Zaenal Abidin Ekoputro
Indonesia

The Hinterland Harmony: Buddhist and Muslim Relations

Zaenal Abidin Ekoputro gained his B.A. degree in Philosophy from Gadjah Mada University of Yogyakarta. After spending several years in NGO' activity concerning on interfaith issues at the Forum Persaudaraan Umat Beriman (Jogja interfaith Forum) and then moving to Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace (ICRP) in Jakarta, he pursued his master degree in Sociology from University of Indonesia (UI). He is also a co-founder of the Centre of Asian Studies (CENAS), a research based institution which is mainly addressing the issue of multiculturalism and democracy in Asia, relating especially with Indonesia's context. In 2009, he began to involve at Kertarajasa Buddhist College, Batu, East Java province.

Since the long time ago when he was studying at the elementary school, he enchanted to the Borobudur temple, specifically when visiting this temple. Thank to engage intensively in interfaith dialogue forums, he has been experiencing with the toleration values in Buddhism. His most current research is examined the relations between Buddhist and Muslim community in three different district of Java and it has just been published with the title; Building Harmony, Buddhist Muslim Seeks Harmony.