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CHAPTER 12 Indonesia

Buddhism came to Indonesia only a century after Hinduism; it arrived primar ily through trade from China and India. Because its arrival was nearly concurrent with Hinduism, the two religions have almost always been deeply intertwined in Indonesia. Buddhism does not feature a specific deity but focuses on ending the cycle of suffering and rebirth through the attainment of nirvana. Its stone mon uments, particularly the Borobudur temple in Central Java (the world’s largest Buddhist structure), remain as a testament to the power its adherents once held in the islands. Hindu-Buddhism was the “mainstream” religion for centuries, until it gradually began to coexist with Islam, and eventually was overshadowed by it. It is today the chosen religion of fewer than 1 percent of Indonesians, but its influences are still quite widespread. Islam first came to the coastal areas of Indonesia as the religion of traders. By the 14th century CE, it was established in a number of areas, particularly as local rulers recognized the advantage of belonging to the same religion as their busi ness partners. In many ways, Islam spread from the top down: Muslim rulers and merchants married locally, and entire populations were summarily “converted” because of the leader they followed. To this day, there is no one national way of being a Muslim. People vary in their practices from being strongly committed and devout (attending an Islamic school, reading the Qur’an—the Islamic holy book— aloud, praying five times a day and following every rule) to being quite casual about their faith. Public expressions of the Islamic faith have become quite common in the 21st century, with many people, for example, donning clothes that mimic those worn in the Middle East. With 90 percent of Indonesians claiming Islam as their belief system of choice and heritage, Islamic practices, architecture, and expressive culture are prominent, particularly in Central and Western Indonesia. Christianity—especially Catholicism—appeared in Indonesia with the ar rival of the Portuguese in the 16th century, becoming established in the region of what was called the Spice Islands (Maluku). The region of Eastern Indonesia today features 90 percent adherence to Catholicism (but which nonetheless has a foundation of animism). Protestantism is strongest on the islands of Sulawesi and Sumatra, which was established by the Dutch who colonized these islands begin ning in the 18th century. Presbyterians, Lutherans, Adventists, and other denom inations are an aspect of local culture; both Protestant and Catholic churches are in every major city.

Indonesia currently has a national policy of secularism, which means that there is no one single state religion. Note that although most of the nation’s people follow a local variant of (Sunni) Islam, it is built into the law that one can practice any of the allowable religions (Islam, Hinduism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, and Confucianism). In such a diverse country, definitions and practices of local PROPERTY OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS