Religion at the ballot box

This chapter examines the persistence of blasphemy laws and their increasing use during Indonesia’s democratic era. It considers how blasphemy laws are used as a political tool to mobilise support from conservative religious groups in contests over power and wealth, which I argue helps to explain the continued operation of these problematic laws in Indonesia’s democratic context. This chapter offers an assessment of how the establishment of Islamist political alliances makes possible efforts to maintain and replicate blasphemy laws in Indonesian democracy that are instrumental for political mobilisation. It analyses potential mechanisms used by state institutions and religious groups to maintain and replicate the laws and explores the increasing politicisation of religion in Indonesia’s democratic context, which has included blasphemy prosecutions.