Indonesian Islamic Students’ Fear of Demographic Changes: The Nexus of Arabic Education, Religiosity, and Political Preferences

Abstract

Demographic changes have sparked several debates on the interconnected identities of citizens, with some transitions observed in previous studies to be smooth as indicated by the continuous emergence of conflicts. The fear of within-boundary demographic changes also drives potential tensions among native people. Therefore, this study posited that the basic knowledge of the Arabic language has the ability to contribute to the formation of religiosity, political preference, and fear of demographic changes. This was determined quantitatively by distributing questionnaires to 496 students of Islamic state universities, and the findings confirmed nearly all the direct relationships aside from religiosity and political preference. This also shows the complex formation of fear due to demographic changes. The possession of the Arabic language is observed to be causing an increase in discomfort while being religious decreases it. Additionally, further discussions and implications are presented.