Authoritarianism, Democracy, Islamic Movements and Contestations of Islamic Religious Ideas in Indonesia (original) (raw)
Related papers
2016
This thesis explores how Muslims negotiate Islam, secularity and the modern state (Chapter 1) through examining the views of Muslim leaders in Indonesia during the colonial and postcolonial periods (Chapter 2), and, in particular, through a case study of the leadership of the Muhammadiyah – one of the two largest Islamic organisations in the country (Chapter 3). In the main body of my thesis I focus on the post-New Order period (1998–2005) when Indonesia underwent a transition from state authoritarianism to experiments with democracy. During this time of new political freedom, various Islamic movements pushed for the Islamization of the state, revisiting earlier debates with supporters of secularism following Indonesia’ independence. Notably, this changing context also exposed tensions within the Muhammadiyah between more marginal revivalists and more dominant neo-modernist groupings with rather different conceptions of Islam’s relationship to the state and secularity. To investigat...
Archives of Current Research International
Geneological perspective differences on the Jakarta Charter had become the main cause for some Islamic groups to have an endless struggle in embodying Islamism and Islamic ideology formalism as the basis of their philosophy and ideology. Compromise and radicalism are part of the movement of these groups. This study aims to examine the supporters’ movement of the understanding of Islamism and Islamic Idiology formalism in order to get involve in Indonesian political system. The phenomenological constructivism approach is used in understanding the views of New Order Regime and Reforms Regime in dealing with Islamism and Islamic idiology formalism which are taken from interview and document analysis. The results of the study show that the radical issues are far more than the normal level of the Indonesian Islam movement. The concerns of certain groups which are oriented towards the Islamic movement in Indonesia are more co-opted in an anti-Islamic global network sponsored by the United...
Umran; International Journal of Islamic and Civilizational Studies, 2016
UMRAN | 03-1 (2016) pp. 28-36 | www.http://jurnalumran.utm.my/index.php/umran | Abstract This research aims at analyzing political secularism in Indonesia and most specifically dealing with the recurrent polemic upon the relationship between Islam and State. The research initially seeks to describe the political situation of the country where the formalistic and substantives debate, especially on their distinctive approach to stipulate the proper role of religion on the country's politic, could be witnessed. The description, however, will deal more on the latter political paradigm which is increasingly grasping an impressive preference from numbers of political individuals and institutions particularly when they come to discuss Islamic tenets and their application within the context of a pluralistic society like Indonesia. Using normative and socio-historical approaches, the paper argues that this political preference, despite its convincing successes in Islamizing the country's politic, still suffers from numbers of defects that finally raise our apprehension. These defects summarily provide proofs to the questioned commitment of the substantive to the Islamic political values as a whole; the one which reveals an agreed separation of the state and religion; the one of secularism.
Rising Islamism and the Struggle for Islamic Authority in Post-Reformasi Indonesia
Trans-National and -Regional Studies of Asia (TRaNS), 2019
The successful 'Defending Islam' rallies of 2016-2017 provide clear evidence that Islamism is on the rise in contemporary Indonesia. Mainstream Islamic authorities, including groups such as Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, are increasingly losing their authority to newer, more conservative Islamic preachers and groups. What explains this phenomenon-and what does it mean for the moderate perspectives that many predicted would dominate Islam in Indonesia in the post-Reformasi era? This article argues that three main mechanisms can explain the rise of Islamism in Indonesia: 1) the creation of a 'marketplace of ideas' in post-Reformasi Indonesia and the way in which this marketplace has contributed to the rise of Islamism and the breakdown of Islamic authority; 2) the ascent of new Islamic authority figures, who propagate their views using new methods, ranging from social media to campus da'wa organisations and community-based activities (majelis taklim); and 3) the growing influence of new Islamic groups and preachers, who are building alliances with established religious elites and politicians. Such alliances strengthen the influence of new Islamic authorities, while further marginalising religious minorities, such as Ahmadi and Shi'a Muslims.
Islamic Awakening in Indonesian Politics 1990-2004
Islamic awakening in Indonesia would be best explained as a crisis of modernity, which emphasizes the material life, domination of rationalism and reluctance of spiritual dimension. These are significant contributing factors to the Islamic awakening. This could be obviously discerned from the increasing numbers of middle class Muslims who attend religious discourse and commit the religious practices. This paper attempts to discuss the indicators of Islamic awakening in Indonesian politics. It has been divided into two significant sections; first on the proponents and idea of Islamic awakening; second, it also draws the indicators of Islamic awakening in Indonesia in the early 1990s, which compel the different turn of Islam (the new hope for Islam) in Indonesian politics.
