Unity in Diversity

The motto of the Republic of Indonesia is Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, i.e. ‘Unity in Diversity’. This slogan goes back to the famous fourteenth-century Javanese poet Mpu Tantular of Majapahit.

According to nationalist ideology Majapahit extended in size and authority as far as the now independent state of Indonesia. On the basis of our historical knowledge we can assume, however, that if Majapahit ever reached the size postulated, its various parts were rarely in a relationship of direct dependency to the rulers of Majapahit, whereas today all islands and peoples of the archipelago are an integrated part of a centralised administration which is more penetrating than that of any government ever preceding it.

A desire for political unity, regional rebellions of the recent past notwithstanding, has been widely shared ever since the rise of nationalism at the beginning of this century. Ironically Islam, the professed faith of the absolute majority of the country’s population, which during the days of colonial rule and pre-Independence nationalism helped to link the peoples of Indonesia, has seemed more recently to be losing some of this unifying strength on account of (non-ethnic) theological rifts among Muslims themselves. The desire for political unity is probably more clearly demonstrated in the way in which the many ethnic groups have accepted Malay as their national language and made it into Indonesian than in a common religious expression.

Nevertheless, neither this political will nor the distinct ethnic and linguistic background which the peoples of the archipelago have in common should let us overlook the marked social, cultural and material differences traditionally existing between the various islands and groups. Thus, historically a certain dichotomy can be observed between the western and eastern parts of Indonesia, and between the coastal regions and the interior of most islands: the peoples living on the islands in the west were in the course of their history exposed to Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam to a much larger degree than most of those living further to the east.

In fact, such contact seems to have decreased the further east one goes, with the exception of parts of the Moluccas such as the original Spice Islands, Ternate and Tidore, which saw the emergence of strongly Islamic kingdoms not much later than other more westerly situated islands. Those places apart, in the west one finds more often states with a highly institutionalised and hierarchical social structure; in the east tribal systems prevail. Whereas in the west most people have settled permanently, in the east more groups are still semi-nomadic.

This is not to say that the social structure and economic patterns described as common for eastern Indonesia cannot be found in the west as well. There they emerge in areas of retreat in the interior, away from the coastal regions which are inhabited by ‘newcomers’ such as the Malays. Given the nature of the environment it is also hardly surprising that some groups of semi-nomadic Malays have made the sea their permanent home.

<< | >>

↑

Source: Clarke Peter et al. (eds.). The World's Religions. Routledge,1988. — 995 p.. 1988

Unity in Diversity

More on the topic Unity in Diversity: