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All eyes on rise of young
Islamic party
By Prangtip Daorueng
JAKARTA - Indonesia sees itself as a politically secular country,
but the emergence of a young political party with Islamic
credentials and a good amount of young, well-educated supporters
is being closely watched by many.
The Justice Party is one of several Islamic groups and parties
that support calls to amend the 1945 constitution to apply Islamic
Shariah law in the world's most populous Muslim country, despite
opposition from other major parties.
The rise of such calls is a new phenomenon, not seen during the
three decades of Suharto's rule, for instance.
"Our main aim is based on Islamic teachings, which seek to
establish a justice and welfare nation, which is blessed by
God," said Hidayat Nur Wahid, 42, second president of Partai
Keadilan or Justice Party.
"The intention to serve, which is the main policy of our
party, is the worship of God," explained Dr Zulkieflimansyah,
the party's director, an economics graduate from Britain.
"You can say that we have vertical relations to God and
horizontal relations to the people."
After entering politics in 1998, the party rose swiftly in the
House of Representatives, gaining seats in a relatively short
period of time despite competition from the bigger, older, secular
parties. It gained seven seats in the House the first time it ran
in the election, and soon became party No 5 in Jakarta - a
"big success", Hidayat proudly said, for a new party.
Meantime, leaders of the major parties, including the National
Awakening Party of former president Abdurrahman Wahid, who counts
as his power base the Muslim organization Nahdatul Ulama and its
35 million members, have frowned on the Justice Party's moves.
Wahid has been quoted as saying that Article 29 of the
constitution - which guarantees respect for the supreme being -
was precisely a "joint agreement" of Indonesia's
founding fathers, who wanted people to have freedom to pursue
different beliefs.
Parties such as the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle of
President Megawati Sukarnoputri, the former ruling party Golkar,
and even the National Mandate Party of leading politician Amien
Rais, based on the second-largest Muslim group Muhammadiyah, are
against amending the charter.
Since its birth in 1945, Indonesia has positioned itself as a
secular state that followed a modern legal system while giving
social space for Islam, the religion of the overwhelming majority
of its 220 million people.
Nationalism under founding president Sukarno ignored Islam as a
political force. Suharto's military regime emphasized
state-controlled national unity, and saw Islamic groups and their
elite as a threat to its existence. As a result, Islamic groups -
even the biggest mass-based ones such as Nahdlatul Ulama - have
never played a significant role in parliamentary politics, and
many Islamic leaders have long advocated a secular state.
Even after Suharto's downfall in May 1988, most Muslim voters
still generally chose secular parties over Islamic-based ones.
Vice President Hamzah Haz comes from the Muslim-based United
Development Party, which supports the constitutional amendment.
But he has reportedly conceded that the amendment would not gain
enough support in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the
highest body that can amend the constitution.
Indonesia also has seen fundamentalist groups such as the Laskar
Jihad and Laskar Mujahiddin emerge after 1998, but people viewed
them as disturbing signs of division and extremism - yet
insignificant in the long-term political picture.
Along with Muslim factions in the House and other Islamic groups,
the Justice Party suggested that Article 29 of the constitution,
which stipulates that "the State is based on one Supreme God
principle", be followed by a sentence that reads, "It is
obliged to perform Islamic Shariah [law]."
"Our understanding of Islam is not something related to
violence or terror, but justice and welfare for all," said
Hidayat, also an Islamic theologist. "In our constitution's
Chapter 29, the practice of religion is free. So if Indonesia
practices Islamic law, it is not against the constitution."
He said the application of Shariah would not go against the
country's social background because Islamic law had been practiced
before the Dutch colonial period.
"Islamic Shariah can be applied to Muslims in the country,
while those of other religions are free to practice their beliefs.
Our policy is to be open for cooperation with everybody," he
pointed out, although skeptics say the party may have a moderate
face but its real policies on religion remain unclear.
Still others say there is no need to go down the path of
constitutional change for this purpose.
"The state cannot regulate how many units a person should
perform within a prayer and many other things related to religious
service," Nahdatul Ulama Central Executive Board member
Masdar Mas'udi told the online weekly Tempointeractive.
Still, the time when Islam has been separate from politics in
Indonesia may yet change, analysts say, looking at how the Justice
Party has gone into parliamentary politics and is receiving
support from young supporters.
There are no surveys to indicate support for the Justice Party,
but Hidayat said it has had a 500 percent increase in party
members, which he calls "cadres", since the last
election. Party officials say it now has 300,000 core members,
most of them from well-educated younger generation belonging to
the middle class.
"They are university-graduated and leaders of Islamic
boarding schools in Java, Sumatra, and East Indonesia, but right
now we recruit new cadres through training and seminars from other
groups apart from the campuses," he said.
The seeds of Justice Party began in several Islamic groups, which
had been active in campuses since before Suharto's fall.
Ulil Abshar-Abdalla, an Islamic scholar from the non-government
Freedom Institute, said the younger generation's interest in Islam
is not a new phenomenon. "During the New Order [Suharto era],
many university students turned to religious activities as an
alternative to the ban on political activities," he said.
As to how his party got the support of students, Hidayat said:
"We don't express our belief only by talking, but by
doing," and he cited several welfare projects as an example.
"That's why young people who seek Islam as an answer feel at
home with us."
But at the same time, Hidayat concedes that Indonesian Muslims'
secular political and social outlook could be a problem in getting
more support. "You can see that although there are Islamic
banks in the country, many people still prefer to use commercial
banks," he explained.
But the Freedom Institute's Ulil argues that the most important
point in the social life of Islam in Indonesia should be the room
it gives for people to follow their religion.
"I don't think that a political party with one single idea of
imposing Islam on every Muslim is a good idea, and perhaps the
Justice Party will have to answer this question once it
grows," he said.
(Inter Press Service)
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