The above link is to an article written in the Jakarta Post titled Aceh’s Stoning Bylaw Draws More Criticism from Clerics. The article was written after a debate between Indonesian religious leaders over Acehan religious bylaws at the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace.  The law allows for adulterers to be stoned.

The divide in the debate is over the limits of religious freedom and is relevant to far more parts of the country than Aceh.  Due the numerous old cultures that, despite popular belief, weren’t directly affected and nationalized by Dutch colonialists, small enclaves of people interpret Islam, Christianity, and other mainstream religions through the prisms of their own distinctive local cultures.

As Indonesia modernizes and seeks to be seen as a more legitimate democratic society, religious freedom is closely monitored by NGOs and Western governments.  The hypocrisy of the scrutiny is that both tolerance of alternate religions such as Ahmadiyah, mentioned in the article, and prohibition of inhumane or “primitive” religious practices are demanded.  The reasonable and seemingly obvious path for the Indonesian government to take would be to tolerate all religions under the condition that essential human rights are not infringed upon by their practices.

However, the reality is much more complicated.  For one thing, many religions, such as the Acehan one in question, have traditions and standards considered unacceptable by the rest of the world and urbane Indonesians.  The cultures most distanced from the Javanese, who still essentially hold power, are also the most easily offended by restrictions on their autonomy and way of life.

Remember that every colonial power to control Indonesia did so through the Javanese elite, and that the oppressive regimes of Sukarno and Suharto were both Javanese dominated.  It’s easy to see how people in Aceh and West Papua, the homes of the two most recent/current separatist movements, are sensitive to any sort of oversight.  How different is the intrusive push for modernity and mainstream religious practices from the “spread of civilization” and seen in the past?  Not as severe for sure, but arguably still intolerable if you’re living in Aceh or West Papua.

Though I only read and blogged on this particular article, it would be interesting to see how many other SE Asian countries suffer from similar dilemmas.

This past summer, I had the privilege of witnessing Indonesia’s second direct presidential election from Indonesia.  Almost two weeks after the conclusive  results came out (with the incumbent securing a majority by over 60% of the votes), the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels in Jakarta were attacked by suicide bombers.  The remainder of this post contains some of my thoughts surrounding the attacks and how they relate to the election based on my experiences from this past summer.  I’ve chosen to write on this topic because Noordin M. Top, the suspected man behind the bombings, was confirmed as killed by an Indonesian counter-terror unit last week.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, commonly referred to as SBY, was the incumbent candidate and won this past election on his popularity from the preceding term.  He was also viewed as the most pro-Western candidate due to perceived tendency towards neo-liberalist economic policies and cooperation with Western governments in combatting Islamic terror groups within Indonesia.  These aspects of his presidency were not necessarily detractors from his popularity, but supporters of his opponents did use them as points of contrast him with their preferred candidates.  The attacks came eleven days after SBY was unofficially declared the winning candidate.

The bombings also took place three days before Manchester United was scheduled to play against a specially selected Indonesian team in Jakarta and at the hotel the team planned to stay at.  This event was aggressively promoted across the country for months in advance.  People from across the country bought plane tickets to go see the match.  Manchester United cancelled their trip as a result of the attacks.

That hotels hosting mostly foreigners were bombed soon after SBY’s reelection and days before Manchester United was scheduled arrive is clearly a statement against increasing foreign, particularly Western, presence in Indonesia.  My conversations with supporters of Jusuf Kalla, SBY’s opponent whose supporters were the overwhelming majority where I was staying, frequently revealed skepticism towards the presence of foreign companies and the influence of secular western culture.  I don’t believe the bombings were at all representative of many Indonesian people, and everybody I met was ashamed by their occurrence.  However, the protest against increasing Western involvement in their country is something that I found many people, in the area I stayed, could sympathize with.

The attacks represent a question that has yet to be answered.  Indonesia’s economy is growing at a fairly steady rate, it has experienced two successful democratic elections, separatist movements once potential threats to national unity are no longer so severe, it’s military has been effectively depoliticized, and the government appears to be doing its best to extinguish once rampant corruption.  Despite so much progress in so many areas, will Indonesia successfully make the leap from a third world/developing country into a modern and integrated state without experiencing crippling backlash from conservative religious and local groups?

Article on Noordin M. Tops confirmed death: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/09/18/finally-gotcha.html

Article on Manchester United trip cancelation: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/attacks-force-manchester-united-to-call-off-indonesian-trip-14415676.html

Timeline of terror attacks in Asia blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah including July 17th Jakarta Bombings: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE58G29X20090917

This past summer, I had the privilege of witnessing Indonesia’s second direct presidential election from Indonesia.  Almost two weeks after the conclusive  results came out (with the incumbent securing a majority by over 60% of the votes), the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels in Jakarta were attacked by suicide bombers.  The remainder of this post contains some of my thoughts surrounding the attacks and how they relate to the election based on my experiences from this past summer.  I’ve chosen to write on this topic because Noordin M. Top, the suspected man behind the bombings, was confirmed as killed by an Indonesian counter-terror unit last week.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, commonly referred to as SBY, was the incumbent candidate and won this past election on his popularity from the preceding term.  He was also viewed as the most pro-Western candidate due to perceived tendency towards neo-liberalist economic policies and cooperation with Western governments in combatting Islamic terror groups within Indonesia.  These aspects of his presidency were not necessarily detractors from his popularity, but supporters of his opponents did use them as points of contrast him with their preferred candidates.  The attacks came eleven days after SBY was unofficially declared the winning candidate.

The bombings also took place three days before Manchester United was scheduled to play against a specially selected Indonesian team in Jakarta and at the hotel the team planned to stay at.  This event was aggressively promoted across the country for months in advance.  People from across the country bought plane tickets to go see the match.  Manchester United cancelled their trip as a result of the attacks.

That hotels hosting mostly foreigners were bombed soon after SBY’s reelection and days before Manchester United was scheduled arrive is clearly a statement against increasing foreign, particularly Western, presence in Indonesia.  My conversations with supporters of Jusuf Kalla, SBY’s opponent whose supporters were the overwhelming majority where I was staying, frequently revealed skepticism towards the presence of foreign companies and the influence of secular western culture.  I don’t believe the bombings were at all representative of many Indonesian people, and everybody I met was ashamed by their occurrence.  However, the protest against increasing Western involvement in their country is something that I found many people, in the area I stayed, could sympathize with.

The attacks represent a question that has yet to be answered.  Indonesia’s economy is growing at a fairly steady rate, it has experienced two successful democratic elections, separatist movements once potential threats to national unity are no longer so severe, it’s military has been effectively depoliticized, and the government appears to be doing its best to extinguish once rampant corruption.  Despite so much progress in so many areas, will Indonesia successfully make the leap from a third world/developing country into a modern and integrated state without experiencing crippling backlash from conservative religious and local groups?

Article on Noordin M. Tops confirmed death: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/09/18/finally-gotcha.html

Article on Manchester United trip cancelation: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/attacks-force-manchester-united-to-call-off-indonesian-trip-14415676.html

Timeline of terror attacks in Asia blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah including July 17th Jakarta Bombings: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE58G29X20090917