When the Communists Found Christ: Religious Conversions and the Missionary Landscape of Post-Coup Indonesia

Öz

This article examines the mass Christian conversions in Indonesia following the 1965 G30S/PKI coup attempt, analysing them not as isolated expressions of faith but as strategic responses to intense socio-political pressures. Using Anthony Giddens’ structuration theory as a framework, this study explores how state policies, ideological realignments, and individual agency co-constructed new religious identities in the volatile aftermath of anti-communist purges. Focusing primarily on Java between 1965 and 1971, the research reveals that many conversions—particularly among Abangan Muslims—were influenced by a mix of survival instincts, religious practicalities, and the humanitarian outreach of Christian missionaries. Prisons became key microcosms where structural coercion intersected with strategic agency, often resulting in collective religious shifts. The study further explores Muslim responses, including rising interreligious tensions and violent backlash, as well as the Suharto regime’s evolving stance—from implicit support to tighter regulation of missionary activities. Ultimately, the paper argues that mass conversions were embedded in a broader state project to reconstruct national identity through religious conformity, positioning Christianity as both a tool and a symptom of New Order ideological engineering. This study contributes to broader discussions on religion, power, and identity formation in postcolonial states experiencing ideological rupture and sociopolitical reconfiguration.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Religious Conversion
• Christian Mission
• Communism
• New Order Regime
• Structuration Theory

Komünistler İsa’yı Bulduğunda: Darbe Sonrası Endonezya’da Dinî Dönüşümler ve Misyonerlik Manzarası

Öz

Bu makale, 1965 G30S/PKI darbe girişiminin ardından Endonezya’da yaşanan kitlesel olarak Hristiyanlığa geçme vakalarını, yalnızca bireysel inanç ifadeleri olarak değil, yoğun sosyo-politik baskılara verilen stratejik tepkiler olarak ele almaktadır. Anthony Giddens’ın yapılaşma teorisini kuramsal çerçeve olarak kullanan çalışma, devlet politikalarının, ideolojik yeniden yapılanmaların ve bireysel edimlerin, anti-komünist tasfiyelerin ardından nasıl dinî kimlikler inşa ettiğini incelemektedir. Araştırma, özellikle 1965-1971 yılları arasında Cava adasına odaklanarak, birçok Abangan Müslümanının din değiştirme kararlarında hayatta kalma içgüdüsü, ibadet pratiklerinin zorluğu ve Hristiyan misyonerlerin insani yardımlarının etkili olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Hapishaneler, bu yapısal baskının bireysel stratejilerle kesiştiği ve toplu din değiştirmelerin gözlemlendiği mikrokozmoslar hâline gelmiştir. Çalışma ayrıca Müslüman kesimlerin bu gelişmelere verdiği tepkileri, artan mezhep gerilimlerini ve şiddetli karşılıkları da incelemektedir. Suharto rejiminin misyonerliğe yönelik tutumu ise örtük destekten sıkı denetimlere doğru evrilmiştir. Sonuç olarak makale, bu toplu din değiştirmelerin Yeni Düzen rejiminin ulusal kimliği yeniden inşa etme projesinin bir parçası olduğunu ve Hristiyanlığın hem bir araç hem de bu ideolojik mühendisliğin bir göstergesi hâline geldiğini savunmaktadır. Bu çalışma, ideolojik kırılma ve sosyo-politik yeniden yapılanma süreçleri yaşayan postkolonyal devletlerde din, iktidar ve kimlik oluşumu üzerine daha geniş tartışmalara katkı sunmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Din Değiştirme
• Hristiyan Misyonerliği
• Komünizm
• Yeni Düzen Rejimi
• Yapılaşma Teorisi

