Indonesia built its national identity around Bhinneka Tunggal Ika – unity in diversity. From next door, Pauline Hanson’s rejection of multiculturalism raises an uncomfortable question about the Australia we want to be.

The only thing we have to hate is hate. (Apologies to President Franklin D. Roosevelt)

Small city uni students in the Indonesian provinces are less likely to know about Australian Senator Pauline Hanson and her opinions because course options are limited.

Not so on the biggest campuses in Jakarta and Surabaya, with departments of social and political science. Here, the leader of One Nation is infamous for her statements about Muslims, including:

I’ve got no time for radical Islam. Their religion concerns me because of what it says in the Koran. They hate Westerners. That’s what it’s all about.You say, ‘Well, there’s good Muslims out there.’ How can you tell me there are good Muslims?

I’ve got no time for radical Islam. Their religion concerns me because of what it says in the Koran. They hate Westerners. That’s what it’s all about.

You say, ‘Well, there’s good Muslims out there.’ How can you tell me there are good Muslims?

Her comments were rejected across the political spectrum. They were also condemned by Islamic leaders, but the police said they broke no hate laws.

There are about 1.9 billion Muslims in the world. The country with the biggest number is Indonesia, where this........

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