Indonesia is an intricate country of over twenty-six provinces in South-East Asia comprising thousands of islands of various sizes and a wide variety of ethnic groups. It contains some three hundred language groups and dozens of religions. While the majority of its 240 million people practice Islam, Indonesia actually has six official religions.
Indonesia won independence from the Dutch in 1949 and has since faced several internal problems, largely due to the variety and character of its makeup. Its outermost provinces have been particularly vulnerable to rebellion and revolt, straining the capacity of the Indonesian military and raising concerns about the central government’s ability to maintain territorial integrity.
Both recent and long-standing conflicts in these particular regions led to invitations for a PBI presence by local humanitarian, non-governmental groups and Komnas HAM (National Human Rights Commission).
Many individuals and organizations work for peace and humanitarian assistance within areas of conflict around the world. They are routinely threatened and sometimes kidnapped, killed or ‘disappeared’. The situation in Indonesia provides a perfect scenario for Peace Brigades International and our particular methods of non-partisan protective accompaniment (we do not get involved in the politics of independence and resource distribution).
