Religions in Indonesia
- Prelude to Indonesia
- Jan 12
- 8 min read
Happy New Year!
For my first post of the year 2025, I’ll cover a kinda sensitive and controversial topic: religion.
Now, many would probably say that the matter of religion and belief are one’s own private choice. In Indonesia, however, there are currently 6 religions which are recognized and every Indonesian must belong to one of them. They are Islam (Islam), Catholic (Katolik), Christianity (Kristen), Hinduism (Hindu), Buddhism (Buddha), and Confucianism (Konghucu).
The information regarding one’s religion is even written down on our national ID card, and this is because of our founding fathers’ believe. If you haven’t already known, Indonesia has a set of foundational philosophy called Pancasila, literally meaning five principles. Now, the first of these five principles is ‘Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa’, which can be translated as ‘The Almighty God’. This, in turn, is accepted to mean that every single Indonesian must belong to a religious group, and the religious groups that are legal in Indonesia is as stated by the law: the aforementioned six (with Confucianism being ‘accepted’ last, in around the year 2000, after being excluded for a few decades during the 70s to 90s).
A lot of debate and criticism rose due to this issue. Furthermore, even though other religion and beliefs are not said to be taboo or anything, they still cannot be written down on our ID card. The government do recognize that there are religious groups other than those six in Indonesia, and does not actually ban them nor their activities as long as they are deemed as law-abiding groups. In fact, in 2017, the Indonesian government allowed the term ‘Kepercayaan Terhadap Tuhan YME’ (‘Believe Towards the Almighty God’) to be written in ID cards of those who does not belong to any of the six recognized religions, and since 2019 these ID cards have started to be printed. However, with a life-long ID card system, not to mention the family registry that has to be changed first, and hassle-filled procedures, many older generations didn’t change their ID cards. Atheism is still not recognized, though.
Anyway, what I want to talk about today is more light-hearted! Let’s see what recognized religions there are in Indonesia, along with their holy scripture and worshiping place.
ISLAM
The majority (around 87%) of Indonesian is Muslim, so Islam is their religion. They pray mainly through salat (commonly read as ‘sholat’) in mosques (masjid) or musalla (mushola), and recite their prayers in Arab. You may notice that some hotels in Indonesia has an arrow sticker on their ceiling. This arrow points to Kaaba (Ka'bah) in Mecca (Makkah), Saudi Arabia (Arab Saudi), which is considered as the House of God and, as such, their qibla (kiblat) or direction of their prayer. Of course, praying must be done by wearing the proper set of clothing, on a prayer rug (sajadah), and after cleansing parts of the body (by performing wudu).
Islam’s religious text is called Quran (Al-Qur'an), which they believed to be words of God (Allah) passed down to Prophet Muhammad (Nabi Muhammad) through the Angel Gabriel (Malaikat Jibril). The titles of their religious leaders include Ulama, Imam, Kyai, and Ustad.
It was said that, unlike Catholicism and Christianity, Islam came into what is now considered as Indonesia through peaceful means, especially by the Wali Sanga who were nine prominent figures (the detail of who exactly these figures are kinda varies) in spreading Islam in Indonesia, especially in Java.
Some Indonesian festivals and public holidays centered around Islamic celebrations, such as Lebaran and Idul Adha. Islamic weddings and events such as mass circumcision (khitan or sunat masal) is also common in Indonesia, especially in Java and Sumatera. Special schools called Pesantren is also quite common, and in this school the curriculum is centered around Islam and Islamic teachings.
KRISTEN
Christianity in Indonesia, which accounts for 6-7% of Indonesians, also has many branches (is that the correct term?) just like Islam. The most…common? biggest? Kristen branch in Indonesia is (was?) the Protestantism, called Kristen Protestan. There are also branches which is based on a place or, well, race of their believer, such as Jawi (Java) and Batak, and where the prayers and songs use their own dialects. However, nowadays and especially among the younger generation in cities, many other branches gain more and more follower.
Kristen’s religious text is the Bible (Alkitab) and they pray in churches (gereja). Many Christian churches in the big cities are located inside shopping malls, as the owner themselves (may be) Christian. Their religious leader AKA the one who gave preaches are usually called Pendeta (‘Reverend’), Pastor, or even Hamba Tuhan (‘God’s Servant’).
Christianity was spread mostly by Spanish invaders in the early 16th century. Some of Christianity’s (including Catholic) holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, become national holidays in Indonesia.
KATOLIK
Catholicism has many similarities to Christianity, and accounts for around 2-3% of Indonesians. Even though they don’t have branches with different teachings, there are groups within Katolik who’re more inclined to one thing or another, such as those who focus on following the life of Virgin Mary (Bunda Maria).
