“STATE AND RELIGION IN INDONESIA: A HISTORICAL ANALYSIS FROM THE DUTCH COLONIAL ERA TO THE PRESENT”

Abstract

Religion and state in Indonesia had very long historical experiences. Religion can be seen as an essential factor that determines the rise and fall of states. This article would like to analyze the relation between religion and state in Indonesia from the Dutch Colonial era until the present. A historical and sociological analysis would be used as an approach to explain the relation and contestation between religion and state in Indonesia. The findings of research show that the Dutch Colonial Government had destroyed the relationship model of the traditional and theocratic states to be a secular model by separating religion and state in a political institution. About two centuries, the Colonial Government in Indonesia separated the management of religion by the state and was handed over to the religious institutions. In the new state, religion emerged to be the most important part in the state management managed by the ministry of religion affair.