Indonesian Culture and Traditions: Religion, Etiquette and Customs

Indonesia recognises six religions (Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism) and every citizen’s ID card states one. Religion is public: you will hear the call to prayer five times a day from around 4.30am in Muslim areas, see Balinese women placing canang sari palm-leaf offerings on pavements each morning, and find Flores towns emptying for Sunday mass. Javanese Islam blends with older mysticism, and the Yogyakarta court still holds Hindu-Buddhist-influenced rituals under a Muslim sultan. Bali’s Hinduism is its own branch, with temple anniversaries every 210 days and a strict line between the sacred inner courtyard (jeroan) and the areas visitors may enter.

The biggest effect on travellers is the calendar. Friday midday prayers close small shops for an hour or two in Muslim areas. During Ramadan (around 18 February to 19 March 2026) many warungs in Java, Sumatra and Lombok close or hang a curtain in daylight, though hotels, malls and tourist areas keep serving; eating or smoking in the street by day is legal but rude outside Bali. In Bali, temple festivals (odalan) close roads for processions; stop your scooter and wait rather than weaving through. Alcohol is easy to find in Bali, Jakarta and tourist islands, scarce in conservative Muslim regions and illegal in Aceh.

• Greetings: shake hands lightly with the right hand, then touch your chest. Conservative Muslims may not shake hands with the opposite sex; a nod and a hand on the heart is the polite alternative. Address older men as Pak (Bapak) and women as Bu (Ibu); in Java use Mas and Mbak for people your own age, in Bali Bli and Mbok.
• The right hand: give and receive money, food, business cards and gifts with the right hand or both hands. The left is for the bathroom. Point with your thumb or whole hand, not a finger, and beckon with the palm down.
• Heads and feet: never touch anyone’s head, including children. Do not point your feet at people or shrines when sitting, do not step over someone, and take your shoes off before entering homes, mosques and many shops and guesthouses.
• Dress: shoulders and knees covered away from the beach, for both sexes. Walking through a village in a bikini top or shirtless is the most common complaint locals make about tourists. In Aceh women should cover arms and legs and carry a scarf for their hair; West Sumatra, Lombok and rural Java are more conservative than Bali.
• Mosques: cover knees and shoulders, women cover their hair, remove shoes, and stay out during prayer times unless invited. Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta lends robes and runs free guided tours for non-Muslims.
• Balinese temples: a sarong and sash are required and usually lent at the gate; menstruating women are asked not to enter; never climb on shrines or walls for photos; and stay out of the inner courtyard unless you are praying in Balinese dress. Bali’s provincial government circulates a list of tourist dos and don’ts and deports visitors who pose on sacred trees or shrines.
• Photos: ask before photographing people at prayer, in markets and especially in traditional villages. In Toraja and Sumba a small gift or purchase in return is expected. Drones are banned over temples and ceremonies.
• Public behaviour: no kissing in public outside Bali’s resort areas, keep your voice down, do not stand with hands on hips (it reads as anger) and never lose your temper with staff or officials; a calm, smiling complaint gets far better results.

Harmony matters more than frankness. Indonesians rarely say no outright; “belum” (not yet) and “mungkin” (maybe) often mean no, and a smile may hide confusion rather than agreement. Confirm important arrangements twice, on WhatsApp if possible. Public criticism causes malu, a mix of shame and embarrassment that Indonesians work hard to avoid; if something is wrong with your room or food, raise it quietly and one to one.

Gotong royong, mutual help, is the ideal of village life: neighbours build each other’s houses, prepare each other’s ceremonies and clean the kampung together on Sunday mornings. As a guest you will be offered food and drink constantly; accept at least a sip. Jam karet, “rubber time”, describes the relaxed attitude to punctuality: a 7pm dinner starts at 7.45 and only trains, flights and the Nyepi curfew run to the clock. Age and position earn respect, so greet the oldest person first and let elders finish speaking. Indonesians ask direct personal questions (“Are you married? Why not? What religion are you?”), and “no religion” is a confusing answer; naming the religion you were raised in is easier.

