State complicity in violence against Ahmadiyah and Shi'a communities in Indonesia

Abstract

This thesis looks at the role of state officials in handling incidents of mass violence against Ahmadiyah and Shi’a communities in Indonesia. Scholars often criticize the post-Soeharto democratic Indonesian governments as having been incapable of addressing violence against religious minorities. This thesis argues that the violence stemmed in part from the state officials’ close connection with vigilante groups, and a general tendency for the authorities to forge mutual and material interests with such groups. Vigilante groups were able to perpetrate violence against the minority congregations with a significant degree of impunity. While the Indonesian state has become far more democratic, accountable and decentralized since 1998, the violence against Ahmadiyah and Shi’a communities shows a state that is still unwilling in assisting or allowing minority groups to practice their religion. The research undertaken for this thesis draws upon a seven-month period of ethnographic fieldwork in the communities of West Java and Madura Island. Research material includes in-depth interviews with community and religious leaders, state officials and security forces, and other prominent politicians. Studying state practices on the ground proved important, because it was at the local level where practices were most felt by citizens, and the manifestation of the state was more apparent.