Interfaith dialogue and the Indonesian Council ofblers

The history of interfaith dialogue in the Indonesian Council of Ulama is both an institutional story and a record of how a diverse republic turned religious difference into civic responsibility. Established by Nahdlatul Ulama in 1975, the council began among the ulama—Islamic scholars and religious leaders—and developed into a national voice on religious harmony, religious freedom and peaceful coexistence.

Over five decades, its work moved from consultation on religious law to public peacebuilding across Indonesia and beyond its borders. Under Prof. Dr. M. Din Syamsuddin, who chaired the council from 2000 to 2015, that role became especially visible in responses to communal violence and international forums on faith and security. For Australian readers, this history is relevant because councils, media, workplaces and places of worship also shape everyday religious pluralism.

Roots in a plural religious landscape

Indonesia already had a rich religious field when the council was created. Muhammadiyah, founded in 1912, connected reformist Islamic education with social action. Nahdlatul Ulama, established in 1926, defended the heritage of religious scholars and developed an extensive educational and welfare network. Their coexistence encouraged debate while also creating a need for trusted coordination.

The Indonesian Council of Ulama was formally established in 1975, originally within Nahdlatul Ulama, as Indonesia entered the New Order. The founding context was significant: the government sought a religious voice compatible with Pancasila, while Muslim organisations balanced demands for a more visible Islamic role against the state’s preference for controlled political-religious expression. The council became a channel connecting religious scholarship, national ethics and local practice.

Its early agenda included religious education, family law, fatwa and the meaning of religious harmony in ordinary life. Indonesian scholars compared interpretations and translated them into guidance that could travel through Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara and Papua. This approach valued consultation, although early dialogue remained heavily led by senior male religious figures.

From consultation to a national peace platform

During the 1980s and 1990s, the council moved beyond its position within Nahdlatul Ulama and gained wider recognition. It responded to the growth of mass Islamic organisations, changes in religious education, the East Timor conflict and recurring disputes involving Catholic and Protestant communities. Provincial initiatives also demonstrated the limits of an entirely Jakarta-centred approach.

The fall of Suharto in 1998 expanded civic space. Reformasi encouraged open religious debate, stronger civil-society networks and wider participation in discussions of national identity. Nurcholish Madjid’s concept of Islam Nusantara and Gus Dur’s insistence that religious conviction need not become political hostility helped reshape the public understanding of pluralism.

That mandate became especially important during episodes of sectarian violence, including the 2004 Bali bombings, attacks in Lombok and later conflict in Sulawesi and parts of Java. Dialogue became a public necessity, requiring credible explanations of what Islam did and did not endorse. This phase is captured by his call for religious leaders against extremism, which places responsibility for rejecting violence squarely within religious communities.

Din Syamsuddin and a widening civic role

Under Din Syamsuddin, the council connected domestic religious engagement with international peacebuilding. His activist diplomat journey shows how experience in student activism, Islamic education and public service shaped a diplomacy grounded in listening. In forums at home and abroad, he argued that religious freedom belonged to every citizen and that communities needed trusted messengers capable of speaking beyond partisan divisions.

Milestones that shaped the dialogue

The milestones that shaped the dialogue began in 1975, when the council was founded by Nahdlatul Ulama as a bridge between the ulama and the state. This period also saw the late 1990s bring Reformasi and a more inclusive public debate about religious and national identity, followed by the 2004 Bali bombings, which reshaped religious leaders’ responsibility to explain and reject violence.

Over time, the dialogue widened further. During the 2010s, women, youth and local representatives expanded participation beyond senior ulama. Concurrently, by the mid-2010s, Indonesian delegates were bringing local experience into international peace forums, helping to strengthen their voice on the global stage.

Collectively, these landmarks show movement from doctrinal coordination toward public ethics. The council’s use of deliberation and collective reasoning enabled scholars to relate inherited interpretations to contemporary civic questions. Women, youth and local leaders gradually widened the conversation, while debates about authority and representation continued. The council’s strength has depended on maintaining credibility inside religious communities as well as with government institutions.

Surabaya and the international dimension

International engagement became a significant part of the council’s later work. Indonesian representatives took part in global forums associated with Religions for Peace, religious-freedom networks and peacebuilding. These forums carried local experiences into wider discussions about violence prevention, migration, social cohesion and the protection of worship spaces.

The Surabaya interfaith conference demonstrates the value of holding such discussions outside the capital. Surabaya is Indonesia’s second-largest city and an important centre of commerce, education and transport in East Java. Gathering faith leaders, academics, officials and community organisations there placed dialogue within ordinary public life rather than treating it as an event reserved for Jakarta.

Public-facing resources can help carry these lessons further. Initiatives such as Rito Frances connect interfaith reflection with education and civic participation. Their importance lies in what follows a conference: repeated contact through neighbourhood projects, public statements after violence, and cooperation on welfare, disaster response and shared public spaces.

Lessons for Australian faith communities

These practices have counterparts in Australia, although the legal and social setting differs. Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide contain dense networks of mosques, churches, temples, gurdwaras and other faith communities. Everyday encounters often occur outside formal ceremonies, including shared coffee before a council meeting, a quiet room for workplace prayer, or families arranging an event at a public library.

The local market is another meeting place. Eid fairs, Diwali celebrations, Christmas markets, school fetes and council festivals bring families into shared streets and squares. Traders, traffic managers and councils negotiate access, opening hours and safety during these occasions. Such routine encounters can strengthen belonging, while also revealing exclusion when religious needs are treated as private matters instead of part of civic design.

Legislation provides another point of comparison. The federal Multicultural Australia Act 2023 establishes a whole-of-government framework for inclusion. State laws, including New South Wales’s Anti Discrimination Act 1977 and Victoria’s Religious Freedom Act 2017, shape how public authorities respond to religious difference. Dialogue does not replace legal rights or remedies, but it helps institutions understand how communities experience them.

Australian practices with Indonesian parallels

Australian practices with Indonesian parallels include interfaith breakfasts and roundtables in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, as well as visits to places of worship and public facilities by civic leaders. These efforts frequently extend to joint disaster-relief, food distribution and refugee-support projects, complemented by public statements from clergy rejecting violence and misinformation. Additionally, local agreements on prayer spaces, festivals, burial needs and shared events help maintain these community ties.

The comparison is most useful when it avoids copying institutions wholesale. Australia’s local councils, media environment and constitutional arrangements call for locally designed forums. The transferable lesson from Indonesia is procedural: build relationships before a crisis, include women and youth, and ensure that religious leaders who condemn violence are heard in public debate.

A continuing partnership

Across half a century, the Indonesian Council of Ulama has shown that interfaith dialogue becomes durable when it is tied to an institution, a city and the responsibilities of religious leaders. Its archive preserves speeches, photographs, conference records and international encounters that allow readers to trace this development and study the experiences behind it.

Explore Prof. Dr. M. Din Syamsuddin’s public archive, connect with an Australian interfaith organisation, and join or organise a forum where religious and civic voices can meet on equal terms. Share this history with communities that rarely encounter it, then carry its central lesson into Australian public life: dialogue must be visible, regular and led by people with the credibility to reject violence.