirely expressed – are first solved by family work that is local and wise, before entering into formal institutions. This strategic role can be maximized to campaign for the values ​​of peace, harmony and tolerance.

Second, maximizing the function of community institutions, reviving local rituals is very effective in fighting radicalism. Community institutions in the form of artifacts such as traditional houses, gathering spaces, and non-physical nature, such as tribal ties, clans, and family systems have a function in counteracting radicalism.

The clan ties for example in the Batak tribe, North Sumatra are very strategic in minimizing comfilik. For the tribal system, the clan is your bond. If clan A meets with clan B, for example C and D they already assume it is a sibling. Even for some people, clan ties are far higher than religious ties. We may be different religions, as long as we are one clan, we are brothers. As a result, conflicts and disputes can be managed.

The same thing happened in Java. The existence of the grave pilgrimage tradition to the tombs that are considered sacred, apparently can minimize conflicts in the community. Diverse differences, after entering into the environment of the holy tomb for pilgrimage, it can blend and melt between people.

So far, the strategic role of local wisdom has been exposed by the media. The tradition of cleaning up a place of worship in one of the regions in Maluku, for example; when Eidulitri, the Christians who cleaned the mosque, on the contrary, when Natalan arrived, it was the turn of the Muslims to clean. Dialogue, greeting and honing each other need to be maximized to crush the radicalism virus which is a common enemy.

The public will certainly continue to oversee the results of government work that has been rolling at this time still must be appreciated because of his hard efforts in countering hoaxes and radicalism. To bring about strong national leadership, of course, must be supported by a strong commitment and character of the community, as well as being able to provide the gait needed for continued national development.

*) The writer is a UIN Bandung student