The Fate of Muslim Nationalism in Independent Indonesia
My doctoral dissertation at Yale University, 2012. This dissertation traces the fate of groups in Indonesia who sought to make their country an Islamic state by transforming politics and society. Although these groups played a critical role in winning Indonesia's independence during the Indonesian Revolution (1945-1949), divisions between political leaders, theological leaders, and the grassroots split the movement, and by 1960 these divisions caused the failure of Islam as a political movement for an Islamic state. During revolution, Dutch-educated political leaders took the leadership of the Islamic movement through appointments in the Socialist-led cabinets. These political leaders brought their Western norms to the struggle to establish an Islamic state. Theological leaders, prominent for their roles in Islamic education and mass organizations, also sought to establish an Islamic state, but they were less involved in Indonesia's modern governance. Across Indonesia, pious Muslims disconnected from the national leadership of the Islamic movement also contributed to the revolution. At this grassroots level, the Indonesian Revolution was experienced as an Islamic fight for independence. The diversity of Muslim experiences in the revolution, including many heterodox practices, demonstrated the distance between the syncretic Islamic grassroots and the new leadership of the Islamic movement nationally. After Indonesia's independence was recognized in late 1949, Islamic political parties and mass organizations sought to shape the state and nation to make them more Islamic. They were hindered in this by tensions between the political and theological leaders in the Islamic bloc, tensions that climaxed in the 1952 departure of Nandlatul Ulama from the major Islamic party Masjumi. The Islamic movement experienced many successes after independence, such as the expansion of Islamic organizations and education, but national trends such as the standardization of language limited the influence of Islamic ideas and activists. Things came to a head in the national elections of 1955, when the political leaders, theological leaders, and Islamic grassroots not only battled political parties opposed to Islam but also battled each other. Facing the elections, political interests proved to be paramount over existing social and cultural interests in the Indonesian Islamic movement. Although they expected an unambiguous victory, Islamic parties won only 45% of the seats in the resulting parliament and Constituent Assembly, severely restricting their ability to implement their vision of an Islamic state. After this defeat, the strain between the Islamic political elite and the Islamic grassroots and theological leaders became too great. Islamic political leaders were pushed into increasing irrelevance, failing to pass legislation, failing in the constitutional assembly, and committing half-heartedly to the PRRI rebellion of 1958-61. As a result, the debilitated Masjumi party was dissolved. Islamic mass organizations freed themselves from political parties and embraced the Sukarno regime. The Islamic movement as a bloc struggling for Indonesia to become an Islamic state fell apart.
Islamism and Contemporary Indonesian Islamic Politics
Jurnal Adabiyah
After the 2019 election, Indonesia is facing changes in political and religious life. In political life, the use of ethnic identity appears as a voter. Meanwhile, in terms of religion, the forces of Islamic conservatism and populism have emerged that have disrupted electoral democracy. The issue of identity politics, Islamic conservatism and populism will continue to grow if the moderate Islamic forces of Muhammadiyah and NU do not appear in political and religious life. The hope of a civilized and non-discriminatory democratic life in the strength of moderate Islam. If the power of moderate Islam is weak, then the power of Islamic conservatism with the power of identity politics and Islamic populism will become a real form of challenge to Indonesian democracy. This article aims to explain the three main challenges of Indonesian democracy after the 2019 Presidential Election, namely the rise of Identity politics; the rise of political Islamism which is compounded in Indonesian polit...
Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs , 2020
This article examines the engagement of Indonesian Islamic civil society organisations in the international arena by paying particular attention to the role of the Islamic modernist movement, Muhammadiyah. Beyond its vibrant religious and social activism in the domestic context of Indonesia, Muhammadiyah has, in the past thirty years, engaged in various international affairs such as peacekeeping operations, humanitarian activities, and politics. This engagement indicates that Muhammadiyah has attempted to strengthen its international exposure and contribute to the global community. By examining Muhammadiyah's vision and activism, both discursively and practically, this article seeks to know why it is so essential for Indonesian Islamic civil society organisations, such as Muhammadiyah, to be involved in the international arena, and what Muhammadiyah engagement means for the global picture of Islam in the Muslim world.