Apart from certain hardline groups who obviously couldn’t care less about religious tolerance, Indonesian Muslims (at least the ones we know) are by and large accepting of different faiths and would never resort to radicalism.
That is reflected in a recent study done by Wahid Foundation, which found that 72% of Indonesian Muslims reject all forms of radicalism. However, considering there are approximately 150 million Muslims in Indonesia, that means that there are still many who don’t oppose extremism.
“In terms of potential, it’s quite worrying. Out of around 150 million Muslims in Indonesia, 7.7% or 11.5 million have the potential to act radically and 0.4%, or 600,000 people, have gotten involved with radical [groups],” said Wahid Foundation Research Manager Aryo Adi Nugroho, as quoted by Metro TV yesterday.
“Even though these numbers aren’t concrete, they must be heeded.”
It should be noted that radical acts, as defined in the survey, include demonstrating against people or groups who supposedly contradict Islamic values, carrying out morality “sweeps” on sinful establishments, or attacking other faiths’ places of worship.
Yenni Wahid, the director of the Wahid Foundation and daughter of the late president Abdurrahman Wahid, said the survey also showed a correlation between low quality education and radicalism in Indonesia.
The survey, which was carried out with Lembaga Survei Indonesia, interviewed 1,520 people across 34 Indonesian provinces from April-May 2016.
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