Jaringan Nusantara Regional Conference on: “Islam, Democracy, and Human Rights in the Divisive World Order”

BY INVITATION ONLY

Date: 31^st August – 2^nd September 2019
Venue: Patio 2 Level 2, Concorde Hotel, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur

Organizer:
Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF)

“We have conferred dignity on the children of Adam, and borne them over land and sea, and provided for them sustenance out of the good things of life, and favoured them far above most of Our creation” (Al-Isra’: 70)

Since 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) has proclaimed the equal and inalienable rights for all, an expression of human dignity, a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, and the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. Unfortunately, the promised human rights have remained unattainable to various segments of the global human population due to the continuous security threats of war, civil-political unrest, growing poverty and socio-economic injustice, and all kinds of racial, religious and gender-based discrimination.

Though the United Nations, the various international human rights and humanitarian agencies espouse the values of freedom, justice and democracy throughout the world, their commitment remain under suspicion. How serious are the global elites in respecting the dignity of human being, and how far their efforts have been sufficient in providing the protection to the global population from the various types of human rights atrocities in different parts of the world? Violent threats are also continuously circulating in the East and the West, religious minorities especially have become victims of acts of terror, including in mosques and churches.

Fifty years have passed since the formation of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 1969 with aims among others, to ensure peace and security for Muslims worldwide. Still, in countries of continuous conflict such as Syria, Yemen, Palestine, and the Rohingyas in Myanmar, the calls for human rights protection had landed on deaf ears. In Malaysia, which promise a voice of political reform that would lead towards the advancement of human rights, seemed to have been shying away from committing to the international conventions against racial discrimination – ICERD, and the Rome Statute for International criminal justice due to the pressure of hard-line Malay Muslim nationalists and conservatives.

These conditions raise important questions on the principles of Islam in addressing the various concerns of democracy and human rights locally, regionally and globally. What are the key lessons and inspirations that could be taken from the Qur’an and the legacy of the Prophet for the greater benefit of humankind? And how could Muslims take the responsibility and duty in living the spirit of the Qur’an to ensure the spirit of democracy and respect towards human rights and human dignity of today and for the future generations?

Welcoming Remarks:
Dato’ Dr. Ahmad Farouk Musa (Director, Islamic Renaissance Front)

Inaugural Speech by:
Tan Sri Dr Syed Hamid Albar (Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia)

Lecture sessions:

1 – Najib Burhani, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Indonesia
Topic 1: Keynote Lecture – Islam, Democracy, and Religious Minorities in the 21^st Century

2 – Chandra Muzaffar, International Movement for A Just World (JUST)
Topic: Human Rights in the Global World: A Critical Perspective

3 – Dian Diana Abd. Hamed Shah, National University of Singapore (NUS)
Topic: Freedom of Religion in the Nusantara: Current Challenges and the Way Forward

4 – Pradana Boy, Universitas Muhammadiyah, Malang, Indonesia
Topic: Indonesian Discourse on Religion and Human Rights

Public Forum:
The Role of Islam in Advancing Democracy and Human Rights in Muslim Societies

Speakers:
Dr Najib Burhani, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Indonesia
Dr. Faisal Tehrani, National University of Malaysia (UKM)
Dr. Pradana Boy, Universitas Muhammadiyah, Malang, Indonesia

Moderator:
Dato’ Dr. Ahmad Farouk Musa (IRF)

Book Dissection:

1 – “Merawat Kewarasan Publik”
Presenter: Muhammad Alkaf, Indonesia

2 – “Menemani Minoritas”
Presenter: Dr Najib Burhani

Moderator: Ahmad Muziru Idham (IRF)

Jaringan Nusantara Junior Scholars Panel Discussion (Presentation by Participants)

Presenter 1: Hazman Baharom, Malaysia
Presenter 2: Hasnan Bachtiar, Indonesia
Presenter 3: Huda Ramli, Malaysia
Presenter 4: Muhammad Darraz, Indonesia
Presenter 5: Najwa Abdullah, Indonesia
Presenter 6: Azizah Zubair, Indonesia

Programs
Saturday, 31^stAugust 2019

Sunday, 1^st September 2019

Monday, 2^nd September 2019

Speakers’ biographies:

Dr Ahmad Najib Burhani is senior researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Jakarta. He received his PhD in Religious Studies from the University of California-Santa Barbara, USA. During the last year of his study, he won the Professor Charles Wendell Memorial Award from UCSB for the academic achievement in the field of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies. Since his doctorate, Najib Burhani has been active in publishing articles in top academic journals such as Asian Journal of Social Science (NUS/Brill), Indonesia and the Malay World (SOAS/Roudledge), Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations (Birmingham/Roudledge), Sojourn (ISEAS), Contemporary Islam (Springer), and Asian Politics & Policy (Wiley-Blackwell). He also contributed articles for edited volumes published by Palgrave Macmillan Press, Amsterdam University Press, ISEAS, and so on. His monograph includes Sufisme Kota (2001), Islam Dinamis (2001), Tarekat Tanpa Tarekat (2002), Muhammadiyah Jawa (2010), and Muhammadiyah Berkemajuan (2016). Currently, he serves as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Masyarakat dan Budaya (jmb.lipi.go.id) and an editorial board of the journal of Contemporary Islam (Springer). Najib Burhani was a fellow at the Center on Religion, Culture & Conflict (CRCC), Drew University, New Jersey, USA; IIIT (International Institute of Islamic Thought) Virginia, USA; ISIM (International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World) Leiden, the Netherlands; and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) Kyoto University, Japan. Since June 2017, he is a visiting fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore.

