by Jeremy Rutherfurd

Created on: March 31, 2007   Last Updated: April 23, 2007

Islam in Indonesia is more moderate than it is in the Middle East. That is because it was brought through trade, not war - as in the Middle East and South Asia - and was overlaid on already existing spiritual beliefs, most notably animism, Hinduism and Buddhism.

This helps explain why Islam is also more politically diverse in Indonesia than in the Middle East. Islamic Arab states tend to be monarchies of one kind or another, whereas Indonesia is a budding democracy (it has held two free and fair elections since 1998) in which Muslims are, for the most part, playing a constructive role.

Women are accorded much more freedom under Islam in Indonesia than in the Middle East. They are not confined to the home after coming of age and are permitted to work in agriculture and trade. They are also allowed to move about quite freely in villages and the countryside.

Women have not achieved full equality with men, but as many girls today as boys are attending school, and the idea that women might want to work outside the home after marriage is not considered as controversial as it is in much of the Middle East.

Arab society in the Middle East features a clan and tribal organization that, in addition to the sectarian divisions of Sunnism and Shiism, has played an important role in political alliances and violence. In Indonesia there are almost no tribal or clan associations. Indonesian Muslims tend to be more individualistic and familistic than tribalistic, which is one reason they have been more open to modern notions of citizenship and human rights.

These differences have caused many Arabs to look upon Indonesian Islam as "deviant" or "impure," a perception strengthened by the fact that few Indonesians speak Arabic, the original language of the Koran. Indonesian Muslims counter by saying that just because they come from a liberal tradition of intellectual debate, pluralism and tolerance doesn't make them any less Islamic.

Indeed, there are more Muslims in Indonesia than in any other country in the world (194 million). They make up 89 percent of the population and the vast majority are Sunni.

Although most Indonesian Muslims are moderate, a small but determined radical faction exists. These extremists maintain underground networks and have carried out occasional terrorist attacks, including the Bali bombings of 2002 and 2005 (executed by the group Jemaah Islamiyah).

Such radicals are cause for concern, but the longer the Indonesian political system continues to make progress toward democracy, the weaker will be these extremists' appeal, analysts say.

Sources: "Asian and Middle Eastern Islam," by Robert W. Hefner of the Foreign Policy Research Institute (May 26, 2006); "Islam in South and Southeast Asia," by Bruce Vaughn (CRS Report for Congress, Feb. 8, 2005); "Stop equating Islam with the Arab world," by Pribadi Sutiono

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