ALUMNI PROFILE: Farinia Fianto
How does one go about empowering and building diverse religious communities while respecting people’s differences? Farinia Fianto is in an ideal position to answer such questions. As the Managing Director of the International Centre for Islam and Pluralism (ICIP), Farinia spends her days planning, developing, implementing and evaluating ICIP’s Islamic school-based programs related to the promotion of human rights, democracy and pluralism. Since joining ICIP in 2003, Farinia has also actively promoted ideas around Islam, pluralism and interfaith dialogue through a range of different media.
With undergraduate studies in Arab and Dutch Literature from the University of Indonesia, and a Master of Arts (Islamic Studies) from Leiden University, Farinia participated in the MEP not long after beginning her work with ICIP. Below are just a handful of stories from her MEP experiences in 2005.
“As we were about to leave for Australia, my feelings were a mixture of joy and fear. Australia-Indonesia relations were at a low point after the recent Bali bomb, where the majority of victims had been Australian. To be honest, I felt more worried than happy, because I’d heard through the media that the Indonesian community, especially Muslims, had been treated badly [in Australia] after the Bali bomb.”
According to Farinia, the MEP helped her to critically engage with this perception, “When I arrived in Melbourne, the first city we visited, my feelings were not proven right. …The truth was that despite the Bali bomb, Australians were still enthusiastically coming together to help victims of the Aceh Tsunami. The differences [between Australians and Indonesians] weren’t something that proved a barrier to helping Aceh tsunami victims in Indonesia… I instantly realised that our visit was going to be an amazing experience.”
It turned out that Farinia’s visit was a golden opportunity to show the Australian community who the Indonesian people really were.
“It was an opportunity for me to clarify what had happened in Indonesia in relation to Islam and extremism. I explained that the vast majority of Indonesian Muslims were moderate and rejected violence dressed up in the guise of religion,” explained Farinia.
Participating in the MEP had an impact on Farinia beyond the program itself. Professionally, Farinia tells how the MEP broadened the scope of her work. For instance, she still maintains her networks with the Australian Jewish community, and receives emails from Jewish friends about interfaith dialogue – something she has learnt from and integrated into some of ICIP’s programs. In 2016 she also worked closely with Australian MEP alumna, Assmaah Helal, to facilitate soccer and well-being workshops for young female Islamic boarding school students from around Makassar, South Sulawesi. On a personal level, Farinia’s MEP experience increased her spirituality and appreciation of the diversity of humanity and our many interactions.
Farinia believes that the MEP plays a crucial role as a diplomatic bridge, bringing together the people of our two nations.
Thirteen years after her AIMEP visit, Farinia remains actively involved in the alumni community, and in 2017 was selected by her fellow AIMEP alumni to represent them as Secretary of the Indonesian AIMEP Alumni Forum.
Bagaimana cara membangun dan memberdayakan masyarakat yang agamis tetapi tetap menghormati dan menjunjung tinggi perbedaan, kemanusiaan, dan keadilan? Farinia Fianto mungkin salah satu ahli yang dapat menjawab pertanyaan ini. Sebagai managing Director di International Center for Islam and Pluralism (ICIP), Farinia sehari-hari merancang, mengembangkan, menjalankan, dan mengevaluasi semua kegiatan-kegiatan ICIP yang bertujuan untuk mempromosikan HAM, demokrasi, dan pluralisme di sekolah-sekolah Islam, seperti Pesantren. Peraih gelar Master of Arts di bidang Islamic Studies dari Leiden University ini juga aktif menyuarakan gagasan-gagasannya mengenai Islam, pluralisme, dan dialog antar iman di berbagai media.
Peraih gelar diploma di bidang sastra Belanda dan Sarjana bidang Sastra Arab dari Fakultas Sastra UI ini bergabung di MEP tak lama setelah terlibat aktif di ICIP di tahun 2003. Ada cerita menarik di balik keberangkatannya ke Australia di tahun 2005.
“Ketika mau berangkat, perasaan ku bercampur-campur antara senang dan khawatir, sebab hubungan Australia dan Indonesia memburuk pasca bom Bali di mana warga Australia menjadi mayoritas korban. Sejujurnya, aku merasa lebih banyak khawatir dari senangnya, sebab dari media aku mendapatkan informasi bagaimana komunitas Indonesia, khususnya muslim, mendapatkan perlakuan kurang baik setelah bom Bali.”
Menurutnya, MEP membantunya untuk menguji persepsi ini. “Ketika aku tiba di Melbourne, kota pertama yang kami kunjungi, perasaanku tersebut tidak terbukti. …Buktinya, terlepas dari kejadian Bom Bali, masyarakat Australia tetap antusias bahu membahu menolong korban Tsunami di Aceh. …perbedaan tidak menghalangi masyarakat di Australia untuk menolong korban Tsunami di Indonesia. …aku langsung menyadari bahwa perjalanan kami menjadi sangat mengasyikkan.”
Bahkan, kunjungannya tersebut baginya merupakan sebuah kesempatan emas untuk menunjukkan siapakah orang Indonesia yang sebenarnya.
“Ini kesempatan bagi saya untuk mengklarifikasi apa yang terjadi di Indonesia berkaitan dengan Islam dan ekstremisme. Saya yakin muslim di Indonesia itu pada umumnya sangat moderat dan menolak kekerasan berbaju agama,” begitu pendapatnya.
Setelah mengikuti program, ada beberapa dampak penting dari MEP yang ia rasakan. Menurutnya, secara professional, MEP telah meluaskan jejaring kerjanya. Misalnya, jaringannya dengan Komunitas Yahudi di Australia terus berlangsung hingga saat ini. Farinia mengatkan sampai sekarang ia masih menerima email dari mereka mengenai kegiatan-kegiatan dialog antar-iman, sehingga banyak belajar serta mengadopsi kegiatan-kegiatan tersebut di sebagian kegiatan-kegiatan ICIP. Secara pribadi, pengalaman mengikuti MEP telah meningkatkan pengalaman spiritualnya mengenai warna-warni kemanusiaan dan interaksi antara mereka.
Singkatnya, Farinia menganggap MEP sangat penting sebagai salah satu jembatan diplomasi yang menghubungkan masyarakat di kedua negara.
Saat ini ia juga dipercaya sesama rekan alumni untuk duduk sebagai Sekretaris Forum Alumni MEP.