2026 Indonesia Update: Islamic diversity in Indonesia

About

Islamic Diversity in Indonesia

Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, is often celebrated as a model of peaceful coexistence. But this image is increasingly being questioned as Indonesia experiences the effects of the conservative turn emerging in domestic politics globally. Rising identity politics, online vilification of minorities, increasing levels of authoritarian governance and economic inequality are creating challenges to diversity both within Islamic society and the wider population.

The 2026 Indonesia Update will explore the relationship between Islam and diversity in today’s Indonesia through a wide lens aimed at four themes. ‘Embracing Differences’ will look at Indonesian concepts of diversity that underpin everyday coexistence. ‘Insisting on Difference’ will examine Islamic positions that identify danger and harm in difference, along with their effects for minority rights, educational choices and national policy. ‘Institutions’ will explore how organisations respond to and shape difference in civil society, the bureaucracy, politics and the private sector. ‘Mediating Difference’ will investigate digital culture, youth engagement, group relations, and the varying understandings of diversity promoted and debated in the media. The conference will acknowledge that Islam in Indonesia is both a platform for an ethics of inclusion and a site for its contestation and will ask what this means for the country’s future.