Infidels in Indonesia : the intention of initiating interaction instead of intolerance

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INFIDELS IN INDONESIA

The Intention of Initiating Interaction Instead of Intolerance

MSc Thesis written by

Daniel S.N. Otto

under the supervision of Dr. L.G.H. Bakker, and submitted to the Board of Examiners in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

MSc in Contemporary Asian Studies

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Abbreviations

IA Indonesian Atheists

FPI Front Pembela Islam (Islamic Defenders Front)

HMI Himpunan Mahasiswa Islam (Islamic Students Association)

ISIL Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

JIL Jaringan Islam Liberal (Liberal Islamic Network)

KAMI Kesatuan Aksi Mahasiswa Indonesia (Indonesian Students Action Forum)

KEMENAG Kementerian Agama (Ministry of Religious Affairs) KTP Kartu Tanda Penduduk (Resident Identity Card)

LGBT Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender

NASAKOM Nasionalisme, Agama, Komunisme (Nationalism, Religion, Communism) NGO Non-Governmental Organization

PGI Persatuan Gereja-Gereja Indonesia (Indonesian Council of Churches)

PKI Partai Komunisme Indonesia (Communist Party Indonesia)

PKUB Pusat Kerukunan Umat Beragama (Center for Inter Religious Harmony)

RI Republik Indonesia (Republic of Indonesia)

SNS Self-presentation and Social Connections UI Universitas Indonesia (University of Indonesia)

UN United Nations

UNY Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta (Yogyakarta State University)

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I

Introduction

“It is not realistic for a community of 1,700 people, with 1,700 different perceptions to come out and protest against the public opinion backed by 250 million people, maybe in a couple of hundred years (…) We do not feel the need to take an aggressive stance to begin a movement or prove ourselves, we just want to be support each other, to be safe and survive. In the Philippines, people march on the streets with banners saying: “we are agnostic, we exist” and nobody takes offence. If we would do that here in Indonesia, we would be beaten up for sure.” (Glen)

Indonesia is a country with a rich amount of various religions with Islam being the largest. Although Indonesia is a secular state, national politics and ideology are strongly influenced and flavored according to religion. Mostly this is a struggle for power between Islam and Christianity. (Assyaukanie 2009) However, politics are not entirely driven by religion, which differentiates a religious state from a secular one. Nevertheless, members from a specific religious group may experience different judicial treatment than those from other groups. From this perspective, one could question the extent of secularism of the state if citizens are based

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differently based on their religion (Mujani & Liddle 2009). For that matter, religion is something that is definitely taken into account, a thing that can differentiate the one from another and therefore, it is obviously not a unifying phenomenon in the case of Indonesia. Thus, within the range of religions – larger and smaller ones – several dissimilarities can be identified. Small and local religions are the social minorities who often lose from the majority on the cultural, political and social level. But what if a group is such a minority that it is the odd man out, an anomaly that is not suitable to be determined within this range of religions? Up above is a quote from a young Indonesian teacher who feels part of this societal anomaly. Namely, the Indonesian atheist community1. He seems aware of the national religious discourse, the position of non-religion within that discourse and thus the small scope of the atheist community, in this case, to try and influence the discourse and improve their own position by protesting in public. This widely carried idea about religious minorities, combined with the active laws and judicial treatment towards this group, makes it a highly interesting interaction. The constantly underlying tension between atheist and non-atheists may often rise up till boiling point.

This interaction is not just a confrontation between the religious community and the atheist community but involves many other groups who all have different backgrounds and ideologies and therefore may carry out intersecting opinions, aims and means. To find out about the mechanism, the interaction and the interrelations between all these different actors, it is important to expose these actors as well as to try and take a viewpoint from each of their perspectives. I have chosen to roughly divide these actors, besides the atheist community itself, into the conservatives, liberals and the regulating side. These three are each intrinsically linked to the other two in a kind of triangular dynamic, and to the atheist community within either the social or political domain of the issue.

Besides the different actors, it is also important to take into account the time and place of the social phenomenon. One cannot simply try to observe and comprehend these kinds of large scale phenomena within its own sense of time and place. In order to understand them as complete as possible, one should take into account the specific historical background in its specific environment. Therefore, the first part of this thesis will look into the rich history of religion in Indonesia, the consequences that it brought and what all that has meant for the role of religion in contemporary Indonesia. Furthermore it will elaborately put apart the main events that are derived from this history, illustrate the friction between religion and atheism and at the

1_{Facebook; Indonesian Atheists (IA) Group.}_{https://www.facebook.com/groups/indonesianatheists/}_{, accessed on} the 10th of June, 2016.

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same time have a significant affect for its future. Hopefully it is sufficient to shed a light on the current role of atheism as an anomaly within the religious discourse of the nation.

Moreover, it will contain a detailed description of the narratives of the members of the atheist community. Part of this will be specific attention to their history, their stories of their roads to atheism, and their current perspectives on their own position in society and how they perceive the large role of religion in current society. I hope to try and expose their underlying reasons to give an illustration of how and why they chose to take this road and keep pursuing it. By means of rich data from many interviews with Indonesian atheists, I will portray them and indicate the singularities as well as the similarities in the context of the rest of the atheist community. By doing so, controversial insights about their stories will come to light and will be extensively explicated.

The second chapter will also contain relevant theoretical frameworks to help understand the topic of atheist minorities in the context of the political state of Indonesia and to try and comprehend the manifestation that atheist realize within this society. Hereby, I will pay specific attention to the role of continuously changing identities and self-presentations in order to adapt as much as possible to their environment and taking in to account possible consequences of their actions. With some major sociological and anthropological theories describing self-presentation, shifts within different forms of self-self-presentation, but also how, why and when this happens, I will try to create a rich description and – if possible – understanding of this social phenomenon. In this light I will pay specific attention to the differences between online and offline presentation of self-identity and why it is applicable and relevant within this topic.

Chapter three will describe the different actors playing a role within the atheist debate, besides the atheist themselves. By describing their fellow liberal thinkers, the inimical conservative thinkers and the regulators who supposedly have a say in to what policy is ultimately utilized, I hope to create a clear overview of the different actors and how they interact with each other in a somewhat triangular systemic relation. Hereby offering a complete understanding as to whom is involved, whom has any kind of interest and whom has any say within this debate.

