Figure 1.-- |
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Islam is the predominant religion in Indonesia. About 85 percent of the populaion is estimated to be Muslim. Islam was brought to what is now Indonesia by armed Arab traders (12th century). It appeared first in northern Sumatra. This is of course the western most point in Indonesia and leads to the Straits of Malacca and the rest of the archepeligo. The Arabs as they traded helped spread Islam south and east. The Arabs traded witn the various principalities that had developed along the coasts. There was no unified state. Thus Islam in Indonesia became a trading religion. It competed with the Hindu-Buddistic religion traditions already established and adhered to by the local kings and princes. Eventually Islam began to penetrate beyond the coast and was adopted by common people. This seems to have occurred first on Java (14th century). Java became largely Islamaicized. Hindu kings and their courts fled to Bali. The most devout Muslims are said to live in Aceh at the northern tip of Sumatra. There is a tradition of resistance to central authority here and the people in Aceh have resisted central control, both from the Dutch or Indonesian authorities since independence. Aceh was an independent Islamic state and has today a special status within Indonesia. On Java, the most important Islamic organisation today is Nadhlatul Ulama (NU). This is a relaxed form of islam, influenced by both traditional values and Islamic scriptures. Islam played an important role in the Indonesian nationalist movement that began to resist Dutch colonialism (early-20th century). The modernistic Muhammadiyah was founded (1912). Their concept of modernism was to purify Islam from non-Islamic local tradition (adat) which they considered backwater. They wanted to adopt an Islam based solely on the Koran and the Hadith/Sunnah. At the same time they wanted to modernize the Islamic world with western scientific learning. Muhammadiyah began as a small group which met considerable resistance from traditionalists. The Minangkabau on Sumatra recognized Muhammadiyah (1925) which permitted the organisation to grow. From this point it grew rapidly. They had 250,000 members (1935). After independence, under both Sukarno and Suharto, Islamic demands wre generally muted by secular nationalism. There were some notable outbursts of violence. In the disorders involved with the overthrow of Suharto, there were attacks on the Chinese (1997-98). Here the motivation is difficult o assess as there were racial, religious, and economic factors involved. The police and army did not react until the demonstrations began to be aimed at the Government. Islam is not just a religion. The Koran proscribes a government controlled by Islam. And like other Muslim countries, there is an Islamicist movement which desires to seize control of the state and end secular rule.
Islam is the predominant religion in Indonesia. About 85 percent of the populaion is estimated to be Muslim.
Islam was brought to what is now Indonesia by armed Arab traders (12th century). It appeared first in northern Sumatra. This is of course the western most point in the Indonesian archipeligo and leads to the Straits of Malacca and the rest of the islands. The Arabs as they traded helped spread Islam south and east. The Arabs traded witn the various principalities that had developed along the coasts. There was no unified state. Thus Islam in Indonesia became a trading religion. It competed with the Hindu-Buddistic religion traditions already established and adhered to by the local kings and princes. Eventually Islam began to penetrate beyond the coast and was adopted by common people. This seems to have occurred first on Java (14th century). Java became largely Islamaicized. Hindu kings and their courts fled to Bali. The most devout Muslims are said to live in Aceh at the northern tip of Sumatra. There is a tradition of resistance to central authority here and the people in Aceh have resisted central control, both from the Dutch or Indonesian authorities since independence. Aceh was an independent Islamic state and has today a special status within Indonesia. Islam played an important role in the Indonesian nationalist movement that began to resist Dutch colonialism (early-20th century).
On Java, the most important Islamic organisation today is Nadhlatul Ulama (NU). This is a relaxed form of islam, influenced by both traditional values and Islamic scriptures. The modernistic Muhammadiyah was founded (1912). Their concept of modernism was to purify Islam from non-Islamic local tradition (adat) which they considered backwater. They wanted to adopt an Islam based solely on the Koran and the Hadith/Sunnah. At the same time they wanted to modernize the Islamic world with western scientific learning. Muhammadiyah began as a small group which met considerable resistance from traditionalists. The Minangkabau on Sumatra recognized Muhammadiyah (1925) which permitted the organisation to grow. From this point it grew rapidly. They had 250,000 members (1935). After independence, under both Sukarno and Suharto, Islamic demands wre generally muted by secular nationalism. There were some notable outbursts of violence. In the disorders involved with the overthrow of Suharto, there were attacks on the Chinese (1997-98). Here the motivation is difficult to assess as there were racial, religious, and economic factors involved. The police and army did not react until the demonstrations began to be aimed at the Government. Islam is not just a religion. The Koran proscribes a governmrnt controlled by Islam. And like other Muslim countries, there is an Islamicist movement which desires to seize control of the state and end secular rule.
A reader writes, "I used to live in Indonesia from 1949 until 1958. I learned Bahasa Indonesia, the official language of the country. Bahasa Indonesia derives from the Malayan. During the time I was overthere I noticed two things: a build-up of the military and the opening of schools everywhere. The Dutch had opened some schools in the old colonies, but only the Europeans and the Indonesian and Chinese élite were allowed to attend. Even at that time the mentality was still 'Don't let them become smart.' The children always looked very neat in their school uniforms. So did the soldiers who joined the forces by the thousands. Indonesian Muslims always were tolerant of other religions, although I noticed during a visit some years later that many girls and women were wearing a headscarf, something I had seldom seen when I lived there. However, I never encountered any Arab-like Muslim fanatism."
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