Another very interesting article from: Hindu.Bz
Indonesia: A country which is known as country with world’s largest Muslim population. It is mix of diverse culture with more than 300 distinct ethnic groups that exists there. The country is world’s 3rd largest democracy with over 17,000 islands and the population of country spans around 400+ million people living in there. Even with such large population Indonesia still have substantial numbers of citizens that belong other religions and Hindus constitute 2% (3-4 million) of total Indonesia’s population.
Indonesia recognizes only 6 religions as own of their country and these religions are Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Confucianism. Indonesia was a Hindu country named ancient Majapahit empire and Muslim influence increased in the region since 17th century. The country got independent from Dutch empire in 1946-47. At the time it was a Christian majority country. After independence, in a generation only, it became a so called “Muslim country”.
The country with such large population still has names that are taken from Sanskrit language. Even a President of Indonesia, Mr. Sukarno, had a name in Sanskrit.
President Sukarno did not recognize Hinduism despite of his secular image and his own name. He gave recognition only to Islam and partially to Christianity. Due to this hardliner stance millions of Hindus were forced to convert to Islam. The major part of Indonesian population still have Hindu names but are Muslim by “faith”.
Many citizens living in the Indonesian region have Hindu names, they practice Hinduism but have Muslim identity as Hinduism was not officially recognized at that time. None was allowed to raise voice in Indonesia for 30 years of military dictatorship. After fighting for years finally in 1964, Hinduism got official recognition.
After the democratic rule came in Indonesia, Hindus became free from restrictions and an estimated 1,000,000 people that were declared Muslims during president Sukarno regime came back then to their original identity and identified themselves as Hindu.
At present being the Hindu population in Indonesia is about 8-9 millions. The unofficial numbers might go above 10 millions if we include citizens who practice Hinduism but have Muslim official identity.
Bali island always remained a Hindu majority island in Muslim majority country and moreover the major part of the Hindu population of Indonesia lives in the island of Bali.
Hindus living in Indonesia are very serious and devoted about their faith and hence have survived for hundreds of years. During 1960′s and 70’s islands like Java saw substantial conversions of people from other faith joining Hinduism. This conversions were hugely motivated by the fact that the region has a glorious Hindu past which comprised Hindu-Buddhist ancient kingdoms. During this period many adherent of local animist cults like the Toraja in southern Sulawesi, the Dayak tribes in Borneo and the Karo in North Sumatra, also converted to Hinduism.
Bali is a Hindu dominated island which stands tall in the map of the world. Nearly 93% of the Balinese follow a distinct form of Hinduism which is unique to the island, which has evolved from an combination of Buddhist and Hindu faith, The island consists of thousands of ancient Hindu temples and the people of Bali celebrate most of the Hindu festivals. As per the census figures the island’s consists of ethnic Balinese, which make 89% of the population. Hinduism beliefs & local beliefs have been part of the Balinese culture since ages and they are carried forward by Balinese people from generation to generation. Balinese people are also present as minority in other islands and region of Indonesia
Bali is a major tourist place which have many waterfalls to enjoy, the beauty of culturally rich island is awesome and they have hot springs, beaches and ancient temples with the stories graved on them. Bali is one of the most economically developed island of Indonesia with less than 5% population below the poverty line, which is much lower as compared with Indonesia’s gross average i.e. 12% people below poverty line.
The strong local tradition makes island more interesting, the rich cultural heritage is one of the major attraction of the tourists. Bali is prime example of how a culturally, religiously and ethnically rich area prosper even in the country where Hindus are in minority.
The famous Bali blast was an attack on Hinduism in the region and after Bali bombing many Hindu associations organized International Hindu Youth Conference in 2004 in Bali island to discuss the issues of Bali’s Hindus. The fundamentalists have been trying hard to bring in several laws to disrupt the Hindu identity from the country. The Indonesian Hindus look up to India for some help but the corrupted and lazy government of India have since ever done nothing for Hindu communities living abroad.