M. Syafi'i Anwar

M. Syafi’i Anwar is reforming pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) that have come under the control of fundamentalist groups. He is rebuilding the traditional capacity of Islamic boarding schools as respected, community-oriented educational institutions by introducing distance learning that integrates religious schooling with practical skills and is customized for local economic, social, and religious needs.

Syafi’i is reforming the Indonesian Islamic school system by enriching the curriculums of Islamic boarding schools with practical skills-building and training alongside religious education. His organization, the International Center for Islam and Pluralism (ICIP), seeks to apply the values and discipline that boarding school students are taught toward addressing their communities’ economic needs and their own livelihoods. Syafi’i has coordinated with government schools to develop curriculums that include formal equivalent degrees and opened direct connections to information online, which had been a limiting factor in Islamic boarding school education. He is working directly with leaders of Islamic boarding schools to expand the texts that are used, hoping to give students a range of scholarly reflections on Islamic texts as well as access to information about any other field they may choose to pursue.

For the most part, the communities that surround Islamic boarding schools are poor and have little education. Syafi’i’s model for education directly addresses their practical needs by providing educational CDs and Internet research facilities to teach techniques in organic farming, biogas production, and online business without sacrificing a religious education. By bringing Islamic boarding school education into the age of Internet, Syafi’i enriches students’ understanding of religion to extend beyond their spirituality, connecting what they believe with the practical skills of how to live and work prosperously.

Syafi’i’s educational model can be applied to other Islamic societies besides Indonesia; his vision is to create change in Islamic education for the wider community in Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and eventually globally.

Since 1998, religious intolerance has increased dramatically in Indonesia with the rise of fundamentalism across Muslim nations. The growing influence of the Indonesian Ulema Council, Indonesia’s Muslim clerical body, has contributed to the rise of religious conservatism by the issuance of a fatwa (edict) to ban pluralism, secularism, and liberalism. In 2008, 265 cases of religious persecution and intolerance were reported, which is twice as many as in 2007. Radical conservative Islamic groups have imposed their religious-political agenda on minorities in the country with threats of violence and attacks. Ninety percent of Indonesia’s population is Muslim: These 207 million people have become the target of propaganda on intolerance, prejudice, and exclusivist religious attitudes.

The rising influence of radical fundamentalist groups is having an impact on Islamic boarding schools. Historically, the schools have been renowned institutions to train Ustadz (teachers). Since before colonial times, Indonesia’s Islamic boarding schools have been headed by families who pass the leadership on from generation to generation and have been regarded as the most sustainable institution and resource for people. Despite a history of tolerance and acceptance of other religions and social groups, the thousands of Islamic boarding schools across the country are increasingly considered breeding grounds for radicals. An education based on pluralism and the acceptance of different views is fading. Islamic boarding schools have been supported by Indonesia’s religion-based philanthropic impulse, but as their image has declined, so has the funding. This diminished support has further degraded the quality of their education.

In addition to becoming too radical for public tastes, the schools are also more recently seen as impractical in modern society. The Ustadz training does not equip santri with additional skills to be productive members of today’s competitive society. Islamic boarding school graduates have difficulty getting jobs, because they have no formal education or practical skills: Their education has been based on religious texts that they learn by rote, without ever questioning their teachers. They are vulnerable to exploitation by radical groups because they are already marginalized and often face financial difficulties. The students are isolated from society by the leadership of Kyai, the master of religious teaching. Islamic boarding schools usually rely on traditional texts, and have limited access to outside information, which have often been influenced by the ideology of radical salafism, a Sunni Islamic movement that often does not address modern change. The Kyai’s options are limited by their information sources and the same static interpretations of religious texts that have been taught for centuries. This conservative method of teaching in these schools does not teach students the skills to earn a living and better their standards of living outside of being religious teachers and preachers.

Syafi’i’s Open, Distance, and Electronic Learning program for reforming Islamic boarding schools includes the development of a non-religious educational curriculum, partnerships with the Kyai (Islamic boarding school masters), and the integration of Internet and computers with more traditional learning tools. Generally, these schools in Indonesia use traditional educational methods to learn eighteenth-century Islamic texts, focusing on memorization rather than conceptual understanding. The pattern is to read and interpret the texts without connecting them to current social, psychological, and economic issues in modern society. The key to creating change is tied to the central role of Kyai as the master of religious teaching and the owner of the Islamic boarding school, and the Ustadz. Syafi’i has successfully partnered with eight initially resistant Kyai to participate in the “distance learning” program. Syafi’i chose schools in Java (Banten, Jakarta, Cianjur, Majalengka, Rembang, Jepara, and Jember) to conduct pilot programs. These specific schools were chosen because of their high student dropout rate, poverty, and susceptibility to salafism.

ICIP is careful not to challenge the authority of the Kyai, as the goal is not to disrupt the discipline of the schools. Instead, Syafi’i customizes each model for local needs, allowing the Kyai to observe and judge the benefits for themselves. For example, he provided a computer keyboard in Arabic to counter the suspicion of some Kyais that the program had a “Western” agenda. After observing Syafi’i’s educational theories in practice, the Kyai became willing to allow the “distance learning” program for santri and even discuss new Islamic texts that could be accessed online. At the ICIP, Syafi’i trains teachers how to properly use these new tools in the classroom. By exposing teachers to a range of new and helpful resources, Syfai’i has decentralized the absolute authority from the Kyai: They are still the disciplinary authority and masters of the school, but the students learn from beyond the Kyai’s direct knowledge and instruction. The exposure to the outside world and a wider range of texts allows students and Kyai alike to open their minds to different perspectives and ideas and apply this openness to their daily lives. After their training with ICIP, the Ustadz then establish a core group of four to five student mentors in their school. The mentors help the rest of the student body to learn about how to operate computers, establish Internet connections, and participate in distance learning. Syafi’i has coordinated this process with the Education Ministry, allowing hundreds of santri in Islamic boarding school communities to graduate with formal equivalent degrees. This diploma opens opportunities for further study and increases job options for young graduates. One of the pilots in the school, Nurul Jadid (Probolinggo District, East Java) is located near a business center where Islamic boarding school graduates are now among the pool of new hires for the first time.

