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If you guys hear about Indonesia, your mind might cast into fabulous landscape, great food, the title of the most number of Muslims in a single country, but this nation-state that has been the successor state of the Dutch East Indies, a Dutch colony for hundreds of years, has more than its fair share of dark, murky past and present that a lot of people are not aware of.
Post-independence history
Indonesia formally won its independence from the Dutch in December 1949 in the UN court after Sukarno, a charismatic Dutch-educated activist, led Indonesia's struggle for self-governance throughout the Second World War, and boldly announcing the country's independence more than four years previously (in which a four-year armed conflict with the Dutch followed).
Becoming increasingly authoritarian and struggling to balance the different dominant sociological groups of Indonesia, Sukarno created a "Nasakom" ideology, which stood for "Nasionalisme, Agama, Komunisme" (nationalism, religion i.e Islam, and communism). However this fragile co-existence could not last, as the three groups vied for outright influence in Indonesian politics. It culminated in the murky "coup" by mid-level army officers against senior generals of the 30th September 1965, in which the army quickly blamed the Communist Party. read more here
What followed was one of the most violent, organized, and ruthless massacre in the 21st century. The army, with the help of Muslim youth (source) and overzealous nationalists, killed off between 500 000 to 2 million suspected or real communists, whom most were farmers, teachers, or intellectuals. Given that this happened at the height of the cold war and the United States were losing ground in Indochina, they supplied the Indonesian army (well in bed with the States at this point), with all the operational means and backing to carry out the genocide. more reading; US involvement in the killings
With the communists out of the way and the Muslims on their side, the army began moving against Sukarno and eventually inched him out of the presidential seat in 1968, in which General Suharto (very similar names thus easy to confuse the two) eventually succeeded him as the second President of Indonesia. Thirty-two years of military dictatorship followed in which Islam was initially suppressed from public life (NYT article from 1985) as well as other non-nationalist ideas.
In 1998, the pro-democracy movement eventually took down Suharto. Though it has been more than twenty years since, Suharto's shadow still looms large over Indonesian politics as some figures of his late-era presidential period preside over the current administration and opposition.
Invading Territories, Massacring People: The story of Papua and East Timor
Back in Sukarno's era in the early 1960s, the Dutch had not seceded this particular territory as Indonesia believed they should. This territory, Papua, was a resource-rich western half of New Guinea and home to indigenous Papuans. Helped by the US once again, Indonesia took control of this territory and added it to its province when the Papuans raised its own flag the moment the Dutch left their lands.
A sham election followed in 1969, when the Indonesian army hand-picked 1025 Papuan men and women to vote their own destiny. Following reports that the army had threatened, isolated, and intimidated these Papuans (source 1 source 2), the result was an overwhelming majority for an apparent Papuan desire to join Indonesia.
To this day, Indonesia still annexes the Papuans by continually deploying army soldiers to massacre Papuans (reports suggest between 100 000 to 500 000 Papuans have been killed source), suppressing their dissent (source), and Papuans are frequently victims of racist abuse (source). There are a lot of parallels between the Israel-Palestine occupation and the Indonesia-Papua occupation even though the motive might be slightly different.
Another territory with a lot of violent history with Indonesia is East Timor. A former Portugese colony, East Timor was an abandoned part of the Portugese empire which also had aspirations for self-governance. Three parties emerged, APODETI, UDT, and notably, the centre-left and highly influential FRETILIN. Under the guise of fear of the rise of communism, Indonesia started funding APODETI and UDT as a counter balance to FRETILIN and eventually pursued military action against FRETILIN in 1975 after Suharto received permission from Henry Kissinger to do so.
A four-year invasion and genocide followed in which 200 000 people were massacred (source) through fighting, bombings, forced displacements, and starvation. Indonesia eventually "integrated" East Timor as one of its provinces, building infrastructure such as schools and hospitals for sinister means, as deliberate poisoning and erasure of East Timor culture followed within these institutions (Source: If You Leave Us Here We Will Die, by Geoffrey Robinson).
The turning point of this occupation happened when the cameras captured the Indonesian army shooting at peaceful East Timorese marchers (footage). The incident became known as the Santa Cruz massacre where hundreds of East Timorese were killed. Outraged by the developments, the world started to put Indonesia under pressure for its East Timor occupation, including the US, whose support has significantly waned since the end of the Cold War.
Eventually, another referendum was conducted in 1999 and this time East Timorese got their majority vote heard by the UN. Indonesia pulled out their troops from East Timor but not before launching a series of violent attacks all over the country (source) where at least thousands civilians more East Timorese were killed. East Timor eventually became a sovereign state in 2002.
Aceh, Indonesia's Most "Islamic" Province
The Acehnese always had one of the most interesting history of all Indonesian peoples. The Aceh Sultanate was actually an Ottoman Empire vassal from 1539 (source) and its people were more religious than other ethnic groups of Indonesia. When the Dutch colonized the archipelago, the Acehnese were one of the last ethnic groups to fall to the Europeans.
Fast forward to post-Dutch era and during the Suharto presidency, the Acehnese did not feel represented in the central government as the Javanese, a majority ethnic group in Indonesia which are generally less religious and more secular, dominated Indonesian politics. Aceh independence movement (GAM) thus took form and from 1976 onwards, the Suharto government initiated "counter-insurgency" operations of terror and violence towards the Acehnese. (wiki)
Resolutions between the Acehnese and the central government ebbed and flowed, but by the will of Allah, the 2004 Tsunami which killed more than 150 000 Acehnese happened, and this practically ended the Indonesia-Aceh conflict. Today, Aceh has a special autonomy status within Indonesia and notably has its own laws governing its people.
Conclusion
Indonesia, while a Muslim majority nation, never set out to become an "Islamic" country, instead promoting a brand of nationalism to unify series of ethnic groups never previously united before the Dutch came to these islands. As Indonesia's army became the most powerful political entity in the country, and still to this day, its outlook on internal and external policies have always been violent and quick to suppress dissent, even after the country became a democracy.
A strong historical tie with the United States cannot be ignored as Indonesia became the "Attack Dog" for America in Southeast Asia, and the series of violence committed by the Indonesian army is a byproduct of American training and influence of thought.
To conclude, a lot of Indonesians are unaware of or unwilling to confront their own country's violent history and present, and while Indonesians support the struggles of Palestine, Rohingya, Uyghurs, Kashmiris, and other Muslims, the fact that a lot of them defend what their government did or continue to do show how toxic nationalism can divide the Ummah to the extent that it is today. The road to a proper and pure Islamic consciousness is long and as long as nationalism remain a dominant point of view of many Muslims around the world, the road just remains that bit harder.
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