Merayakan Kebebasan Beragama - Democracy Project

Democracy ProjectMany good thinkers are not good writers - that is to say they struggleto articulate their ideas simply and lucidly in way that can engage abroad readership - just as many good writers are not great thinkers.Djohan is both. The fact that he is both a good thinker and a goodcommunicator, at least in the written word, is key to understandinghis contribution as a reformist Islamic intellectual. Djohan’s influencecame via his mentoring of young people on account of hisexceptional personal characteristics, which we shall discuss shortly,and via his writing. Uniquely in his case he was not writing just to beread privately by readers but also for his words to be read aloudbefore a broad audience by some of Indonesia’s most powerfulpeople including Mukti Ali and President Soeharto. Were he merelya good and gifted writer then it is unlikely he would become one oftwo key speech writers for President Soeharto, writing most of hisspeeches on social policy and religion over a period lasting morethan a decade. No one has yet undertaken a comprehensive study ofthe speeches written by Djohan and their impact on the time theywere given but it seems safe to assume that there were a number ofoccasions when the form of words that Djohan was able to put in thePresident’s mouth and the result of shaping policy and itsinterpretation and implementation in critical ways. Soeharto appearsto have accepted that the brilliance of Djohan’s word craft, andpossibly to the brilliance of his original ideas, were sufficientlyvaluable that he could overlook the fact that from time to timeDjohan want to take the discourse further than the President wasprepared to accept.I gained a personal insight into Djohan’s brilliance as ananalytical thinker and as an articulate writer through my associationwith him when he was undertaking doctoral studies at DeakinUniversity. Although I was formally engaged as his dissertationadviser or supervisor in actual fact Djohan made my job very easy. Ofcourse we talked and exchanged ideas but I rather suspect that if Iwasn’t there he would have done just as well. He knew what he wasdoing he was clear-minded in his analysis of the starter and he wasan effective communicator despite the fact that he was writing alanguage that he was not entirely comfortable speaking. Perhaps it isfor this last reason that Herb Feith, who had the greatest respect forDjohan and a keen desire to see him do well was initially concernedBunga Rampai Menyambut 70 Tahun Djohan Effendi| 759