Menchik in The Conversation on Indonesia’s Pious Democracy
Jeremy Menchik, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Fredrick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published a recent Op-Ed examining whether Indonesia’s tradition of religious tolerance and pluralism is safe from extremism.
Menchik’s Op-Ed, entitled “Is Indonesia’s ‘Pious Democracy’ Safe from Islamic Extremism?” was published on July 4, 2017 in The Conversation.
From the text of the Op-Ed:
Since Indonesia’s democratization in 1998, it has been widely seen as a model of religious tolerance and pluralism in the Muslim world. Is Indonesia’s tradition of religious tolerance a thing of the past? Will Indonesia backslide into authoritarianism like its neighbors Thailand and the Philippines, or be taken over by Islamists like Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia? Or, might militant groups like the Islamic State (IS), which has already gained a foothold in the Philippines, make further inroads into Indonesia?
Drawing on more than 24 months of field work in Indonesia, I tackled these questions in my book on Islam and tolerance in this massive Muslim-majority democracy.
Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, a democracy and the largest country in Southeast Asia. It faces many of the same problems as other developing countries, including weak infrastructure, low-quality education and high levels of corruption. Composed of over 17,000 islands, Indonesia is also one of the world’s most diverse countries, which means that protecting minority groups is an especially important concern.
Now, to be clear: in my view, Indonesia’s law prohibiting blasphemy or the defamation of religion is oppressive. It suppresses free speech and individual rights. It invites abuse and enforcement by vigilante groups. But that does not mean Indonesian democracy is destined to become a theocracy in which government policy is divinely inspired.
It is one of a body of laws that, as my research revealed, have been on the books for decades. Contrary to what some observers have suggested, these laws are not a result of Islamic extremism from Saudi Arabia or IS. Instead, they reflect the views of Islamic civil society organizations. These organizations run thousands of schools, health clinics and universities, and provide the backbone for the civil society that helps make democracy work.
Jeremy Menchik’s research interests include comparative politics, religion and politics, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. He is also the author of Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance Without Liberalism. At Boston University he is a member of the graduate faculty of political science and coordinates the MAIA program with specialization in Religion and International Affairs.