2019/08/30 by Nathanael Gratias Sumaktoyo · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Asian Studies and History #Religion and Society Interactions #Religion, Society, and Development
paper · doi:10.1080/00074918.2019.1661354
openalex publication_date 2019/08/30 · crossref created 2019/08/30 · crossref issued 2020/01/02 · crossref published 2020/01/02 · crossref published-print 2020/01/02 · crossref published-online 2020/03/26 · crossref deposited 2020/04/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/28 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Various studies have expressed concerns about the decline of religious freedom in Indonesia. These studies suffer from three limitations. First, they inadequately differentiate between various aspects of state–religion relations. Second, they are largely inward looking, overlooking how Indonesia compares with other countries in the world, especially other Muslim countries. Third, they do not explicitly test whether this decline in religious freedom was triggered by the downfall of Soeharto and the more open political and social space that ensued. Applying a synthetic control method to a global data set, the present study shows that Indonesia’s level of state discrimination against religious minorities has not changed much since 1998. The country’s levels of social discrimination and religious legislation, on the other hand, have increased significantly. This suggests that efforts to improve religious freedom in Indonesia should focus on tackling the proliferation of religious bylaws and discrimination by social groups.