UNDERSTANDING RIS CHANGING

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY
Amika Wardana
Student in Sociology at the University of Essex in the UK, Lecturer in Sociology at
Yogyakarta State University
Jakarta Post, 17 September 2012
In the last few years, we have witnessed lots of inter-religious tensions
and conflicts across Indonesia, just as what recently erupted between
majority Sunni and minority Shia Muslim groups in Sampang, Madura.
With the rise of religious intolerance among majority Sunni Muslims, the
fate of minority religious groups, such as Christians, Ahmadis and Shiites
has come under public scrutiny.
This phenomenon is connected to rapid modernization, the current
experiment in (political) democracy and the increased influence of
transnational (religious) movements.
These developments have had a tremendous impact on changing
Indonesian society from one of communalistic with strong, tight
religious-cultural affinities to one that is liberal and individualistic as a
multi-faith, multi-ethnic and multicultural nation.
Modernization, transnational influences and democracy are nothing new
for Indonesians. These things have penetrated deeply into society since
1970s. From various different sources and/or from traveling outside
their traditional homes, Indonesians have learnt new religious ideas to be
adopted and circulated to fellow people.
Efforts to establish transnational religious networks from and to
Indonesia have been occasionally supported by foreign governments or
non-government organizations.

As we see today, within the Indonesian Muslim community in particular,

there exist numerous Islamic groups with strong transnational links to
the Middle East and surrounding regions such as the group Hizb utTahrir, Salafism, Muslim Brotherhood-inspired social/political
organizations as well as sects accused of being heretical, like the Shia and
Ahmadiyah.
Under the Soeharto regime, the social impact of publicly disseminated,
new, religious ideas was limited or controllable. Soehartos policy to
prioritize social-political stability for the sake of economic growth and
not to tolerate any societal upheavals caused by inter-religious tensions
forced religious activists to conform.
Nevertheless, members of religious groups have been given many
opportunities to pursue social activities and religious learning, but not
political initiatives to challenge the regime.
Though restrained from propagating their beliefs and from publicly
recruiting new members, minority religious groups had been protected
under the government-sponsored Anti-SARA (tribal affiliations, religion,
race and societal groups) campaign.
There were no significant changes in the religious landscape of
Indonesian society.
In the reformasi era of the 2000s, the dissemination of various religious
ideas has been contextualized in a new socio-political configuration
brought about by experimental democracy.
Having sanctioned equality, egalitarian principles and individual freedom,
democracy invited all parties in Indonesian society to participate in the
development of the nation.
This new political constellation has opened up new opportunities for
religious groups to do so and has attempted to make their presence
relevant in public.
One of the results has been the resurgence of religion, particularly Islam,
after almost three decades of being castigated for any political role it
wanted to play.

The foundations of Islamic political parties, social-charitable

organizations as well as some radical paramilitary groups that have
mushroomed across the country have illustrated this.
Next, the democratic climate has changed the way both majority and
minority groups articulate their religious beliefs, ideas and needs in
public.
For the majority, the government has no choice but to accommodate
their peculiarities, including recognizing their monopolistic religious
authority.
In the name of religious rights, they intervene and either succeed or
fail the social, political and economic activities of the whole population
by issuing fatwas (edicts) regarding the halal status of certain food
products, prohibiting voting for non-Muslim candidates in local/national
elections or banning religious sects as heretic.
Importantly, they always impress upon the government to formally
endorse their religious causes on the basis of their majority status.
For the minority, the democratic climate is perceived as a legitimate
guarantee that it has the same citizenship rights as the majority and
therefore expects to be treated equally by the state. This includes the
right to propagate its religious beliefs and ideas, form socio-religious
organizations and recruit new members.
The situation has led both majority and minority religious groups to
cross paths, with an escalation of horizontal conflict as a result. Of
course, these conflicts are not solely about religious differences.
Wide socio-economic gaps, political competition and a populace that is
unprepared for this societal transformation are also crucial factors.
But the fact that both majority and minority groups have inherited such
historical-cum-theological disputes and bloody clashes, which actually
occurred in different places, involved different people and happened in
different socio-political contexts, cannot be ignored.
As shown in the recent bloodshed in Sampang, the 14 centuries old
Sunni-Shiite politico-religious dispute has mutated in local contexts,

resulting in contestations for socio-religious influence, and has given

people justification to shed the blood of their perceived enemies.
To make the situation worse, the government not only lacks a
comprehensive policy to regulate inter-religious differences but also lacks
the capacity to do so.
The old fashioned anti-blasphemy law (1965) that privileged mainstream
and/or majority groups over other minority religious variants has
hindered the state from fairly regulating socio-religious interaction
between the two.
This violates the very freedom of religion as clearly stated and guaranteed
in the Constitution.
It is very sad to see Indonesian society falling apart due to religious
differences when the country is on the right economic track to becoming
prosperous.
It is time for every Indonesian to recognize these inter-religious
differences, be aware of potential conflict and find the best solution to
coexist with each other and work together for the betterment of the
nation.Di saat pertumbuhan ekonomi menurun, lapangan kerja tidak
tumbuh, sementara jumlah penduduk kian meningkat, yang berkembang
pesat justru peredaran narkoba dan gaya hidup konsumtif- glamor di
kalangan selebritas dan politisi. Nalar saya tidak sampai untuk memahami
ini.