CONTRIBUTIONS OF CATHOLIC UNIVERSITIES IN YOGYAKARTA TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATIVE DIALOGUE

The main tasks of the university are implementing learning, research, and community service. In a multicultural and multireligious Asia, the actualization of these tasks requires a dialogue with cultures, religions, and the poor. Today, the university must consider radical movements and fundamentalism that threaten harmony in the society. This paper is focused on opportunities that can be explored to realise the task of the Catholic universities in Yogyakarta in developing dialogue and harmony in Yogyakarta. This task might need a new and effective model of dialogue for a better living together in harmony. By applying a method of documental study and interviews, this study is focused on the exploration of challenges encountered by the Catholic universities in Yogyakarta in developing a community transformative dialogue. There are three main points. First, a description of the meaning of the community transformative dialogue. Second, an exploration of cultural potentials in Yogyakarta for developing community transformative dialogue. Third, a proposal for developing community transformative dialogue. These are 32.3.2016 [248-265]


Introduction
Yogyakarta is well-known as a city of education.There are 1.866 elementary schools, 420 junior high schools, and 368 senior high schools that cover around two million students. 1 There are 127 universities all around the Special Region of Yogyakarta (Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta/ DIY), 54 of them are located in the city of Yogyakarta. 2 Many students come to Yogyakarta from various Indonesian provinces.In Yogyakarta, there are only four state universities of which the number of the students is around 120.000, while around 206.000 students are studying in the private universities. 3ogyakarta also had a slogan as city of tolerance that represents the spirit of unity in diversity in Indonesia.Many young people come from all over Indonesia to study and work.The society in Yogyakarta is known to be open to newcomers who have diff erent backgrounds of ethnicity, religion, and culture.However, with the emergence of some radical movements in this city during the last fi fteen years, 4 confl icts and violence have disturbed Yogyakarta as a city of harmony.For the people in a culture of peace that is built on diversity, an experience of positive togetherness in the face of confl icts and violence will bring a great effect on the integrity of national life. 5It is urgent to motivate Yogyakarta people to become cultural people and to achieve meaningful life in the multicultural context today. 6In the midst of growing religious sentiment and radicalism, dialogue with religious representatives would no longer start from the grassroots.These questions follow.How to preserve the culture of peace in Yogyakarta?What kind of dialogue that is possible to build in order to maintain harmonious coexistence?What are the concrete contributions of Catholic universities to develop dialogue in Yogyakarta?To anwer theese questions, I would explore three points.First, a description of the meaning of community transformative dialogue.Second, the potentials of the people of Yogyakarta to develop a continuous dialogue.Third, opportunities and concrete proposals for Catholic universities in Yogyakarta to develop a continuous dialogue for the realization of a harmonious life. .

Society Transformative Dialogue
Various cases of violence and social confl ict that threaten the wholeness of life raise the question of the effectiveness of political dialogue as developed by the government.Political dialogue is often a tool to maintain harmony for a while.Tolerance and mutual respect that are not rooted in the same longing in order to develop a peaceful living together will not be sustainable. 7Dialogue among religions in Indonesia is often infi ltrated by some political interests.Even religions are accused of triggering social confl icts.
In the last decade, Yogyakarta experienced several social confl icts and violent acts that threaten the unity and harmony.There has been a tendency toward political and economic interests, that some government and private institutions which are supposed to develop a culture of harmony often obscure the meaning of peace, brotherhood, justice, freedom, human rights, and the spirit of service.Like other people in various places throughout Indonesia, Yogyakarta people also long for a peaceful life.The question is: how to build a peaceful life based on the potential of Yogyakarta as a city of education?Learning from the efforts of reconciliation after the religious confl ict in Ambon, community transformative dialogue could be an efective way to develop a peaceful living together.Community transformative dialogue is a model of dialogue that departs from a shared awareness of the local cultural values.This model of dialogue has been practiced in Ambon as a way of reconciliation after a period of prolonged social confl ict.MELINTAS 32.3.2016The process of community transformative dialogue begins with fi nding common awareness and concern about the importance of living peacefully as Ambon people, even though they have different ethnic and religious backgrounds.There are three steps of dialogue 8 .First, the process of dialogue starts from common awareness, concern, and longing to live in harmony.This is a common intelectual and affective awareness of the people in the society.Second, an authentic dialogue needs common purposes and values as a local wisdom.Therefore, an effective dialogue is a process of actualizing the common purposes of the society.Third, a contextual dialogue is to support local communities for living their local wisdom with the spirit of brotherhood and collaboration.Therefore, actors of dialogue are the people in the society who are longing to live in harmony.Community transformative dialogue is a process of cultural dialogue.The starting point of the process is the people's experience in transforming living together based on the local wisdom.
