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Religious Coexistence in Indonesia
| Article
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14702 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
11 / 1988 |
4,351 Words |
| Author
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Patricia Braun
Patricia Braun is a free-lance journalist. |
The Indonesian archipelago consists of 13,667 islands stretching north to the South China Sea and south to the Indian Ocean, from New Guinea in the east to Sumatra in the west. The region is inhabited by a variety of peoples and tribes, each with its own traditions, language, and religion. Consequently, Indonesia does not have the natural geographic or ethnocultural unity of, say, Thailand, and its formation into a territorial state did not take place until well into the nineteenth century.
The earliest settlers (sometimes knows as Malayo-Polynesians, Austronesians, or just Malaysians) emerged when the inhabitants of the Malay archipelago moved into the region and encountered and mixed with indigenous groups of extremely primitive negroid aborigines. Many centuries later, pure branches descended from these earliest dwellers can be found only among the Dayak of Borneo, the Bateak of Sumatra, and the Toradja of Celebes. Anthropologists refer to these tribal peoples as proto-Malaysinas and differentiate them from Deutero-Malaysians, those of Hindu, Chinese, or Arabic ancestry.
These industrious peasants introduced the cultivation of rice and the domestication of animals such as pigs, dogs, chickens, and water buffalo. Other innovations included the development of canoes, outriggers, ironwork, mats, pottery, and megalithic monuments. The early inhabitants were animists and practiced ancestor and spirit worship. The social and religious duties--nurturing one's terrace, placating one's neighbors, and feeding one's superiors--that developed in these agricultural communities were gradually refined to from a code of behavior which became the basis of adat (customary law).
Favored by winds and currents, the islands were at the crossroads of the ancient sea routes. Their location produced contact and trade with the peoples of neighboring regions: India, China, Arabia, and the Melanesian and Polynesian islands. As a result, Indonesia's historical and cultural development was influenced by a number of outside religions, notably Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity.
The Advent of Hinduism and Buddhism
Hinduism was the first foreign religion to gain a foothold in Indonesia: Its presence dates back to the fifth century A.D. They early Hindu immigrants established colonies that became powerful empires, like Madiapahit in Java and Srivijaya in Sumatra, and so exerted considerable influence upon the Indonesians. Hinduism probably arrived on
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