Since the fall of Suharto, Indonesia went through a major change leading to an increasing democratic identity. Political power shifted from a central elite government to regional and local governments (Bunte & Ufen 2008). This allowed many citizens to become active within the political sphere. Indonesia became a democracy and since the last few decades, these changes are starting to crack through society. Mainly due to globalization and digitalization,

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Indonesians have access to internet which exposes them to other ideologies and they are able to compare their country with other democracies worldwide.

In a democracy, everyone should be free to share and express their thoughts and opinions. As Sukarno was attempting to create a constitution that represented the whole of the society, signs are appearing that this might seem slightly outdated. It is a fact that atheism is a form of religion as well and it is also a fact that they do exist in Indonesia. For the sake of democracy, politicians cannot simply ignore their presence and their ideologies. This research might contribute to the political realms as it addresses those who cannot identify themselves with the nation’s ideology and therefore letting their voice hear. As a democracy, Indonesia has improved as a relatively free country what should be the characteristic of a democracy. With the uprising of the internet, citizens are aware of the way that other democracies work and international organizations and activists can now be aware of the way the Indonesian democracy works. This means that the country faces some pressure from within the country as well as from international actors. By taking atheists into account, it might be needed to alter future politics in order to still use a political foundation that continues to represent all of Indonesian citizens.

In the last part of the thesis I will attempt to make a preliminary prediction for the future of religion within Indonesia’s politics and society. This is based on the history, compared to Indonesia nowadays, the changes that atheists have seen for their own position in the last couple of decades and how they see the nation’s future. All in all, I will endeavor to use as much of the information to elaborate on the controversy of the phenomenon of atheism, why it seems so difficult for a change to be realized and what this all means for the future of religious tolerance and the potential liberty of an atheist community within Indonesia.

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II

Methodology

The research has predominantly or actually entirely been a qualitative research. In the sake of the research question, quantity does not really matter. It is not significant for example to show how many atheists there are, although these can be roughly indicated without the use of quantitative research. Furthermore, there is no question to answer which needs the evidence gained through quantitative analysis. The research questions are mainly focusing on the how and what and therefore, qualitative analysis is a more useful and fruitful approach.

For the collection of data in the field I have made use of a deductive approach. As can be read in the proposal, several theories have already been outlined, more or less. Based on this knowledge I have formed a question which can be divided in several researchable concepts. With this approach I have used the data collected from the fieldwork to figure out what I have found. These findings bring me back to the research question and determine whether or not I can answer it or perhaps rephrase or adjust it.

The design of my research is a case study, it entails the detailed and intensive analysis of a single case. In this case, the research focuses on a single community, atheists in Indonesia. Although location, background or language may not be singular nor similar. I will focus on the factor that binds these people into one community, their disbelief. Depending on certain outcomes it might take some shapes of a comparative design. If there are some significant differences between primarily urban and rural areas, I might take it into account. But I will also try to be aware of serendipities which make me think of comparisons between different genders, ages, ethnicities, education et cetera.

I have used different interview methods depending on the interviewees. With some respondents have had only one opportunity to interview them. In these cases, it is a smart thing to have some structure in the interview or else you will miss out on something. With the atheists themselves, I hoped to have the possibility to get back to them later in the fieldwork period, unfortunately this did not quite work out. Besides, I want to get a very broad picture of their activities, thoughts and opinions. Therefore, in their case it is better to use a form like informal interviewing, although I have based the conversation on a written interview guide as well. This way, I have minimized my own input in the conversation and gave the respondents the time and chance to express themselves in their own terms and at their own pace (Bernard : 211). In fact I have recorded their life histories and asked them about their daily activities to see what kind of practicalities or perhaps problems they have to deal with in perspective towards their non-religious identity. At most I preferred to probe the respondents in different ways to get the

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utmost out of their response. So the idea was to let the respondent ‘lead’ the conversation by telling and showing their experiences. It is important that the respondent keeps on talking and for me to interfere as less as possible.

The sort of questions have mostly been open questions in order to minimize the chances of ruling out possible answers, which would be more probable when asking closed questions. Also I believe that using vignette questions will offer interesting outcomes as it puts respondents in a contextual situation of which they have to think about on the spot. Besides having illustrative information of everyday life examples as a minority, the atheists have clear visions of how they want society or rule of law to look like. Therefore, sketching an ideal situation or asking for their ideal circumstances, I believe have shown clear thoughts on their opinion and their aspiration.

Moreover, responding to an interview might not give the full image. Some issues might only come to the fore when actually practising their activities. It might be possible that these provide essential information which are enacted unconsciously by the respondent thus it may never come to the surface while simply answering questions. Therefore, I am convinced that the combination of these two methodologies of gathering data can offer a more detailed and complete image in order to answer the research questions. Part of the observation method also includes observations of influential and telling sources like documents, television, newspapers, social media and commercials.

Then over to the part of sampling. In order to gather my respondents, I have approached them through Facebook based on their membership of the IA group. I already had one atheist informant who told me in advance that she is very willing to join in my research. Although I did not know if atheists differ from this, in general Indonesian people are very well in making and preserving contacts. Therefore, I expected to benefit from the snowball effect which means that next informants are being gathered through the network of the previous informant, this worked out very well. Especially in this case, the atheist community is quite dense and therefore my first informant knew some others who would like to join as well. If this was not the case, I could still use Facebook to ask other people if they want to join, which seemed to be necessary at a later phase. In order to make contact with more ‘official’ respondents in the sense of people from NGO’s, organisations or alliances, I had to make use of more official channels to contact them than just Facebook.

I expected that the issue of access might bring some difficulties as it is quite a sensitive and risky topic. Therefore, trust is an important aspect that is necessary to be gained between the interviewer and informant. I paid much attention to the way I present myself, how I explain

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what I am doing, what I want to know, and my values; whether and how I will present my personal opinion about the topic and to what extent this is necessary. When in the setting of an interview, I am an overt researcher as I did not hide my position of being a student from the UvA (‘researcher’ has a rather negative connotation in Indonesia). Neither did I hide that I want to know more about their atheism and how they deal with it in such a religious society. When they asked me about my religion and about what my opinion is about the subject I did not lie, but if they did not, I did not exclaim being a Muslim in support of their position. Of course, this may differ in each situation as presenting myself as such can maybe loosen up informants if I notice they are rather careful and restrained in formulating their answers.

