As the text by Cessanos (2005) notes, this would be among the longest-standing and most determinant internal conflicts confounding the stability and political unity of Indonesia as a whole. Cessanos reports that even at the outset of its independence under new President Sukarno, any unified vision of how to balance political modernization with deference to its Islamic cultures was met with splintering, factionalism and conflict. Accordingly, the source indicates that "Dutch-educated nationalists and Islamic parties agreed to create a unified, Western-style parliamentary state. But across the archipelago differenced in thinking produced more than 30 parties, of which the four largest were variously based on the principles of Islam, nationalism, or communism. Separatist movements and uprisings divided the new Indonesia republic. Darul Islam (Islamic Domain) a militant group in West Java, believed in an Islamic state and fought the government from 1948 to 1962." (Cessanos, p. 44)

Such conflicts would stand...
[ View Full Essay]