Indonesia: Racial comments and radical ideology

According to Benar News reporting on 17 October 2017, the new governor of Jakarta, Anies Baswedan, used racial undertones in his inaugural speech by saying: "All of us natives have been oppressed, pushed aside. Now is the time for us to become the masters in the country of Indonesia." In a separate issue, results have been published from a recent poll among university and high-school students, in which around a quarter of participants agreed that ¢‚¬Å¾Islamic State" ideology is worth fighting for and a caliphate would be the preferable state system, as reported by Benar News on 31 October 2017. Thomas Muller, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "In a way, it is only to be expected that the new governor plays the racial card, having played the religious card in elections so successfully. Race and religion are closely related in Indonesia. However, in his speech it remained unclear whom he meant by "˜us natives" in Indonesia needing to throw off colonialism. It was quickly pointed out on social media platforms that Baswedan is of Arab-Yemenite descent and can hardly be classed as a "˜native" at all." Thomas Muller sees the poll results among students as being particularly worrying: "Whereas the results of the poll fit the growing Islamic conservatism in the country, it shows how challenging the situation is not only for Christians, but also for the government and more moderate Islamic organizations like Nadhlatul Ulama or Muhammadiyah."