http://www.theage.com.au/world/indonesian-singer-tapping-into-fame-to-deliver-a-message-of-peace-20100530-wnfe.html
Indonesian singer tapping into fame to deliver a message of peace
SELMA MILOVANOVIC, INDONESIA
May 31, 2010
Emha Ainun Nadjib promotes cultural dialogue between religions in indonesia. Photo: Selma Milovanovic
WHEN Emha Ainun Nadjib stood on a stage in Birmingham, England, in 2004, singing an Islamic prayer in Arabic to the music of Silent Night, a row of Indonesian nuns waited behind him to sing the carol's actual verse in Indonesian.
Any given month this year, when he attends a dozen public gatherings across Indonesia - each drawing crowds of between 1000 and 10,000 people - Nadjib is likely to use a similar technique to promote dialogue between religions.
This traditionally educated West Javanese Muslim, who describes himself as a ''cultural pluralist'', has a cult following across radical and moderate Islamic movements in Indonesia, as well as Christians.
He entered public life in the 1970s as a poet and performer. He performed at the Vatican after the death of Pope John Paul II and has more recently organised commemorations for the late former president Abdurrahman Wahid.
''Muslim society in Indonesia is a little bit disorganised,'' Nadjib said. ''Most of the guidance comes from . the gathering of only some ulama [religious scholars], which does not have civil legal force. People don't follow their fatwa [ruling]. They treat it as a joke.''
Instead, according to Nadjib, affectionately known as Cak Nun, ''TV decides who becomes ulama. Because of that, we have supremacy of image. People also become president not based on their capability but their performance and image, mainly on TV.''
Nadjib is tapping into this image-obsessed society by using cultural performances to spread his message.
He says he has no political leanings or interest in joining either of Indonesia's mass-membership Muslim organisations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, each of which numbers its members in the tens of millions.
But despite his criticism of many organisations, he gets on with all of them and even says he knows the controversial terror-linked Islamist cleric Abu Bakar Bashir well, ''although we are different''.
Speak to local journalists and they say many parties would be happy if he was president. Nahdlatul Ulama has twice unsuccessfully approached him to become the governor of Java.
According to Nadjib, political power in Indonesia has become a commodity and corruption is so acceptable ''everybody wants to be part of it''. Aspiring politicians have to have serious money to buy votes. Candidates for a district mayor's position are expected to pledge at least 5 billion rupiah ($A633, 307), he said.
''Whenever there are elections for district mayor, a thousand people come to [the candidate's] house to get money. It's known as the 'dawn attack','' Nadjib said. Then, candidates go to the ulema - whose own elections are often also influenced by politicians - to get a blessing.
Nadjib, who is planning to visit Australia in July, wants religions to engage in cultural and political dialogue.
Whether he speaks at a Dutch synagogue or stands on a stage in Yogyakarta, his message would be the same: ''If you are a goat, let them be a goat. If you are a buffalo, let them be a buffalo. But you can't mix a goat with a buffalo, so let everybody be what they are, but let them live in harmony in the same place.''
He is treated like a rock star wherever he goes, and has the same self-assurance: ''Nobody has the courage to threaten me, not even the government or the military,'' he said. ''I'm not a very important person in Indonesia. But what I have done is just fulfil the invocation of the people. I'm not a hero.''
Selma Milovanovic is in Indonesia as a fellow of the Asia Pacific Journalism Centre.
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