As faith-based violence escalates globally, successful models of interreligious dialogue and peacebuilding in Southeast Asia serve as a critical reminder that such engagements are essential in reducing and dismantling stereotypes and building a more understanding among diverse community members.

The role of religions in the security landscape is severely underrepresented. This stems partly from the false division of traditional and non-traditional security issues, a division often imposed by the Western imperialist worldview. In Southeast Asia, the reality is different. What is deemed non-traditional (e.g., natural disasters, irregular migration, human and drug trafficking) is the reality of the region. There is also detrimental secularization of peace and security issues, limiting religions to the affairs of individuals, not in state affairs.

Many countries in Southeast Asia have had a religious majority for many centuries. Buddhist-majority countries include Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam; Muslim-majority countries comprise Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei, while Christian-majority countries encompass the Philippines and Timor-Leste. Even for the secular state of Singapore, it has the highest religious diversity, with Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians constituting more than 50% of the population. Religions are important to the people in Southeast Asia. However, this significance is mirrored by a history of religious tensions and riots. As global religious extremism and violence intensify, their ripple effects pose a growing threat in the region, necessitating an urgent need to understand religion’s role within the region’s broader security landscape.

Violent Religious Extremism

In Southeast Asia, warfare and conquests over the centuries have caused people to adopt and adapt to various beliefs and religions. However, religious extremism arose from the intentional “manipulation of doctrinal teachings to justify exclusion, violence or intolerance.” The spark from religious conflicts can be inter-religious (i.e., between different religions) or intra-religious (i.e., within the main religion). These conflicts can arise to defend one’s religion or from differences in opinions.

Equipped with political will and weaponry, religious conflicts can grow from local skirmishes among community members, state suppressions of religious minorities, tensions between states, or even world wars involving many allied states. Additionally, such violence can be driven by religion, partly or wholly, and there are instances where religions are being used and manipulated by various actors for their selfish ambitions. Corrupted and hypocritical leaders can manipulate their followers through religion to justify violence against others, state mechanisms become suppressive, and the culture of violence is born for generations to come, which is further exacerbated by social media and morally bankrupt artificial intelligence.

Interreligious Dialogue for Peacebuilding

One of the main solutions is to return to the original message in all the religions: peace. The message of peace has been echoed by religious leaders again and again, calling to end violent religious extremism. For example, the G20 Interfaith Forum and the International Conference on Cohesive Societies are just some of the platforms that bring religious leaders to echo the message of peace. Such renewals are needed to invigorate the message of peace all around the world. The gap is translating peace into everyday reality.

Other than understanding one’s religions in greater depth, another forgotten praxis is dialogue among community members and state actors. Dialogue is not only about communication, but one that leads to relationship-building and collective transformation. In Southeast Asia, there is a greater need for transformative dialogue on multiple diplomacy tracks to achieve three general peacebuilding goals: (1) to prevent interreligious and other forms of identity-based tensions and conflicts; (2) to de-escalate tensions and conflicts through peace-making, and (3) after peace accords or agreements have been reached, to rebuild post-conflict societies affected by such tensions and conflicts, especially in the case of war and other forms of socio-political violence.

Transformative dialogic episodes were evidenced in recent faith-based conflicts in the region, as evidenced by civil society actors and researchers. Following the recent earthquake in Myanmar, the reconstruction process highlighted the importance of formal and informal interreligious dialogue, especially between majority Buddhists and minority Muslims. In the Philippines, the tensions between majority Christians and minority Muslims can be addressed through common platforms, such as the Bishop-Ulama Conference.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, many iconic events and places highlight interreligious dialogue, even with the cultural minority groups. The Tunnel of Friendship, also known as the Tunnel of Silaturahmi, is an underground tunnel connecting the Istiqlal Mosque and St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in Jakarta, symbolizing the enduring friendship between Muslims and Christians. In 2024, Pope Francis, visited the church and the tunnel, echoing the need for greater unity.

In the case of Thailand, interreligious dialogue helps combat Islamophobia among Muslim minorities. For Singapore, the religious diversity was deliberately designed to foster harmony within the community, and is achieved through the right policy, legal framework, education, and advocacy. Likewise, in Malaysia’s Muslim-majority, religious leaders need to combat violence against women through interreligious dialogue and achieve gender justice. While Brunei’s Islamic governance ensures safety and security for all its people regardless of their religion, there are still gaps in society to strengthen people’s faith through dialogue.

Strategic Interreligious Dialogue for the World

As faith-based violence escalates globally, successful models of interreligious dialogue and peacebuilding in Southeast Asia serve as a critical reminder that such engagements are essential in reducing and dismantling stereotypes and building a more understanding among diverse community members. Dialogue is not a one-time event but needs to be woven into every fabric of society. It serves as a strategic tool that needs to be integrated across all sectors and levels of governance throughout the region.

On the ground, experts emphasize that long-term planning and engagement are necessary to sustain such transformative dialogue, thereby facilitating positive changes in social and political systems. Skepticism also needs to be addressed for interreligious dialogue to be successful. Ultimately, these interreligious dialogue models can be a globally valuable mechanism for diplomacy. Southeast Asia stands as a living example of interreligious dialogue and peacebuilding, and the region needs to shine brighter and echo the message of peace to the rest of the world.