Pattern Religious Conflict Full

The Patterns of Religious Conflictin Indonesia (1990-2008)

Research ReportIhsan Ali-FauziRudy Harisyah AlamSamsu Rizal Panggabean

Jakarta, February 2009

Yayasan Wakaf Paramadina (YWP)Magister Perdamaian dan Resolusi Konflik,Universitas Gadjah Mada (MPRK-UGM),The Asia Foundation (TAF)

Preface

One of the flagship programs undertaken by Yayasan Wakaf Paramadina (YWP) since2008 has been the “Religious Freedom Mainstreaming”. Through this program, we seek to continue to work on and to keep strengthening what has been the chief mission of theYWP all this time, i.e. to create the foundation for and to develop further the pluralismdiscourse in Indonesia. As is publicly known, since its founding – among others by thelate Nurcholis Madjid – more than two decades ago (1986), YWP has been activelyconducting studies, discussions and seminars, and issuing publications on the issue.Under this framework, one of the major constraints that have continued to haunt us hasbeen the still rampant acts of violence committed in the name of religion. These acts of violence take the form of both sectarian and communal violence as well as thuggery andterrorism. This is highly regretful especially in light of the fact that we are now living inan era of democracy which is growing stronger and stable, and conflicts should be solvedthrough peaceful means.Together with other component in Indonesia, YWP hopes to foster a joint effort toeliminate the use of violence in solving religious conflict. This way we can hope that therights of religious freedom of every citizen can be fully enjoyed.Up to this date, however, it has been an unfortunate affair that we still have not yet hadreliable basis of data for charting out the patterns of religious conflict in our country,which can help us to understand the issue better and thereby enable us to consider morethings when designing and planning for follow-up activities. By “reliable” we mean thatthe database should be built on strong theoretical and conceptual basis, up to date andaccurate, using a fully accountable methodology, and executed in an honest and carefulmanner.Based on the above arguments we conducted this study and publicized the result. Thestudy, using

Kompas

and

Antara

, two of the most reliable national publications, as thesource of information, hoped to provide a glimpse into the patterns of religious conflict inIndonesia between January 1990 and August 2008. The period allows us to analyzevarious religious conflicts that occurred during the New Order regime (1990-1998), theperiod of transition towards early democracy (1998-2004), and the new democraticregime (2004-2008). The study mostly tried to determine whether religious conflict wassolved through peaceful means or by means of violence, the underlying issues, theirgeographic spread, players and victims, and the manner with which the security forcesresponded to the incidence.It is our hope that this study is useful for the strengthening of the discourse of pluralismin Indonesia. We also hope this study is useful for further studies on similar issue.ii

Like any other activities, this study had its own drawbacks and limitations. Some of themwere already explained in this report. Therefore, we would be grateful for any inputsfrom our readers to help improve our performance in the future.This study was possible through the cooperation between YWP and Program MagisterPerdamaian dan Resolusi Konflik, Universitas Gadjah Mada (Postgraduate Program forPeace and Conflict Resolution-Gadjah Mada University/MPRK-UGM), and The AsiaFoundation (TAF). In addition to this joint effort, we are also collaborating to run thePolice, Civil Society and Religious Conflict in Indonesia program to contribute to theprotection of religious freedom in the country by ensuring that religious conflict is solvedthrough peaceful means.Last, we would like to thank everybody who has helped make the study possible. It is ourhope that this effort will be useful. ***Jakarta, February 2009Ihsan Ali-FauziYayasan Wakaf Paramadina,Program Directoriii