How to kill a democracy
Today, millions of Indonesians may be able to vote, but the substantive rights typically accorded to citizens of a democracy are far from guaranteed, notes Krithika Varagur, the author of The Call:… Read more »
Tag: indonesia
Do Southeast Asia elections signal a consolidation of illiberal rule?
Since the fall of the Indonesian dictator Suharto in 1998, civil society has flourished under the country’s burgeoning democracy. Observers even began calling Indonesia the most democratic nation in… Read more »
Violent Extremism in Indonesia: Vulnerabilities and Sources of Resilience
The recent suicide bombings in Surabaya, Indonesia highlight the country’s continued struggle with radicalism and terrorism. Claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), these attacks typify… Read more »
Can Indonesia help advance Middle East democracy?
A new factor has been inserted into the equation of political reform in Egypt: a dialogue between Egypt and Indonesia on promoting democracy, notes Giora Eliraz, the author of Islam in Indonesia:… Read more »
‘Dark clouds’ of extremism threaten Indonesia’s democracy
The United Nations’ human rights chief has warned of the “dark clouds” of political extremism and intolerance that are building over Indonesia. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein has highlighted the blasphemy laws… Read more »
Is Indonesia’s ‘pious democracy’ safe from Islamist extremism?
Indonesia remains a model of moderate Islam, the country’s president said on Monday, countering critics who point to mass rallies by radical Muslims and the jailing of a Christian… Read more »
Promoting modernized Islam to counter jihadist ideology
This week’s Brussels train station bombing renews the focus on the attraction and motivating power of jihadist ideology, The New York Times reports. Meanwhile, the attack on Muslim worshippers at… Read more »
Extremists threaten Indonesia’s moderate ‘civil Islam’
The jailing for blasphemy this month of Jakarta’s former governor raised fears that the moderate traditions of the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation were under siege. Now the government is… Read more »
Poll shows radical Islamization challenging Indonesia’s democracy
The Christian governor of Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, lost a bitterly contested race on Wednesday that was widely seen as a test of religious and ethnic tolerance in the world’s… Read more »
Saudis ‘redefining’ Indonesia’s civic Islam
When Saudi Arabia’s King Salman landed in Indonesia on Wednesday, he became the first Saudi monarch to visit the world’s largest Muslim-majority country since 1970. Officials in Jakarta hoped the… Read more »