Indonesia’s ceremonies are open to respectful outsiders more often than visitors expect. In Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi, the Rambu Solo funeral season runs from July to September, after the harvest, when families hold multi-day rites with buffalo and pig sacrifices, processions and feasting. Tourists are welcome at most with a local guide, a gift of cigarettes or sugar for the family, dark clothing and a strong stomach; the killing is public and graphic. Nearby villages hold Ma’nene in August, when ancestors’ bodies are brought out of the cliff graves to be cleaned and redressed. The tongkonan houses with their boat-shaped roofs are reproduced at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah in Jakarta if you cannot get to Sulawesi.

• Batik: wax-resist cloth, UNESCO-listed since 2009. Hand-drawn batik tulis takes weeks and costs Rp500,000 to several million (US$30 to 300 plus); stamped batik cap is Rp100,000 to 300,000; printed “batik” is just patterned fabric. Yogyakarta and Solo make the classic brown-and-indigo court patterns, Pekalongan the bright coastal style (its Batik Museum runs short workshops) and Cirebon the cloud motif megamendung. Indonesians wear batik to the office on Fridays and on National Batik Day, 2 October.
• Wayang kulit: leather shadow puppets manipulated by a single dalang in front of an oil lamp or bulb, telling the Mahabharata and Ramayana with gamelan accompaniment. Full performances last all night; Yogyakarta’s Sonobudoyo Museum stages two-hour evening shows several nights a week for under Rp50,000, and Jakarta’s Museum Wayang in Kota Tua has Sunday performances and a collection from across the archipelago.
• Gamelan: bronze gong-and-metallophone orchestras. The Yogyakarta Kraton has gamelan or dance performances most mornings from around 10am for the price of palace entry, and Bali’s village troupes rehearse in open pavilions you can wander past in the evening.
• Dance: the Kecak fire dance at Uluwatu at 6pm daily (around Rp150,000); Legong and Barong at Ubud Palace nightly at 7.30pm (Rp100,000 to 150,000); the Ramayana Ballet at Prambanan on an open-air stage with the temple lit behind it from May to October (Rp150,000 to 450,000); Javanese court bedhaya at the Kraton. The painting villages of Batuan and the market at Sukawati are the places to watch painters and mask-makers at work.
• Keris: the wavy-bladed dagger, UNESCO-listed, still made by a few smiths (empu) in Solo and Yogyakarta and worn with formal Javanese dress. Keris are sold legally; pack one in hold luggage.
• Woodcarving, silver, textiles: Mas (carving) and Celuk (silver) villages near Ubud, Jepara teak furniture, hand-woven ikat from Sumba and Flores, songket brocade from Palembang and the horn-roofed rumah gadang houses around Bukittinggi.

Rice is the meal and everything else is the side dish; “sudah makan?” (have you eaten?) is a greeting. Eating is communal and informal: dishes arrive as they are ready, people eat with a spoon and fork or the right hand, and nobody waits for the whole table. In a Padang restaurant dozens of dishes are stacked in front of you and you pay for what you touch. Food is halal by default outside Bali, Toraja, Manado and Chinese-Indonesian restaurants, and almost everything comes with sambal, so learn “tidak pedas” early. If you are invited home, bring fruit or sweets, wait to be asked before eating, take a little of several dishes and leave a mouthful to show you have had enough. A plate of nasi campur at a warung costs Rp20,000 to 40,000 (US$1.20 to 2.50).

Tipping is not expected but is increasingly common in tourist areas. Restaurants that print “++” add tax and a service charge of about 15 to 21 percent, so nothing more is needed; elsewhere round up or leave Rp10,000 to 20,000. Give private drivers Rp50,000 to 100,000 per day, trekking guides and porters Rp50,000 to 100,000 a day each, spa therapists Rp20,000 to 50,000 and hotel porters Rp10,000 to 20,000 a bag. Ride-hail apps have a tip button. Temple “donations” are voluntary; a Balinese priest who blesses you at Tirta Empul expects a few thousand rupiah in the offering tray, not a banknote in the hand.

Bahasa Indonesia has no tones, no verb conjugation and near-phonetic Latin spelling, so two hours with a phrasebook pays off. The letter c is pronounced “ch” and a final k is a glottal stop. Add Pak or Bu to make a phrase polite (“Terima kasih, Bu”). Outside Bali and Jakarta English fades fast, and a few words of Indonesian change how you are treated.

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