Religious Civil Society Organizations Responses toward Democratic Decline
A Comparison between Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah
Keywords:
Democratic decline, Civil society organization, Islam, Indonesia, Nahdlatul Ulama, Muhammadiyah
Abstract
What factors lead religious civil society organizations to either consistently cooperate or challenge (semi) authoritarian administrations? How do increased religious competition help to shape their decisions? This article aims to answer these questions by examining the political responses of Indonesia’s two largest Islamic organizations - Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah. Utilizing comparative case studies to closely analyze the two organizations, the article argues that the organization’s differing responses toward the democratic decline under Joko Widodo presidency are determined by how different their ideologies from the newer Islamist groups are and how many of their followers are switching to the Islamists. Given its distinct ideology from the Islamists and large loyal followers’ base, Nahdlatul Ulama aligns itself with the administration in its effort to repress the Islamists. However, facing more pressure from competitors amid a similar ideology and a shrinking followers base, Muhammadiyah resists the administration’s democratic decline and defends other Islamist groups which face state repression.
References
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Mietzner, Marcus and Burhanuddin Muhtadi. “Explaining the 2016 Islamist Mobilization in Indonesia: Religious Intolerance, Militant Groups, and the Politics of Accommodation.” Asian Studies Review, 42, No. 3 (2018): 479-497.
Mietzner, Marcus and Burhanuddin Muhtadi. “The Myth of Pluralism: Nahdlatul Ulama and the Politics of Religious Tolerance in Indonesia.” Contemporary Southeast Asia, 42, No. 1 (2020): 58-84.
Muhammadiyah. Tanfidz Keputusan Muktamar Muhammadiyah Ke-47 Makassar [Compilation of Decrees Enacted on the 47th Muhammadiyah National Congress in Makassar]. August 18, 2015. Yogyakarta, Indonesia: Pimpinan Pusat Muhammadiyah.
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Pahwa, Sumita. “Pathways of Islamist Adaptation; The Egyptian Muslim Brothers’ Lessons for Inclusion Moderation Theory.” Democratization. 24, No. 6 (2017): 1066-1084.
Pelletier, Alexandre. “Competition for Religious Authority and Islamist Mobilization in Indonesia.” Comparative Politics. 53, No. 3 (2021): 1-23.
Philpott, Daniel. “Has the Study of Global Politics Found Religion?” Annual Review of Political Science, 12 (2009): 183-202.
Schwedler, Jillian. “Can Islamists Become Moderates? Rethinking the Inclusion-Moderation Hypothesis.” World Politics, 63, No. 2 (2011): 347-376.
Stark, Rodney and Roger Finke. Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2020.
Tanuwidjaja, Sunny. “PKS in Post-Reformasi Indonesia: Catching the Catch-All and Moderation Wave,” South East Asia Research 20, No. 4 (2012): 533-549.
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Wickham, Carrie Rosefsky. “The Path to Moderation: Strategy and Learning in the Formation of Egypt’s Wasat Party.” Comparative Politics, 36, Number 2 (2004): 205-228.
Woodward, Mark. “Resisting Salafism and the Arabization of Indonesian Islam: A Contemporary Indonesian Didactic Tale by Komaruddin Hidayat.” Contemporary Islam, 11, Number 3 (2017): 237-258.
Arifianto, Alexander R. “Islamic Campus Preaching Organizations in Indonesia: Promoters of Moderation or Radicalism? Asian Security 15, No. 3 (2019): 323-342.
Arifianto, Alexander R. “The State of Political Islam in Indonesia: Historical Antecedent and Future Prospect.” Asia Policy. 15, No. 4 (2020): 111-132.
Arifianto, Alexander R. “From Ideological to Political Sectarianism: Nahdlatul Ulama, Muhammadiyah, and the State in Indonesia.” Religion, State, and Society, 49, No. 2 (2021): 126-141.
Arifianto, Alexander R. “Nahdlatul Ulama’s New Chair Faces a Difficult Choice: Political Neutrality or Patronage.” Indonesia at Melbourne, January 18, 2022 https://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/nahdlatul-ulamas-new-chair-faces-a-difficult-choice-political-neutrality-or-patronage/. Accessed November 16, 2023.
