Indonesian Minorities - Rights, Plights and Positions

Nordic Indonesia Studies Network (NISN) Third Annual Workshop, NIAS, Copenhagen, 22-24 September 2011

Theme of the workshop: Indonesian Minorities - Rights, Plights and Positions
Indonesia is a multicultural and multiethnic nation. In Indonesia, Islam is the majority religion, while the Javanese are the majority ethnic group. Minorities of various kinds exist in Indonesian society by the thousands. Most citizens of Indonesia belong to at least one minority group, be it ethnic, religious, sexual, linguistic or other.

Each Indonesian's public identity and social status are coloured by such factors as one's religious or ethnic affiliations. In spite of decades of rigorous attempts of building national unity, promoting a sense of "Indonesianness" to cover the entire archipelago, and having a constitution that rank all citizens equal, there still exist very strong identifications and bonds with one's own ethnic and religious groups. These "local" ingroup identifications often reign supreme vis-à-vis the feeling of togetherness as Indonesians. The Balinese, for instance, while generally having no issues with being regarded as Indonesians, they nevertheless have a very strong notion of being Balinese as opposed to "other kinds" of Indonesians.

Invited keynote speakers and resource persons:
· Melissa Crouch, PhD, Research Assistant, Asian Law Centre, University of Melbourne
· Vedi R. Hadiz, PhD, Professor, Murdoch University
· Dédé Oetomo, PhD, co-founder, GAYa NUSANTARA
· Ariel Heryanto, PhD, Associate Professor, Australian National University
· [TBA]