Suharto New Order’s Regime, Development Programme and Religion

Abstract

This chapter observes the roles of this Ministry as an instrument of the New Order’s political and social agenda as the new regime employed a strategy to steer the direction of policing religious affairs by putting them strictly under its own control in line with the regime’s socio-economic agenda. In turn, as discussed later in depth in the chapter, the regime was able to transforming MORA from being a so-called political representative of Islam within the state to a compliant institution that allowed the Ministry to be used to promote the New Order’s developmentalism policies. Following this development, the regime was able to dictate the new role of MORA as one of disseminating religious piety within society but without the political activism of the past. This chapter highlights how the regime controlled religious activities and the regulation of religious affairs in accordance with strict regime standards that were justified in the name of restoring or maintaining stability and order.