Establishment of Sarekat Islam
The first important vehicle for the anti-Dutch nationalist movement was the Sarekat Islam (Islamic Union), established in 1912, with the mission to free Indonesia from the Dutch. The Dutch were initially conciliatory toward Sarekat Islam, and in 1916 they established the Volksraad (People’s Council). In the Volksraad, selected representatives of major population groups could deliberate and offer advice to the government. This shows the success of the Sarekat Islam’s success in establishing democracy in Indonesia, allowinfg the people’s wishes to reach the colonial government,
Establishment of Indonesian Nationalist Party
On July 4, 1927, Sukarno, formed a movement called the Indonesian National Association. In May 1928, the name was changed to the Indonesian National Party. The organization's aim was economic and political independence for the Indonesian archipelago. This would be achieved by non-cooperation with the Dutch colonial regime. By the end of 1929, the organization had 10,000 members. This alarmed the authorities, and Sukarno and seven party leaders were arrested in December 1929. They were put on trail for being a threat to public order and in September 1930 received sentences of one to three years - Sukarno received the longest sentence. Without its leader, the party was paralyzed and dissolved itself in 1931.
Declaring of an independent Indonesia
On August 17, 1945, two days after Japan surrendered to the Allies, Sukarno and Hatta declared an independent Republic of Indonesia and were selected as its president and vice president. In November 1946 the Dutch signed the Linggajati Agreement, which recognized the authority of the republic in Java and Sumatra and specified plans for a federal Indonesia. In July 1947, however, the Dutch launched attacks, claiming that Indonesians had violated the agreement. The attacks extended Dutch control to about two-thirds of Java and many of the large estates and oil fields on Sumatra. Several members of the UN protested the Dutch attacks. In December 1948 the Dutch defied a UN cease-fire and again attacked the republic. The republic’s capital, Yogyakarta, was captured and most of its top leaders, including Sukarno and Hatta, were arrested and exiled. Guerrilla resistance and pressure from the international community gradually motivated the Dutch to accommodate the Indonesians. In 1949 at a conference in The Hague, the Netherlands agreed to transfer sovereignty over all of Indonesia.
Suharto’s Anti Islamic Policies
Between 1966 and 1998, Suharto made an effort to "de-Islamic" the government, by maintaining a large proportion of Christians in his cabinet. During the Suharto take-over in 1965, everybody was forced to take a religion. If you didn't have a religion, you were a Communist, and if you were a Communist you must die. That meant that many Chinese took on Christianity, and fueled the conflict between them and the indigenous Indonesians even more. This cause an increase in the Christian population thus increases the tension between the Islam and Christians.