Mehmet Özay 27.04.2019
Presidential and parliamentary elections
were held in Indonesia on April 17. If the geographical scope of this
Archipelagic country is taken into consideration, the fact that these elections
were carried out in a single day is quite noteworthy.
According to an unofficial quick count
system, Joko Widodo, the incumbent president, gained the majority of votes. If
the processes in the past elections are anything to go by, it can be accepted
that the current results will not change and that the winner will be announced
on May 22.
As the largest Muslim country and the
third biggest democracy in the world, one can imagine that Indonesia is among
the salient actors to intervene in global developments – in particular those
affecting Muslim communities in distinct geographies from the Middle East to
the Asia-Pacific region. However, the socio-political reality in Indonesia does
not allow one to easily reach this simple conclusion.
There is no doubt that Islam being the
prominent religion in Indonesia, ruling parties and political leaders feel
obliged to approach various religious groups and individuals in order to gain
power and legitimacy through establishing various alignments with relevant
social segments. This process is also, to some extent, observed in the
legislation processes and the implementation of various policies.
On the other hand, the multi-religious
nature is also a factor that must be considered by the Indonesian government as
there is no doubt that this creates a dilemma and constrains the government
when deciding on how to prioritize on related policies.
Beyond this, one must remember that
Indonesian nationalism emerging from Java Island is considered as another
fundamental source for national politics. In this regard, politicians and
political parties are forced to merge nationalist and Islamist perspectives in
their discourse, as has been observed in the latest elections.
Indonesian foreign policy
There are some important components that
determine the direction of Indonesia’s foreign policy. Firstly, although twenty
years has passed, it can be observed that reforms that were put in place after
the fall of the Suharto regime is still continuing today.
Indonesia’s foreign affairs are still
under the strong fundamentals established in pre-independence years, which had
limited space for Islamic discourse and actions, especially in terms of
international politics.
While national politics is dominated by
actions designed to gain the upper hand in power struggles by political elites
and distinct interest groups, foreign policy is yet to be developed on a
primary level to deal with regional issues in the Asia-Pacific and global
problems related to Muslim minorities, such as the Rohingya issue,
Islamophobia, and the case of Palestine.
The reform era dealt with the
re-modification of state institutions, curbing corruption practices from the
provincial level to the ministerial stage, improving and upgrading
infrastructures with effective policies, decreasing regional economic
disparities and so on. This process has made central governments focus on
national issues, rather than international ones.
In addition to the above-mentioned
subjects, regional and global security problems related to subsequent terrorist
attacks in various countries have been of primary concern for Indonesia. Given
the realities emanating from kidnappings and killings in the islands of
southern Philippines to terrorist organizations in the Middle East, these
issues have been closely observed by national security agencies. Besides this,
the Indonesian governments in recent decades have been alert to developments
rooted in the Middle East and has taken various counter-measures against the
effects of these activities from seeping into the country.
Representing mainly the nationalist
world view, Indonesian governments, through various agencies such as the
military, police and elected national parliament members, have been skeptical
towards Middle Eastern politics, which is shaped by multiple conflicting
parties.
Any unrestrained or misguided
involvements in Middle Eastern politics or cases related to Muslim minorities
in the Asia-Pacific region would perhaps cause unintended consequences among
some circles in the country. Thus, Indonesia’s foreign policy is quite
sensitive in this issue and has been considered as a matter of national
security.
One can assert that Indonesia needs strong
alignments in foreign affairs in order to act accordingly with any issues that
Muslim communities face in both regional and global settings.
As observed in the case of the
persecution and ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims, just like other regional
countries, Indonesia was not able to take any firm stand against Myanmar. This
is not only related to the commitment of the non-interference principle in the
ASEAN charter, but also due to the loose alliances among member countries,
including Malaysia and Brunei, against these sorts of developments.
Overall, Indonesia’s political
environment does not permit much room for the president and government to take
a leading role in regional and international crises related to Muslim
minorities.
In this regard, there appears to be a
dichotomy of views, since the government and a significant segment of the
public differ on their views on Muslim-related issues in the global setting.
Islam Nusantara
The above-mentioned issues, in
particular those related to terrorism, are forcing the Indonesian government to
redefine Islamic discourse in the country. It is also observed that political
and religious elites have initiated a further understanding of domestic and
traditional Islamic practice, which is known Islam Nusantara. Even during the
Yudhoyono governments during 2004-2014, a similar principle appeared in the
form of religious tolerance with prevailing democratic practices.
The initiation of the idea of this
process undoubtedly occurred in the years after the bombings in 2001 and was
put into practice after the expansion of Daesh. It seems that the triggering
point for the Jakarta regime to prioritize a peaceful Islamic view was molded
historically. While this policy aims to create confidence among the general
public and international community, it prevents the government from
participating more freely in international matters.
It is undeniable that some political
parties seem to have a quite strong Islamic tendency, either from the
traditional or modern perspective. And this may give a wrong impression to
outsiders in the sense that these political parties have a strong influence
upon the decision-making processes of the government towards molding foreign
policy.
It should be noted that the religious
tendency of political parties and the social makeup of the majority of the
population does not mean that political Islam has the upper hand in national
politics. On the other hand, major political parties seek the assistance of
Muslim groups and use Islamic rhetoric to seek political legitimacy for their
own purposes, which does not translate to a more active national or
international role. It is quite practical and pragmatic to appropriate the
Islamic stand for personal political gain and/or the betterment of a particular
political party’s image in front of the general public.
This was quite significantly observable
during the campaign process and the selection of the candidate for the deputy
position in the presidential election on April 17. The campaign process
contained significant Islamic discourses from both the coalition blocs of
Jokowi and Prabowo; it mainly served to divert the relevant critics and attacks
from either opposition side.
Though some religious groups argued that
Jokowi is a secular person and criticized certain policies of his, Jokowi
strategically picked up Amin Ma’ruf, a distinguished board member of the
Nahdat’ul Ulama (NU) and former leader of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) as
his deputy. Some have argued that the new government would be actively and
constructively involved in matters related to Muslim minorities due to the role
that Jokowi’s deputy will play. However, the abovementioned facts are still
substantially relevant. And it is expected for the new cabinet under Jokowi
will divert from earlier mainstream policy.
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