As part of Moluccas, Ambon island consists of people from various tribes, religions, and cultures.For centuries, the Ambonese people have lived a harmonious life in diversity.They keep their kinship with a pledge: "Your blood is our blood, your living is our living" and with the motto of "one blood." 9There are some traditions as forms of social harmony and kinship.They have the tradition of baku bae ("be good to each other"), masohi ("working together"), baku dapa ("communication and meeting as fellow citizens"), pela ("living together in brotherhood as fellow human beings"), and gandong (literally means 'womb' or the basis of genealogical ties as Ambonese).They live their traditions as a local wisdom and an expression of their identity.
In the situation of prolonged social confl ict, the Ambonese people yearn for reconciliation and brotherhood.They were longing a reconciliation among different villages, individuals, dan religious affi liations. 10The self-awareness of Ambonese people as pela gandong is a starting point of dialogue.Here, dialogue is a process to revitalize the local traditions as concrete forms of harmonious life.Baku bae, masohi, baku dapa, and pela gandong are the actualization of real peace and harmony in Ambon.
In the cultural perspective of Battista Mondin, the dialogue process involves four important pillars, namely human values, traditions, languages, and techniques. 11First, dialogue is a process of realizing human values.Second, human values manifest in various local traditions.Third, the various traditions are inherited through the local language.Fourth, the inheritance of human values requires the development of technique.Fraternity, cooperation, mutual assistance, and blood bonding as fellow Ambonese are the human values that become the pillars of life in Ambon.They live up to those values in their local traditions and languages.Social institutions from the local tribes, religions, and government bring the responsibility to develop dialogue and fraternity in the society through the preservation of local wisdom.Living a common awareness and cultural concern is very important for doing continuous dialogue to realize the harmonius living together.

Exploring Common Awareness and Concern in Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta is one of the development centers of the Javanese culture.Territorially, Yogyakarta is part of Java island.Historically, it consists of two parts of the kingdom, namely the Sultanate and the Pakualaman.The Sultanate in Yogyakarta was established on October 7, 1756, while the Pakualaman on March 17, 1813.The Sultanate is led by the Sultan or the King, while the Pakualaman is led by the duke or the Pakualam.This kingdom ended its power politically in 1950 and subsequently both royal authorities were retained more as cultural authorities.
Since the proclamation of independence in 1945, the two leaders of Yogyakarta monarchy decided to support the government of the Republic of Indonesia.Ir.Soekarno, the fi rst President of the Republic of Indonesia, declared the special status of Yogyakarta region.Geographically, the Province of Yogyakarta or the Special Region of Yogyakarta is located in the southern part of Java, and bordering the province of Central Java and the Indian Ocean.This special region has an area of 3,185.80 km 2 consisting of one municipality and four districts, which are subdivided into 78 subdistricts and 438 villages or wards.The province has about 4 million inhabitants.
Yogyakarta is acknowledged as a special area for its historical and cultural heritage that brings a real contribution to the national identity of Indonesia.The privileges of Yogyakarta are reaffi rmed in Law No. 13 of 2012.In article 7 of Law No. 13 of 2012, the special status of Yogyakarta covers the authority in the governmental affairs, namely (a) the procedures MELINTAS 32.3.2016for fi lling the position, duties, and authority of the governor and the vice governor,(b) the governmental institutions, (c) the culture, (d) the land, and (e) the layout based on the values of the local wisdom and the favor of the people.The special status is mostly related to the intention to develop the culture of Yogyakarta.
As part of the people living in the island of Java, Yogyakarta people speak the Javanese language in their daily conversation.Javanese language also brings a huge infl uence to the development ofthe Indonesian language as the national language of Indonesia.Muskens witnessed that"[T]his infl uence grows stronger and stronger; it is not only a question of all kinds of words, but also of Javanese cultural elements... ." 12Besides the great infl uence from Javanese language, other local languages and the Arabic also infl uence the Indonesian language.
