Overseas Think Tank for Indonesia

Dr. Muhamad Ali is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and of SEATRIP at the University of California at Riverside. Ali received his B.A. in Islamic Studies from the State Islamic University (Indonesia), a M.Sc. from the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, the University of Edinburgh, in Islam and politics in Indonesia and Egypt. He obtained his Ph.D. in History (Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the World) from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa (2007). His dissertation examines the varying impacts of Dutch, British, and Japanese colonial powers on the production and transmission of knowledge in Islamic sermons, edicts, and curricula in colonial Indonesia and Malaysia. He was also a fellow at the East-West Center focusing on ethnic conflict in Southeast Asia and took courses on International Cultural Studies.

He attended global education workshop at the National University of Singapore in 2005, spoke on interfaith dialogue in various countries, and became a trainer on Islam in Southeast Asia for high school teachers in the U.S. His recent publications include a book Multicultural-Pluralist Theology (Kompas, 2003), articles on women and jihad at the Encyclopaedia of Women and Islamic Culture (Brill, 2004), the fatwas on interfaith marriage in Indonesia at Studia Islamika: Indonesian Journal for Islamic Studies, on the Liberal Islam Network in Indonesia in the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences (2005), on the Transmission of Islamic knowledge in The Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (2006), on Categorizing Muslims in Postcolonial Indonesia in Moussons (Paris, 2007), review essays in the Journal of Contemporary Southeast Asia, and a book chapter on Islam in Southeast Asia in a Danish publication (2008), among others. He has taught the Qur’an exegesis, Islam and International Relations, Orientalism, and Muslim Politics, and is now teaching Asian religions, Islam in Southeast Asia, and Understanding the Qur’an.

Among his teaching interests are Religions in Southeast Asia, religion and politics, and Modern Thought in Islam. His research interests include Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic social movements and politics, comparative Muslim societies, religious pluralism, and Islam in Southeast Asia. He knows Arabic, English, French, and Dutch, apart from his native Indonesian/Malay.

He has received a number of awards, including Distinguished Service Award for commitment and contributions to the East-West Center Community, East-West Center, Walter Vella Prize for Original Research in Primary Sources, Walter Vella Prize for the Best Paper in Southeast Asian Studies, Taraknath Das Prize for the Best Graduate Paper in Asian History, and Moscotti Award for the Best Paper in Southeast Asian Studies. He also received fellowships from the Department of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, British Chevening Awards, East-West Center Graduate Fellowship, Ford Foundation Fellowship, and The Toyota Foundation Southeast Asian National Research Grant Program (SEANRP).

Mutiara Andalas, SJ adalah mahasiswa Pascasarjana di Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, California dan penulis buku “Kesucian Politik: Agama dan Politik di Tengah Krisis Kemanusiaan”. Ia adalah alumnus Sekolah Tinggi Filsafat Driyakara Jakarta dan alumnus Fakultas Teologi Universitas Sanata Dharma Jogjakarta.

Selama belajar filsafat, ia mendampingi paguyuban keluarga korban Mei – Semanggi 1998. Setelah menyelesaikan studi filsafat, ia menjadi pendidik di Xavier High School, Federated States of Micronesia selama dua tahun. Ia kemudian kembali belajar teologi di Universitas Sanata Dharma, dan menjadi campus minister di almamaternya selama satu tahun.

Sejak di Jogjakarta hingga sekarang, ia merintis teologi politik kemanusiaan kontemporer yang memadukan kecerdasan iman dan praksis liberatif. Ia membuka dialog kontemporer teologi dengan studi-studi kemanusiaan untuk humanisasi Indonesia. Teolog yang tidak memihak korban sejarah menyembah illah kematian. Teolog yang memeluk Allah kehidupan membela korban sejarah. Selain teologi politik kemanusiaan, ia juga berminat dengan tema feminisme, pendidikan, Islam, dan ekologi.

Dr. Beni Bevly is the founder of Overseas Think Tank for Indonesia (OTTI). He holds BA in Political Science, MBA in Marketing, and DBA in Organizational Leadership. The academic and professional institutions he attended and became a member were University of California Berkeley, Stanford University, California Coast University, University of Indonesia, IPWI Advance School, International Sport and Science Association (ISSA), Commonwealth Club, and World Tae Kwon Do Federation (WTF).

He is the author of “Aku Orang Cina? Narasi Pemikiran Politik Plus dari Seorang Tionghoa.”, “Managing For Profit Organizations in the Flatter World“ and “Sky without Limit: Fifteen Self-Challenges to Realize Your Visions”.

His has been interested in social and political issues since he was a teenager. At high school, he led study groups where students could practice their writing and discussion abilities. In collage, Beni Bevly became one of the leaders of Student Body Council, Chairman and Instructor of Tae Kwon Do, Chief of Provosts in Student Military Organization and Coordinator for Political Science News Letter. He also involves in advocating human right in Indonesia and writes for various media, on line and off line.

Evan Jones is an Australian business analyst, 30 years in SE Asia.

Evan A. Laksmana is concurrently a research analyst at the Indonesia Programme and MSc student in Strategic Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

He graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the Department of International Relations, Parahyangan Catholic University, Bandung, Indonesia. He has served as Vice President (2003-2004) and President (2004-2005) of the Students’ Study Group for International Affairs, Parahyangan Catholic University, while assisting the Parahyangan Center for International Studies (PACIS).

He has also been actively involved in the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR), serving as a delegate to the academic conference in 2006 at Singapore, and as a paper presenter in 2008 at Harvard University. While publishing in a variety of outlets, he has also conducted interviews with local and international media, such as Channel News Asia, Radio Singapore International, and Today Newspaper. His current research interests are in Indonesian political and military issues as well as problems of military organizational behavior, civil-military relations, and strategic thought.

Yunani Adam’s critical thinking was shaped and crystallized when she was studying Political Science at the University of Indonesia. Therefore she believes what Eleanor Roosevelt says, “Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.”

Yunani is also a holder of New Zealand Commercial Pilot License and Multi Engine Instrument Rating.

She speaks six languages with different degrees of proficiency, i.e.: Indonesian, English, Spanish. French, Italian and Japanese.

Yunani is currently residing in Hong Kong.