Indonesia

Chinese role

  • Anti chinese riots in may 1998, involving looting, burning, temple desecration, gang rapes, murders - WI, YT; resulting in many Chinese fleeing the country, and some converting to Islam.

kAro hindus

A Karo Hindu from Sumatra worshipping Shiva. What’s interesting about Karo Hindus is that they claim to be descended of ancient Tamil migrants (specifically the Kongu region), so their rituals are closer to Tamils than Javanese or Balinese (who are closer to Odias).

Current Anti-hindu situation

  • Indonesian Hindus faced “increasing discrimination” from a rapidly Islamizing Indonesian Muslim society, including from members of “so-called moderate groups Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama,” as well as from the government.[WL]
  • In some local districts such as Banten near Jakarta, strident Muslims had gone a step further and forced the rewriting of the local curriculum to de-emphasize Indonesia’s “great Hindu past.”
  • " In 2006, the Ministries of Religion and Home Affairs issued a joint decree stipulating that building a new house of worship requires a petition signed by 90 congregation members and at least 60 other community members. The petition must then be approved by the local offices of the Religious Affairs Department and the Communications Forum for Religious Harmony (reftel)"
  • “The PHDI continued to receive accounts of Hindus unable to procure birth and marriage certificates, identity cards, and other basic local government services. Consequently, many Hindus simply identified themselves as Muslim on government identification cards to escape discrimination. Agus asserted that in recent years many Muslims in East Java, influenced by local Islamic preachers who characterized Hindus as “idol worshippers,” had forced their Hindu neighbors to declare themselves Muslim.”
  • PHDI leaders also claimed the plight of Hindus tended to be ignored by the government, media, and diplomats as the Hindus had no international support base. … Kobalen said he had traveled to India and forged links with nationalist Hindu parties, but these efforts had not yet translated into financial support.