Geography

Geography

Indonesia's sheer size - it spans 5,000 kilometres - means there are significant variations within Islam from one part of the country to another.

Muslim traders from the Arabian cradle of Islam brought their faith to Indonesia. But Islam was not always treading on virgin territory - and the Indonesian Islam of today reflects that historical and demographic reality.

The earliest Indonesians were animists. They practised ancestor and spirit worship. Then, for about 1,500 years after Christ, the Hindu and Buddhist faiths spread from the Indian sub-continent to the western part of Indonesia.

Some pockets of Indonesia remain predominantly Hindu - most notably Bali. But the Hindu kingdoms never reached the eastern islands.

Islam reached Indonesia from India. It was the mainstream Sunni variant of Islam that was found originally in Arabia and is today the faith of about one billion believers worldwide.

But the Islam of Indonesia was also influenced by Sufi holy men - devout Muslim mystics renowned for the beauty of their music and poetry, and for internalising the focus of their spiritual odyssey rather than seeking to impose their faith on the external political realities around them.

That influence, too, was a force for moderation.

In time, Islam spread throughout the archipelago and up into the southern Philippines. For the most part, it was a peaceful conversion - unlike the Arab and Turkish conversions made at the point of a sword.

Its final form in any place depended on the inherited tradition. Where Islam overlay Hinduism, or the ancient belief systems that pre-dated it, as in the west of the archipelago, it differed from the form that emerged further east, which had been untouched by Hinduism.

But the same geography that helped foster moderation and tolerance now has more sinister connotations. An archipelago of thousands of islands is ideal territory for guerrilla groups: hunting them is like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

History and politics

Indonesian Islam came into its own politically with the battle against colonialism. In Sulawesi province, and later in Aceh, Islam became a rallying point for resistance to the Dutch colonialists. Militant Islam is nothing new in Indonesia.

Politically, too, though, Islam is part of a rich multi-cultural mix. The very symbol of Indonesia, the golden Garuda eagle, reflects this. It was originally a Hindu symbol.

The national motto is "unity in diversity".

The founding principles of Indonesia, the Pancasila, include a belief in God. But beyond this, religious tolerance is seen as the cornerstone of relations between different faiths - even though almost 90% of Indonesians are Muslim.

Moderation is therefore built into the country's constitutional framework.

This is not to overlook the impact of decades of repression during which the armed forces clamped down on Islamic militancy. The authoritarian rule of the military provided the stability on which economic growth took place. It provided security and relative peace.

But it also entailed severe restrictions on personal freedom of expression.

The advent of democracy, coupled with the impact of the South-East Asian economic collapse in 1997, and the arrival of a tough new breed of Middle Eastern Islamic preachers, sowed the seeds of the current challenge to Indonesia's traditionally moderate form of Islam.

Economic stress created an underclass of impoverished, alienated people. Democracy brought freedom of speech, and a new generation of Islamic politicians used their newfound freedom to tap into this rich seam of anger and resentment.

More radical, purist Islamic preachers started to arrive too, from the Middle East - their interpretation of Islam very different from that of most indigenous Muslims and their moderate politicians.

·         Muslim traders from the Arabian cradle of Islam brought their faith to Indonesia.

·         Islam reached Indonesia from India.

·         Islam spread peacefully in Indonesia.

·         Its final form in any place depended on the inherited tradition.

·         Indonesian Islam came into its own politically with the battle against colonialism.

·         Politically, though, Islam is part of a rich multi-cultural mix, the very symbol of Indonesia, the golden Garuda eagle, it was originally a Hindu symbol.

·         The national motto is "unity in diversity".

·         The advent of democracy, sowed the seeds of the current challenge to Indonesia's traditionally moderate form of Islam.

·         Democracy brought freedom of speech, and a new generation of Islamic politicians to tap into this rich seam of anger and resentment.

Muslim traders = penjelajah/pedagang Muslim                Entail                     = memerlukan

Ancestor              = leluhur                                                              Severe                  = parah                                

Spread                  = menyebar                                                       Indigenous         = asli

Reach                    = mencapai                                                        

Renown               = terkenal/masyhur

Odyssey               = pengembaraan

Inherit                  = mewarisi

Include                 = termasuk

Provide                                = memberikan