Catholics also pray in churches (gereja) and their religious text is also the Bible (Alkitab), though with the Deuterocanonical (Deuterokanonika) part in it. There is also a thick book of songs to be sung during mass, called Puji Syukur (‘Praise and Grateful’). Catholic is seen as more traditional than Christianity, with more solemn mass (misa), rigid structure (such as that the Father has to be a male, whereas in Christianity the leader of the mass can be a female), hierarchal order, various scripted prayers, and several sacraments. If you enter a church or a house or even a restaurant in Indonesia, and found a cross with the body of Jesus on it and/or an altar for Virgin Mary, then you can almost be certain that the owner of said establishment is Catholic (Kristen’s cross is empty, with no Jesus on it). The term for some of their religious leaders are Romo (‘Father’), Uskup (‘Bishop’), Kardinal (‘Cardinal’), and Paus (‘Pope’). There are also the Sisters (Suster) and Brothers (Frater) who might not necessarily be a part of the hierarchal order but still has some say and some even run Catholic schools.
Similar to Christianity, Catholicism was first spread in the early 16th century by invaders, though this time from Portuguese. Thanks to the Treaty of Tordesillas and then Treaty of Zaragoza, Maluku, which was famed for their spice during that time, came under the Portuguese’s control, who in turn spread their religion (and kinda plunder the land and people).
HINDU
Hinduism has a long history in Indonesia, but now only accounts for 1-2% of the population. If you’re familiar with Bali, then you might also know that many of Balinese are Hindu. Another place with quite a lot of them is in the Mount Bromo area, where the local sub-ethnic group, the Tenggerese people, are mostly Hindu, more precisely Java Hinduism (a bit different from the one practiced in Bali).
They pray and do rituals in Pura, or really in places they consider sacred, and their religious text is the Vedas (Weda or Veda). Their religious leaders include Pandita (‘Pandit’) and Pedanda (‘Priest’).
Hinduism in Indonesia is also different from Hinduism in India, though the god(s) they worship is the same, more or less. The legacy of Hindu kingdoms in Indonesia can still be seen until today, especially in the form of folktales like Mahabharata, historical heritage like the history of Majapahit Kingdom, and buildings like Prambanan Temple. Some people with ties to the old Hindu kingdoms still practice rituals which originally have religious (Hindu) significance, though formally they are registered as being part of another religion, mostly Islam. There are also a few Hindu holidays being celebrated, though the only one that got into the national holiday calendar is Nyepi (‘Day of Silence’)
BUDDHA
Buddha is the oldest religion in Indonesia, though now less than 1% of the population is Buddhist. Even then, quite a few of this number isn’t actually Buddhist but rather Taoists who, because Taoism is not recognized as an official religion in Indonesia, chose to claim to be Buddhist. As such, there are a few different Buddhist schools in Indonesia, with some adopting (I was told they even took an oath) the vegan lifestyle as part of their belief to not cause harm.
Buddhists in Indonesia pray at Vihara (Wihara) and their religious text is the Tripitaka. Bante, along with Biksu/Bhikku for male and Biksuni/Bhikkhuni for female (‘Bhiksuni/Bhikkuni’, or Buddhist monks), are how Buddhists in Indonesia call their religious leaders, depending on their school.
Considering its age, Buddhist kingdoms which flourished in what is now Indonesia left quite a few heritages as well, with Borobudur Temple (Candi Borobudur) being one of the most famous ones. Nowadays, most Buddhist are of Chinese descent, though there are still some small communities of Javanese or Sasak Buddhist who exist until today. Same with Hinduism, there is only one Buddhist holiday that is recognized as a national holiday, which is Waisak (‘Vesak Day’).
KONGHUCU
I’ll be honest and say that I know the least about Konghucu, mostly because when I was in elementary school, when the religion class still covers theories about other religions, Konghucu was not part of the recognized religion in Indonesia. Originally, as in after Indonesia’s independence, Konghucu was recognized, but then they and many Chinese traditions were suppressed (the use of Chinese name was even banned back then and Chinese descent in Indonesia had to change their names into more ‘Indonesian’ names). Only in…2006? 2007? were they recognized once more as an official religion in Indonesia. It’s not odd, then, to know than only around 0.05% of Indonesians’ religion is Konghucu.
Their place of worship is called Kelenteng or Klenteng, and their religious text is called Shishu Wujing (according to the Indonesian government, at the very least), whilst their religious leaders include Xue shi (like a priest, I suppose?), Wen shi (who is more like a religion teacher), Jiao sheng, and Zhang lao. The Chinese New Year, which is called Imlek, is a national holiday in Indonesia and is categorized as a holiday of the Confucianism in Indonesia.
Right, that’s all for today’s post. If there are any mistake, please (kindly) tell me so I can correct them, as I’m not a member of all six religions and religion is considered sacred here AKA it is not something talked about openly, especially to those of the other religion (there are some movement to change this perception, but it’s slow-going in my opinion).
Thanks for reading. If you see any mistaken or outdated information, feel free to contact me^^
Happy New Year 2025~
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