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