Arifianto, Alexander R. “Towards ‘Humanitarian Islam’: New Nahdlatul Ulama Chairman and the Global Initiative to Promote Religious Moderation. IDSS Article, January, 2022. https://www.rsis.edu.sg/rsis-publication/idss/ip22003-towards-humanitarian-islam-new-nahdlatul-ulama-chairman-and-the-global-initiative-to-promote-religious-moderation/. Accessed November 16, 2023.
Arifianto, Alexander R. “Islam and the 2024 Presidential Election: Moving towards a Consensus Candidate?” Indonesia at Melbourne, May 30, 2023. https://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/islam-and-the-2024-presidential-election-moving-towards-a-consensus-candidate/. Accessed November 16, 2023.
Bermeo, Nancy. “On Democratic Backsliding,” Journal of Democracy, 27, No. 1 (2016): 5-19.
Buehler, Michael. “Revisiting the Inclusion-Moderation Thesis in the Context of Decentralized Institutions: The Behavior of Indonesia’s Prosperous Justice Party in National and Local Politics,” Party Politics 19, No. 2 (2012): 210-229.
Burhani, Ahmad Najib. “Islam Nusantara as a Promising Response to Religious Intolerance and Pluralism” ISEAS Trends No 21/2018. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. https://www.iseas.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/TRS21_18.pdf. Accessed November 16, 2023.
Burhani, Ahmad Najib. “Resisting Conservatism: Muhammadiyah’s Experience Through Its Social Activities” in Rising Islamic Conservatism in Indonesia: Islamic Groups and Identity Politics. Edited by Leonard C. Sebastian, Syafiq Hasyim, and Alexander R. Arifianto, 80-94. Abingdon, U.K: Routledge, 2021.
Bush, Robin. Nahdlatul Ulama and the Struggle for Power within Islam and Politics in Indonesia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2009.
CNN Indonesia. “Ketum PBNU Staquf: Usulan Penundaan Pemilu Masuk Akal” [NU Chair Staquf: Proposal to Postpone Next General Election Makes Sense] (August 28, 2022). https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20220228090430-617-764844/ketum-pbnu-staquf-usulan-penundaan-pemilu-masuk-akal. Accessed November 16, 2023.
Croissant, Aurel and Jeffrey Haynes. “Democratic Regression in Asia: Introduction,” Democratization, 28, No. 1 (2021): 1-21
Federspiel. Howard. “The Muhammadijah: A Study of an Orthodox Islamic Movement in Indonesia.” Indonesia, No. 10 (1970): 57-79.
Garrett, Geoffrey and Barry R. Weingast. “Ideas, Interests, and Institutions: Constructing the European Union’s Internal Market” in Ideas and Foreign Policy: Beliefs, Institutions, and Political Change. Edited by Judith Goldstein and Robert O. Keohane, 173-206. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993.
Gill, Anthony J. Rendering unto Caesar: The Catholic Church and the State in Latin America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.
Gill, Anthony J. The Political Economy of Religious Liberty. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Hamayotsu, Kikue. “The Political Rise of the Prosperous Justice Party In Post-Authoritarian Indonesia.” Asian Survey 51, number 5 (2011): 971-992.
Hasyim, Syafiq. Islam Nusantara dalam Konteks: Dari Multikulturalisme Hingga Radikalisme [Islam Nusantara Contextualised: From Multiculturalism to Radicalism].Yogyakarta, Indonesia: Penerbit Gading, 2018.
Hukum Online. “Jaringan Kampus Hukum Muhammadiyah Nilai RKUHP Rekolonisasi” [Association of Muhammadiyah Law Faculties Assess Criminal Code Draft Law is a Form of Neo-Colonialism] (August 31, 2022). https://www.hukumonline.com/berita/a/jaringan-kampus-hukum-muhammadiyah-nilai-rkuhp-rekolonisasi-lt630f0b246a347/. Accessed November 16, 2023.
Iannaconne, Laurence R. “Why Strict Churches are Strong.” American Journal of Sociology, 99. No. 5 (1994): 1180-1211.
Iqbal, Asep. M. “Challenging Moderate Islam in Indonesia: NU Garis Lurus and Its Construction of ‘The Authentic NU’ Online’.” In Rising Islamic Conservatism in Indonesia: Islamic Groups and Identity Politics. Edited by Leonard C. Sebastian, Syafiq Hasyim, and Alexander R. Arifianto, 95-115. Abingdon, U.K: Routledge, 2021.