Kaynakça

1. Abbas, Megan Brankley. “Indonesia. Islamisation and Its Opponents in Java: A Political, Social, Cultural and Religious History, c. 1930 to the Present. By M. C. Ricklefs. Singapore: NUS Press, 2012. Pp. 576. Maps, Bibliography, and Index.” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 45, no. 2 (June 19, 2014): 290-92. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022463414000162. google scholar
2. Arifianto, Alexander R. “Explaining the Cause of Muslim-Christian Conflicts in Indonesia: Tracing the Origins of Kristenisasi and Islamisasi.” İslam and Christian-Muslim Relations 20, no. 1 (January 21, 2009): 73-89. https://doi.org/10.1080/09596410802542144. google scholar
3. Aritonang, Jan S. “Current Ecumenical Movement and Spirit in Indonesia.” CTC Bulletin 25, no. 35 (2008): 25-41. google scholar
4. Azra, Azyumardi. “Contemporary Islamic Renewal In Indonesia.” Al-Jami’ah: Journal of Islamic Studies, no. 59 (1996):41-58. https://doi.org/10.14421/ajis.1996.3459.41-58 google scholar
5. Barton, Greg, Ihsan Yilmaz, and Nicholas Morieson. “Authoritarianism, Democracy, Islamic Movements and Contestations of Islamic Religious Ideas in Indonesia.” Religions 12, no. 8 (August 13, 2021): 641. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12080641. google scholar
6. Cribb, Robert, ed. Robert Cribb, Ed., The Indonesian Killings of 1965-1966: Studies from Java and Bali. Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University, 1990. google scholar
7. Duile, Timo. “Atheism in Indonesia.” South East Asia Research 26, no. 2 (June 18, 2018): 161-75. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967828X18770481. google scholar
8. Eickhoff, Martijn, Gerry van Klinken, and Geoffrey Robinson. “1965 Today: Living with the Indonesian Massacres.” Journal of Genocide Research 19, no. 4 (October 2, 2017): 449-64. https://doi.org /10.1080/14623528.2017.1393931. google scholar

