Religion in Indonesia - Summary

Summary

Although the Indonesian government recognizes a number of different religions, inter-religious conflicts have occurred. In the New Order era, former president Suharto proposed the Anti-Chinese law which prohibits anything related to Chinese culture, including names and religions. Nevertheless, positive form of relations have also appeared in the society, such as the effort from six different religious organisations to help the 2004 Tsunami victims. Subud is a religion founded in Indonesia.

Between 1966 and 1998, Suharto made an effort to "de-Islamicise" the government, by maintaining a large proportion of Christians in his cabinet. However, in the early 1990s, the issue of Islamisation appeared, and the military split into two groups, the Nationalist and Islamic camps. The Islamic camp, led by General Prabowo, was in favour of Islamisation, while General Wiranto was in the Nationalist group, in favour of a secular state.

During the Suharto era, the Indonesian transmigration program continued, after it was initiated by the Dutch East Indies government in the early nineteenth century. The intention of the program was to move millions of Indonesians from over-crowded populated Java, Bali and Madura to other less populated regions, such as Ambon, Lesser Sunda Islands and Papua. It has received much criticism, being described as a type of colonisation by the Javanese and Madurese, who also brought Islam to non-Muslim areas. Citizens in western Indonesia are mostly Muslims with Christians a small minority, while in eastern regions the Christian populations are similar in size or larger than Muslim populations. This more even population distribution has led to more religious conflicts in the eastern regions, including Poso and Maluku communal violence since the resignation of President Suharto.

The government has made an effort to reduce the tension by proposing the inter-religion co-operation plan. The Foreign Ministry, along with the biggest Islamic organization in Indonesia, Nahdatul Ulama, held the International Conference of Islamic Scholars, to promote Islamic moderation, which is believed to reduce the tension in the country. On December 6, 2004, the "Dialogue On Interfaith Cooperation: Community Building and Harmony" conference was opened. The conference, attended by ASEAN countries, Australia, East Timor, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea was intended to discuss possible co-operation between different religious groups to minimise inter-religious conflict in Indonesia. The Australian government, represented by the Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, supported the dialogue by co-hosting it.

On the issue of Ahmadiyyah Muslim community, Indonesia has failed to act and uphold their human rights. Several Ahmadi mosques were burnt in 2008. Several thousands of Ahmadis have become refugees within their own country in the past 4 years. The Indonesian government seems to have become hostage to the demands of extremist Islamic parties. There is an internal struggle going on between moderates and extremists in Indonesia, where the extremists align themselves with Al-Qaeda and Taliban Islam. They either condone or directly support violence and terrorism, while the majority remains moderate and condemns such violence.

There is however, indications that religious conflicts regarding erection of place of worships have more to do with business interest than in religious issues. For example dispute over a Bethel Injil Sepenuh Church (GBIS) in Jakarta was due to land dispute dating back to 1957, while the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) Taman Yasmin dispute in Bogor was due to municipal government plan to turn the church's area into business district. The Taman Yasmin Church in Bogor has been upheld and protected by Supreme Court of Indonesia, but the mayor of Bogor refused to comply the court ruling.