Economic Development, Migration, and Ethnic Conflict in Indonesia: A Preliminary Observation

Abstract

Indonesias current population is two hundred million. The population although divided into approximately three hundred ethnic groups includes relatively few significant ethnic entities and of these the Javanese is the largest. The majority of the population is Muslim but other religions with a minority status are protected under the precepts of Pancasila the uniting state ideology. When the New Order government took power in 1966 its highest priority was economic development and it also regulated political activities. In this context social and political issues considered by the government to be potentially divisive - such as class and ideological cleavages ethnicity race and religion - have been strongly submerged. Recent social and political developments indicate that the political-demographic configuration of the society is experiencing a rapid change and there have been conflicts between groups or classes of the population. This paper is an attempt to explain the increasing conflicts particularly between migrants and various local ethnic groups from the broader perspectives of economic and political changes under the New Order. (authors)