Religious Polarization in Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 9 focuses on religiously polarizing election campaigns. It begins by recounting the massive, religiously inspired mobilization against a minority Chinese Christian candidate in Jakarta’s 2017 gubernatorial election and reviews the prevailing explanations of this highly polarizing episode. Using election poster appeals and secondary sources, it explores religious appeals and polarization across district-level regional head elections, as well as all gubernatorial elections in every province between 2017 and 2020. I conclude that religious polarization is most likely to occur when a competitive non-Muslim candidate competes in a Muslim-majority/indigenous-minority constituency and faces off against a joint-Muslim ticket that lacks a strong religious reputation. The chapter helps to explain why religious polarization is a strong possibility in West Kalimantan and North Sumatra in the future, but is unlikely to occur again in Jakarta.