ABSTRACT
This chapter overviews the normative conflict between Islam and secular nationalism under the New Order government in Indonesia. It outlines the unusual course of events that followed the destruction of the Communist Party and the ascent of the New Order government. The chapter examines the social and historical background to the movement for a democratic pluralist Islam. One irony of the movement's recent success is that as the Islamization of Indonesian society has deepened, it has given rise to social forces opposed to these efforts to develop Islamic sanctions for democracy and civil tolerance. In the last years of Dutch colonialism, leadership of the nationalist struggle passed from Sarikat Islam into the hands of the Indonesian Nationalist Party. The chapter describes the nature of the Islamic revival that swept Indonesian society, especially its urban middle classes, in the 1980s and early 1990s. It concerns the civil revival and its impact on the effort to develop a pluralistic and democratic Islam.
