After the demise of Soeharto’s New Order regime the political situation in Indonesia is marked by, among others, political liberalization. The situation has given the impetus for the emergence of a double-edged phenomenon. On the one hand, there are some groups of society that has taken their communal identities, religion identities in particular, as their main political vehicle to prevail over opposing forces in political strugles, and to grasp the power left by former authoritarian government. On the other hand, the same political athmosphere has also given wider political opportunities for those interested in promoting secularism as well as other issues such as human rights issues as part of the efforts to strengthen democracy in the country. This double-edged phenomenon is inevitable as part of contemporary political reality marked by the increase of religion and efforts to empower the people. In his essay, Ridwan al-Makassary tries to reflect the dilemma that Indonesian has been faced with due to the tensions and political contestations amongs Islamic hard liner and secularism advocates. He also iluminates the problematic situations regarding the application of universal principles of the human rights brought about by the architectural shift of the global politics. Read the essays>>