ABSTRACT
Paul Korsvald, the general manager of a large Norwegian paper company’s subsidiary, Indonesian Enterprises, had several decisions to make before the day was over. His first decision was whether to build a small mosque next to his corrugated carton plant near Jakarta, Java. Among the Indonesian Enterprise workers, 34 were Chinese and were primarily Confucians and Buddists, 4 were Javanese Christians, and 2 of Indian extraction were Hindus. The other 352 plant workers and supervisors and the 48 office managers, and workers under him said they were Muslims (see Appendix). Many, however, were not strict followers. They practiced an Islam that had been blended with Hindu, Buddhist, and other beliefs. Jim Sterba (Wall Street Journal, September 29, 1987) observes:
Islam is different in the world’s largest Moslem nation, Indonesia. It has a sense of humor. It doesn’t seem so stern and insistent. It is more tolerant than Islam elsewhere.