Throughout the period I was also constantly observing and this could be done in a covert way. When I am not in an interview or attending a specific meeting or event, I do not have to present myself as being a student doing research. This way I could optimize my gathering of data and I was able to perceive the information in the most ‘natural’ way.

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Chapter 1 Understanding Religion and Atheism within the context of

Indonesian Society

1.1 Religious Discourse and a Taboo called Atheism

One time in a mall’s cinema in Depok, a suburb of Jakarta, I went to see an Indonesian movie by the name of “A Copy of my Mind”. The two key players of this dramatic love story were two young people, Sari and Alek, both living in Jakarta. She loved watching movies and bought pirated DVDs on a regular basis. He happened to make the subtitles for these movies as a living and haphazardly they meet each other in the movie store where she buys the movies. Sari is an uncertain and somewhat naïve young woman and Alek is depicted as a very tough and rugged man but with his heart on the right place. After their first encounter they decide to spend time together and Sari ends up at Alek’s apartment. During their conversation there, the call to prayer sounds from a nearby mosque on the background. Sari asks Alek if he does not need to pray: “Are you a Muslim?” Alek does not respond whereupon Sari asks: “Do you even have a religion?” The majority of the people in the cinema started to giggle. I was very surprised about this as I did not expect such a reaction at all. However, based on the first interviews I had in the couple of weeks before this specific event, I had already concluded that atheism is not the most common thing in Indonesia, to put it mildly. Then again, this ‘event’ was very interesting and useful at the same time as it, in a way, confirmed my findings until so far.

This anecdote is one of many experiences during my fieldwork which portrays the current day discourse concerning the importance of religion in daily life and at once the exclusion of the possibility of atheism, agnosticism or anything such. This religious discourse, how I will call it from now on, already took a prevalent role in the preparatory weeks before my fieldwork. However, during the course of my fieldwork the role of this discourse became even more important. Namely, where the focus lied primarily on the legal part of religion and atheism in specific, this turned out to be less relevant for my research question as most atheists do not fear the legal treatment of people without religion. Many respondents told me that they hardly take into account the legal framework on religion and they do not per se fear criminal charges. Nonetheless, this did not mean that my research and research question became completely irrelevant. In fact, it immediately made me realize to look beyond this context and to see the bigger picture. Many respondents do not fear prosecution, but by contrast many of them told me multiple stories in which they have to alter or adapt their religious identity

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depending on their situational context. Thus, they may not fear the law but they do certainly fear of consequences if people, firms or organizations in their surroundings would find out about their religious identity.

What exactly is this religious discourse, what does it contain and to whom is it relevant and for what reasons? Although forms and expressions of belief religion in Indonesia are very plural. The idea of religion as a hegemonic determination of daily aspects in politics, culture and social life, is broadly supported by people from all religions. Nevertheless, the specific way in which this is being reflected may vary strongly per religion. These adhesive ideas for a huge part explain why the Republic of Indonesia has a Ministry of Religious Affairs and within it a Centre for Inter Religious Harmony. That what ties the nation, simultaneously causes friction and in some cases violence within the nation. This national religious hegemony stems from the day that the Republic was established. The country’s first president Sukarno attempted to tie the diverse people, cultures and religions together based on one national philosophy; Pancasila. Within Pancasila, believing in one God is one of the most important pillars, if not the most. No matter what religion, ethnicity or language, monotheism was ought to unify in diversity.

After that, the history of the nation’s prolongation mostly involved battles in which religion played a strong role. Whether it was a direct involvement of religion, or religion indirectly being a part of it. The hegemony of religion has caused that these battles have left traces in to society’s discourse that are still observable today. An important example that has had great influence in the way of thinking towards atheism specifically is the role of Suharto during the 1965-1966 tragic mass killings in Indonesia. Sukarno at the time was starting to feel more and more affinity with communism and it became part of his triangular philosophy of the nation’s future; NASAKOM, which is an acronym standing for nasionalisme (nationalism),

agama (religion), and komunisme (communism). Although Sukarno was very beloved, his

propensity towards communism and his vision to add it to religion and nationalism offended the majority of the population. The PKI, Partai Komunisme Indonesia (Indonesian Communist Party) was created and given political power. Communists are not particularly known for having no religion, but they tend to not specifically perform religious activities or involve religion in their daily life. During this period, the republic’s second president Suharto was major general in the Indonesian Military Force. He joined the 30 September Movement preparing an attempt to overthrow Sukarno and initiate an anti-communist purge. To get the support of the majority, Suharto used the religious discourse in his advantage and depicted the communists as people without religion, atheists. What followed eventually were the communist killings which is still one of the nation’s most tragic historical events. Some estimates inform that the death toll is

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between 500,000 to 1 million. Suharto, as the instigator, took over the nation’s power this was the beginning of the three-decade during New Order regime. I have experienced many things and especially heard many stories from many different people containing roots from Suharto’s era and his anti-communist propaganda. Many people to whom I have talked to and told about my research on atheism reacted in a very skeptical way. Often their first reaction was a miscomprehension of atheism, they often replied “artists?” To me this implies that it is a subject which is not often mentioned or discussed, this reply creates the impression that they are rather surprised about the subject. Next, after I was done introducing my research to them, they would almost all answer “Does atheism exists in Indonesia?” or “There are no communists here anymore.” At that time, to me these were very surprising yet useful reactions as it shows that atheism is definitely a minority and the comparison with communism shows that they are often misunderstood and it proves that the traces left behind are still present nowadays.

Education

As a national philosophy, Pancasila is projected upon the people and shaped their minds primarily through teachings at school and parenting at home. Therefore, the educational system has a great influence in people’s way of thinking and thus, the majority’s way of thinking. First of all, most of the educational institutions are religion based, which is a significant issue considering interreligious conflict and alienation. A nation unified based on monotheism is strongly segregated based on differing religions in many parts of social life. One respondent told me that the educational system is the core of interreligious alienation as they maintain the segregation by founding religion-based schools (Headley 2007).

