A Society Bound by the Shackles of “Institutionalised Ignorance”

Recently more and more groups claiming a monopoly on truth have been surfacing. They declare that they possess an exclusive vision of the truth and deny the right of other groups to uphold different truths. They regularly practice violence and repression and thus threaten our peace and security. If permitted and legalized, these repressive groups would trap society within a system of false knowledge, termed by Arkoun as institutionalised ignorance (2002:285.  It is an important national problem which requires attention as without addressing this key issue other national problems will remain unresolvable.

Institutionalised ignorance limits the space for social criticism. According to Arkoun The Unthought in Contemporary Islamic Thought (2002: 11 –12) this problem starts through the domination of society by certain groups including politicians, academics and theologians who create the linguistic mental field which determines what is thinkable and what is unthought in this life. Creative critical voices and talents are either neglected or marginalized.

A single hegemonic truth is spread that cannot be confronted or debated through creative dialogue or debate. This condition forces society to accept hegemonic logic as something given. This results in a stifled society that is unable to view politics, religious understanding, and knowledge in a rational and critical manner. People become unable to select between absolute God given truth and the relativity of human comprehension, and unable to develop creative alternative thoughts. They can only entertain a dichotomist point of view: right–wrong, haq-bid’ah, legal-subversive, etc. Thus everything in the mainstream view is right, haq, and all other views are not only wrong but subversive.

When politics get co-opted by religion, or when religion gets used as a political tool a a highly repressive hegemonic condition results. In circumstances in which religious beliefs are comprehended as the absolute, universal and final frame of truth, politics and power are considered as one. This creates irrational perceptions and makes religion static while it should be rational and dynamic. Thus institutionalised ignorance becomes a fact of life

Repression and one-sided truth claims deceive society and make them incapable of distinguishing between real and false truth. As the society lacks the critical logic needed to select between absolute and relative truth, or between universal values and their various applications, it is our responsibility to deconstruct hegemonic judgments so that society at large can comprehend their lives through logical, mature, morally and theologically accountable points of view.

Consequently a transformation of education is a necessity. Education should not just be a hegemonic instrument for justification. It is more important to provide opportunity for criticism so that alternative views and thoughts can emerge. A well-built civil society’s development should be a condition that does not have to be negotiated. In the Indonesian context, the religious universal values should be developed into a concrete and inclusive formula so that it could be conveyed to the public and become a part of the nation’s values. Religion’s universal mission as a force of liberation from shackles should provide the basis for such a civil society. People should not be mere victims denied the right to convey constructive suggestions nor be powerless to refuse repression. The absence of civil society and the lack of transformational processes will however leave society in this present shackled condition – never to achieve prosperity and peace except in one’s dreams for a better future. []