Chapter 1 - Introduction: Ethnicity, Regionalism, and Religion

Summary

To understand Indonesian politics and the general election of 1999 in particular, one should be familiar with the basic characteristics of Indonesian society which account for Indonesian political behaviour. This chapter presents an introduction to Indonesian society, highlighting its salient features including multi-ethnicity, regionalism (Java versus the Outer Islands), and the existence of nominal (liberal) and pious (orthodox) Muslims.

A Multi-Ethnic Society

Indonesia is a multi-ethnic society consisting of about 300 ethnic groups (suku bangsa) and at least six major religions. However, the precise number of ethnic groups is debatable. One recent study put forward more than 600 ethnic groups (sometimes, including sub-ethnic groups) in Indonesia. There has been no census since 1930 which gives the percentage breakdown of each ethnic group. The Indonesian Government considered ethnicity a potentially divisive and an extremely sensitive issue. As Indonesia is supposedly a “nation-state”, the government appears thus not to have focused on the ethnic origins of its citizens. In reality, Indonesians have always been conscious of ethnicity. Because of the fear of “national disintegration”, the Indonesian Government in the last fifty years had never identified ethnic affiliation in its population census. Therefore, in order to examine Indonesian ethnic groups, the only “reliable” source is the 1930 census, gathered during the colonial era. To rely on the percentage derived seventy years ago may be misleading and even dangerous. However, I would argue that it is better than a wild guess without any data at all.