Dr. Chandra Muzaffar is the President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST), an international NGO based in Malaysia, which seeks to critique global injustice and to develop an alternative vision of a just and compassionate civilisation guided by universal spiritual and moral values. He has published extensively on civilizational dialogue, international politics, religion, human rights and Malaysian society. The author and editor of 32 books in English and Malay, many of his writings have been translated into other languages. Among Chandra’s latest publications are, A World in Crisis: Is There a Cure? and Reflections on Malaysian Unity and Other Challenges. In l977, he founded a multi-ethnic social reform group called Aliran Kesedaran Negara (ALIRAN) which he led for 14 years. Today, apart from his role in JUST, Chandra sits on the board of a number of international NGOs concerned with social justice and civilizational dialogue. Chandra was Professor at, and Director of, the Centre for Civilisational Dialogue, University of Malaya (1997-1999) and Professor of Global Studies at Universiti Sains Malaysia (2007-2012) Chandra travels abroad frequently, giving lectures and speaking at seminars and conferences. He is also a regular speaker at meetings at home in Malaysia. Chandra is the recipient of a number of international awards related to his scholarship and social activism, including the Harry J. Benda Prize for distinguished scholarship on Southeast Asia by the Association of Asian Studies, North America (1989) and the Juliet Hollister recognition as an “inter-faith Visionary” by the New York based Temple of Understanding (2010).

Dr. Dian Diana Abd. Hamed Shah completed her S.J.D. at Duke University School of Law in October 2014, where she also served as the President of the Duke Law School S.J.D. Association. Upon graduation, she worked as a Senior Lecturer at University of Malaya Law Faculty, where she taught Constitutional Law. Prior to her obtaining her doctorate, she graduated with an LL.B (Warwick University) and an LL.M (Duke University) in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Her research interests span the fields of constitutional history, comparative constitutional law, and human rights. Dian’s recent work focuses on the interaction of law, religion, and politics in plural societies and in the past few years, she has spent time conducting field research in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. She had previously won an American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies (AISLS) Pre-Dissertation Grant to carry out research in Sri Lanka and has served as a visiting researcher at the Freedom Institute, Jakarta. Some of her work has been published in the Indonesian Journal of International and Comparative Law and the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion. Dian is currently completing her first monograph entitled “Constitutions, Religion, and Politics in Asia” (under contract with Cambridge University Press), which arises from her doctoral work at Duke. She also serves as the Deputy Editor of the Asian Journal of Comparative Law. From August 2016, Dian will be appointed Deputy Editor for the Asian Journal of Comparative Law.

Dr. Pradana Boy Zulian is the Head of The Center of Islam and Philosophy Studies (PSIF) University of Muhammadiyah Malang in Indonesia. His expertise is in the field of Islamic legal theory and thought as well as contemporary Islamic thought. Other than Islamic Law, his interests include the history of Islam, Islamic philosophy and religious studies. He completed his degree in Islamic law from the University of Muhammadiyah Malang and obtained a master’s degree in contemporary Islamic thought and movements from Australian National University. In 2015, he completed his PhD at the Department of Malay Studies at the National University of Singapore. He is actively involved in many social and voluntary projects including providing informal education at the community level and organising charity for the poor and those who are economically and socially underprivileged.

Dr. Mohd Faizal Musa (Faisal Tehrani) is Research Fellow at Institute of the Malay World and Civilization (ATMA), National University of Malaysia (UKM). His current research areas are in adopting a human rights approach concerning religious minorities with specific reference to Shia and Ahmadiyya adherents, and Human Rights in Malay Literature. He also maintains his weekly column at malaysiakini.com/bm. Dr. Mohd Faizal Musa is also a well-known novelist in Malaysia with two, among his celebrated works of twenty-three novels are, Sebongkah Batu di Kuala Berang (2011) and Perempuan Nan Bercinta (2012). His key publications are The Malaysian Shi‘a: A Preliminary Study of Their History, Oppression, and Denied Rights (2013, Journal of Shi‘a Islamic Studies), and The Axiology of Pilgrimage: The Malaysian Shi’ites Ziyarat to Iran and Iraq (2013, International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology ). His recently published book is Wacana Sastera Islam di Malaysia dan Indonesia (2012, Penerbit UPM). He graduated in 1998 with a Bachelor of Sharia (Islamic Studies), University of Malaya; received his MA in Comparative Literature from University Science of Malaysia, in 2000 and a PhD. in Comparative Literature from Institute of the Malay World and Civilization (ATMA), National University of Malaysia (UKM) in 2010.