Asia | South-East Asian syncretism

Indonesia wants to export moderate Islam

The world’s largest Muslim-majority country enters the Islamic debate

A woman has her photograph taken in the sea at a beach in Indonesia.
Sunni, sea and sandImage: Angga Budhiyanto/Zuma Press/Eyevine
|JAKARTA

On Christmas Eve 22 years ago, jihadist terrorists planted bombs at churches in cities across Indonesia, killing 18 people. Every Christmas since then, members of the country’s largest Muslim group, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), have gathered outside churches in Indonesia to ensure that Christians can worship in safety. Now the powerful Islamic organisation has a more ambitious goal: to spread its moderate views across the Muslim world.

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This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Indonesian moderation”

From the August 19th 2023 edition

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