Artistic Expression in non-Arab Islamic cultures: Views from Indonesia

The relationship between local, pre-Islamic art forms and ‘Islamic’ ones is an ongoing subject of debate in Indonesia. After President Suharto was forced to step down in 1998, Indonesians prepared for a new era based on democratic values, many of which had been lost under his regime. NGOs, including Muslim NGOs, contributed to a nation-wide campaign to educate Indonesians about their democratic rights. As part of that campaign, Dr Oman Fathurahman, Professor of Philology at Jakarta’s State Islamic University, prepared a pamphlet in a series that was distributed in 2002 to Friday prayer congregations across Jakarta (Fealy and Hooker 2006: 126-128).