From the perspective of economic and educational development, Java and especially Yogyakarta have developed fast.Two contributory factors are the population fi gure in Javais two-thirds of Indonesian population and the focus of goverment programs very much aids the development of Java.These developments in the fi eld of economy and education in turn open up the possibility for the people of Yogyakarta to develop a variety of traditional art including dance.
Most of Yogyakarta people work as farmers.Other livelihood can be found in the service sector of tourism industry, small cottage industries, handicrafts, transport services, and other professions like teachers and offi ce workers.Many young people who have fi nished school go to Jakarta, Surabaya, and other big cities to fi nd work.However, they usually still maintain the spirit and fraternity of being people of Yogyakarta or of being Javanese.They have cultural ties and ethical principles of kejawen (Javanism or Javanese mysticism). 13Javanism becomes a kind of cultural awareness that serves as a basic for pride and identity.This cultural awareness is the basis for attitudes, thoughts, and behavior of the Javanese as well as how they interpret the events of their life.The foundation in Javanism is the Javanese antropological and cosmological vision and their ideal vision of social life.
Javanese people understand themselves as an integral part of the natural world.The order of life in the universe is regulated and determined by God the Almighty.In this universe there are many spirits who protect humans, and there might be disaster when humans do not appreciate nature.To maintain the harmonious cosmos, humans need to act wisely and maintain their unity with the universe.When natural disasters happen and there are diseases, Javanese peopleorganise a ritual (Slametan) in order to restore and sustain the world in its state of undisturbed continuity.They would invite neighbours and some relatives to participate in the ritual events of Slametan to maintain the order in the world. 14or the Javanese, there is an interrelation between human being and all existence.The world is seen as a total coordination of all beings and existence.There isa kind of connectedness of the world (the macro cosmos) and the human beings (the micro cosmos).It is a unity of the visible and the invisible dimensions as well as the material and the spiritual dimensions.The reality of the world and the human being (kasunyatan jati) is a unity of material and spiritual matters.This is the basis of Javanese mysticism. 15Therefore, the harmony (keselarasan) in the universe proceeds in the reality of life process from its origin towards its destination, and this is called a total harmony.The concept of interconnectedness between the world and the human being through the history brings about the efforts to understand the Javanese ethics.
Humans need to learn to be naturally quiet or silent and clear to fulfi ll the process of self-perfection.Human being lives in the world within the unity of tata lair (the phenomenal world)and tata batin (the spiritual world, as an inner core of a person).Tata batin (the inner core of a person) allows for relation with the spiritual world.It relates the human beings to their origin and ultimate meaning as a moral order.Human order is a harmony with the cosmic purpose and its deepest sense, that is the unity or oneness of all in tata lair(the fenomenal world).
As traditional Javanese spirituality believers, Yogyakarta people believe that human is God's creation.Human is described as dumadi (being created and becoming), and God is sangkan-paraning dumadi (the origin and destination of all creation).People in this world live in the outer level,but also have an inner dimension.The unity of human and God (manunggaling kawula lan Gusti) is already experienced in this life, and this infl uences human's attitudes, utterances, and behaviours.
Javanese people have strong kinship ties.The nuclear family is a small community expanded in the bond of brotherhood with its neighbours and the wider relatives. 16In the agrarian society of Java, kinship relationships are very important to work in farms organized by cooperation (colaboration).In this global era, many Yogyakarta people go to other major cities for work.However, kinship relationships are always maintained.On days of Eid, they return to Yogyakarta to foster the fraternal bond with their ancestors, both the living and the dead.
Slametan (ritual event for gaining harmonious living together) which is aimed to pay respect to the ancestors becomes a tangible manifestation of the unity of human's tata lair (the phenomenal world) and tata batin (the spiritual world) that runs the life of the world.Towards the ancestors, the people do darma (duty) and bekti (respectful attitude to pay homage and service to the ancestors).It is a social attitude for maintaining the unity and harmony of social life.To live according to social duties and rules is to fulfi ll the will of God and to shape one's destiny. 17It is jati diri, or the true condition, or the nature of self, of the human being in the world.