“If you are born from two Muslim parents, you will grow up as a Muslim, with Muslim neighbors, Muslim friends, you will probably go to an Islamic School where you get taught by a Muslim teacher and get in touch with Muslim kids, same goes for a Christian kid for example.” (Glen)

This example got confirmed by a friend of mine which I have met in Jakarta. She told about her youth growing up in a Muslim family, going to Muslim school. Once she entered High School, she started to have feelings for this boy from her class, but she retained herself before even trying. “He was from a Christian family, so it would be too difficult.” Of course, religious teachings like the prohibition of inter-religious marriage also have to do with these considerations, but social-religious segregation only strengthens these gaps.

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These are examples of interreligious alienation, in which we do not consider atheism as a religion. Imagine how thoughts towards them are shaped and expressed. To discuss this issue of the legality of atheism and the general perception towards atheists as part of social and political society, I went to the Centre for Interreligious Harmony at the Ministry of Religious Affairs

(CIH). I had a very interesting talk with the deputy head Wawan Djunaedi about the legal and social position of atheism in Indonesia. He confirmed that the New Order era has caused many people, even until now, to think that atheists are the same as communists. At one moment, we came to talk about Indonesian education and specifically on religion and atheism. He told me that Pancasila is taught in every school and so children get to learn about the six ‘official’ religions in Indonesia, which are generally known as Islam, Christianity, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism. However, according to Djunaedi there is no official or legal document which states these religions as the official religions. Nevertheless, this is being taught at schools and the government decides that these religions are allowed to be on the National Identity Document (KTP) and these religions are allowed to enjoy specific religious services from the ministry that other religions are not. I asked him if children also get to learn about other religions, or the possibility that someone can have no religion as well. He replied that that is rarely the case.

On top of that, religious segregation in educational institutions starts from kindergarten and this does certainly not improve literally that what CIH stands for. Especially when, besides the segregation, schools do not pay attention to teach the children and students about the possible other religions (or non-religion). This actually endures up until senior high school as majority of schools always carry a religious identity to it. Within such a religiously determined society as in Indonesia, such a religious identity often translates into teaching religious values as being the truth. This religious segregation in education only strengthens the differences between religions by supporting one’s own religion and depreciating others. Religious segregation begins at education but throughout society, observable segregations also occur

Fig. 1: Pie Chart of Religious Affiliation in Indonesia as from a 2010 Census. Source:

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within other institutions which, at first sight, do not connect with religion in any way such as for example sport and hobby communities. This only enhances the standardized seemingly need to identify oneself through their religious belief, creating even bigger distances and differences between multiple religious communities.

1.2 Alexander Aan, how not to Act

Online Activity and Jail Sentence

Alexander Aan, born 1981, was a civil servant at the

Dharmasraya Development Planning Board in the Minang

area in western Sumatra which is nearby the major city of Padang. In 2012, Aan started an atheist group on Facebook on which he shared comic strips of the prophet Muhammad having

sex with his servant. This is an implicit mock and an attack towards Islam and the idea of religion in general. Story goes that he also posted some more explicit texts doubting the validity of religion with the words “God doesn’t exist” on his personal Facebook page. However, neither authorities, nor researchers on the case, nor Alexander himself, confirmed that this was indeed the case. As a result, he was found guilty of ‘deliberately spreading information inciting religious hatred and animosity’ by the Muaro Sijunjung district court in western Sumatra. It is said that he also uploaded three articles on his Facebook account, including one describing the prophet being attracted to his daughter-in-law.

Alexander was beaten by an angry mob and arrested by police in his hometown of Pulau Punjung in January 2012 after posting the material online and declaring himself an atheist. Earlier, the court indicted Aan with two other charges – persuading others to embrace atheism and blasphemy. Prosecutors had sought a three and a half year jail term. Two charges were dropped and eventually he was sentenced to prison for a length of two years and six months under the ‘Electronic Information and Transactions Law.’ Aan was the first one in the country’s

Fig. 2. Quote from Alexander Aan edited in to a photo of him kept in custody in a local prison in West Sumatra. Source: Al Jazeera

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history to be trialed based on the Pancasila’s first pillar. What he did caused anxiety to the community and tarnished Islam. 2

This last sentence symbolizes the controversy of the Islamic identity within in the so-called secular state of Indonesia. Tarnishes towards the address of Islam causes anxiety to the community. This is a clarification of the religious discourse which reigns in the country. Islam is the main denominator determining the national identity and attacks of any kind on Islam apparently is also a threat towards the society. This idea is also supported by the fact that Aan was beaten up by his fellow inmates in the local prison when they knew about his case. After the announcement of Alexander’s sentence, an outrage sparked as Indonesians and international activists opposed the outcome as it contradicts the nation’s idea supporting freedom of religious expression. A petition even started to circulate online in order to try and drop the charges, but these attempts turned out to be in vain.

Life after Prison

Alexander Aan now lives in a small room in a dormitory in an outskirt neighborhood northwest of Jakarta, in the vicinity of the Soekarno-Hatta airport. He does now work as a math teacher at a Christian school nearby his place. Through one of the members of the Yogyakarta atheist community who had met him once, I got his contact details and made an appointment to meet him in Jakarta. Whereas many of my respondents did not mind to meet in public, Alexander insisted me to come to his place to have a chat. We worked our way through three stories of tight hallways and messy doorsteps and Alexander invited me to take a seat on the rooftop terrace with views over Jakarta. I was a bit anxious as to how I should approach him, as I can imagine that his history could be rather sensitive and even traumatic to him, but I was quite surprised how open he was to me and how he was willing to help me as much as possible.

Taking into account what he possibly had been through, I would have expected him to give rather nuanced answers to my questions and perspectives on the atheist issue. In contrast, his experiences in jail seemed to have rather strengthen his stance and not scared him in any way. After all, he describes himself as a ‘free thinker’ when I asked him about his religion.

