The popular annual Ubud Writers & Readers Festival (www.ubudwritersfestival.com) in Bali, held in October, showcases both local and international writers and has an annual theme.
One Culture or Many?
The differences within Indonesian culture may challenge social cohesion and have at times been used as an excuse to incite conflict, but the nation still prevails. And, with notable exceptions such as Papua, the bonds have grown stronger, with the notion of an Indonesian identity overlapping rather than supplanting the nation's many pre-existing regional cultures. The national slogan, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity) – even though its words are old Javanese – has been adopted by Indonesians across widely varying ethnic and social standpoints.
Religion as Culture
A cultural element that bridges both the regional and the national is religion – the Pancasila principle of belief in a god holds firm. Though Indonesia is predominantly Islamic, in many places Islam is interwoven with traditional customs, giving it unique qualities and characteristics. Some areas are Christian or animist and, to leaven the mix, Bali has its own unique brand of Hinduism. Religion plays a role in the everyday: mosques and musholla (prayer rooms) are in constant use, and the vibrant Hindu ceremonies of Bali are a daily occurrence, to the delight of visitors.
Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Indonesia (2004) by Jacques Bertrand remains a solid primer on the reasons behind violence in areas such as Maluku and Kalimantan.
Trends & Traditions
Smart phones, huge malls, techno-driven nightclubs and other facets of international modernity are common in Indonesia. But while the main cities and tourist resorts can appear technologically rich, other areas remain untouched. And even where modernisation has taken hold, it's clear that Indonesians have a very traditionalist heart. As well as adhering to religious and ethnic traditions, Indonesians also maintain social customs. Politeness to strangers is a deeply ingrained habit throughout most of the archipelago. Elders are still accorded great respect. When visiting someone's home, elders are always greeted first, and often customary permission to depart is also offered. This can occur whether in a high-rise in Medan or a hut in the Baliem Valley.
SMALL TALK
One thing that takes many visitors by surprise in Indonesia is what may seem like over-inquisitiveness from complete strangers. Questions from them might include the following:
Dari mana? (Where do you come from?)
Mau kemana? (Where are you going?)
Tinggal dimana? (Where are you staying?)
Jalan sendiri? (Are you travelling alone?)
Sudah kawin? (Are you married?)
Anak-anak ada? (Do you have children?)
Visitors can find these questions intrusive or irritating, and in tourist areas they may just be a prelude to a sales pitch, but more often they are simply polite greetings and an expression of interest in a foreigner. A short answer or a Bahasa Indonesia greeting, with a smile, is a polite and adequate response. Try the following:
Jalan-jalan (Walking around)
Saya pergi dulu (literally 'I go first' nicely says that you can't pause for a pitch)
If you get into a slightly longer conversation, it's proper to ask some of the same questions in return. When you've had enough chatter, you can answer the question 'Where are you going?' even if it hasn't been asked.
Lifestyle
Daily life for Indonesians has changed rapidly in the last decade or two. These days, many people live away from their home region and the role of women has extended well beyond domestic duties to include career and study.
Family Life
The importance of the family remains nevertheless high. This is evident during such festivals as Idul Fitri (Lebaran, the end of the Islamic fasting month), when highways become gridlocked, ferries get jammed and planes fill with those returning home to loved ones. Even at weekends, many travel for hours to spend a day with their relatives. In many ways, the notions of family and regional identity have become more pronounced: as people move away from small-scale communities and enter the milieu of the cities, the sense of belonging becomes more valued.
Village Life
Beyond family, the main social unit is the village, whether it is in the country or manifests in the form of a suburb or neighbourhood in an urban area. Less than half the population still lives in rural areas (it was 80% in 1975) where labour in the fields, the home or the market is the basis of daily life. So, for younger Indonesians, is school – though not for as many as might be hoped. Nine out of 10 children complete the five years of primary schooling, but barely over six out of 10 get through secondary school. Kids from poorer families have to start supplementing the family income at an early age.
The village spirit can be found on Jakarta's backstreets, which, for example, are home to tightknit neighbourhoods where kids run from house to house and everyone knows who owns which chicken. A sense of community may also evolve in a kos (apartment with shared facilities), where tenants, far from their families, come together for meals and companionship.
Traditional Life
For the many Indonesians who still live in their home regions, customs and traditions remain a part of the everyday: the Toraja of Sulawesi continue to build traditional houses due to their social importance; the focus of a Sumbanese village remains the gravestones of their ancestors due to the influence they are believed to have in daily happenings. These aren't customs offered attention once a year – they are a part of life. And many Dayaks of Kalimantan still live in communal longhouses sheltering 20 families or more.
And even as modernity has found purchase across much of the nation, age-old traditions can still underpin life: Bali, for example, still scrupulously observes its annual day of silence, Nyepi (Balinese Lunar New Year), when literally all activity stops and everyone stays at home (or in their hotels) so that evil spirits will think the island uninhabited and leave it alone.
Cowboys in Paradise (2009), directed by Amit Virmani, has made headlines for its unflinching portrait of real-life gigolos in Bali. Fixtures of Kuta Beach, these men are popular with some female tourists.