Keselarasan or harmony is an ethical principle and the goal of life of the Javanese people in the dynamic unity with the world. 18The principle and the goal of life become the inner power to move the life of the Javanese people in togetherness within the world.Keselarasan is not merely a state of peace and harmony or an equilibrium of the society.It is also a pattern of the self in which everyone has one's own proper place and responsibility to develop the quality of unity of human beings and the world.
Keselarasan is manifested in culture and ethics 19 .The two contexts can be explained as follows.First, from the cultural perspective, the meaning of keselarasan is based on the Javanese music, gamelan.Gamelan, a set of traditional musical instrument, consists of various instruments played together as one unity.Gamelan is usually played as an accompaniment to dances and songs in the ceremony of Slametan.Gamelan music represents keselarasan, which is "concord, appropriateness and a unifi ed composition of the whole of reality, which include the reality of beauty, the method of thought in mystical refl ection, the dynamic melody that accompanies events, and more." 20Keselarasan includes the perception of time in which Javanese consider time as a cycle characterized with dynamic of integration and diffusion.Thus, keselarasan is a worldview that penetrates the heart of Javanese person in continuing living in the world.
Second, from the perspective of ethics, keselarasan represents a comprehensive harmonious relationship between an individual and society.On the one hand, keselarasan is a vision of life.On the other hand, keselarasan is a living value.Therefore, keselarasan is the unity of the practical wisdom of life and the ultimate value or the vision of life.The manifestation of keselarasan is expressed in gotong royong, or working together, in order to help each other in daily life or to maintain public facilities.This attitude manifests a consciuousness that human is dependent on the neighbours in life.It implies a responsibility of each person to take care of maintaining good relationship dan collaboration with the neighbors.To realize gotong royong as a form of keselarasan, one has to adapt oneself to the interest of the society.
Keselarasan in the Javanese society is actualized effectively in the society when people are living the three moral directions, which are hormat (respect to each other), rukun (tranquil and peaceful living together), and empan papan (awareness of one's place).Hormat indicates a Javanese moral society characterised with mutual obligations and a model of communication which implies social hierarchy.This is manifested in respect to superiors or elders.Hormat is transmitted through the attitudes of wedi (feeling of fear), isin (feeling of shame), and sungkan (a sense of uncomfortable feeling) towards those who are older or spiritually superior.The manifestation of hormat is important to maintain a good peaceful order.
Rukun (a tranquil and peaceful living together) implies unity through collaboration, in order to help one another and to avoid confl icts.Such collaboration takes place when all people live in a peaceful coexistence and are active in accepting one another.Rukun indicates a manner of unselfi sh activity as a way of achieving a quiet heart. 21To have a peaceful living together, each one must do one's best for others and must overcome individual ambitions or self-interests.
Empan papan contains a consciousness of one's position or place within the society.It manifests in various kinds of activity and moral behaviours in the social structure.The manifestation of this moral order is demonstrated in the social relations and collaboration to build real harmony and peaceful life in the society.
Harmony is a real situation and an ideal of integral living.Justice, fraternity, mutual respect and peace are values that are inherent in a harmonious life.Dialogue is a way to realize a harmonious life.Conversely, violence and social confl ict are a real threat to a harmonious and peaceful life.Thus, developing dialogue is a way to bring peace and a harmonious life.

Contributions of Catholic Universities to the Development of Harmony
The focus of this part is to explore the contribution of Catholic universities in Yogyakarta to the development of harmonious and peaceful coexistence.As stated in Ex Corde Ecclesiae, realizing a peaceful life, enhancing justice, and fi nding answers to actual problems are an important mission of the Catholic universities. 22It is urgent to develop dialogue for the realization of a harmonious living together in Yogyakarta today.There are several real challenges to a harmonious life in Yogyakarta.From within the people of Yogyakarta, many youth today are not familiar with local Javanese wisdom and virtue.They are not quite familiar with the practice of appreciating the local wisdom.Javanese language, as one of the important manifestations of harmony in Java, is less spoken by the people in Yogyakarta.Education, which is one of the important pillars to instill the awareness of the local values, is less oriented toward developing distinctive Javanese character.Schools tend to be a prestigious institution, and thus international schools that use foreign language are sometimes considered more prestigious.More and more schools are providing intellectual competition space than developing the personal character and the local identity.