In order to build a partnership with the Education Ministry, Syafi’i developed an additional curriculum and materials for Life Skills and Civic Education that complement the religious curricula of the schools. This course of study introduces students to pluralism, international affairs, and information about Muslims in Western societies. The strategy is to teach without dictating, and create an atmosphere of acceptance of different ideas for teachers, students, and the wider communities. To counter the misleading perception about Islam in the West, for example, Syafi’i provides CDs that film the lives of Muslims in Australia or the U.K. He also brings Muslim leaders from New Zealand or the Netherlands to have direct dialogue with students.

Most schools avoid opportunities to access the Internet, as it interferes with the traditional style of teaching and learning. Syafi’i introduces the use of Internet communications technology to enrich their understanding of the texts, giving students and teachers access to different opinions and interpretations. Under Syafi’i’s educational model, the Kyai is no longer the single source to learn about Islamic texts, other curricula, or how to develop economic activities in school. They now have what they call “Kyai Google” as a supplementary source of information.

The distance learning program is also open to community members, who are using the new learning centers to develop livelihood skills. For example, one community’s successful organic paddy farms and biogas production, stimulated by Internet research on techniques, has become a model for other communities to learn from and replicate. In addition, each Islamic boarding school has now developed its own website promoting its new tools and activities. One school, Al Mizan in West Java, has even developed an online business for organic rice, and is planning to set up an online library. Pedicab drivers, farmers, and women in the communities have come to join the formal degree equivalency program, learn how to use computers, and regularly connect to the Internet. Many the schools have even initiated interfaith activities, including regular discussion forums and cooperative work to help all community members, not just their students. Syafi’i’s vision is to eventually bring such educational reform and exposure to new ideas to communities throughout Asia. He is working with colleagues from Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Thailand, and the Philippines to extend the reach of ICIP. Through this network of strategic partnerships with Islamic boarding schools, he is promoting ideas of democracy, pluralism, and tolerance throughout Southeast Asia and eventually around the globe. Syafi’i sees great similarities between Indonesia’s Islamic boarding schools and the madrassas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and is in discussion with community leaders in both countries to adapt the process he is pioneering as a way to overcome the isolation of similar small, religious school communities.

Syafi’i was born in Kudus, Central Java, a city well-known for its historical importance in the spread of Islam in Indonesia. As a child he joined a Quran reading course in his village. His Ustadz taught him that it was forbidden for Muslims to greet Christians with “Merry Christmas.” Syafi’i recognized that he grew up with this black-and-white, narrow-minded perception about other religions. However, through different opportunities he was exposed to the nuances of real people, regardless of their religions, and over time he became accepting and respectful of other views. For example, from 1988 to 1989, he traveled to New York with a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the School of Journalism and East Asian Studies at Columbia University, exposing himself to a completely new culture, environment, and people.

Due to financial difficulties Syafi’i had to fund his own schooling, selling cigarettes and running a small shop throughout high school. After graduating from high school, Syafi’i continued his studies as a law student at the University of Indonesia, Jakarta. While there, he worked at the Panji Masyarakat, a weekly Islamic news magazine. He began as an office boy, but soon climbed his way up to different administrative positions, eventually becoming head of the book marketing division. Moved by the persistency of his journalist colleagues, Syafi’i worked passionately to improve his own writing. He then moved to the editing room at Panji Masyarakat, serving as the magazine’s Chief Editor. As Editor, Syafi’i was inspired to work with local community organizations, Islamic religious leaders, and journalists to provide peace journalism training. He conducted pluralism training for different Islamic boarding schools, but found that this kind of training was not sustainable and not having a wide systemic impact.

In 1990 Syafi’i left this editorship to become Deputy Executive at the Institute for the Study of Religion and Philosophy, a citizen organization that produces scientific journals. He also pursued a master’s degree in political science from the University of Indonesia (1994). During the dictatorship era in Indonesia, Syafi’i was concerned with how the authoritarian government manipulated the public by taking advantage of largely uneducated populations and using Islamic propaganda. In response to the oppression of the regime, he and his colleagues co-founded the Islamic weekly magazine Ummat to promote new methods for religious teaching. Although Syafi’i’s controversial journalistic activities have kept him under interrogation by the Indonesian Intelligence Body, he has never been deterred from his work. During his leadership position at Ummat, he initiated the Man of the Year award to recognize positive reform in Indonesia, such as the work of the late human rights activist Munir.

The rise of radical movements throughout Indonesia posed a powerful threat to a peaceful pluralistic society in Syafi’i’s mind, and he and his allies from the Asia Foundation set up ICIP in 2003. As more and more Ustadz from Islamic boarding schools were recruited by fundamentalist groups, Syafi’i worked to improve the quality of education in the schools and ensure the improved welfare of the students. Syafi’i undertook several experiments for years in order to find the best strategy to address the problem, eventually leading to the development of his educational model.