Moderate-radical Coalition in the Name of Islam: Conservative Islamism in Indonesia and Malaysia (original) (raw)
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This article explores the impact of Muslim organizations and Muslim political parties in Indonesia and Malaysia and their relationship to democracy. Questions addressed are as follows: How does the political system (broadly described) facilitate or constrain the goals of various Muslim organizations (both groups in society and political parties)? What roles do these Muslim organizations play in impacting politics and where (or in what areas of) in the political process are they most effective? Under what circumstances have Muslim associations and/or parties been a force for (or antagonistic to) democratization? Given the ethnic and regional diversity in Malaysia and Indonesia, the initial hypotheses for these questions are as follows: under authoritarian and semi-authoritarian rule Muslim organizations actually have greater opportunities to polarize rhetoric as they appeal to citizens based on claims of moral supremacy, fulfillment of social welfare needs, and some level of criticism of a restricted or corrupted political order. At different times the Pan-Malayan Islamic Association (PAS), the leading Muslim party in Malaysia (and a dominant opposition party) has had limited appeal to voters. Under more democratic conditions, Islamic groups or parties may need to moderate their appeals, and/or build coalitions with secular or non-Islamic groups in order to win power and influence in the larger political system. Muslim political parties exist in both Malaysia and Indonesia; their power and influence have varied over time. This project aims to explain why these parties have had more support at some times than others and under what conditions they may moderate their demands and policy choices to accommodate pluralist leanings.
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That Malaysian politics has been coloured by race and religion reflects the composition of the population. Political Islam, or Islamism, in Malaysia has traditionally pitted the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), conventionally viewed as a secular Malay nationalist party, against Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS, Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party), which has undergone transformation from being an offshoot of UMNO’s religious wing in 1951, to a party that combined the ideals of both Islam and Malay nationalism in the 1960s, to a fundamentalist party during the post-Iranian revolution years of the 1980s, to a major component of the cross-ethnic post-1998 Reformasi (reformation) movement. Reformasi saw PAS throw in its lot with the Barisan Alternatif (BA, Alternative Front, 1999-2001), then Pakatan Rakyat (PR, People’s Pact, 2008-2015) opposition alliances. Supplanting PR – with the new Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah, National Trust Party) in place of PAS, and now in government – is the Pakatan Harapan (PH, Alliance of Hope) coalition.