Islam and Politics in Indonesia.

(From Journal of Japanese Trade & Industry (JJTI))

Byline: Shiraishi Takashi

Muslims account for 87% of Indonesia's population or a total of 180 million adherents, and this majority makes it the world's largest "Islamic" nation. While it is a trend within Islam throughout the world, Muslims in Indonesia are becoming more devout than ever. Whereas it was hardly seen in the 1970s, for example, the jilbab worn by Muslim women has become a common sight, and increasing numbers of believers are attending Friday services at mosques.

Accompanying this "Islamic revival," in the political world in recent years, those advocating the establishment of Islamic states ruled by the increasing influence of Islam and Islamic law (Sharia) have come to the fore. For example, when one visits the city of Surakarta in central Java, where Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) was founded, one sees posters of Osama bin Laden on the walls. Islamist Yusril Ihza Mahendra, chairman of the Crescent Moon and Star Party (PBB [1]) and the Minister of Justice, has been mentioned as a candidate for the presidency. In the national parliament are such Islamist political parties as United Development Party (PPP [2], whose chairman is Hamzah Haz, the current Vice President), the Welfare Justice Party (PKS [3]) and the PBB. The JI, which engineered a series of terrorist attacks such as the Bali bombing and the bombing of Jakarta's Marriott Hotel, continues to be influential.

How potent are the Islamist influences within the government, and will Islamist strength grow larger than what it is at present? To answer these questions, let us examine the results of the survey carried out by Lembaga Survei Indonesia (LSI) in August of 2003.

According to the results, some 87% of Indonesia's population are adherents to Islam. Of these Muslims, the devout who pray five times each day, fast to the the very end of Ramadan, chant the Koran daily, pray additionally on a daily basis and regularly attend religious lectures account for 49.8% of adherents. The remaining 50.2% are less devout and fall in the category of what might be called "statistical" Muslim. The degree to which devout Muslims (43.3% of the entire population), statistical Muslims (43.7%) and non-Muslims (13%) support political parties is shown in the table. (Table 1) In Indonesia, the term "Islamic parties" is used to refer to five particular political parties. These are the three Islamist political parties (the PPP, the PKS and the PBB) which advocate the establishment of an Islamic state governed by Islamic law, the National Awakening Party (PKB [4], headed by former president Abdurrahman Wahid, former chairman of the orthodox Islamic social and educational association Nahdlatul Ulama [NU]) and the National Mandate Party (PAN [5], headed by current MPR [6] Speaker Amien Rais, former head of the modernist social and educational association Muhammadiyah). It is generally held that devout Muslims overwhelmingly support these five parties.

However, when one looks at the results of the survey, this does not seem to be the case. As one might guess, non-Muslims do not support the Islamic parties at all, and statistical Muslims are conspicuously low in their rate of support for Islamic parties (28.3%) as well. As a result, one can say that the major support base of the Islamic parties is made of devout Muslims. This does not mean, however, that devout Muslims unanimously support the Islamic parties. As one can see in Table 1, the party receiving the largest degree of support from devout Muslims is Golkar, and close to half of devout Muslims (48.6%) support either Golkar or the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP [7]).