Politics of Interfaith Diplomacy in Indonesia: A Critical View on World Peace Forum

This paper investigates politics interfaith diplomacy in Indonesia. Indeed, interfaith diplomacy is part of the inclusion of religion in international relations that has been neglected because of the dominance of the secularity foundation in the realism tradition. After 11 September 2021, interfaith dialogue, is widely used as a framework in solving global religious problems, including in Indonesia. Using a qualitative approach, this research answered the question of why the interfaith diplomacy of the World Peace Forum (WPF) emerges, continues, and becomes successful in maintaining its continuity. In addition, aspects of the socio-political context of interfaith diplomacy were studied. To better understand the puzzle, this working paper employed the concept of New Public Diplomacy in analyzing the topic. The paper contends that interfaith diplomacy emerged in Indonesia because of global conditions that were being hit by global conflict and war as well as clashes between civilizations so that religious organizations and religious leaders such as Muhammadiyah took part in playing the role of inter-religious diplomacy through WPF.