Islam in Indonesia
Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim country.
This may make some westerners uncomforable, but after travelling from Bali to the top of Sumatra 12 years ago and having lived in Bali for a year and a half I have to say westerners need not worry.
Of course Bali is predominantly Hindu and so I’m not really living in a Muslim environment, but I do meet and interact with many Muslim people who are cool. My girlfriend is Muslim. I see many families from Java on the beach, the men dressed in their black pants and smart shirt, the ladies wearing a headscarf or a hat, their hair neatly tucked under it.
Here is an article that discusses Islam in Indonesia.
People are interesting and like the article says Indonesians had their own thing going on before outside religions arrived, the Muslims adapting Islam to their own needs and the Balinese melding Hinduism onto their animist beliefs to create Agama Hindu, Bali style.
By Sean | Permalink
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Comments
Hindus, Muslims, Atheists, Christians…can live together if there is respect, acceptance and balance within the mind and spirit.
I like the way you think about different cultures, including religions, Nick. The same to you, Mary.
If everyone in the world thought like you do, what a wonderful world it would be.
I woke up on a beautiful morning here in New Orleans only to hear another tragedy had befallen to my homeland. Some sickos with their perverted ideas of justice decided, like so many times in the past, to make a point by cowardly killing innocent lives. They’re going to try to tell us that they’re representing their people..their religion..their GOD. But we know better. NO ONE person or group CAN EVER represent a whole nation, religion or GOD (if you believe in deity) for that matter. Beware of people trying to convince you otherwise.
To the families who lost their loved ones in this tragedy, I would like to offer my deepest condolence. NOTHING can ever justify their death.
To my Australian friends, I’m sure you heard this in BaliBlog before but I’m going to say it again anyway, there are still MANY MANY MANY MORE PEOPLE in Indonesia who consider you as our friends than those who don’t. But like in every society around the world, my fellow Indonesians are also struggling to fight the ignorance, bigotry, xenophobia, racism and religious discrimination that are perpetrated by a small but very vocal element in our community. Poor education and social injustice has made our fight even harder in Indonesia. My friends, I hope you continue to support our struggle.
To my Indonesian friends, I realize that we can’t agree on everything, whether it’s about religion, social policies, politics, etc., but we owe it to our friends, our family, our country, to represent the good & decent values that we have learned since we are young. Values that are common among any ethnic groups or religions in our country: tolerance, honesty, helping those who are less fortunate, treating the least among us like the way we want to be treated, all that. How many times have we caught ourselves saying ” Y’know our country has a lot of natural resources. We can be so much prosperous if we can only learn to concentrate our effort in developing those resources rather than killing each other”? WE STILL CAN. Don’t let people tell you otherwise, even if they quote you the famous line of them all: “We got to stick together because we’re all….. (take your pick: Moslems, Christians, Javanese, Balinese, etc.)
Beautifully worded Bob….
Peace!
Beautifully written Bob!!!!
Peace to all!!!
Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Atheists… can all live together provided there is respect and acceptance.