A scholarly paper looks at the process of Islamicization of the people of northern Lombok.

In From Ancestor Worship to Monotheism Sven Cederroth explains that as late as the mid 1960’s there were large pockets of people in northern Lombok, the Sasak, who had resisted Islamic imperialism and continued to practise pantheistic or animist religion.

He first describes how Islam came to Lombok in two waves. The first, from the early 16th century, was of a “highly syncretistic character, frequently mixing animist and Hindu-Buddhist beliefs and practices with Islam”. The second, from the late 19th century, was more orthodox and intolerant.

In the north of the country, mainly, even into the twentieth century however, the Wetu Telu syncretic mix of faiths continued to thrive. But the attempted communist coup of 1965, and the ensuing purges of communists and a new, exclusive focus on monotheism from the government, saw the centuries old faith of the northern people largely swallowed up by Islam.

In one village Sven Cederroth recounts in detail the pressure that was put on people to join one of the five official religions of Indonesia after Suharto came to power. Many people chose Buddhism but soon learned they had made a serious mistake. In another village it was made clear to people from the beginning that Islam was the only acceptable choice and the people underwent “education” programs, ie forced conversion.

Read the whole piece.