Menchik in VOA on Intolerance in Indonesia
Jeremy Menchik, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Fredrick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was recently interviewed on democratic institutions and religious intolerance in Indonesia. The mayoral campaign by a minority Christian has provoked widespread debate about whether the capitol city of world’s largest Muslim-majority country is ready for a non-Muslim mayor.
Menchik was quoted in a December 20, 2016 article in VOA entitled “Is Intolerance in Indonesia Already an Emergency?”
From the text of the article:
“The institutions of democracy in Indonesia are remarkably tenacious and resilient. I suspect that the mayoral candidate Ahok will not win the election but it does not mean Christians are not safe to live in Indonesia, and it does not mean that Christians are deprived of religious freedom,” he said in a telephone interview with VOA.
“If we compare the level of intolerance in Indonesia to other developing countries, we do not see ethnic conflict or sectarianism on a large scale. It is unfortunately true there is intolerance in Indonesia, but it has not reached crisis level,” he said.
“Acts of intolerance are a normal, if unfortunate, behavior in any democratic society. For example, the United States is home to over 6,000 hate crimes per year based on religion, ethnicity, race, and gender. Does this mean that democracy in America in danger of collapse? I think not, ” he said.
You can read the entire article here.
Jeremy Menchik’s research interests include comparative politics, religion and politics, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. He is also the author of Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance Without Liberalism. At Boston University he is a member of the graduate faculty of political science and coordinates the MAIA program with specialization in Religion and International Affairs.