2
teacher who provides moral guidance). Although the groups that are part of this
movement do not have a common political ideology, they share the view that Muslims
throughout the world are under attack by Western forces.
This form of dakwah has been called political dakwah
and politk adiluhung, “high” or
“moral” politics, because it is inspired by the moral principles of Islam.
6
This dakwah
movement includes groups that range from moderate (democratic) Islamism to radical
groups
7
that believe Islam must be defended by all means, including the use of violence
or terrorist attacks.
8
The distinction between moderate Islamism and radical Islamism is
not always easy to make because it depends on whether a person or group decides that
Islam is under attack. In Indonesia, the students who support these organizations
frequently shift from one position to another on this question. However, the different
dakwah organizations described in this paper agree that only the establishment of an
Islamic government can bring genuine reform and justice.
Organizations established by dakwah activists in their effort to reshape Islam in Indonesia
include the Indonesian Muslim Student Action Union (Kesatuan Aksi Mahasiswa Muslim
Indonesia or KAMMI), HAMMAS, a more radical Association of Inter-Campus Muslim
Student Activists, the Justice Party (Partai Keadilan or PK
9
) and Hizbut Tahrir, a
movement to establish a global Islamic state or khilafa (caliphate) to rule all Muslims.
These organizations represent a younger generation of Islamist activists disillusioned
with the promise of the secular nation state to bring prosperity and greater social and
economic justice. Their slogan, derived from the Muslim Brotherhood is “Islam is the
solution.”
Indonesian spokespersons and academics who study Indonesia have consistently argued
that the vast majority of Muslims in Indonesia are moderate and liberal in their beliefs.
10
Moderate and liberal in this context means that Islam is believed to be a religion of peace,
tolerance of other religions is an Islamic teaching and the Qur’an must be interpreted to
apply to the modern world. In contrast, Islamist refers to those groups that believe an
Islamic government and syariah law (Islamic law) must be established in majority
Muslim states. Radical Islamist groups are prepared to use violence to this end. While it
is certainly true that the majority of Indonesian Muslims are moderate, I argue that it
would be a mistake to ignore new currents in Indonesian Islam prominent among a
younger generation of Muslim students who came to maturity in the 1980s and 90s. As
Syafi’i Ma’arif, Chairman of Muhammadiyah, points out (in the quotation I have used as
an epigram for this paper), Islamist groups will constitute a significant challenge to the
moderate Islam of the two largest Islamic organizations in Indonesia, Muhammadiyah
and Nahdlatul Ulama, if democratic reforms fail to bring greater justice.
11
Unfortunately, polls show that the government of Megawati is loosing the support of
people because of its failure to reduce corruption and improve the economic lot of the
poor.
12
Many people say that they do not think there will be any presidential candidate
that they can support in the 2004 election. More and more people wonder if an Islamic
government might be necessary to impose moral restraints on elites who rule the country.
A survey conducted in November 2002 by the Center for Study of Islam and Society
Convention