Comedy of errors

'Having gone through secular Makerere University in Uganda, I thought that all universities were more or less like that. I was grossly wrong.' As part of 2010's Yogya Summer School, Adrian Jjuuko blogs about his visit to a Quran University in local Central Java.

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“Asalam aleikum” – those were the introductory words to the Summer School participants by a student of Universitas Sains Al Quran (UNSIQ), Jawa Tengah Di Wonosobo.

The summer school participants had gone to visit the ‘local’ university at Wonosobo in Central Java. The visitors were from Uganda, Netherlands, India and Indonesia, a combination that barely understands each other’s English pronunciation versus hosts whose best English speakers spoke it with a Bahasa accent making little difference between the two languages! The evening was surely bound to turn into a comedy of errors.
The university had made arrangements to give us a memorable reception and we were immediately taken to the meeting room where students and staff talked to us in a smattering mixture of Bahasa Indonesia, Arabic, Javanese and English. The major language of course was Bahasa Indonesia and thus three quarters of the visiting group had to rely on interpreters.

The very confident and smart young lady who greeted us with the words above welcomed us to their university and wished us a nice stay, or at least that is what she said according to the interpreter. One also had to strain to realize that the interpreter was speaking English!
A stern looking member of staff addressed us first with an Arabic greeting and then in Bahasa Indonesia oblivious to the strange looks and the straying eyes and straining ears. Only after he had completed his address did we get a translation of what he had said from our own Zainal. He told us that they had waited for us for over 3 hours, and that though we were late, they were happy to see us. Fortunately someone who could speak English then addressed us and gave us a briefing about the university, its foundation, faculties and how it has developed the area.

At the end, due to a combination of the sound of traffic outside the window, serving of packed food in midsession, a minimum of 6 English language accents and having a translator for everything, we came out more or less confused than ever before- what was it exactly that had made the students at the back to laugh after a remark by one of them? Well someone explained but I never understood the explanation!

Face to face with a non secular university
Having gone through secular Makerere University in Uganda, I thought that all universities were more or less like that. I was grossly wrong. UNISQ is an Islamic university- period. The University was founded in 1988 and currently has about 4000 students. It is an Islamic university that admits only Muslim students. Its curriculum is based on Muslim education and they have a Faculty that specializes in Islamic preaching. It also gives scholarships to needy students. The women students wear compulsory head covering and long skirts- a far cry from those at Makerere, while the gentlemen rather interestingly dress in no distinctive attire- not even head gear!

I also thought I noticed the air of an iron hand- the uniform dressing, the stern faces of the staff, the …oh I cannot describe that. Well at Makerere, we used to do as we please. Thank you.
Since the university is an Islamic one, there is little comparative teaching. Thus the graduate comes out with a focus on Islam and its tenets as the answer to everything. The graduate will know little about other religions. This of course has implications on pluralism, diversity and co-existence- but again the same would happen in a Christian university- Just thinking.

Isn’t it time we secularized education for the sake of pluralism and co existence? But if we did so won’t the cherished religious values fly through the window? Paradoxical this question- but well I think the present situation where both secular and religious universities exist is perfect. Choose where to go, though in most cases it will not be an issue of choice. May be we can introduce comparative religious studies both within secular and religious universities.

Language pluralism; meeting the students
When we came out of the meeting room, a large number of students were excitedly waiting for us. Well the fact that only a handful could speak English in a university struck me as rather odd-because English has always been the language of communication in universities I have been to. Then I realized that perhaps that is why we were here- to see how things are done differently elsewhere. The university teaches in Bahasa, but the roof has never caved in.
Time to rethink my take on language- universal language- does such a thing exists and who says that education can only be imparted in English? In my native Uganda, speaking English is a class status issue- those who can are considered privileged and those who cannot are failures- only one man stands out, the Mayor of Kampala City who most times than not mixes is verbs and tenses. Of course he is a subject of ridicule and stereotyped jokes- but well he runs the city. It is thus very humbling to see a country that barely cares about how good they speak English; after all they also have a language.
Interestingly, in trying to talk to students, we had to ‘tone down on our English’ to speaking in monosyllables and single words in order to make sense. All of sudden my good tenses and verbs lost meaning. Prose, poetry, and proverbs were simply out of the question. Oh!

Black statues and black mannequins
Another striking thing is how we the blacks in the group were treated. We were used as photograph backgrounds by the students. All of a sudden, we were besieged by students with phone cameras wanting to take photos with us. It reminded me of the famous statues with which people are used to posing for photographs. I never knew I could be one of those! But here I was with students taking pictures of me- touching me, leaning on me, taking my hand, all with reluctant or no permission at all! Well they cared less for permissions, they could not miss a once in a life time chance to have a photo taken with a black.
Interesting scenario- It was very obvious that the students had never seen a black person at close range. This means that more exposure to other cultures and peoples is necessary if the races too are truly to understand and cherish each other. Racial Pluralism? Well the USA and Europe have grappled with the issue but racism still raises its ugly head- the answer lies in understanding and working together.

Adrian Jjuuko, Uganda.