A modest proposal for conducting future research on media portrayals of Islam and Muslims in Indonesia

Recent issues on politics have been dominant in Indonesia that people are divided and become more intolerant of each other. Indonesia has the biggest Muslim population in the world and the role of Islam in Indonesian politics is significant. The current Indonesian government claim that moderate Muslims are loyal to the present political system while the opposing rivals who are often labelled’intolerant and radical Muslims’ by Indonesian mass media often disagree with the central interpretation of democracy in Indonesia. Studies on contributing factors and discourse strategies used in news and articles in secular and Islamic mass media which play a vital role in the construction of Muslim and Islamic identities in Indonesia are, therefore, recommended.