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.

近期印尼的政治议题占据主导，致使社会群体产生分裂，民众间的相互包容度持续下降。作为全球穆斯林人口最多的国家，印尼的伊斯兰教在其政治体系中占据着举足轻重的地位。印尼现任政府声称，温和派穆斯林忠于现行政治体制；而反对派群体常被印尼大众媒体贴上“不包容、极端穆斯林”的标签，他们往往对印尼主流的民主诠释持反对态度。鉴于世俗与伊斯兰大众媒体在印尼穆斯林与伊斯兰身份认同的建构过程中发挥着至关重要的作用，因此建议针对这类媒体的新闻与文章中所涉及的影响因素与话语策略开展相关研究。