The Jakarta gubernatorial election campaign has been punctuated by religious tension, with radical Islamic groups last year holding mass rallies against incumbent Christian-Chinese Basuki Tjahaja Purnama – known as 'Ahok'.
Again at the polls on Wednesday, they pressured Jakartans to vote for Muslim former education and culture minister Anies Baswedan.
And throughout the campaign, Mr Ahok has been on trial for blasphemy for suggesting in a rally in September 2016 the Quran discourages Muslims from voting for non-Muslims.
Watch: Anies Baswedan wins Jakarta election in unofficial result
As the Christian governor conceded defeat on Wednesday, Abdil Mughis Mudhoffir, a politics PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne's Asia Institute, told SBS the news has resounded in Australia because terror attacks in Indonesia – including those targeting Australians – are fresh in our minds.
Over the past 20 years Indonesia has experienced multiple bombings: the 2002 Bali bombings, the attack on the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in 2004, the Ritz Carlton-Marriott blast in 2009 and the terror act in Central Jakarta in 2016.
"It is very reasonable that Australia is concerned about…whether Indonesia will become an Islamised state or not, related to the Jakarta local election where Islamic rhetoric and identity has been used by the campaigner [Mr Anies]," Mr Abdil says.
"Maybe [Australians are concerned] Indonesia will become a more Islamised state [and] it will also affect the relationship between Indonesia and Australia."
Watch: Jakartans head to the polls
'No cause for concern'
However, despite this fear, radical Islam will not receive much attention after Mr Anies' inauguration, Mr Abdil says.
He explained while there were established radical groups such as Dar al-Islam, other groups such as the vigilante Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and Tamasya Al Maidah were behind the campaign's religious conflict.
But he says they were ultimately weak, relying on the political elite to mobilise.
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"The FPI are more an instrument of the elite," he says.
"This group is actually very small…they have no dominant influence in politics, but because of the Jakarta local election, Anies supported them to attack Ahok."
Mr Abdil explained that Indonesian Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto (who backed Mr Anies' election campaign) also helped mobilise last year's mass anti-Christian governor rallies to garner conservative Muslim support ahead of Prabowo's expected campaign for president in 2019.
Prabowo narrowly lost the 2014 presidential campaign to Joko Widodo.
Watch: Jakarta prepares for divisive election
Anies Baswedan is Jakarta's new governor after a polarising campaign along religious lines. Source: AAP
'Business as usual'
It is unlikely the political elite will mobilise such groups now the campaign is over and Mr Anies has unofficially won, Mr Abdil says.
"Anies will do business as usual… he will just keep democracy on track, [work towards] corruption eradication [and] bureaucratic reform," he says.
Mr Abdil added Mr Prabowo would want to maintain support from conservative Muslims by representing himself "as a more pious Muslim". But he says Mr Prabowo's party will only mobilise radical groups to serve its political interests and not the groups' agendas.
"It doesn't necessarily mean Prabowo and Gerindra will also embrace ideas of the Islamisation of Jakarta."
Even the Central Government's Islamic Prosperous Justice Party, the PKS, has becomes less Islam, Mr Abdil says.
"The PKS themselves has becoming more inclusive, instead of an Islamic party.
"It has more embraced liberal ideas…is becoming an open party [as part of its] strategy to get a larger support from Indonesian society."
Jakarta's incumbent governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama concedes defeat. Source: AAP
