by SUSAN BLACKBURN
Reformers, resisters and devotees show the diverse female faces of Indonesian Islam
In Indonesia, Islam is on the march. The country has been undergoing an Islamic revival since the 1980s, and religious activity of all kinds escalated in response to the freedom created by the fall of the authoritarian New Order regime in 1998. There has been controversy about what the consequences are for women. In what ways have women benefited or suffered as a result of more Indonesians seeking to practise their religion more seriously? The articles in this issue of Inside Indonesia illustrate some of the different experiences of women during the revival. They are of great interest when one considers that Indonesia has the largest population of Muslims in the world, with almost 90 percent of its 240 million people identifying as Muslims, and that the country is now often held up to the rest of the Islamic world as an example of a moderate version of Islam.
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