9. Geertz, Clifford. The Religion of Java. University of Chicago Press, 1976. google scholar
10. Giddens, Anthony. The Constitution of Society. University of California Press, 1986. google scholar
11. Hearman, Vannessa. “The 1965-1966 Violence, Religious Conversions and the Changing Relationship Between the Left and Indonesia’s Churches.” in The Indonesian Genocide of 1965: Causes, Dynamics and Legacies, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-71455-4_9. google scholar
12. Hefner, Robert W. “The 1965-66 Violence in Upland East Java: A Reflexive Reassessment.” Indonesia 116, no. 1 (August 2023): 87-102. https://doi.org/10.1353/ind.2023.a910151. google scholar
13. Humaedi, M. Alie. “Konversi Keagamaan Pasca 1965, Mengurai Dampak Sosial Budaya Dan Hubungan Islam Kristen Di Pedesaan Jawa.” Harmoni 16, no. 2 (January 1, 2018): 218-40. https://doi.org/10.32488/harmoni.v16i2.16. google scholar
14. Hussein, Fatimah. Muslim-Christian Relations in the New Order Indonesia: The Exclusivist and google scholar
15. Inclusivist Muslims’ Perspective. Bandung: Mizan, 2005. google scholar
16. Khusyairi and Johny Alfian. “The Formation Of A Javanese Reformed Christian Settlement In Yogyakarta Urban Area 1939-1959.” Al-Qalam 29, no. 1 (June 17, 2023): 163. https://doi. org/10.31969/alq.v29i1.1213. google scholar
17. Kirana, D., and Endi A. Garadian. “Religious Trend in Contemporary Indonesia: Conservatism Domination on Social Media.” Studia Islamika 27, no. 3 (December 23, 2020): 615-22. https:// doi.org/10.36712/sdi.v27i3.18823 google scholar
18. Leksana, Grace. “Collaboration in Mass Violence: The Case of the Indonesian Anti-Leftist Mass Killings in 1965-66 in East Java.” Journal of Genocide Research 23, no. 1 (January 2, 2021): 58-80. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2020.1778612. google scholar
19. Lippuner, R., and B. Werlen. “Structuration Theory.” In International Encyclopaedia of Human Geography, 39-49. Elsevier, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-008044910-4.00749-5. google scholar
20. Madinier, Remy. “From ‘Mystic Synthesis’ to ‘Jesuit Plot’: The Society of Jesus and the Making of Religious Policy in Indonesia.” Modern Asian Studies 57, no. 2 (March 11, 2023): 409-34. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X21000731. google scholar
21. Mansur, Syafiin. “Pemikiran Intelektual Muslim Tentang Kristenisasi Di Indonesia 1966-1998.” Alqalam 31, no. 1 (June 30, 2014): 162. doi:10.32678/alqalam.v31i1.1109. google scholar
22. Melnik, Alexander Nikolayevich. “Memory and Mass Killings: How Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing Engages with Indonesia’s Collective Memory of the 1965 Tragedy,” Southeast Asian Media Studies, vol. 2, no. 1, (2020): 86-100. google scholar
23. Menchik, Jeremy. Islam and Democracy in Indonesia. Cambridge University Press, 2016. https:// doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316344446. google scholar
24. Moestahal, Ahmadi. Dari Gontor Ke Pulau Buru. Yogyakarta: Syarikat Indonesia, 2003. google scholar
25. Muhtadi, Burhanuddin. “Religious Pluralism in Indonesia: Threats and Opportunities for Democracy Ed. by Chiara Formichi (Review).” Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs 44 (2022): 157-59. google scholar
26. Mujiburrahman, M. “State Policies on Religious Diversity in Indonesia.” Al-Jami’ah: Journal of Islamic Studies 46, no. 1 (June 27, 2008): 101-23. https://doi.org/10.14421/ajis.2008.461.101-123. google scholar
27. Mujiburrahman. Feeling Threatened : Muslim-Christian Relations in Indonesia’s New Order. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2006. https://doi.org/10.5117/9789053569382. google scholar
28. Narciso, Jerson Benia. “Christianisation In New Order Indonesia (1965-1998): Discourses, Debates And Negotiations.” MELINTAS 24, no. 3 (2008). google scholar
29. Nugroho, Singgih. Menyintas Dan Menyeberang: Perpindahan Massal Keagamaan Pasca 1965 Di Pedesaan Jawa. Syarikat, 2008. google scholar
30. Patra, Haldi, Anatona Anatona, and Yenny Narny. “The Ex-PKI Political Prisoners Motive to Produce the Memories of 1965/66 Mass Violence in West Sumatra.” Jurnal Socius: Journal of Sociology Research and Education 8, no. 2 (December 31, 2021): 125. https://doi.org/10.24036/scs.v8i2.365 google scholar
31. Pedersen, Lene. “Religious Pluralism in Indonesia.” The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 17, no. 5 (October 19, 2016): 387-98. https://doi.org/10.1080/14442213.2016.1218534. google scholar
32. Prajnaputri, Yosephine Wastu. “Representation Of Social Actors In The Jakarta Post And Tempo About Makassar Cathedral Church’s Suicide Bombing Case And Peace Journalism.” International Journal of Humanity Studies (IJHS) 5, no. 2 (March 23, 2022): 195-206. https://doi.org/10.24071/ ijhs.v5i2.3704. google scholar
33. Pretext for Mass Murder: The September 30th Movement and Suharto’s Coup d’Etat in Indonesia. University of Wisconsin Press, 2006. google scholar
34. Ricklefs, M.C. Islamisation and Its Opponents in Java: A Political, Social and Religious History, c. 1930 to the Present . Singapore: NUS Press, 2012. google scholar
35. Rodemeier, Susanne. “Emergence and Establishment of a Charismatic Church within the Framework of Javanese Self-Perception in Surakarta, Indonesia.” Indonesia and the Malay World 45, no. 131 (January 2, 2017): 66-87. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639811.2017.1268447. google scholar
36. Shihab, Alwi. Membendung Arus: Responses to Gerakan Muhammadiyah Terhadap Penetrasi Misi Kristen Di Indonesia. Bandung: Mizan, 1998. google scholar
37. Six, Clemens. “Christian Agency in Anti-Communist Persecution? British-Malaya and Indonesia in the 1950s and 1960s.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Anti-Communist Persecutions, 245-61. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2020. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-54963-3_11. google scholar
38. Sobari, Ahmad. “Religious Obligation in Indonesia.” International Journal of Cultural and Religious Studies 2, no. 1 (June 10, 2022): 31-37. https://doi.org/10.32996/ijcrs.2022.2.1.4. google scholar
39. Steenbrink, Karel A. “Pancasila as an Ambiguous Instrument for Interreligious Harmony and Development in Indonesia, 1945-2015,” 2015. google scholar
40. Sukamto, Amos, Nina Herlina, Kunto Sofianto, and Yusak Soleiman. “Impacts of the Religious Policies Enacted from 1965 to 1980 on Christianity in Indonesia.” Mission Studies 36, no. 2 (July 10, 2019): 191-218. https://doi.org/10.1163/15733831-12341649. google scholar
41. Suryani, Ade Jaya. “Indigenous Peoples, Religious Conversion, and the Politics of Religion in Indonesia.” Jurnal Penelitian 21, no. 2 (October 15, 2024): 195-205. https://doi.org/10.28918/ jupe.v21i2.8738 google scholar
42. Tjandra Leksana, Grace. The Memory Culture of Anti-Leftist Violence in Indonesia. Amsterdam University Press, 2023. https://doi.org/10.5117/9789463723565. google scholar
43. Watson, C. W. “Muslims and the State in Indonesia.” In Islam, Muslims and the Modern State, 174-96. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 1994. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14208 google scholar