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his paper examines the struggle for freedom in Indonesia just before and after the reformation. It would be seen from the perspective of an epistemic community namely Utan Kayu Community, a community which later established Salihara Community. The story of the community begun in 21 June 1994 when Tempo magazine was banned along with Detik and Editor media.  This created one of crowds that brought Soeharto government into end in May 1998.  The community continued to promote freedom in all kinds. It started with the promotion of freedom of the press, freedom to established associations, freedom of speech and opinion, freedom of broadcasting, freedom of information, freedom of religions and beliefs and other freedoms under the freedom of thought and expressions.

Promotion of freedoms by this community has been contested with other interest groups who have different principles and values, different episteme. On the other side, proposed values by other interest groups that are not in line with theirs, have been challenged by this epistemic community. This discourse has been gone through various ‘clash’ in Indonesian public sphere, including in social media, in many important national moments, since the reformation of 1998 and still, can be seen in the current situation.

This is clash within Indonesia ‘civilization’, within ‘unity in diversity’.  All want to be adopted and institutionalized into policies and practices of the state. At end, this is about the struggle of managing different imaginations of Indonesia. The paper shares an anthropological work for understanding politic of diversity in Indonesia by tracing genealogy of an epistemic community.