Indonesia's Population: Ethnicity and Religion in a Changing Political Landscape

Chapter 4. Five Religions: A Multi-Religious Society

4 Five Religions A Multi-Religious Society 4.1 Religious Composition This chapter presents some quantitative data of officially recognized religions in Indonesia. Unlike the information on ethnicity that is confined to Indonesian citizens, the published statistics on religion are based on the whole population of Indonesia, including both citizens and foreigners. Because we are working from the published data, we are unable to limit the analysis on religious composition to Indonesian citizens only. Readers should be careful, therefore, when comparing the statistics on religion and ethnicity. Nevertheless, since foreigners constitute a very small percentage of the Indonesian population, there will not be much distortion in the analysis. This chapter compares the data on religion from the censuses of 1971 and 2000. It should be noted that in the 1961 population census, the first census after Indonesia’s independence in 1945, the information on religion was not published because of the perceived sensitivity. The earlier 1930 population census only recorded the religions of a very small part of the Indonesian population. This is the reason for using the 1971 census, rather than that of 1961 or 1930, for a comparison with the 2000 data set. In 1965 Sukarno, the then president of the Republic of Indonesia, issued a presidential decision stipulating six officially recognized religions, namely, Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism (Suryadinata 1998). When Soeharto came 103© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore Reproduced from Indonesia’s Population: Ethnicity and Religion in a Changing Political Landscape, by Leo Suryadinata, Evi Nurvidya Arifin and Aris Ananta (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2003). This version was obtained electronically direct from the publisher on condition that copyright is not infringed. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. Individual articles are available from 104 INDONESIA’S POPULATION© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore to power in 1967, he initially continued the policy of his predecessor towards religions but in 1979 his cabinet decided to de-recognize Confucianism (ibid.). As a result, Confucianism was last included in the population census of 1971, but not in 1980, 1990 and 2000. Confucianists and others who do not follow one of the five official religions (viz. Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism and Buddhism) are classified under “others”. Another difference between the 1971 and 2000 censuses is the way that information on Christianity was recorded. There were three groups of Christians in 1971: the Catholics, the Protestants and other Christians; but there were only two groups in the 2000 census: the Catholics and the Protestants. For the purpose of comparison here, all groups of Christianity are combined into one single group, the Christians. During the last three decades, 1971–2000, Indonesia has remained predominantly Muslim. The percentage of Muslims increased from 87.51% in 1971 to 88.22% in 2000. In terms of size, the Muslim population has increased by 73.95 million during 1971–2000, or an average rate of growth of 1.86% annually. This rate of growth is very similar to the rate of growth of the Indonesian population as a whole (1.83%). The number of Christians has increased from 8.74 million in 1971 to 17.95 million in 2000, or 9.21 million during the period 1971–2000. The average growth rate has been high, i.e., 2.48% annually. As a result, the percentage of Christians has also risen, from 7.39% in 1971 to 8.92% in 2000. TABLE 4.1.1 Number, Percentage, and the Growth Rate of Religious Followers: Indonesia, 1971 and 2000 Religious 1971 2000 Annual Follower Growth Rate Number % Number % % Muslims 103,579,496 87.51 177,528,772 88.22 1.86 Christians 8,741,706 7.39 17,954,977 8.92 2.48 Hindus 2,296,299 1.94 3,651,939 1.81 1.60 Buddhists 1,092,314 0.92 1,694,682 0.84 1.51 Confucians 972,133 0.82 – – – Others 1,685,902 1.42 411,629 0.20 – 4.86 TOTAL 118,367,850 100.00 201,241,999 100.00 Source: Compiled and calculated from Biro Pusat Statistik (1975) and Badan Pusat Statistik (2001a). FIVE RELIGIONS 105© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore FIGURE 4.1.1 Religious Composition: Indonesian Population, 1971 Muslim (87.51%) Christian (7.39%) Hindu (1.94%) Buddhist (0.92%) Confucian (0.82%) Others...