Merayakan Kebebasan Beragama - Democracy Project

Democracy Projectcommunities without seeing this in any way as been condemnationof Islam itself. This realization liberated Wahib and so too its setsDjohan free to question and critique confident that Islam is biggerthan the container is placed in by individual interpretation andconvention.Djohan’s passion for ideas is one of the several characteristicsthat mark him out as a true intellectual. Whilst there are manypeople who are reasonably well read and who are capable of writingclearly there are relatively few intellectuals of the caliber of Djohan.Even amongst those who actively engaged in public debate andchampion various causes, including many Islamic writers and leaders,there are not many who will be as excited by ideas as Djohan. Manydeal with ideas because their work requires them to, but forintellectuals like Djohan ideas represent food, they are a source ofenergy, the basis of inspiration and the subject of passion. Caringlittle for fancy clothing or creature comforts Djohan comes alive inthe presence of books. He takes evident pleasure in scanningbookshelves and looking for new titles it always welcomes a chanceto read new works. In another country such characteristics may notbe so remarkable. In South Asia, for example, there is a longestablished library culture and books are found in abundance inprivate homes, in offices and in endless bookstores. But in SoutheastAsia libraries are much more rare. In Indonesia there is not yet aculture of reading that is comparable to that found in India. In Indialarge personal libraries are commonplace amongst the educated butin Indonesia even amongst university graduates large personallibraries are the exception rather than the rule. There are manypeople, like Djohan, who love ideas and the books they come in, andare always reading but such people belong to a small elite of genuineintellectuals.Djohan’s love of books and reading point to his inner world.This inner world reveals itself not so much in conversation as in hiswriting. Although not as prolific as many of his peers, and certainlynot as concerned about being published, Djohan is neverthelessconsistently productive. To read his work is to be struck by therichness of his thought, a richness that is not always so striking incasual conversation. As has been noted above, it is deeply ironic thatDjohan established such a reputation for himself as a writer ofBunga Rampai Menyambut 70 Tahun Djohan Effendi| 757