Religion and conflicting ideologies

by Nina Mariani Noor
The phenomenon of mass killing of 1965-66 was a tragedy in Indonesian history. However, there is only a little number of books available which revealed what actually happened in that year since the intention of New order era to cover it. For years, young generation were only taught about the brutality of PKI members and the heroism of Indonesian army in eliminating PKI without uncovering the real fact.
These two readings, at least open our eyes about what exactly happened at that time in more balance way and enrich our knowledge on that moment. It seems to me that in G. 30. S PKI event, religion could be a push factor to commit killings. When people think that their religion is being threatened by other ideology, they will spontaneously react to protect their ideology. Unfortunately, the way they react, sometimes neglect the humanity. They often attack the people who having the other ideology or even kill them. In Indonesia, this trend, in my opinion, is still tangible nowadays. It can be seen from some conflicts that happened in the name of religion in the last decade. Sometimes I question, why people who claim to be religious do commit violence in order to protect their beliefs? Do they forget their religious teaching not to abuse other human beings? Why don’t they choose more manner way like doing dialogue with opposite parties? Is doing violence the “hidden” characteristics of Indonesian people?
In response to Cribb’s statement in page 39 about the wave of religious conversion after the events of 1965-66 in which 2.8 million people converted to Christianity and also Hinduism, I partly admit that one of the reason is that Christianity did not deeply involved in the confrontation and killings. However, there is still a question in my mind, can we say that people who converted, thought that they would convert to any official religions but not Islam? Was that a kind of anxious and hatred feeling toward Muslims because of the events of 1965-66?
Readings: Robert Cribb, The Indonesian Killings of 1965-66
Robert W. Hefner, “Politics and Social Identity: The 1965-66 Violence and Aftermath ”