question we asked, “Are you a member or a supporter of any religious organization?”, in the expectation that the respondent would give a specific answer. We then added a distinction between two types of religious organization – community-based and school-based, because the respondents are university students who might be members of both, or perhaps only one of them. The second question was, “On average, how often did you participate in the activities of your religious organization over the past year?” The range of answers were “never”, “only on special days”, “at least once a month”, “once a week”, and “more than once a week”.
More than half of the respondents are not members of a religious organization (55.3%). 27.2 % are members of an organization and 12.5% claim to be supporters only. Ambon (34.9%) has a higher rate of membership than Yogyakarta (19.5%). This trend is similar for supporters; Ambon has 14.3% and Yogyakarta 10.8%. Although only a small number of respondents are members of a religious organization, the trend is higher than for membership of ethnic organizations; it seems that this is the case in both Ambon and Yogyakarta.
Most respondents (74.0%) who are members of an organization are connected to a campus-based organization. Fewer are members of community-based organizations (45.3%). Some are, in fact, passive members, since they said they had not participated in any activities over the past year (9.7%) or only on special days (37.9%). Some, about 46.5%, attended organizational activities once a week or even more than once a week. In terms of preferential membership of and participation in campus-based organizations, there is not much difference between Ambon and Yogyakarta.
3.3.2.11. Political orientation
Ethno-religious identification might also be indicated by an individual’s choice of political party. The political reformation in Indonesia after the downfall of authoritarianism led to an increase in political parties, all with their roots in the three parties that had been previously recognized by the New Order government. In total, 43 parties passed the electoral threshold requirements in the latest general election of 2009. Among these, there exist religious parties that claim to represent Muslim communities, all offering a different angle, be it nationalist, liberal, moderate or fundamentalist. Such religious parties are the Justice and Welfare Party (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera, PKS), the Nation Awakening Party (Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa, PKB), the National Mandate Party (Partai Amanat Nasional, PAN), the Development Unity Party (Partai Persatuan Pembangunan, PPP), the Moon Star Party (Partai Bulan Bintang, PBB) and the Peace Welfare Party (Partai Damai Sejahtera, PDS), etc. It is assumed that choosing a party constitutes an aspect of individuals’ religious
identification; respondents who vote for a particular religious party are likely to have a strong religious identification.
For this measurement, the respondents were asked three questions. The first was, “Did you vote in the last national election?” with the answer choices “yes” or “no”. The next question was, “If no, why did you not vote?” Four categories of answers were listed, from “I was not yet eligible to vote”, “I am eligible to vote, but was not able to register”, “I am eligible to vote, but did not want to participate in the election”, to “Other reasons, specify...” From this followed, “If yes, which political party did you vote for in the last election?” and “If you were not able to vote, which political party would you have voted for?” The answer options for the second and third questions included the political parties of Indonesia.
The survey discovered that more than half of respondents voted in the national election in 2009. Reasons for not voting were that they were not yet eligible (36.2%), were not able to register (18.6%) and were uninterested in participating in the election (17.2%). The favourite parties were PKB (2.2%), PAN (2.1%), Gerindra (1.7%) and Hanura (1.2%). Other parties receiving less than one per cent included PDS, PBB, PKPI, Patriot, etc. This indicates that the respondents prefer nationalist and secular parties to religious parties; the top three choices are all secular. The religious parties that obtained more than 9.9% per cent of respondents’ votes were PKS, PKB and PAN. These seem to have higher support in Ambon (10.6%) than in Yogyakarta (9.4%).
3.3.3. Social position
Social position refers to social categories of individuals that might influence their attitudes to supporting violence by their ethno-religious group. It constitutes a number of control variables in which all indicators potentially affect such support. These include gender, age, place of birth, parents’ educational level, parents’ occupational status, parents’ field of occupation, parents’ income, migration, and where they live.
3.3.3.1 Gender, age, place of birth and university courses
Gender is a social indicator based on sexual difference between male and female. Earlier studies reveal different attitudes and behaviours on the part of men and women regarding ethno-religious conflict and support for violence. For instance: the study of religiocentrism in Tamil Nadu by Sterkens and Anthony (2008; c.f Anthony, Hermans & Sterkens, 2015: 157-159) found higher levels of religiocentrism among male students than their female colleagues. Another study related to communal conflict pinpointed the different roles played by men and women during and after violent conflict. The men were engaged on the front line as military, militia or as political decision-makers, while women mostly supported them by preparing food,