Civic Education in the Context of Democracy and Pluralism (A Glimpse of Muhammadiyah Experience) Asep Purnama Bahtiar
FAI Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta:
S3 Sosiologi Universitas Padjadjaran Bandung
Abstract
In the process of establishing the nation-state of Indonesia, education has been able to present itself as an institution and its system becomes the arena of regeneration of the nations youth, the students “boemi poetraâ€. In summary can be said, education is a major factor in the growth of national awareness.
Through education embodied the ideas of freedom and independence, physical and mental that affect the independence and structuring of early democracy in a pluralistic Indonesia. At that time when colonialism and imperialism remained in the archipelago, the existence of private schools such as those founded by Muhammadiyah (1912), Taman Siswa (1922), INS Kayutanam (1926) plays an important role for seeding the seeds of nationalism among the natives.
An effective education system, says Mochtar Buchori (2001) always try to understand the time and also try to meet the demands. Every mature education system always tries to prepare the communities it serves in developing new insights to accommodate seemingly upcoming changes.
Still in this context, Civic Education (Cived) needs to be pursued on a more substantive level, not just complementary or just adoptive. As an element of the national education system, Civic Education will always be tangled and even intertwined with the space and time that the place of the education, including the dynamics of democracy and pluralism.
The reality of a pluralistic Indonesian society in the various aspects of life and the multicultural reality present around us is an intrinsic part to be considered in Civic Education. The improvement and strengthening of Civic Education at all levels of education, both public and private, becomes urgent to do as it will support the strengthening of democracy and pluralism maturity. The reality of a pluralistic Indonesian society in the various aspects of life and the multicultural reality present around us is an intrinsic part to be considered in Civic Education. The improvement and strengthening of Civic Education at all levels of education, both public and private, becomes urgent to do as it will support the strengthening of democracy and pluralism maturity.
In this context we also need to learn from Muhammadiyah that has helped build democracy and maintain pluralism through its educational institutions from basic to university level. This is interesting because thousands of Muhammadiyah schools and hundreds of universities are open to other faiths. Even in eastern Indonesia such as East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku and Papua, the majority of students are Christian and Catholic. Therefore, relating to democracy and pluralism is not only taught in PPKn subjects or courses but is also practiced in its openness in receiving learners from outside the Islamic community.
