Religion at the Ballot Box: The Politics of Indonesia’s Blasphemy Laws

Abstract:This article examines the persistence of blasphemy laws and their increasing use during Indonesia’s democratic era. Phenomena related to blasphemy cases have been explained by other scholars in terms of Islamist fundamentalism or institutional weakness. However, in this article I propose that Indonesia’s recent experience should also be seen as resulting from particular political circumstances despite the rising trends of religious belief or conservatism and institutional problems in the country. More specifically, this article considers how blasphemy laws are used as a political tool to mobilize support from conservative religious groups in contests over power and wealth, which I argue helps to explain the continued operation of the problematic laws in Indonesia’s democratic context. The use of the laws, therefore, tends to align with political events and electoral contests as a crucial element in analyzing blasphemy issues in Indonesia.