Negotiating Religious and National Identities in Contemporary Indonesian Islamic Education

Indonesia's political transformation since the fall of Suharto's authoritarian New Order regime in May 1998 has been nothing short of remarkable. For the third time, general elections were held in July 2009 in which Indonesians elected the national and regional legislative assemblies and directly chose a president. Largely peaceful and supported by organizations from a wide ideological and religious spectrum, these elections measure as a great success in the country's ongoing democratization process. Recent surveys, moreover, show the general openness and moderate outlook of the Indonesian Muslim population on questions of democracy, civil rights, and interfaith tolerance (Esposito and Mogahed 2007, Mujani 2007). (1) This trend toward participatory politics, perhaps surprisingly to some, has coincided with a notable resurgence of Islamic identity among the majority Muslim population. Measured by such indicators of personal piety as belief in God and performance of the five daily prayers, Indonesian Muslims rank well ahead of their sisters and brothers in other Muslim-majority nations (Hassan 2007). Similarly, polling data suggest growing support for Islamic-based law among a strong majority of Indonesian Muslims (Pew Global Attitudes Project 2011). The perceived tension between these two currents has raised the question of how compatible the formation of a democratic public and political sphere is with the persistent revival of Islamic identity among the majority Muslim population. Such concerns have been heightened by a growing number of inner-and interreligious conflicts. The list of some of the most visible events includes the 2005 fatwa of the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) condemning pluralism, secularism, and liberalism (Gillespie 2007), the violent attacks by members of Muslim vigilante organizations such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) on participants in a rally for religious freedom at Jakarta's National Monument in June 2008, and, since 2008, a string of attacks on Christian and Ahmadiyah places of worship, particularly in West Java (International Crisis Groups [ICG] 2010). Finally, the hotel bombings of July 2009 in Jakarta, which were reminiscent of attacks in Bali and Jakarta between 2002 and 2005, are the latest reminder of the threat militant Muslim groups pose to communal harmony and peace in Indonesia.