A Can of Man
Je suis aware
Extremely Muslim.
But on another note, it's not as strictly followed as most mid eastern countries. Usually the people are pretty lax. But that's just their approach to life in general. This is of course, with the exception of Aceh, which is quite strict and many times voiced its desire to secceed from the rest of Indonesia because they wanted a "real" Muslim country.
However, the trend right now I think is that they're taking their religion more seriously than before. This is due to the rising power of the Imams and the loss of the de facto leader Suharto... people look elsewhere for leadership and because Megawati is really no good and there just doesn't seem like a decent political leader around, the religious group is the thing they turn to.
The Mosques and Islamic groups actually help the local populace more directly and effectively than the public sector does. People can get access to education, medical services, councelling, sports etc. through the Mosques. Education in Indonesia is free up until the end of high school. The religious infrastructure of Indonesia has often been called a "welfare state within a welfare state."
When America went to war against the Taleban, a number of Indonesians (no idea what number) volunteered to fight for Al Qaeda. They were actually shown on TV leaving and people were cheering them on, wishing luck. I don't know the number, but I think it was rather low. I could be mistaken though.
Once I overheard someone talking about getting Radio Free America into these places (not just Indonesia but many Muslim countries as a whole) and I just cut into the discussion and told them that this is what they're up against. Unless your radio show can top helping a guy watch his mother give birth to his younger brother, help him after school to get him to master Algebra, take care of his sick father it's got nothing on the religous organizations.
But on another note, it's not as strictly followed as most mid eastern countries. Usually the people are pretty lax. But that's just their approach to life in general. This is of course, with the exception of Aceh, which is quite strict and many times voiced its desire to secceed from the rest of Indonesia because they wanted a "real" Muslim country.
However, the trend right now I think is that they're taking their religion more seriously than before. This is due to the rising power of the Imams and the loss of the de facto leader Suharto... people look elsewhere for leadership and because Megawati is really no good and there just doesn't seem like a decent political leader around, the religious group is the thing they turn to.
The Mosques and Islamic groups actually help the local populace more directly and effectively than the public sector does. People can get access to education, medical services, councelling, sports etc. through the Mosques. Education in Indonesia is free up until the end of high school. The religious infrastructure of Indonesia has often been called a "welfare state within a welfare state."
When America went to war against the Taleban, a number of Indonesians (no idea what number) volunteered to fight for Al Qaeda. They were actually shown on TV leaving and people were cheering them on, wishing luck. I don't know the number, but I think it was rather low. I could be mistaken though.
Once I overheard someone talking about getting Radio Free America into these places (not just Indonesia but many Muslim countries as a whole) and I just cut into the discussion and told them that this is what they're up against. Unless your radio show can top helping a guy watch his mother give birth to his younger brother, help him after school to get him to master Algebra, take care of his sick father it's got nothing on the religous organizations.
godofthunder9010 said:That's more heavily Muslim that I would have expected. Interesting.