“I have learned from my mistakes, my opinion is not the mistake, but the way that I expressed my opinion. I still support my ideas and I am still an atheist, I just know now

2_{Daily Mail UK: Indonesian man jailed for two-and-a-half years writing God doesn’t exist Facebook page}

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2159530/Indonesian-man-jailed-half-years-writing-God-doesn-t-exist-Facebook-page.html accessed on the 31st of May, 2016

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that I have to keep quiet about it and find the right balance in expressing it.” (Alexander

Aan)

He told me that he still believes that every Indonesian citizen is protected by the law stating freedom of expression and freedom of religion. That is the reason that the court sought an alternative charge in order to successfully sentence him. Blasphemy alone is not enough, that is why they used the Electronic Information and Transactions Law. To straighten things out, I asked him if the blasphemy law was used in the eventual trial, and it was not. In a very convincing way, he told me that there is no reason to change his perspective and neither was it the incentive of the imprisonment; every individual has the freedom to have their own thoughts, despite the extent of deviancy from the ‘standard’. Therefore, he sticks to his point of view and he clearly learnt that expressing it through media like Facebook crosses the transitory line which turns mere thoughts in to ‘spreading information,’ and thus becoming something penal. After the incident, he chose not to be active on Facebook anymore in order to prevent him from making a similar mistake but also to protect himself from threats from conservatives who see Alexander as an instigator and as a danger for the Islamic society.

Personally, the fact that he was teaching at a Christian elementary school got my attention when talking about his current situation. Being such a profound atheist with such a tumultuous history, it seemed quite contradictory for me that he works in a place where religion plays such a big role. Surprisingly, he did not share in my amazement and he talked about it as if it was completely normal and not contradictory in any sense. In fact, all of his colleagues know who he is and even some of his students came to know about him and his case. “When the students pray, I just do not join in their prayer. Someone asked me why I did not join them, I just replied that I do not share the same ideas and religion has nothing to do with math.” This was his answer when I asked how he combines his atheist identity with the religious activities at his work.

Lessons Learned from Aan’s Case

In my opinion, Aan’s case is a very symptomatic evidence that atheism is a rarity in such a strongly Islamic tinted environment, which at the same time is contradictory as well as, after all, the country is known to be secular. This is thus a great example illustrating the overlap of two issues which are ongoing in contemporary Indonesian society. Therefore, I tried to propose the case during every interview with members of the atheist community and ask them what they knew about it, if they had any thoughts about it and what it has meant for their own future.

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Except for one or two, everyone knew his name and most of them also knew about his case. Although they admire his hardship and his eager to carry out his thoughts in order to make atheism more discussable in society, they were also quite unanimous that Aan’s approach was not quite clever. Considering the law, it was maybe even quite stupid to come out for such controversial – in context – thoughts on a publicly accessible environment like Facebook, and social media in general. However, it is debatable of course that these respondents could have shaped this opinion in retrospect after he was imprisoned, an opinion that might have been different before his case came to light. Nevertheless, fact is that Aan serves as an example of how not to act and what consequences these acts can possibly result in to. Many members of the atheist community might think twice and consider his case more attentively before they choose how to manifest their own opinion and identity into public spheres such as social media.

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Chapter 2 The Social Manifestation of Atheists

2.1 Ways towards Atheism, Atheist Narratives & Perspectives

This following chapter will be elaborately regarding and portraying the ‘key players’ of the debate. During my three months of fieldwork in the capital Jakarta and the major city of Yogyakarta in central Java, I have made an effort to meet as much members of the atheist community as possible in order to shape a clear image of who they are, what they have been through and why they have chosen the paths they chose. While conducting these interviews with approximately twenty different atheists, a couple of things struck me in the information that I received from them. These can be either similarities, nuances, or contradictions which I will try to set out and categorize in different subchapters.

History & the Youthful Generation

Something which I silently expected in advance, was clearly proven after every single interview. Except for one lonely soul, all of the respondents were not born as an atheist but turned towards atheism at a certain moment in their life. The divergent one was born out of two Indonesian parents who lived in Japan for a while where the majority of citizens has no religion.3_{Normally, the influence of the religious discourse is such a strong one that it}

minimizes the chances of people being born as atheists. As Glen posed, religion is an omnipresent phenomenon from which escaping is almost impossible. For example, when your parents are Muslim, you are automatically born a Muslim, you will grow up with Muslim neighbors and friends, most likely you will be sent to a Muslim school with a Muslim teacher and classmates. In a later phase, you will probably feel the pressure to marry another Muslim and then the whole cycle will repeat itself. In fact, in Indonesia, a marriage is invalid to the state when it is not performed through a ceremony conforming one of the nation’s recognized religions. This clarifies and supports the expectation that the majority of respondents would have a history of growing up as a religious child. At some point in their life, they have experienced something or developed thoughts that initiated them doubting about their specific religion or religion in general.

In general, I could see a broad similarity in the atheist respondents regarding to their age. Except for one respondent, Eko, who was just in his forties, all of my respondents in Jakarta

3_{Table with numbers on Religiosity among citizens from several countries}

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were between the age of twenty-five to thirty-five. The group of young atheist students which I talked to in a café in Yogyakarta were around twenty years of age with the oldest one being twenty-five years old. I believe that the average age is relatively low for a specific reason as getting in touch with atheism correlates with access to internet, social media and living in urban areas. I am aware of the fact that these same factors could be the reason that my respondents are between this range of age. Namely, the fact that I have predominantly contacted my respondents through Facebook which is probably more actively used by the younger part of society. Therefore, it is quite likely that this method of finding respondents generally excludes the older atheists within society. However, regarding the religious discourse which is entrenched within the nation’s history, I believe that atheism is actually something that predominantly plays among the younger generation (Jaafar, Wibowo & Afiatin 2006).

Considering this division in age, I believe it entails an important message about the future of religion in society and that it marks the beginning of a new generation with deviant ideas and thoughts. I find myself supported by the different perspectives between the younger and older generation. Whereas the older generation in general have never heard of atheism or denies the existence of it in Indonesia, the younger generation present it as something quite normal and they foresee big societal changes in the following few decades.

Different instances have different definitions as to until what age someone can considered to still be youth. While UN defines youth in the age range 15-24, recent Indonesian law-making prolongs the formal boundaries of youth to a more advanced age. The new Law on Youth, defines youth as ‘Indonesian citizens who are entering an important period of growth and development and are aged between 16 and 30 years.’ This is in line with many other developing-country governments which define the upper boundary of youth as 35 or even 40 years. Current theories approach youth in many interesting ways, including youth as transition, youth as identity, youth as action, youth as cultural practice, and youth as cultural production. The social and scientific construction of youth tends to see it as typically a period of transition – from child to adult, from education to employment, from family of origin to family of destination. It is important to understand that young people do not necessarily see themselves in this way, or not only in this way. Often they are busy developing youth cultures and identities in their own right, that is, trying to be successful in the eyes of their peers as youth, rather than trying to prepare themselves to be successful adults (Naafs & White 2012: 3-4). Suzanne Naafs and Ben White have written multiple articles on the importance of studying the youth as an indicator for presenting the working of social structures and proposing possible developments for the future. Although their focus is pointed at urbanization and de-agrarisation among rural

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communities, the location of their study is primarily in Indonesia. They divide their key ideas about youth in three main sections; ‘youth as generation’, ‘youth as transition’, and ‘youth as makers and consumers of culture’. By analyzing their theory on Indonesian youth, I will try to apply it as much as possible to the young atheist community in Indonesia.

Young people are key actors in most important processes of economic and social change. As mentioned before, Naafs and White take the examples of two macro structural changes which are often forgotten to be initiated by young people. In the light of this specific research on atheism, you could see a similarity. The increase of atheism and the decrease of religious devotion and activities is also initiated by young people. An important change happening to youth in Indonesia, as in many other countries, is its prolongation. Young people remain enrolled in education longer, as their average age at first marriage rises and as entry into the labor force is postponed. For example, many urban middle-class men and women in their late twenties, still single, completing an advanced degree and not yet having entered professional employment would consider themselves ‘youth’, while other men and women in their early twenties, having left school at age of 15 or even earlier, already working as a laborer or market trader for many years, married and having children, would consider themselves ‘adult’ in their communities. Therefore, social scientists and historians should define youth not by age but by social perceptions and shared historical experience. Social change is characterized by tension in intergenerational relations, which disturbs effective communication between them. These tensions are nothing new – although each succeeding adult generation may think they are – but may well have become more accentuated in many regions of Indonesia where for recent generations each new young generation of men and women grows up better educated than their parents and community elders, but is often less equipped with livelihood skills. Youth is also a key life-course period in which identities are shaped. Identities are produced collectively and in this process class, ethnicity, religion and sexuality intersect in varying combinations (ibid.: 6-7). Notions of ‘youth’ and ‘the young generation’ are often value-laden: “youth as the hope of the nation”, “youth are owned by the future”, or “youth must be guided” and so on, show how loaded are the values attached to ‘youth’. The two dimensions of Indonesian youth – as the vanguard of political and social change, and at the same time as dangerous threat to social and political stability – coexist uneasily in both popular and academic understandings of youth (ibid: 8).

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Location

In general, I have met my respondents and conducted my interviews in Jakarta and in Yogyakarta. It is primarily a practical consideration to just pick one or two locations within a country of 250 million citizens, but there is also a tactical consideration for these locations. I had chosen Jakarta before I went there as for some reason I expected that most of the atheists would live in urban and modernized areas. Also, most of the social and political activism happen in the capital as many ministries, secretaries, NGO’s, and universities are located there. Moreover, my expectation was that ideas of atheism and activism towards the religious discourse were spread through internet and social media, and obviously Jakarta is the area in Indonesia with the best access and connection to internet and where an environment of social media is the most present. Consider that many rural areas in the rest of Indonesia are still hindmost from decent internet connection and smartphones are a luxury, whereas it seems that in Jakarta it is one of the basic needs. My choice to go to Yogyakarta developed as I spoke to respondents in Jakarta. They told me that there are several sub-organizations throughout Indonesia but primarily in urban areas such as Bandung, Yogyakarta and Surabaya. One specific respondent, originating from Ponorogo, Eastern Java, which I met in Jakarta because he was meeting a friend there, told me that the Yogyakarta atheist community is quite active and that he has been there a few times to meet with them. Speaking to him and considering that many of my respondents were students, I decided to visit Yogyakarta in order to get in touch with the community. Yogyakarta is known as one of the major university cities in Indonesia where students from all over the country move to. This way, I hoped to get stories from students who could clearly argument their position as to why they chose to become an atheist.

“At that time I joined this atheist community on a Forum and until 2011 I did not think that there was anyone besides me in Indonesia and I did not even try to find an atheist group on the internet (…) I did not really use Facebook until I joined the group because there were some very interesting discussions.” - Karina

The first reason regarding connectivity to internet is a major determination for atheists to mostly organize in urban areas, also according to many respondents. When asking them about how they came to knew about the IA community on Facebook, many of them responded in a similar way. Before encountering the Facebook group, many atheists thought that they were the only one and therefore felt lonely and misunderstood. This is exactly the reason that they try to find fellow atheists. They are, however, quite surprised when they find the IA group, to see that

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there are so many Indonesians with the same ideas. Once they are member of the group, they have an outlet to share their thoughts and opinions among people who feel the same way. Therefore, I believe that there is a triangular correlation between age (or generation), atheism and living in urban areas. One respondent, Eko from Indramaya, explicitly stated this connection.

“I doubt that If I would still live with my family in Indramayu, which is a relatively small village, that I would encounter the IA group and thus speak out about my atheism. After I came to Jakarta for work, I became more active on social media and someone told me about the Facebook group (…) I believe that the odds for encountering the IA group are per definition smaller if you live in more rural areas.” - Eko

To my opinion, Eko refers to two different reasons about not speaking out about his atheism when living in Indramayu. However, the main point is about access to and involvement with internet and social media, another argument concerns the reaction of the conservative neighbors in the village and coincides with the taboo on atheism. Although this is not explicitly stated in the quote above, we have discussed this in our further conversation. Considering this statement by Eko, we could hypothetically conclude that there are many atheists, or at least people with atheist-minded thoughts, throughout Indonesia. Those who we can determine and identify online, are only the ones who found fellow atheists online and thus found the strength to come out as one. Based on this information, we can say that the power of internet and social media is quite strong in this specific environment but that it still has not reached its full potential either.

Becoming an Atheist

In order to dedicate a separate subchapter to the ways that my respondents became atheist, they had to fulfill the condition that they were something else than atheist before. Disregarding one exceptional case, this turned out to be so, in a way. All of my respondents were brought up with a religion; Islam primarily, but also Christianity and Hinduism. However, the extent to which some of them were really religious, differs from ‘quite fanatic’ to ‘not religious at all’. Nevertheless, they all experienced events, met people, read information or learnt insights which made sure that religion is nothing for them and that they do not believe in any kind of deity. This diverse range of reasons for becoming atheist causes for a diverse range as to what extent they are an atheist as well. Eko, who came up earlier, had a very personal and specific reason to become atheist. In primary school, which was an Islamic school, he got Quran reciting

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lessons. During these classes, kids (including him) got hit when they recited incorrectly. He said that it was very difficult to follow a religion in which you get punished physically when making a mistake. From that time on, Eko had an unconditional aversion towards Islam and never dug for information again. To my opinion he was a rather ‘fragile’ atheist and I had the feeling that talking to him was a constant epiphany for him. He had some general propositions about Islam which he had only heard about from other people, he was surprised to hear my answers arguing these points. However, I have to admit that Eko was a very gentle and polite man which could have given me the impression that he was fragile. Fact is that there is a big difference between his determination compared to for example the determination of Karina. Karina is a Bandungnese women living and working in Singapore. She also grew up with Islam but she already developed critical thoughts towards Islam in junior high school. Karina was part of the IA community since the beginning and became administrator of the group in a later stage. She is very determined towards atheism and almost nothing can even slightly nuance her opinion on this. My interview with her turned into a quite fiery conversation and I have to admit that I briefly lost my objectivist stance in the discussion.

In general my respondents seemed to come up with critical thoughts towards atheism, doubts about stories from holy books and doubts about stories from influential people in their environment which eventually developed in to atheism. Unlike Eko, many of them did try to find out more about their religion and try to find answers on their questions by reading the holy scriptures. Where the holy books are a great guidance for those who do believe, it seems that they can also serve as a last convicting step towards disbelief for those who have doubts. Seemingly easily, many of them set aside stories as being incredible, stories that mean so much to the majority of society. “Why,” I asked them, “are these scriptures so hard for you to believe?” Obviously, stories on epiphanies are in no sense comparable to anything which we encounter in our daily lives currently. However, “we all have a sense of imagination that makes it acceptable to believe right?” But it is exactly this that seems to lack with most of the atheists, a sense of fantasy. This lack enables them to strongly support their atheist thoughts without hesitating about a possible occurrence of epiphanies or other Godly happenings in the past. Key words that return in interviews with these determined atheists are ‘science’ and ‘common sense’. The word science, remarkably often served as an answer to the question why they do not believe in God. To my opinion this was not a sufficient answer, if it is a suitable one in the first place. When I asked them to elaborate, many of them referred to what is observable and what can be proven. “You cannot see God and you cannot prove that there is a God.” This is a discussion that I had with several respondents in a rather similar way. I would answer “But you

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cannot prove either that there is no God” to make a subtle wink towards Popper’s falsification theory (Caldwell 1991). Often I would get “But how can you prove that something does not exist”, and this is exactly my point. I would make them clear that it is useless and I would ask them why they are so determined in saying that there is no God. After all, religious people believe in the existence of God, that is why it is called belief. Where believers do not want to prove the existence of God and use the word ‘believe’ in God, for some reason atheists have the urge to come out much more decisively with their opinion on divine existence and often take a scientific point of view in the issue.

I believe that this urge to approach religion in a singular, scientific way, derives from the scientific educational background that many respondents have. Due to their scientific knowledge and scientific way of observing, analyzing and concluding, religion and divine existence receive the same scientific approach treatment. Which is very striking, because Islam itself preaches the harmonious relation between its religious teachings and science. A couple of years ago, I have met with a Dutch Imam at a Moroccan mosque in Haarlem, the Netherlands. We had a small discussion addressing the relation to science among others. He told that that there are many scientific claims, but until now there has not been any proven claim (theory) which contradicts anything stated in the holy Quran. In fact, there are many things that modern science has just discovered until a couple of centuries ago, these same things were already written in the holy Quran. There exists a popular notion that Islam, like Christianity, is in conflict with science. On the contrary, there has been a mutually enriching relationship between religion and science over the ages (Loo 2001).

Family ties

Once atheists have decided to come forward as one, they still have to face a difficult dilemma. Whether or not to tell it to close relatives, especially parents, is a common topic that comes up when talking about coming out as an atheist. Despite their decisiveness to become an atheist to the outside world, informing their parents about their new religious identity can carry along complications as impaired trust, pride, feelings of parental failure, sometimes even insult which can all lead to changes within the relationship and communication between parent and child. Therefore, a fair amount of ‘converts’ (to which I will not refer anymore using quotation marks from now on as atheism can be considered a form of belief as well) choose to lie for best interests in order to maintain the relationship with their parents.

The interesting example of Isti, a graduate student at the University of Wageningen, is one that keeps lingering around in my mind when thinking about presentation towards parents.

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Isti was born and brought up in Yogyakarta and now goes back and forth between her apartment in South Jakarta and her campus in Wageningen. She actually wore a Hijab before she converted to atheism, which in fact does not have to be meaningful as it could just be an external expression of which the choice to wear it might have been influenced by others in her surroundings. It does however say something about her amenability during her pre-atheist era, or about her will or possibilities to unveil her atheist thoughts by means of unveiling. She admitted that she had these thoughts since junior high school. Her fortitude on atheism is debatable though, as she answered quite hesitant to my question if she thinks that there is any kind of deity. She told me that she had not figured it out quite entirely for herself, but that she tends toward the idea that there is not any. This uncertainty causes her to identify herself differently depending on the context or environment. In Jakarta, she often hangs out with her atheist friends and joins the atheist community, but she told me that when she visits her mother back in Yogyakarta, she would still do prayers and read the Quran together with her. Isti is one of several examples of atheists who lie to their parents for their sake. Others have chosen to tell their parents, but some of them have experienced a negative change in the relationship with their parents after they did. Adi said that especially his father is acting much more distant from him than before and they do not have in-depth conversations any longer. His father is simply disappointed by the choice that his son made and considers it as an insult on his parenting. This ambiguity in ways of presenting the self among atheists may very well result from the religious taboo and especially the taboo on not having a religion. However, this taboo is slowly seeming to decrease with the younger generations. This causes atheists to only open up to their fellow atheist and peers, but when it concerns their parents or other relatives they might have to think twice.

The LGBT community

A rather different (and yet again not) kind of social group within Indonesia is the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender) community. The reason that it differs from atheist is obviously because the group is formed, based on gender, external characteristics and sexual preference instead of religious beliefs. However, there is a significant similarity because just as atheists, LGBT are people who deviate from the social norm and hegemonic ideas. This is the reason why many respondents start to mention LGBT as a reflection on their own position in society. They fear to have to deal with the same consequences as the LGBT community. During an interview with Annisa at the UI (Universitas Indonesia), University of Indonesia, she told me that there was a group of students starting a peer network on the LGBT community and

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17 posting flyers throughout campus as an open invitation for LGBT’s to sign themselves up and

join this network. This group of students was tracked down (there is no confirmation, but FPI presumably is involved) and were requested to stop the activities. This got a lot of media attention and from then on there is a large-scaled anti-LGBT riot going on.4 If I ask atheists about whom they fear the most, the majority mentions the FPI, mainly because they already openly campaigned against the rights of LGBT and stating how they are a shame for Indonesian society. Automatically, atheists assume that they will get the same treatment as LGBT as they are a deviation from social norms as well. However, there is one big difference that makes the atheist’ situation much more safe than the LGBT situation. Glen was the one who addressed this difference. “It is one major advantage for ‘us’ that you cannot tell from someone’s exterior that he or she is an atheist, in contrast to most of the LGBT’s.”

As a side note, the notion of social deviation is quite contextual concerning LGBT, as for instance in Javanese cultures it is quite ordinary for traditional dance performers with ancient Hindu influences to represent a mix of genders or a third kind of “in between gender”.5

The writer of this article (5 red.) also addresses the peculiarity of this cross-gendered performance concerning the country’s Muslim majority. For some reason people seem to condone this form unclear gender expression because it is a part of cultural history, and thus intertwined with cultural identity. However, this could be considered as an extreme expression of LGBT kind of identities, and it is not at all meant as a caricature or parody. I will further leave this little side jump alone as this could serve as a research topic on its own for a whole different thesis.

2.2 The Multiple Stages for Presentation of the Self

One of the aspects within the narratives of the atheists that struck me the most, was that of the ways of presenting the self differently within different contexts. For some reasons they instinctively act differently and express their atheism to a different extent, depending on who they are with. What are the reasons for speaking up more freely in one case or rather more indistinctly in the other concerning the same topic or personal attribute? What causes for such a distinct personal reflection to occur within different social contexts? I will elaborately treat

4_{The Sydney Morning Herald: Gays and lesbians feel heat of discrimination and prejudice in Indonesia.}

http://www.smh.com.au/world/gays-and-lesbians-feel-heat-of-discrimination-in-indonesia-20160213-gmt8ng.html, accessed on the 20th of August, 2016.

5_{College of Arts & Sciences, University of Washington: GENDER BENDING ON THE EAST JAVA STAGE.}

https://artsci.washington.edu/news/2013-10/gender-bending-east-java-stage, accessed on the 20th of August, 2016.

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each of the possible answers on these questions by using sociological and anthropological theories known for dealing with self-presentation.

The Presentation of Contextual Self-Identity

When mentioning the characteristics or the core of one’s identity, everyone, including the person concerning, seems to have some sort of idea what this identity contains, what it refers to and what vocabulary to use to appoint it. However, is it possible to categorize or to determine such a personal identity in a static way, what is relevant when describing one’s identity and does it even serve a purpose to do it?

Social Identities

Social psychologist Henri Tajfel developed a theory on ‘social identity’ together with his student John Turner. This theory states that an individual partly bases his identity or what is supposes to mean on the characteristics of a group that he or she psychologically assigns him or herself to be a member of. The ascription of properties believed to be part of the individual self are, according to this theory, mostly based on its social identity or the collection of group memberships that define this individual (Tajfel 1974). The human species is highly adapted to group living and not well equipped to

survive outside a group context. Yet the known theories on self-identity show little regard for this aspect of living in collectivity. As a consequence, most of the theories are inadequate to account for much human action in the form of collective behavior. The representation of the social identity theory can be presented in the form of a schematic figure (fig. 3). The concentric circles represent definitions of the self at different level of inclusiveness within some particular domain. Personal identity is the individuated self; those characteristics that differentiate one individual from another within a specific social context. Social identities are categorizations of the self into more inclusive social units that depersonalize the self-concept, where I becomes

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we. Social identity entails “a shift towards the perception of self as a unique person”. The

concentric circles in Figure 3 also illustrate the contextual nature of social identity. At each point in the figure, the next circle outward provides the frame of reference for differentiation and social comparison. This illustration shows that the self-concept is expandable and contractible across different levels of social identity with associated transformations in the definition of self and the basis for self-evaluation. When the definition of self changes, the meaning of self-interest and self-serving motivation also changes accordingly (Brewer 1991: 475-476).

This is quite a major explanation for the differing presentation of the self within different social and cultural contexts within the atheist community. To go back again to the example of Isti, presenting herself as being an atheist depends on which part of the circle the situation is placed in. Her personal identity might have all the characteristics of a self-ascribed atheist. At her home in Jakarta, she does not pray, let alone five times a day, and she drinks beer. When moving one bigger circle outwards towards social identities, she starts to present herself in different ways. Within her family and when in her hometown Yogyakarta, she acts as if she still is a Muslim. When visiting her mom, she prays together with her, wears a scarf to cover her hair, reads the Quran and joins in other religious activities like visiting the local mosque. This social situation could also be described as an religious environment in which she knows most of the members. If we move towards an even bigger circle, another social situation in which identity is formed, another presentation of Isti can be acknowledged. Namely, when she is part of the group of IA in Jakarta meeting up and having a drink together, she returns more to her personal identity, that of being an atheist. She told me that they talk about their daily personal encounters or small problems within the religious environment that surrounds them, be it at work, within the family, in the neighborhood, or in any other public space. Accompanied by a beer mostly, they share each other their personal accounts of being an atheist within the religiously influenced society in Indonesia. About these public spaces, we can distinguish yet another kind of social circle where another side of the social identity is formed. I am referring to public society in general. Taking in to account the state laws and the cultural religious hegemony which is present in Indonesia, all of the members of IA know that they are somewhat limited to act as an atheist in public spaces compared to how they would represent themselves in smaller circles.

Infidels in Indonesia : the intention of initiating interaction instead of intolerance