Tensions

Indonesia

Even though Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world, the government is responsible for protecting the people’s right to religious freedom. Though Islam is the most practiced religion in the country, a number of other religions such as Christianity, Catholicism and Hinduism are also present. This makes for a lot of tension and discrimination mainly between Muslims and Christians. For example, a ministerial decree was created in 2006 that made it difficult for Christians to build churches, but there were no hurdles when it came to a mosque. Some Muslims took this as an excuse to violate Christians when they were worshiping illegally.

This religious tension in the country leads to political tensions as well. For example, recently in Jakarta tension between Muslims and Christians roes to the surface when thousands of Islamists protested demanding that the city’s Christian governor be jailed for blasphemy. Conservative Islamists were upset by Basuki Tjahaja Purnama’s, otherwise known as Ahok, earlier comments about the Quran, so they took to the streets to let their voices be heard in attempts to lessen his power in the upcoming re-election of governor.