Islam and Democracy in Indonesia

USINDO Brief: We are pleased to send you the following report of one event in our periodic meetings with expert speakers to discuss topics in their fields.

USINDO Open Forum
Islam and Democracy in Indonesia
with Ky. Hj. Ahmad Syafii Ma’arif, President of Muhammadiyah Islamic Organization,
Jusuf Wanandi, Chairman of CSIS-Jakarta,
and Prof. William Liddle from Ohio State University as moderator
April 8, 2002
Washington, D.C.

Syafii Ma’arif, president of Muhammadiyah, the second largest Muslim organization in Indonesia, declared firmly to a USINDO audience on April 8 that the “very nature” of Islam in Indonesia is democratic, that his organization has always operated in a democratic manner, that the imposition of Islamic law on Muslims in Indonesia “has no chance of passage” in the parliament, and that Islam contains no ideological obstacles to modernity, i.e. contemporary scientific thought and practices.

He was clear, however, that he would not approve a thoroughly secular state in which religion and governance are totally separated. Modernity, he said, is acceptable “so long as a transcendent God remains intact.” Those who reject democracy and modernity do so, he said, because of ignorance of history and because the idea of modernity has been “stained” by a growing nonbelief in God in some societies. (He acknowledged that in the United States, “90 percent of Americans profess a belief in God,” according to surveys, whereas in France, as an example, the corresponding figure is only 5 percent.)

Dr. Syafii appeared on a panel with Jusuf Wanandi, chairman of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta, moderated by Professor William Liddle of Ohio State University, to discuss “Islam and Democracy in Indonesia.” Professor Liddle recalled that Pak Syafii had been one of his students during the latter’s study toward a master’s degree in history from Ohio University. Dr. Syafii later received a Ph.D in Islamic thought from the University of Chicago.

Jusuf Wanandi echoed Dr. Syafii’s encouraging description of the basic nature of Indonesian Islam. He acknowledged the grave ills of the Soeharto New Order: the thoroughgoing corruption and the failure to train future leaders. But he said an important positive achievement of the period was the big effort at education, that provided for Muslims, among others, widespread opportunities, including higher education abroad. “Muhammadiyah was most active in this effort,” he said, now with more than 14,000 schools and 16 colleges in Java alone. This has developed a new base, he said, so that now there is a “critical mass” of educated Muslims as future leaders. “Democracy gives ample opportunities for political Islams to develop,” he said, stressing the plural.

Syafii Ma’arif also said that the notion of democracy is implicit in one of the fundamental tenets of Islam: the Koranic doctrine of shura, or consultation among the community, in deciding policy. He said that Muhammadiyah, founded in 1912, included in its original constitution the provision for election of officers, a practice that has been followed ever since.
He said the real threat to democracy is in Indonesia is from the economic stagnation, the failure to enforce law and order, and widespread corruption.

He gave less than enthusiastic approval to President Megawati. “She is good,” he said, “but she needs more time to learn that if corruption is not conquered Indonesia will sink slowly but surely….These social ills should not be tolerated any longer.”

He dismissed the importance of radical Islamists, saying that radical movements have local, not international roots, and have arisen because of a corrupt and weak government. “We have no justice,” he said, and the poor have been marginalized. “For unemployed youth, protests are their only source of income.” He said that unemployment is now at 41 percent of the population. He added that the media has exaggerated the threat: “CNN gives a false picture of Indonesian Islam.”

“If Indonesia can cope with the present crisis democracy and modernity will prevail. The radicals will disappear,” he said.

He repeated the oft-cited weakness of the exclusionist Islamic political parties (PPP, PK and PBB), saying that they received only ten percent of the vote in the 1999 elections. And he concurred with Pak Syafii’s assessment that the so-called “Jakarta Charter” (a constitutional amendment that would require all registered Muslims to observe sharia, or Islamic law) was easily deflected in the most recent attempts to introduce the concept in the MPR (People’s Consultative Assembly).

Q: The Muhammadiyah and the Nahdlatul Islam [the largest Muslim organization] are like elephants: the rest of us hope they will not fight one another. In view of history of tension between the two organizations, is there a possibility now for cooperation in the next election, or at least an attempt to prevent competition?

A: (Syafii) I have talked with Hasyim Muzadi [head of NU] and asked him to think about our nation (because under Gus Dur many NU people burned our mosques and schools). I pointed out that in the Koran all Muslims are brothers. I hope this cooperative spirit will last. It needs sincerity on both sides.

Q: In the 1950s the Muhammadiyah areas and the Nahdlatul Ulama villages were both very broadminded. Now it seems that elements of Wahhabism are entering Indonesia. Bernard Lewis [the well-known scholar of Middle-Eastern Islam] recently talked about the use of Saudi oil money to support a rigid orthodoxy. Is any of this true?

A: (Syafii) What is this word? I never heard it.

A: (Liddle, chuckling) There is this notion of rampant Wahhabism in Indonesia.

A: (Syafii) Ibn Abdul Wahhab [an eighteenth-century religious leader in Saudi Arabia] wanted to purify monotheism. It does not have political implications. Wahhabism has nothing to do with the development of Muhammadiyah. The idea of Saudi money in the schools of Muhammadiyah is not true.

Q: What are the effects of recent events in the Middle East, and what can the U.S. do?

A: (Syafii) Treat them [the Palestinians] justly. Indonesian Muslims are aware of the unjust treatment of Palestine. Their sympathy is getting deeper and deeper. But there are also shortcomings of the Arabs. If Arabs could unite it would be easy to face Israel, but they have suffered decay for centuries. They have failed Islam.