In Reply to: Atheist marriage in Bali? posted by Tessa on Tuesday, 6. October 2009 at 14:36 Bali Time:
I think it was around 1965 that there was a communist coup (unsuccessful) which attempted to take government from Pres. Sukarno. Several generals and the five year old daughter of General Nasution were killed, quite gruesomely and their bodies dumped in a well at the air force base where they had their HQ. The communists actually took power briefly but were unseated by another faction of generals and the whole thing eventually led to the ascent of Suharto.
These were the times of "The Year of living dangerously" a term which was, I think, coined by Pres. Sukarno. What ensued was a blood letting of horrible proportions when revenge was take on anyone thought to be communist, harbouring communists, living in the same village as communists. Basically they ran amok in Indonesia. It was also used as a way of settling old scores based on religion, inter-island dislike or just plain hate.
Strange for us to believe but the worst blood-letting was on the island of Bali where many old scores were settled.
Anyway since then communism has been a tad unpopular and,for right or wrong, they equate Atheism with communism which is I think still outlawed. Hence the law re needing a religion to marry.
If I am wrong in any of the details I am sure somebody will be able to correct me.