RI Muslims remain tolerant: Poll

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Results from a recent survey indicate that the majority of Indonesian Muslims are tolerant toward other religions and reject the imposition of religious bylaws but believe that bombings will continue to be a threat in the future.

Pollster Indo Barometer conducted the survey in May this year to determine Indonesian Muslims' opinions on terrorism and religious tolerance in their own country.

The survey was distributed in 33 provinces using multi-stage random sampling and face-to-face interviews with 1,200 respondents of all religions. Only the answers of 1,047 Muslim respondents were taken into account.

Those surveyed were either aged 17 years and above or in wedlock. Respondents were selected to reflect as closely as possible Central Statistics Agency demographic data.

Director of Indo Barometer M. Qodari said the results showed that 95.4 percent of respondents agree that tolerance between all religions is important, with only 3.5 percent considering it unimportant. He added that 51 percent of respondents reject the idea that religious tolerance is decreasing, while 42.7 percent believe it is.

Additionally, 53.8 percent of respondents believe terrorism still threatens the country, while 71.8 percent reject the notion that terrorism is linked directly to a specific religion.

Qodari added that 88.88 percent of respondents disagree with using violence to battle immoral behavior, while 7.4 percent support it. The results also indicate that 96.2 percent disagree with violence toward people of other religions, while 1.3 percent agree with it.

"Even though the figure is small, there are still some people who advocate violence. We should keep an eye on this figure," Qodari said during the announcement of the survey results at the Wahid Institute on Thursday.

The results indicate that 63.3 percent of respondents disagree with the issuance of religious bylaws, while 27.9 percent agree. Qodari said that 97.6 percent of respondents did not believe that pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) were breeding grounds for terrorism.

Commenting on the survey, a member of Muhammadiyah, Moeslim Abdurrahman, said the results helped provide a picture of contemporary Indonesian Muslims.

He said, however, it was not a good tool for determining which regions had the highest number of hard-liners or for pinpointing who they were in order to counsel them. Moeslim maintained that communication is the key to eliminating terrorism.

"Unfortunately, we can't sort out who the extremists are. That is our organization's biggest weakness. We simply don't know exactly who they are. We know who is in the fundamentalist groups, but we don't know who the terrorists are," he told The Jakarta Post.

Father Benny Susetyo of the Bishops' Council of Indonesia said the survey had made no major revelations because the nature of most Indonesians is to respect the beliefs of others. He added, however, that the government should continue upholding pluralism in Indonesia.

"All religious bylaws should be eliminated. The government should create universal regulations, which don't discriminate among communities," Benny told the Post.