Accounting for a riot: Religious identity, denying one's prejudice, and the tool of blasphemy

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of interviews of participants in a political manifestation in Indonesia about the reasons for the rally and the resulting riot. The rally was held in the middle of the Jakarta gubernatorial election, against a non-Muslim incumbent who was accused of having insulted the Quran. We argue that there is a deep relationship between social identities and religion, which has implications for societal togetherness and political freedom. Using a snowball technique, we interviewed 16 Muslims who had participated in this rally. The findings suggest that 1) even though the rally was held in the middle of an election, the demonstrators denied that the rally was politically motivated; 2) Those demonstrators who thought that intruders had infiltrated the rally, maintained that the intruders are to be held responsible for any violence, but not the ‘actual’ participants. 3) Interviewees claimed that their actions were not motivated by anti-Chinese prejudice, although traces of racist thinking can be found in their statements. The findings are discussed before the background of social representations, social identity, theories of collective action, and the black sheep effect.

Repressive Moralism: World Making and Petty Fascism in Transgender Politics

“…In the case of imaginary constructions such as deities, justice, honour, and other abstract ideas, it is the mutual behaviour of group members that enacts the social object as a particular pattern of interrelationships. Even imaginary issues may have physical consequences through the concerted interactions of group members -for example, in contemporary systems of justice with their prisons, or in the consequences of an accusation of blasphemy (Putra et al, 2021;Wagner et al, 2018).…”

Political psychology of Southeast Asia

“…De facto, however, implementing equal rights is always a challenge . It is, indeed, the case with Chinese Indonesians who have suffered from hate crimes and social exclusions in almost all of Indonesia's regions (Betrand, 2004;Putra et al, 2021b).…”

Wagner & Hayes Repressive Moralism 10

“…In the case of imaginary constructions such as deities, justice, honour, and other abstract ideas, it is the mutual behaviour of group members that enacts the social object as a particular pattern of interrelationships. Even imaginary issues may have physical consequences through the concerted interactions of group members -for example, in contemporary systems of justice with their prisons, or in the consequences of an accusation of blasphemy (Putra et al, 2021;Wagner et al, 2018).…”