Gay Life
Contradictions also run through the status of gays in Indonesian society. Indonesians of both sexes are actively gay, and repression is mostly absent. However this isn't universally true, especially in Aceh where a 2015 incident received attention worldwide: two young women hugging were accused by Sharia police officers of being lesbians and taken in for questioning. A short time later, the Aceh government announced that gay people having sex would be punished with 100 strokes of the cane.
Positive recognition of gay identity or gay rights is largely missing. Waria (transgender or transvestite) performers and prostitutes have quite a high profile. Otherwise gay behaviour is, by and large, accepted without being particularly approved of. Bali, with its big international scene, and some Javanese cities have the most open gay life – although a gay wedding ceremony at a resort on Bali in 2015 drew an official rebuke.
MIGRATION & HOMOGENISATION
Ethnic and cultural tensions in Indonesia have often been fuelled by transmigrasi (transmigration), the government-sponsored program of migration from more overcrowded islands (Java, Bali and Madura) to less crowded ones such as Kalimantan, Sumatra, Sulawesi and Papua. Over eight million people were relocated between 1950 and 2000. Local residents have often resented their marginalisation due to a sudden influx of people with little regard or use for local cultures and traditions. That the newcomers have the full sponsorship of the government adds to the resentment.
Multiculturalism
Indonesia is a country of literally hundreds of cultures. Every one of its 700-plus languages denotes, at least to some extent, a different culture. They range from the matrilineal Minangkabau of Sumatra and the artistic Hindu Balinese, to the seafaring Bugis and buffalo-sacrificing Toraja of Sulawesi and Papua's penis-gourd-wearing Dani, to name but a few. Indonesia's island nature and rugged, mountainous te
rrain have meant that groups of people have often developed in near isolation from each other, resulting in an extraordinary differentiation of culture and language across the archipelago. Even in densely populated Java there are distinct groups, such as the Badui, who withdrew to the western highlands as Islam spread through the island and have had little contact with outsiders.
Riri Riza's Gie (2005), the story of Soe Hok Gie, an ethnic Chinese antidictatorship activist, was submitted for consideration in the Best Foreign Film category of the Academy Awards. His 3 Hari Untuk Selamanya (Three Days to Forever, 2007) is a classic road movie about a modern journey from Jakarta to Yogyakarta.
One Nation, Many Cultures
The notion that all these peoples could form one nation is a relatively young one, originating in the later part of the Dutch colonial era. Indonesia's 20th-century founding fathers knew that if a country of such diverse culture and religion was to hold together, it needed special handling. They fostered Indonesian nationalism and a national language (Bahasa Indonesia, spoken today by almost all Indonesians but the mother tongue for only about 20% of them). They rejected ideas that Indonesia should be a federal republic (potentially centrifugal), or a state subject to the law of Islam, even though this is the religion of the great majority. Today most Indonesian citizens (with the chief exceptions of many Papuans and some Acehnese) are firmly committed to the idea of Indonesia, even if there is a lingering feeling that in some ways the country is a 'Javanese empire'.
In the Shadow of Swords (2005) by Sally Neighbour investigates the rise of terrorism in Indonesia and beyond, from an Australian perspective.
Religion
Indonesia's constitution affirms that the state is based on a belief in 'the One and Only God'; yet it also, rather contradictorily, guarantees 'freedom of worship, each according to his/her own religion or belief'. In practice, this translates into a requirement to follow one of the officially accepted 'religions', of which there are now six: Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.
Islam is the predominant religion, with followers making up about 88% of the population. In Java, pilgrims still visit hundreds of holy places where spiritual energy is believed to be concentrated. Christians make up about 10% of the population, in scattered areas spread across the archipelago. Bali's Hindus comprise about 1.5% of the population.
Nevertheless, old beliefs persist. The earliest Indonesians were animists who practised ancestor and spirit worship. When Hinduism and Buddhism and, later, Islam and Christianity spread into the archipelago, they were layered onto this spiritual base.
Islam
Islam arrived in Indonesia with Muslim traders from the Arabian Peninsula and India as early as the 7th century AD, within decades of the Prophet Muhammad receiving the word of Allah (God) in Mecca. The first Indonesian rulers to convert to Islam were in the small North Sumatran ports of Lamreh and Pasai in the 13th century. Gradually over the following two centuries, then more rapidly, other Indonesian states adopted Islam. The religion initially spread along sea-trade routes, and the conversion of Demak, Tuban, Gresik and Cirebon, on Java's north coast, in the late 15th century was an important step in its progress.
The first Indonesian rulers to adopt Islam chose to do so from contact with foreign Muslim communities. Some other states were converted by conquest. Java's first Islamic leaders have long been venerated and mythologised as the nine walis (saints). Many legends are told about their feats of magic or war, and pilgrims visit their graves despite the official proscription of saint worship by Islam.
RAMADAN
One of the most important months of the Muslim calendar is the fasting month of Ramadan. As a profession of faith and spiritual discipline, Muslims abstain from food, drink, cigarettes and other worldly desires (including sex) from sunrise to sunset. However, many of the casually devout will find loopholes in the strictures.
