The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 07/17/2007 2:24 PM
Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta
Last week, a hard-line Islamic group announced the names of its 10 preferred presidential candidates for the 2009 election. The list included Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, a religious figure often referred to as the alleged theological leader of a terrorist network.
“”In democracy, anybody can become a presidential candidate,”” the group’s head was quoted as saying.
It may seem positive that the hard-liners have started to believe in the merits of democracy, a system sometimes seen by religious fundamentalists as somehow ungodly.
But they simply want a presidential candidate who will impose sharia in Indonesia when he — all the names on the list are of men, including People’s Consultative Assembly Speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid — wins the election. This, of course, would threaten the existence of other faiths.
They probably are unaware that there are several main requirements for democracy. These include freedom, tolerance and secular-civic engagement. They may also forget important elements of democracy such as an appreciation of diversity and protection of minorities.
It is still fresh in our minds how the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued in 2005 a fatwa (religious edict) banning pluralism, liberalism and secularism. The council often releases edicts which are misused by radical groups to take violent action against minorities, including recent attacks on the Ahmadiyah group.
After failing once again to secure the inclusion of the Jakarta Charter, which enjoins Muslims to uphold Islamic law, in the latest amendments to the Constitution, the conservatives took a different tack and managed to pass several sharia-inspired bylaws through local administrations. If this was a soccer game, the score would be tied 1-1.
The fatwa, bylaws and violence seem to strengthen the view of many political experts, including Samuel P. Huntington and Elie Kedourie, that Islam is not compatible with democracy. That the religion does not tolerate other ideas.
In the post-Cold War world several new democracies have sprung up, but few in predominantly Muslim countries. Instead, authoritarian regimes emerged in some new Muslim countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Despite a current rise in conservatism, Indonesia, with the world’s largest Muslim population, chose secular leaders, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla, in its first direct presidential election in 2004.
Moderate ulema have reiterated their support for the unitary state and the state ideology Pancasila.
This is not because these ulema do not believe in their teachings, but mainly because they fear their cultural expressions — some drawn from Hinduism — would be prohibited if the hard-liners managed to take power.
Mostly prompted by pragmatism, the coalition of 19 political parties that nominated Fauzi Bowo for Jakarta governor could be viewed as a choice against conservatism.
One of Fauzi’s campaign slogans, “”Serahkan Pada Ahlinya“” (leave it to the expert) is actually drawn from the Koran. In a broader sense, it could mean do not let an aviation expert lead the country as it would break apart, or keep ulema in religion, not in politics.
A recently launched book, Muslim Demokrat: Islam, Budaya Demokrasi, dan Partisipasi Politik di Indonesia Pasca-Orde Baru (Muslim Democrat: Islam, the Culture of Democracy, and Political Participation in Post-New Order Indonesia), written by Islamic researcher Saiful Mujani, tries to prove that Islam, at least in Indonesia, is compatible with democracy.
The book, based on Saiful’s PhD dissertation at Ohio State University, says devout Muslims at the grassroots still believe in secular political institutions.
Like many opinion surveys, the results of Saiful’s research, conducted in October 2001 and October 2002, could be easily shifted. But we should avoid seeing the survey as just a defensive effort by a die-hard democracy campaigner.
So far, those who say Islam and democracy can go together have yet to explain the current rise in fundamentalism, religious violence and intolerance. We do not want just a procedural democracy, but a substantial one.
photo: http://www.jpnn.com/picture/thumb/20110224_220359/220359_864890_Abu_bakar_baasyir_lagi.jpg
