When religion is manipulated for political ends
Agama Rakyat Agama Penguasa, Konstruksi tentang Realitas Agama dan Demokrasi (People's religion Ruler's Religion: A Construction on Reality of Religion and Democracy); Zainuddin Maliki; Published by Galang Press, Yogyakarta, 2000; 252 pp.
JAKARTA (JP): Religion and power (read: state) always stimulate interesting discussion now that Indonesia is going through a transitional phase from authoritarianism to democracy.
Many former leaders of religious groups are currently leaders of key government institutions.
For example, President Abdurrahman Wahid once chaired the country's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU); People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais was a former chief of Indonesia's second largest Muslim Organization Muhammadiyah, while House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung was a former chairman of the Islamic Students Association (HMI).
But many argue that in fact they are not representatives of Islam because associating them with religion undermines the noble value of Islam.
It is commonly believed that using religion to serve political interests is unhealthy; tainting the religion and blemishing the image of believers.
The author of the book, Zainuddin Maliki, seems to believe that many political leaders have been manipulating religion for their political interests.
Zainuddin tries to explain how religion and the state is interrelated by presenting some political and social concepts and theories.
He discusses theories created by thinkers such as Karl Marx, Anthonio Gramsci and Robert N. Bellah to explain current issues related to religion and state.
Zainuddin argues that members of the political elite have been using religious symbols to win public support.
In her latest move, Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is also Chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) went on the haj pilgrimage. This is seen as a trick to win sympathy from Muslim circles who doubt her religiosity.
Her religious faith has been questioned by Muslim-based political parties which perceive her nationalist PDI-P as being dominated by Christians.
As far as politics is concerned, religion has two contradictory roles. It provides a moral foundation that will release people from the oppression of those in power but on the other hand, religious doctrines can hamper democracy as they deny the existence of other faiths.
People kill each other in the name of religion even though religion preaches love.
The book, which is a collection of articles printed in newspapers or presented in seminars -- is divided into three sections.
The first section titled Religion and Power Discourses in Indonesia discusses how the manipulation of religion began in the olden times as has continued up to the present.
The establishment of the Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals Association (ICMI) in the early 1990s is a hegomonic symbol of then authoritarian President Soeharto.
But religion can be used to fight authoritarian rule as described in the second section of the book titled Religion as a Critic of Power.
History has shown that religion fueled people's spirit to fight the Dutch and Japanese colonialists.
In this book Zainuddin analyzes current situations in the country presenting theoretical backgrounds to better understand them. Of course the theoretical framework is debatable because it was created to support the writer's assumptions.
There is no explanation of, for example, how Zainuddin comes to the conclusion that the Muhammadiyah-based National Mandate Party (PAN) chaired by Amien Rais and the Islamic-based Justice Party are "reformist".
As the political drama is moving fast, the book has yet to discuss the most current issues, such as the Islamic parties' surprising change of stance and their acceptance of Megawati as a possible president. Just a few months ago, they fiercely rejected the idea saying that a woman leader is unacceptable in Islam.
Zainuddin concludes that any political platform is still acceptable if they are inclusive, transparent and egalitarian.
He predicts that the political tensions would continue in the future if inclusiveness, transparency and egalitarianism are mere rhetoric. (Ahmad Junaidi)