Modern industrialization also threats Yogyakarta as a city of culture and education.City centers and main streets are fi lled with billboards and advertisements promoting consumptive way of life.Day after day, Yogyakarta is moving farther from its image as a city of culture and education.More than twelve big shopping centers or malls were built in Yogyakarta lately. 23Yogyakarta has become a modern city that is more business oriented.More than forty museums in the city have not been well maintained.Several art centers as a centre of affective education have been demolished and even turned into modern markets.Public space as a place of encounter is getting narrower.Students would rather walk into the malls and culinary centers than use their time to visit libraries and museums.The atmospheric depth of life might have been eroded by the superfi ciality and the importance of quantity and exteriority.Students from outside Yogyakarta come to this city probably not because the city is known as a center of culture and education, but because it provides the facilities and the comforts of modern life. 24s one of the important institutions involved in the community development, a Catholic university has an important role in instilling values of life and in preserving a peaceful living together.The university is an institution trusted by the community to develop the community itself.The university has an important duty to explore people's understanding of the local potentials, the local genius, and the local wisdoms.The university has a paramount role to organize educational tasks, to empower all existing academic communities, and to actualize the public service to the society. 25atholic universities should educate young people to be inclusive and concerned with the national life. 26As part of the Indonesian society and the pluralistic Yogyakarta, the universities must become an education community that brings together the diversity of the students.Academic activities are a real place to cultivate unity in diversity and build on positive experiences in saving humankind (the nation) from the threat of division and strife. 27Programs of humanistic formation should cover leadership training, capacity building, public speaking, moral formation, the "live-in" (social-learning program), students creativity program, and artistic talent development like dance, and sports.
Catholic universities also need to focus on social science and legal education to prepare young people to be able to be involved in the determination of public policy for the realization of justice and truth.The fi rst and main step of the formation is to explore the local wisdom dan culture. 28Catholic universities should develop good practices in educating the students on colaboration, mutual respect, fraternity, and social responsibility.In this way, the students might be able to elaborate further steps for the establishment of community transformatif dialogue, by way of designing learning activities, research programs, and community service, in order to contribute more to the realization of a peaceful and harmonious Yogyakarta.
In applying community transformative dialogue, there are three important steps that must be taken by the Catholic universities in MELINTAS 32.3.2016Yogyakarta in order to create a harmonious and peaceful society.First, they need to explore and to be informed of the meaning of harmony (keselarasan, in the Javanese perspective) and further to implement the value through the entire academic community.Second, they have to foster students and teachers to have a common longing toward actualizing a harmonious life in the community.In other words, these unviersities are responsible for cultivating shared awareness and commitment toward the need of a harmonious living together.Third, various student mentoring programs must support students to be actively involved in preserving the local wisdoms and working together with the diverse communities to serve the poor.In the cultural view of Mondin, dialogue as a process of transforming the culture begins by fi nding the values as a common longing, a common language, the local wisdoms or traditions, and the right as well as effective technique that may involve many people in the process of dialogue.
Harmony is a Javanese quality of life that contains social, ethical, spiritual, and cosmological values.This is the common vision and value of living together among the people in Yogyakarta.Therefore, this value must also be the common awareness and concern for the academic communities.The following step can be considered to develop the habits of harmonious living together, that is, by practicing the local virtues of hormat (respect to each other), of rukun (tranquil and peaceful living together), and of empan papan (awareness of one's place).Javanese people understand their real and natural condition in this world, which is a pilgrimage toward authenticity.These people always try to fi nd ways to live and to purify themselves.There is a saying that Ilmu iku kelakone kanthi laku ("Knowledge is best understood by living the process, or in learning by doing").Therefore it is also said that the people who understand are those who express their knolwledge in daily life.In the word of Mulder, "they are the ones who have concern and who know that all has a meaning, and is signifi cant to the understanding of one's personal life." 29o develop a dialogue for the realization of harmonious common life, the universities need to practice collaboration with the other communities in the society.The colaboration is carried on with the focus to preserve local wisdom and to solve the actual problems.Catholic universities can collaborate with more than seventy spiritual movements (Kebatinan) in Yogyakarta to preserve the local wisdom. 30Kebatinan communities are Javanese spiritual movements living the local religiosity based on a spirit of kinship Javanese. 31When Javanese people migrated to all parts of Indonesia, these communities are also spread everywhere.This Javanese spiritual movement has spread throughout Indonesia with more than 2 million members. 32They live in fraternity and harmony.The Javanese spiritual movement (Kebatinan) has the habits of fasting and praying as ways of maintaining the unity of human beings with all creatures and with God. 33Collaborating with these movements might open the way to spread the fraternality dan the spirit of harmonious life throughout the nation.
