INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP - NEW BRIEFING
Indonesia: “Christianisation” and Intolerance
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Jakarta/Brussels, 24 November 2010: The Indonesian
government needs a strategy to address growing religious intolerance,
particularly in areas where hardline Islamists and Christian
evangelicals are competing for the same ground.
Indonesia: “Christianisation” and Intolerance,*
the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines the
impact of clashing fundamentalisms, using a series of incidents in
Bekasi, a suburb of Jakarta, as a case study. Islamists fear
“Christianisation” - a term that generally refers both to Christian
efforts to convert Muslims and the alleged growing influence of
Christianity in Muslim-majority Indonesia - and use it as a
justification for mass mobilisation and vigilante attacks. Aggressive
proselytising by Protestant evangelical groups in Muslim strongholds has
exacerbated the problem.
“Without a clear strategy, mob rule prevails”, says Sidney Jones,
Crisis Group Senior Adviser. “All too frequently officials capitulate
to the group that makes the most noise, and the victors are then
emboldened to raise the stakes for the next confrontation”.
The briefing looks at the growth of Protestant evangelicalism in
West Java and the Islamist backlash. It examines how activities of one
organisation in Bekasi, accused by Islamists of luring the Muslim poor
into conversion, fuelled the rise of an “anti-apostasy” coalition that
since 2008 has tried to force its will on the local government with
occasional success. It has been particularly active in trying to prevent
the construction of churches.
A violent clash in Bekasi in September ignited a debate over
whether in the interests of freedom of religion, a national regulation
requiring community support for the construction of houses of worship
should be abolished. While many Muslims, Islamist and mainstream alike,
back the decree, so do many Balinese Hindus, Protestant Papuans and
other groups worried about Muslim migration to traditionally non-Muslim
areas.
“Officials and legislators talk of the need for ‘religious
harmony’, but there is a sense that this can be legislated or even
imposed”, says Jim Della-Giacoma, Crisis Group’s South East Asia Project
Director. “Instead it will require some of the wisest heads in
Indonesia to understand the sources of tension and come up with policies
that can change attitudes and decrease confrontation”.
“Christianisation” also has the potential to become a driver of
violent extremism. In 2008, members of a non-violent anti-apostasy group
in Palembang, South Sumatra, were radicalised after a fugitive
terrorist persuaded them to try to kill pastors aiming to convert
Muslims rather than just railing against them. Several men currently on
trial for participating in a terrorist training camp broken up in
February 2010 have said that one factor that led them to join was
concern about “Christianisation” in Aceh.
“The potential of the ‘Christianisation’ issue to bring
non-violent and violent Islamists together is just one more reason why
the problem of growing intolerance should not be allowed to fester”,
says Della-Giacoma.
