A note from AIFIS President Bob Hefner:
As the month of May comes to a close, my three year project as executive co-producer (with Zainal Abidin Bagir of UGM) on seven documentary films on Indonesia is also coming to a close (May 30). The films, co-created with Watchdoc Documentary (https://watchdoc.co.id/), are available both in Indonesian and in English and they are entirely free of charge. They are also available both on Youtube or, for those wanting digital copies for their libraries, they can also be downloaded online (through Zainal or me).
As the above flyers make clear, the films deal with a range of topics:
In the Name of Belief explores the struggle of adherent of “spirituality groupings” (kepercayaan) to achieve recognition in the face of government policies that do not recognize these mystical groups as full “religions” (agama);
Ambon: A Return To Peace examines the role of women and women’s groups in effecting reconciliation across religious divides in the aftermath of Ambon’s bitter Christian-Muslim conflict;
Unfinished Indonesia examines the use and abuse of Islamic appeals in Indonesia’s 2019 elections, focusing in particular on the sectarian mobilization against Jakarta’s Christian-Chinese governor
Religion in Quarantine examines the role played by religious organizations in responding to the covid pandemic in Indonesia
Three Voices examines the experiences and lives of three Indonesian Muslim women: one a feminist, a second a reformist moderate, the third a moderate Islamist associated with the Prosperous Justice Paraty;
Indonesian Pluralities today: Seeking Equality in Diversity, examines the challenge of achieving citizen equality for all ethnic and religious groups in contemporary Indonesia.
In early June, our teams will release an English-language version of the seventh and last film on the series, on Chinese Indonesians and Citizen inequality, as seen from the experience of the Chinese community in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Although Zainal and I are just now bringing the films to American universities and the American public, Indonesian versions of the films have been watched at some 300 film events in Indonesia over the past 20 months. We’ve been enormously pleased by their reception. Given Zainal and my pro-pluralist positioning, the films have caused a little controversy; interestingly, however, even the Ministry of Religion and the Ministry of Education have applauded the films. Rather more surprisingly, at the peak of the covid shutdown of Indonesian schools, the national union of teachers and the Ministry of Education actually used three of the Indonesian-language versions of the courses in “belajar di rumah” (“learn at home”) programs run for high school students online, for students otherwise unable to attend school. The films have also been shown at a number of universities and conferences here in the U.S., although we are just now scaling up distribution here in North America. The flyers not only describe the films – they also have embedded hyperlinks that allow viewers to go directly to youtube to watch each film. Finished copies of the films are also available for download by request for individuals or libraries that wish to obtain these free films.
Finally, our film partners in Indonesia (Watchdoc documentaries) have indicated that the English language version of film seven will be available by the end of June. We are excited to offer a screening and discussion of the final Indonesian Pluralities film, Equal Citizens? Chinese Indonesians in Yogyakarta, at the AIFIS-MSU Conference on Indonesian Studies, July 11-15, 2023.
Thanks again, and salam dari Boston,
Bob Hefner
Professor of Anthropology and Global Affairs
Pardee School of Global Affairs
Director, Center for the Study of Asia
President, American Institute for Indonesian Studies
Past President, Association for Asian Studies