Resurgence of Islam may not turn Islamic parties into a force

The European Association of Southeast Asian Studies is currently holding its fifth conference in Naples, Italy. Indonesian scholar Taufik Abdullah presented a paper titled Islamic Discourse and the Dynamics of Local Politics in Indonesia on Friday at the Islam and Politics: On Pluralism and Religiosity in Southeast Asia panel. The Jakarta Post's Veeramalla Anjaiah talked to Taufik about his paper in Naples.
Excerpts:

Question: There has been a resurgence of Islam in Indonesia. More and more provinces and regencies are introducing sharia laws. Do you think this trend will lead to the emergence of Islamic parties in the next election?

Answer: I don't think Islamic parties will emerge as a big political force in the coming elections in 2009. The majority of Indonesian Muslims and major Islamic organizations do not support the idea of either establishing an Islamic state or implementing strict sharia laws in Indonesia.
If corruption and other social ills are not removed by the ruling elites, the Islamic parties will continue to gain strength. It will depend on the situation.

Q: Do you think the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah will also to follow the suit?

A: No, the Nahdlatul Ulama has clearly mentioned that it will never impose sharia law in Indonesia though it was an obligation for an Islamic organizations to carry out sharia law.
This is because the NU does not consider Indonesia to be a religious state though it does not see it as secular state, either. The second biggest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, has also a similar view. Both the NU and Muhammadiyah support the state ideology of Pancasila.

Q: Are there any problems within the Islamic community in relation to the links between religion and the state?

A: Though the clear boundaries of the concepts of the state and society may not be a central issue, but the discrepancies between the Constitution and state laws with the local bylaws have somehow created an awkward situation.
The re-invigorated Islamic discourses that have practically divided the ummah into several clusters of religious orientation may have some influence on this situation.
During the pre-reformation period, Soeharto successfully managed to exclude religion from the sphere of the state. But since the collapse of the Soeharto regime, things have been changing very fast.
Soeharto left a messy state that was not only threatened by several types of disintegrative forces but also wounded by open conflicts. The socio-economic crisis that struck Indonesia at the end of 1997 not only has to some extent weakened the charisma of the state but also strengthened the view that religion is the final solution.

Q: During the post-Soeharto period, what kind of attitude did Islamic communities display toward religion, society and the state?

A: For example, the United Development Party, which earlier abandoned the idea of having an Islamic state, now pushed forward its Islamic ideological agenda. Several new parties like the National Awakening Party, the National Mandate Party and the Prosperous Justice Party emerged and fared well in the 1999 and 2004 elections. Jaringan Liberal Islam, a liberal and progressive network of Islamic intellectuals, also gained prominence during this period.
On the other side, groups like the Islam Defenders Front, Lasykar Jihad, Lasykar Jundullah, Lasykar Hizbullah, Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia, and Hizbut Tahrir tried hard to draw the attention of the ummah to support their campaign to implement sharia law and establish an Islamic state in Indonesia.
What is alarming is that several provincial and regency administrations have been introducing strict sharia laws in their areas.
Now we have around 250 sharia bylaws in South Sulawesi, West Java, Banten, West Sumatra and Aceh. Even in some areas like Padang in West Sumatra, they made rules like compulsory Koranic tests for marriages and entry into schools.
This was an outcome of decentralization or what are called regional autonomy laws.
According to a 1999 law, local authorities have the right to issue their own local bylaws. But most of the regions where these laws (sharia) were implemented are ruled by people from secular parties like the Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.

Q: What are your views about "cultural Islam"?

A: There is a notion that "cultural Islam" has successfully translated its ideas into the realm of politics without ever transforming itself. The division of Islam into the cultural and political realms may from the beginning be a false construction.

Source : The Jakarta Post (18 September 2007)