Diversity in unity

In a state as geographically and culturally diverse as Indonesia, it was always a rhetorical, if not actual, tenet of faith that ʼnational’ cohesion could only be achieved through embracing difference. This led to the nationalist catch-cry of Bhinekka Tunggallka (usually translated as ‘unity in diversity’). In one sense, Indonesia had little choice but to adopt such a policy if it was to survive united. In another sense, the idea of achieving consensus from disparate cultures well matches a syncretic Javanese world view, which seeks to find a convergence of otherwise contradictory elements. Yet the non-Javanese regions that comprise Indonesia have not always wholly accepted incorporation into what has been, since 1950, a unitary state.