The development of political Islam in Indonesia during reformation period (1998-2019)

Abstract

This study analyzes the development of political Islam in Indonesia during reformation period. After gaining space for freedom in the era of democratization in a post-Suharto authoritarian regime, various Islamic movements with enthusiasm made efforts to Islamize Indonesia. However, more than 20 years after the reformation, the Islamic movements, and parties in Indonesia failed to provide color in the formal political and legal aspects, proofing by the winning of secular nationalist parties in the Indonesian election and limited numbers of policies supporting the existence of political Islam during the reformation. Therefore, the researcher analyzes the dynamics of developing political Islam and the various determinant factors that affect the rise and decline of political Islam in Indonesia during reformation period. Even realizing the various challenges faced by political Islam has shifted its form to adapt the Indonesian political system and culture. To understand this problem, the researcher used the evolution theory of political development as a framework for analysis and conducted qualitative research. Data were collected by conducting literature reviews, observations, and interviews with representations of Islamic political movements in Indonesia and social and political scientists. After the data is collected, the authors conducted reduction, display, verification, and data analysis to arrive at findings and conclusions. In data analysis, the author used the Nvivo 12 plus software. Based on this process, there are several findings in this study; first, Islam is an essential political modality in Indonesian politics, so it is often used to build political identity. However, the Islamic movement has experienced various failures because it still focuses more on implementing Islamic law, which is not yet popular in Indonesian society, especially in rural communities. Moreover, so far, the political Islam movement has not had a blueprint and road map capable of building unity among different Islamic movements to collaborate to achieve a common orientation. Second, facing the various dynamics that have developed, the Islamic movement in Indonesia has begun to re-orientate the concept of Islamization that they built. Political Islam focuses not only on practical political movement but also on social movement and community empowerment, whether through social, economic, educational, preaching, and media channels. This social movement is an essential modality for the Islamic movements to build a practical political movement if it can create an Islamic society. The researcher calls this pattern Islamizing Indonesia beyond politics as the author's contribution to this work. However, the study on the road map and blueprint of Islamizing Indonesia beyond politics still needs to be continued in subsequent studies.