(Page 1 of 26) - Dakwah and Democracy: The Significance of Partai Keadilan and Hizbut Tahrir in Indonesia authored by Collins, Elizabeth.

DRAFT

Dakwah and Democracy

The Significance of Partai Keadilan and Hizbut Tharir

As long as the two mainstream groups, Nahdlatul Ulama and
Muhammadiyah, adhere to moderate, liberal Islam, fundamentalism
should be impossible. . . . Actually, the militant movements, which
influence young people looking for identity, can only be fought by
creating a normal situation, with justice. That’s the source of the problem.
So fundamentalism could take root unless we solve these problems.

Syafi’i Ma’arif, Chairman of Muhammadiyah

The bomb blasts that rocked Bali on October 12, 2002 and killed 202 people have led to a
new concern with the Islamic revival that emerged in Indonesia under the New Order in
the 1980s. Although there is a long history of bombings in Indonesia—the national news
magazine Tempo lists 20 since July 4, 2000

and another list compiled by the Volunteer

Team for Humanitarian Aid from various sources lists 64 bombings between 1962 and
2002—Indonesians were shocked by the target chosen (foreign tourists) and the size of
the bomb.

Immediately speculation arose about who was behind the bombing. Many Indonesians
(perhaps the majority) were certain that this bomb was too big to be the work of local
terrorists. There was speculation that the Indonesian military might be involved, but most
people seemed to prefer the theory that the CIA (or possibly Mossad) was behind the
bombing.

Western intelligence agencies were accused of plotting the bombing in order

to discredit Islam and pressure Indonesia’s government into supporting the American war
against terrorism. Even with the arrest of 29 Indonesians (as of May 2003) for
involvement in the bombing, some of whom have admitted to their participation, the
suspicion that Western intelligence agencies were involved lingers on. Among Muslim
students in universities there is growing acceptance of the idea that the Islamic world is
under attack by Western forces (glossed as a Jewish conspiracy, secularism, communism,
Christianization, and American domination of the world) and Islam must be defended—
with violence if necessary.

This view has been promoted particularly by a dakwah (Islamic mission) movement,
which has been reshaping the face of Indonesian Islam over the last three decades.
Dakwah is conducted by all Islamic organizations as a religious obligation.

However,

the dakwah movement that operated underground or with a low profile under the New
Order, was an Islamist movement that promoted the idea that to be a Muslim requires one
to struggle to establish an Islamic state. Similar and overlapping names have been used
for the groups involved in this form of Islamic mission, including usroh (nuclear family
or cell), halaqah (a circle of students and their teacher), and tarbiyah (education under a