Religions in

Indonesia

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B.E.A.R
in
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Merald Allen A. Credito

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Islamic

The Istiqlal Mosque, Jakarta in Indonesia

Islam in Indonesia
The history of Islam in Indonesia is complex and reflects the diversity of Indonesian
cultures. There is evidence of Arab Muslim traders entering Indonesia as early as the
8th century. By the 15th century, the spread of the religion accelerated via the
missionary work ofMaulana Malik Ibrahim (also known as Sunan Gresik, originally from
Samarkand) in Sumatra and Java as well as Admiral Zheng He (also known as Cheng
Ho, from China) in north Java. Islam in Indonesia is in many cases less meticulously
practiced in comparison to Islam in the Middle East region. Majority of Indonesian
Muslims practice Sunni Islam of Shafi school of jurisprudence. After the resignation

of Suharto, political parties were again permitted to declare an ideology other than
Pancasila. Several Muslim parties formed with Shariah as their ideology and
the Crescent Star Party came in 6th place in the Indonesian legislative election, 1999.
However, in the Indonesian legislative election, 2009, the Crescent Star Party ranked
only 10th, while parties characterized by moderate and tolerant Islamic interpretations
had more significant success, such as the Prosperous Justice Party coming in 4th with
nearly 8% of total votes cast.

Buddhism

Buddhism
Buddhism in Indonesia

Buddhist pilgrims performing their rituals at Borobudur

Buddhism is the second oldest religion in Indonesia, arriving around the sixth
century. The history of Buddhism in Indonesia is closely related to the history of
Hinduism, as a number of empires based on Buddhist culture were established around
the same period. Indonesian archipelago has witnessed the rise and fall of powerful
Buddhist empires such as Sailendra dynasty, Srivijaya and MataramEmpires. The
arrival of Buddhism was started with the trading activity that began in the early of first
century on the Silk Road between Indonesia and India. According to some Chinese

source a Chinese traveler monk on his journey to India, witnessed the powerful maritime
empire of Srivijaya based on Sumatra. The empire also served as a Buddhist learning
center in the region. A number ofhistorical heritage monuments can be found in
Indonesia, including the Borobudur Temple in Yogyakarta and statues
or prasasti(inscriptions) from the earlier history of Buddhist empires.Following
the downfall of President Sukarno in the mid-1960s, Pancasila was reasserted as the
official Indonesian policy on religion to only recognise monotheism . As a result, founder
of Perbuddhi (Indonesian Buddhists Organisation), Bhikku Ashin Jinarakkhita, proposed
that there was a single supreme deity, Sang Hyang Adi Buddha. He was also backed up
with the history behind the Indonesian version of Buddhism in ancient Javanese texts,
and the shape of the Borobudur Temple.According to the 2000 national census, roughly
1% of the total citizens of Indonesia are Buddhists, which takes up about 2 million
people. Most Buddhists are concentrated inJakarta,