Defining ‘religious’ in Indonesia: toward neither an Islamic nor a secular state

Abstract

Every state manages religion in one way or another, and religious violence often justifies state intervention to control how a religion should be presented, preached and, most importantly, limited. This paper examines the state management of religion in Indonesia with focus on state regulations promulgated during the New Order period. The Indonesian state has managed religion by making religious practices less focused on spirituality but more a matter of state administration. Four regulations in particular exemplify the state's attitude toward religion, namely the Presidential Decree in 1965 on the state-recognised religions, the Joint Ministerial Decree on Houses of Worship in 1969 and 2006, the National Marriage Law in 1974 and the Ministerial Decrees on mission activities in 1978.In brief, this state management of religion has been enabling Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population, to be governed as neither an Islamic state like Saudi Arabia nor an outright secular state like Turkey among the Muslim countries.