Professional Documents
Culture Documents
B y A n d i Fa i s a l B a k t i ing is imparted in seminars rather than 1966 to 1971, Madjid gained promi-
The American Council of Learned Societies ‘eschewing political parties and promoting Islam
in cooperation with the through education and social assistance,
Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for Scholarly Exchange Paramadina has managed to allay the mistrust
announces a program of support for conferences and publications of the military’
on “New Perspectives on Chinese Culture and Society” In eschewing political parties and Islamic community, one that is toler-
promoting Islam through education ant, democratic and pluralistic. Many
and social assistance, Paramadina has of those labelled ‘fundamentalists’,
managed to allay the mistrust of the however, have persistently failed to
The Program will award funds in support of planning meetings, workshops, and/or conferences military, and has gained wide support grasp this fact and consider Madjid a
in society. Within the state apparatus, heretic.
leading to publication of scholarly volumes. This program is intended to support projects in the Paramadina enjoys the patronage of Nevertheless, Nurcholish Madjid’s
humanities and related social sciences that bridge disciplinary or geographic boundaries, high-ranking military personnel, teachings, through his presentations in
bureaucrats, and politicians in the mosques and his foundation’s activi-
engage new kinds of information, develop fresh approaches to traditional materials and issues, Golkar party. Within civil society, sup- ties, are gaining adherents. While Mad-
or otherwise bring innovative perspectives to the study of Chinese culture and society. Proposals port comes from leaders of the Islamic jid’s readership is now limited to Malay-
Students’ Association (HMI), leaders Indonesians, it is hoped that his works
are expected to be empirically grounded, theoretically informed, and methodologically explicit. of socio-religious organizations such as will be translated into English and other
Nahdlatul Ulama, Muhammadiyah, PII languages. <
(Indonesian Islamic Learners’ Associ-
The program will support collaborative work of three types: ation) and KAHMI (Graduate Body of References
Islamic Students’ Association) – many - Barton, Greg (1999) Gagasan Islam Liber-
Grants up to $25,000 will be offered to support formal research conferences belong to Paramadina while others are al di Indonesia, Pemikiran Neo-Modernisme
invited to give lectures. In business cir- Nurcholish Madjid, Djohan Effendi, Ahmad
intended to produce significant new research published in a conference volume.
cles, Paramadina is supported by suc- Wahib, and Abdurrahman Wahid. Jakarta:
cessful entrepreneurs (Forum Keadilan, Paramadina
Grants up to $15,000 will be offered for support of workshops or seminars 2003). - Forum Keadilan (May 2003) vol.8 no.18,
designed to less formally facilitate new research on newly available or pp. 14-15
Are they fundamentalists? - Madjid, Nurcholish (2002) Atas Nama
inadequately researched problems, data, or texts. Madjid’s discourse on pluralism and Pengalaman Beragama dan Berbangsa di
tolerance places all religions on a par Masa Transisi. Jakarta: Paramadina
Grants of up to $6,000 will be offered for planning meetings to organizers of with Islam. He frequently cites the
the above-described types of projects. words of the prophet Muhammad ‘al- Andi Faisal Bakti (IIAS fellow, June 2002-
hanafiyyah al-samh’ (tolerant truth), and September 2004) is currently a researcher at
quotes the Mithaq al-Madina (The Con- KITLV, the Royal Netherlands Institute of
The program aims to provide opportunities for interchange among scholars who may not otherwise stitution of Madina), and Qur’anic vers- Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies in
es (2: 62; 5: 69) which state that all Leiden. His research interests revolve around
have chances to work with one another. Therefore, proposals for activities that involve scholars believers, including Jews, Christians, media, religious networks, good governance,
primarily from one institution and which fall within an institution’s normal range of colloquia, and Zoroastrians will be rewarded and security issues in Southeast Asia.
equally in the Hereafter. He also refers abakti@hotmail.com
symposia, or seminar series will not be supported. In addition, the program does not normally
support regularly scheduled meetings, conventions, or parts thereof. Notes >
1 Another derivation is from parama (prime) and dina (our religion), ‘our
There are no application forms. Applications should include the information described in the prime religion’.
2 The term masyarakat madani became part of Soeharto’s new Malay-Indone-
program guidelines, which may be viewed at www.acls.org/cck.htm. The deadline for applications sian vocabulary in the early 1990s. It is used widely in scholarly and political
for the 2004 competition is September 1, 2004. This will be the first of three annual competitions. circles, in particular by Habibie, the third President of Indonesia, as well as
by Anwar Ibrahim, former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia.