Religious tolerance in North Sumatra

Religious tolerance in North Sumatra

At the start of the 21st century, it appears that conflicts
arising out of ethnic and religious differences are present in
various regions around the world: the Middle East (Palestine,
Iraq), the U.S., Eastern Europe (Kosovo, Chechna), Africa,
Southeast Asia (Philippines, Thailand).

The attack on the New York World Trade Center on Sept. 11,
2001, the Bali bombings on Oct. 12, 2002 and the Marriott Hotel
bombing of last year were turning points in the relations between
followers of the two largest religions in the world.

Could the shooting of a prosecutor and a women minister in a
church in Palu, Central Sulawesi, coupled with the bomb blast in
front of the Australian Embassy on Sept. 9 last year and the
recent bomb blast in Tentena, Central Sulawesi, mark growing
intolerance between people of different religious and ethnic
backgrounds in Indonesia?

Religious tolerance has been a fundamental pillar of the
Indonesian state since its inception in 1945. The first tenet
in Pancasila, the Indonesia state ideology, is: Belief in One
God, without mentioning any particular religion. This has been
the core point in creating an atmosphere of religious tolerance
in Indonesia.

However, the increasing frequency of violent conflict between
religious groups in Indonesia, as in other parts of the world,
has led many observers to question the status of religious
tolerance in today's Indonesia.

Social jealousy between ethnic groups in North Sumatra and
Medan has never developed into an open conflict, except with the
Chinese in 1964 and 1998. This is perhaps due to the fact that
access to economic resources and employment has been open to all
ethnic groups, so that there is not a wide economic gap between
the ethnic groups in the area. As for the Chinese, they seem to
have been victimized by the central government, which has used
them as a buffer for their own interests, such as for the
allocation of government bank credit, tax waivers and the sale of
state plantations (Pelly, 2000).

It appears that any potential leader in this city, regardless
of ethnic origin, needs to demonstrate his/her willingness to
cooperate with a range of community leaders from other ethnic and
religious groups.

People in Medan seem to be more influenced by political and
economic issues rather than religious and ethnic matters. This
demonstrates the possibility that ethnic and religious tolerance
in North Sumatra may be growing, rather than diminishing, since
citizens of Medan are able to support representatives who do not
necessarily share their religious beliefs or ethnic origins.

DJASAMEN SARAGIH, Canberra, Australia