Religion 8 - Indonesia at Melbourne

Oligarchs, money and religion: the Indonesian elections

2019 Indonesian Elections, Analysis, Elections, Politics, Religion, Society

Professor Vedi Hadiz offers his take on the Indonesian elections, writing that the long election season has rarely been about contests between outright reformers and outright reactionaries, or between outright secularists and outright Islamists.

Talking Indonesia: 100th episode – election preview

2019 Indonesian Elections, Corruption, Elections, Media, Politics, Religion, Society, Talking Indonesia

Join Dr Dave McRae, Dr Jemma Purdey, Dr Charlotte Setijadi and Dr Dirk Tomsa as they celebrate the Talking Indonesia podcast's 100th episode. The co-hosts revisit some of the major themes of the first 99 episodes, and look at how these issues will affect the 2019 elections.

An Indonesian perspective on 'Egg Boy': was he really defending Islam?

Analysis, Foreign Policy, Religion, Society

Will Connolly, the 17-year-old who egged racist Australian Senator Fraser Anning, has been celebrated in Indonesia for defending Islam. But former Australian resident Iqbal Aji Daryono writes that this interpretation is too simplistic.

Law as a weapon: the 'criminalisation of ulama'

2019 Indonesian Elections, Analysis, Human Rights, Politics, Religion

President Joko Widodo has often faced claims that he is "criminalising" ulama, or religious leaders. Azis Anwar Fachrudin looks at how many religious leaders Jokowi has sent to prison, and asks, are the complaints about criminalisation missing the point?

The politics of fighting intolerance

Analysis, Politics, Religion, Society

Ahmad Syarif Syechbubakr writes that mainstream Muslim organisations have enthusiastically backed government efforts to fight intolerance because they are concerned about conservative groups' growing popularity, not just their intolerance.

More of the same? Candidates make unconvincing commitments to human rights in first debate

2019 Indonesian Elections, Human Rights, Politics, Religion, Security

With rights on the agenda during the first debate on 17 January, expectations were high. But as Dr Ken Setiawan writes, the performance of both candidate pairs left little hope for an improvement in the human rights situation.

Policing religion? There’s an app for that

Analysis, Law, Policy in Focus, Religion

The new Smart Pakem app is supposed to give the public a safe way to report "deviant" religious practices. But could it trigger persecution and conflict instead? Zainal Abidin Bagir weighs up the implications for religion and rights.

Is Grace Natalie the next Ahok?

2019 Indonesian Elections, Human Rights, Politics, Religion, Society

Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) head Grace Natalie has been accused of blasphemy for remarks she made on shari'a-inspired local regulations. Is there now no room for non-Muslims to comment on religion in public? Daniel Peterson examines the case against her.

Talking Indonesia: Islamic youth movements

Politics, Religion, Society, Talking Indonesia

In Talking Indonesia this week, Dr Charlotte Setijadi chats to Dr Quinton Temby about what the youth-focused revivalist movement Pemuda Hijrah and other groups like it can tell us about the type of Islam that appeals to young Indonesian Muslims.

Posted in: Religion