They have freedom of choice: Indonesian immigrants’ discourse on religion and modernity in the Netherlands

This study examines the discourse of Indonesian immigrants about religion and modernity in the Netherlands. In the Dutch debate on dealing with religion in the public arena, Indonesian immigrants tend to be neglected as the debate usually concentrates on (Muslim) immigrants from Morocco and Turkey. This study focuses on the concept of multiple modernities to explore the Indonesian immigrants’ perception of modern Dutch society. Using Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis to analyse the data, the study finds that the notion of modernity in the context of multiple modernities needs revision because, according to Indonesian immigrants’ perception, European modernity is not as secular as Europeans themselves claimed. It is not secular Europe versus the religious rest of the world. It is the blurry boundaries of religious-secular division in Europe, in this case, the Netherlands.