Ramadan is often preceded by a cleansing ceremony, Padusan, to prepare for the coming fast (puasa). Traditionally, during Ramadan people get up at 3am or 4am to eat (this meal is called sahur) and then fast until sunset. Special prayers are said at mosques and at home.
The first day of the 10th month of the Muslim calendar is the end of Ramadan, called Idul Fitri or Lebaran. Mass prayers are held in the early morning, followed by two days of feasting. Extracts from the Koran are read and religious processions take place. During this time of mutual forgiveness, gifts are exchanged and pardon is asked for past wrongdoing.
During Ramadan, many restaurants and warungs are closed in Muslim regions of Indonesia. Those owned by non-Muslims will be open, but in deference to those fasting, they may have covered overhangs or will otherwise appear shut. In the big cities, many businesses are open and fasting is less strictly observed. Street stalls, mall food courts and warungs all come alive for the evening meal.
Though not all Muslims can keep to the privations of fasting, the overwhelming majority do and you should respect their values. Do not eat, drink or smoke in public unless you see others doing so.
Note that for a week before and a week after the official two-day Idul Fitri holiday, transport is chaotic; don't even consider travelling during this time as roads and buses are jammed, flights full and ferries bursting. You will be better off in non-Muslim areas – such as Bali, east Nusa Tenggara, Maluku or Papua – but even these areas have significant Muslim populations. Plan well, find yourself an idyllic spot and stay put.
Ramadan and Idul Fitri move back 10 days or so every year, according to the Muslim calendar.
Customs
Today Indonesia has the largest Muslim population of any country in the world and the role Islam should play in its national life is constantly debated. Mainstream Indonesian Islam is moderate. Muslim women are not segregated nor, in most of the country, do they have to wear the jilbab (head covering), although this has recently become more common. Muslim men are allowed to marry two women but must have the consent of their first wife. Even so, polygamy in Indonesia is very rare. Many pre-Islamic traditions and customs remain in place. The Minangkabau society of Sumatra, for example, is strongly Islamic but remains matrilineal according to tradition.
Islam requires that all boys be circumcised, and in Indonesia this is usually done between the ages of six and 11. Muslims observe the fasting month of Ramadan. Friday afternoons are officially set aside for believers to worship, and all government offices and many businesses are closed as a result. In accordance with Islamic teaching, millions of Indonesians have made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Rimbaud in Java: The Lost Voyage by Jamie James (2011) recreates poet Arthur Rimbaud's Java escape in 1876 when he first joined the Dutch army and then deserted, fleeing into the jungle.
Islamic Laws
An attempt by some Islamic parties to make sharia (Islamic religious law) a constitutional obligation for all Indonesian Muslims was rejected by the national parliament in 2002. Sharia was firmly outlawed under the Suharto dictatorship, but elements of it have since been introduced in some cities and regions. Aceh was permitted to introduce strict sharia under its 2005 peace deal with the government. In Aceh gambling, alcohol and public affection between the sexes are all now banned, some criminals receive corporal punishment, and the jilbab is compulsory for women. Public displays of intimacy, alcohol and 'prostitute-like appearance' are outlawed in the factory town of Tangerang on Jakarta's outskirts, and the jilbab is obligatory in Padang on Sumatra.
However the result of recent elections is that the great majority of Muslims are moderates and do not want an Islamic state. Neither of Indonesia's two biggest Muslim organisations (each has about 30 millions members, but are not political parties) – the traditionalist Nahdlatul Ulama (Rise of the Scholars) and the modernist Muhammadiyah – now seeks an Islamic state.
There are indications that a more conservative form of Islam is gaining some traction. While regions including Sumbawa, West Java and notably Aceh are quite conservative, changes are coming elsewhere
. There are reports of mandatory Islamisation of young girls in some parts of West Papua and Sumatra.
In many Indonesian hotel rooms you'll notice a small arrow pointing in a seemingly random direction on the ceiling; it's actually indicating the direction of Mecca for Muslims who want to pray but can't get to a mosque.
Militant Islam
Militant Islamist groups that have made headlines with violent actions speak for only small minorities. Jemaah Islamiah was responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings and other acts of terror. The Indonesian government has captured or killed many of its principals, including cleric Abu Bakar Bashir who was jailed for 15 years in 2011.
Jalanan, a 2013 documentary by Daniel Ziv provides a compelling look at the lives of three Jakarta street musicians as they try to keep pace with rapid societal change.
Christianity
The Portuguese introduced Roman Catholicism to Indonesia in the 16th century. Although they dabbled in religious conversion in Maluku and sent Dominican friars to Timor and Flores, their influence was never strong. The Dutch introduced Protestantism but made little effort to spread it. Missionary efforts came only after the Dutch set about establishing direct colonial rule throughout Indonesia in the 19th century. Animist areas were up for grabs and missionaries set about their work with zeal in parts of Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, Kalimantan, Papua, Sumatra and Sulawesi. A significant number of Chinese Indonesians converted to Christianity during the Suharto era.
Lonely Planet Indonesia Page 142