There are some opportunities for the Catholic universities in Yogyakarta to support youth social communities that educate poor children and raise public awareness for a healthy living. 34There are thirteen communities engaging in social services, education, and health care for the poor children and the handicapped.There are seven communities that care for the preservation of the environment and the animal rescue.There are eight communities that develop modern and traditional art.There are six communities that work in the fi eld of sports, hobbies, and special skills.There are four communities that develop entrepreneurial abilities and support anti-corruption movement.Most of the communities' members are young people who are potential to contribute to developing a culture of peace.There are various opportunities to strengthen the synergy and the cooperation among these communities to develop the cultural characters of Yogyakarta and to address the social problems in the society.These communities become a great place to experience the cooperation in diversity and fraternal neighborhood regardless of religious, ethnic, and social status differences.Supporting the movements of young people in developing the quality of the communities is in line with the educational movement that was greatly infl uential in Central Java as promoted by Fr.Franciscus Georgius Josephus van Lith SJ.In his idea, education must deal with the social and cultural transformation. 35

Concluding Remarks
Today we are dealing with various social confl icts that threaten the harmonious common life.Differences of religion, ethnicity, race, and culture that sometimes are also associated with the wealth of living are used as reasons for confl ict as well.In this situation, the society needs a unifying cord to develop a harmonious life.Dialogue among these different communities that involve only some elite class would not provide a good solution to the confl icts on the grassroots.
Community transformative dialogue is a model of dialogue.It has several distinctive characters.First, the community dialogue is based on the longing and concern of the people to develop a harmonious living together.Second, this dialogue takes place in the praxis of the daily life.Third, it involves all components of the society with their different backgrounds.This dialogue cannot be carried on only by some elite.Fifth, this dialogue takes place in the daily life, naturally and continuously.
In the context of Yogyakarta, there are several cultural and social modalities that support the implementation of this dialogue.First, as a cultural city, Yogyakarta appreciates a harmonious life characterized by cooperation (gotong royong), mutual respect (hormat), peaceful living together (rukun), and awareness of one's place (empan papan).Various arts and dances strongly support the preservation of this harmonious life.There are also many Javanese spiritual movements (Kebatinan) establishing a harmonious life in praxis.Second, as a city of education, Yogyakarta has many experts, educated people, and educational institutions.Cooperation among them would be a great power to develop a culturally fi rm society of Yogyakarta.
What are the contributions of Catholic universities to develop Yogyakarta as a place of peaceful and harmonious living together?As academic institutions, the Catholic universities educate students to develop themselves as integrated persons.In the paradigm of a refl ective learning, social contexts and concrete situations are the starting point for this particular learning.The Catholic universities must involve all other academic communities to recognize the cultural and social modalities of Yogyakarta as a starting point in the dialogue with the various communities and in transforming themselves as community.Catholic universities should involve other academic communities in applying the knowledge and the abilities to preserve the local wisdoms and to develop a more just and harmonious living together.
As also noted in Ex Corde Ecclessiae, Catholic universities have a mission to actualize justice and peace and to resolve actual problems through their activities.In this century, acualizing a peaceful living together will require cooperation with many other parties. 36As Pope John Paul II mentions, justice is a realization of a peaceful life: "No peace without justice, no justice without forgiveness." 37Cooperation (gotong royong) as one of the important Javanese virtues is in line with the teaching of the Church covering kindness and mutual respect. 38To ensure the sustainability of their involvement in the realization of justice, peace, and harmonious society, Catholic universities must design learning, research, and community services based on the cultural and social contexts as well as the actual issues that must be answered.Academic activities and community service need to support the implementation of community transformative dialogue to preserve the local wisdoms and to actualize a peaceful living together.