Ismail, Salwa. “Being Muslim: Islam, Islamism, and Identity Politics” Government and Opposition, 39, No. 4 (2004): 614-631.
Jaffrelot, Christophe. “Refining the Moderation Thesis. Two Religious Parties and Indian Democracy: The Jana Singh and the BJP between Hindutva Radicalism and Coalition Politics.” Democratization 20, No. 5 (2013): 876-894.
The Jakarta Globe. “NU Shows Support for Indirect Presidential Election” (November 28,2019), https://jakartaglobe.id/news/nu-shows-support-for-indirect-presidential-election. Accessed November 16, 2023.
Loveard, Kevin. “Daesh, Islam Nusantara, and Shades of Grey” New Mandala, January 14, 2019. https://www.newmandala.org/daesh-islam-nusantara-and-shades-of-grey/. Accessed November 16, 2023.
Luhrmann, Anna and Stefan Lindberg. “A Third Wave of Autocratization is Here: What is New About It?” Democratization, 26, No. 7 (2019): 1095-1113.
Menchik, Jeremy. Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance without Liberalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.
Mietzner, Marcus and Burhanuddin Muhtadi. “Explaining the 2016 Islamist Mobilization in Indonesia: Religious Intolerance, Militant Groups, and the Politics of Accommodation.” Asian Studies Review, 42, No. 3 (2018): 479-497.
Mietzner, Marcus and Burhanuddin Muhtadi. “The Myth of Pluralism: Nahdlatul Ulama and the Politics of Religious Tolerance in Indonesia.” Contemporary Southeast Asia, 42, No. 1 (2020): 58-84.
Muhammadiyah. Tanfidz Keputusan Muktamar Muhammadiyah Ke-47 Makassar [Compilation of Decrees Enacted on the 47th Muhammadiyah National Congress in Makassar]. August 18, 2015. Yogyakarta, Indonesia: Pimpinan Pusat Muhammadiyah.
Nashir, Haedar. Manifestasi Gerakan Tarbiyah: Bagaimana Sikap Muhammadiyah? [The Manifestation of the Tarbiyah Movement: What is the Muhammadiyah
Position?]. Yogyakarta: Suara Muhammadiyah, 2007.
Osman, Mohamed Nawab bin Mohamed, “Reviving the Caliphate in the Nusantara: Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia’s Mobilization Strategy and Its Impact in Indonesia,” Terrorism and Political Violence 22, No. 4 (2010): 601-622.
Pahwa, Sumita. “Pathways of Islamist Adaptation; The Egyptian Muslim Brothers’ Lessons for Inclusion Moderation Theory.” Democratization. 24, No. 6 (2017): 1066-1084.
Pelletier, Alexandre. “Competition for Religious Authority and Islamist Mobilization in Indonesia.” Comparative Politics. 53, No. 3 (2021): 1-23.
Philpott, Daniel. “Has the Study of Global Politics Found Religion?” Annual Review of Political Science, 12 (2009): 183-202.
Schwedler, Jillian. “Can Islamists Become Moderates? Rethinking the Inclusion-Moderation Hypothesis.” World Politics, 63, No. 2 (2011): 347-376.
Stark, Rodney and Roger Finke. Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2020.
Tanuwidjaja, Sunny. “PKS in Post-Reformasi Indonesia: Catching the Catch-All and Moderation Wave,” South East Asia Research 20, No. 4 (2012): 533-549.
Van Bruinessen. Martin. “Ghazwul Fikri or Arabization? Indonesian Muslim Responses to Globalization” in Southeast Asian Muslims in the Era of Globalization. Edited by Ken Miichi and Omar Farouk, 181-197. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
Wickham, Carrie Rosefsky. “The Path to Moderation: Strategy and Learning in the Formation of Egypt’s Wasat Party.” Comparative Politics, 36, Number 2 (2004): 205-228.
Woodward, Mark. “Resisting Salafism and the Arabization of Indonesian Islam: A Contemporary Indonesian Didactic Tale by Komaruddin Hidayat.” Contemporary Islam, 11, Number 3 (2017): 237-258.
Published
2024-06-12
How to Cite
Arifianto, A. (2024, June 12). Religious Civil Society Organizations Responses toward Democratic Decline. ISLAM NUSANTARA:Journal for the Study of Islamic History and Culture, 5(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.47776/islamnusantara.v5i1.773
Section
Articles
