Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – Indonesia is experiencing growing Islamization both at national and regional levels with the enactment of laws and regulations many believe are inspired by religious teachings, especially Islam.
However, experts are still at odds over whether this is a sign that religious fundamentalism has found its place in politics or that Islam is being used as a political gimmick.
Muslim scholar Siti Musdah Mulia said Tuesday that Islamic fundamentalism had found its way onto the political scene.
"There is a trend [of political parties veering to Islamic fundamentalism], including secular parties such as the Golkar Party and the PDI-P [Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle]," she told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a discussion on religious fundamentalism as a threat to democracy and the rights of women in the country.
Musdah said the symptoms began to manifest themselves during the new order regime "but only surfaced in the democratic era, where everyone had the freedom to express themselves".
"The condition was aggravated by the fact that Indonesians in general still hold a conservative view toward religion. They don't fully grasp the concept of human rights or pluralism," she added.
Concerns have been raised over hundreds of sharia-based bylaws that discriminate against women and minorities. In some regions, the bylaws go to the extent of regulating how women dress, or attempt to regulate individual compliance to God.
Lawyer and women's activist Nursyahbani Katjasungkana told the Post that a recent study found that at least 164 of such bylaws had been imposed in regions across the country.
Muslim intellectual Azyumardi Azra said the bylaws were mostly endorsed by nationalist parties, and not Islam-based parties. "They serve local, pragmatic political interests."
Unlike Musdah, he did not believe that Islamic fundamentalism had begun to infiltrate politics. "I don't think this is an issue in the country's political scene. [Using religious teachings in political campaigns] has proven effective," he said.
The number of Sharia-based bylaws has significantly dropped in the last three to four years, Azyumardi said. "They cannot be implemented and there is too much resistance [from the people], they don't empower society and don't accelerate growth," he added.
Nursyahbani said even two years ago when such bylaws were beginning to mushroom, most Indonesians still wanted a secular constitution as today.
She said many women's rights organizations and NGOs throughout the country had come up with ways to educate women on their rights and train law enforcement officials, including judges, on gender issues.
"Several organizations have trained judges in religious courts, for example, in cases of domestic abuse, teaching them to not see it as a husband's right to discipline his wife, but as a crime," she told the Post.
She said the government must also play a role in disseminating the teachings of progressive Islamic scholars through books to the people at the grass roots level.
"Fundamentalist philosophies are easily found in cheap books sold at every Friday prayer. But those of great, progressive Islamic thinker can only be found in big bookstores and they're expensive," she added.