Civil Society and the Guardian of Multiculturalism: Understanding Banser’s Role in the ‘Swadaya’ Society

Hamdani, Zamroni

2018

Abstract

The element of civil society in Indonesian social and political structure has distinct features compared to Western experience. Since non-state agents have played a significant role in forging the direction of democratic and multicultural system, social and political actions of mass organizations and their supporting units, it shows important contributions of the efforts of guarding multicultural society. This study examines the social and political role of Banser (Barisan Ansor Serbaguna/Ansor Multipurpose Unit) in the maintenance of multiculturalism and protection of religious minority groups from any disturbance of intolerant groups. This study attempts to capture the ideas and practices of Banser agents in the changing Indonesian social and political constellation in the post-New Order regime, particularly its role in escorting Christian churches during Christmas celebrations and other holy days. Instead of being trained with military skills and weapons, this security unit of Nahdlatul Ulama who relies on the traditional technique of self-defense in the world of pesantren and having a relax style of securing events and places. This study emphasizes on the quest of original concept and practice concerning the imagined duty of security by civilian under the idea of ‘swadaya' and ‘gotong-royong' which has a deep root among Indonesian society.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Hamdani. and Zamroni. (2018). Civil Society and the Guardian of Multiculturalism: Understanding Banser’s Role in the ‘Swadaya’ Society.In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Innovations - Volume 1: ICRI, ISBN 978-989-758-458-9, pages 1614-1620. DOI: 10.5220/0009932716141620

in Bibtex Style

@conference{icri18,
author={Hamdani and Zamroni},
title={Civil Society and the Guardian of Multiculturalism: Understanding Banser’s Role in the ‘Swadaya’ Society},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Innovations - Volume 1: ICRI,},
year={2018},
pages={1614-1620},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0009932716141620},
isbn={978-989-758-458-9},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Innovations - Volume 1: ICRI,
TI - Civil Society and the Guardian of Multiculturalism: Understanding Banser’s Role in the ‘Swadaya’ Society
SN - 978-989-758-458-9
AU - Hamdani.
AU - Zamroni.
PY - 2018
SP - 1614
EP - 1620
DO - 10.5220/0009932716141620