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Between the Global and the Local: Islamism, the Middle East, and Indonesia

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Between the Global and the Local: Islamism, the Middle East, and Indonesia THE BROOKINGS PROJECT ON U.S. POLICY TOWARDS THE ISLAMIC WORLD ANALYSIS PAPER ANALYSIS Number 9, October 2005 BETWEEN THE GLOBAL AND THE LOCAL: ISLAMISM, THE MIDDLE EAST, AND INDONESIA ANTHONY BUBALO AND GREG FEALY THE BROOKINGS PROJECT ON U.S. POLICY TOWARDS THE ISLAMIC WORLD ANALYSIS PAPER ANALYSIS Number 3,9, May 2003 October 2005 BETWEEN THE GLOBAL AND THE LOCAL: ISLAMISM, THE MIDDLE EAST, AND INDONESIA ANTHONY BUBALO AND GREG FEALY NOTEFROMTHEPROJECT CONVENORS The Brookings Project on U.S. Policy Towards the Islamic World is designed to respond to some of the most difficult challenges that the U.S. will face in the coming years, most particularly how to prosecute the continuing war on global terrorist groups while still promoting positive relations with Muslim states and communities. A key part of the Project is the production of Analysis Papers that investigate critical, but under-explored, issues in American policy towards the Islamic world. A repeated challenge in American policy towards the Muslim world is how the United States will deal with the ris- ing power and popularity of groups that organize around ideas and forms of activism that conceive of Islam not just as a religion but also as a political ideology. From the Middle East to Southeast Asia, such groups, commonly referred to as Islamist, are among the most popular, active, and credible actors on the ground. As American democratization, aid, public diplomacy, and other activities seek to play an increasingly active role within the political environment inside Muslim states, it is therefore clearly important for policymakers to under- stand the differences within, and evolution of, Islamism and Islamist groups and spin-offs. This is especially critical with respect to the role of Islamist parties in nascent democracies. But beyond that, understanding how the spread of ideas takes place in an increasingly globalized world is important not just to the success of such policies of reform, but also to counter-terrorist efforts. At a time when al-qa‘ida is increasingly seen as an ideology rather than an organization, assessing the extent to which ideology in its malign forms has spread, and how it has done so, will equally provide clues as to the future trajectory of the terrorist threat. At the same time, as the most populous Muslim democracy in the world, Indonesia is one of the most important states within the Muslim world. Yet, the focus of American policy towards, and understanding of, the Muslim world is centered on the Middle East, often leaving out this vital state in policy discussions. Thus, a better appreciation of the complexities of Indonesia, and local Islamist groups’ connection into the broader, global exchange of ideas and adaptation, is necessary for future policy success. II Between the Global and the Local: Islamism, the Middle East, and Indonesia As such, we are pleased to present Between the Global and the Local: Islamism, the Middle East, and Indonesia by Anthony Bubalo and Greg Fealy, produced in cooperation with the Lowy Institute for International Policy. The Lowy Institute is an independent international policy think-tank based in Sydney, Australia, which has developed an exciting expertise on Southeast Asia. The research for the paper originally stemmed from the Lowy Institute Paper “Joining the Caravan: The Middle East, Islamism and Indonesia.” We appreciate their contribution to the Project’s work and certainly are proud to share their views and analysis on this important issue with the wider public. We are also grateful for the generosity and cooperation of the Carnegie Corporation, the Education for Employment Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, the MacArthur Foundation, the Government of Qatar, the United States Institute of Peace, Haim Saban, and the Brookings Institution for their backing of various Project’s activities. We would also like to acknowledge the hard work of Andrew Apostolou, Rabab Fayad, Ellen McHugh, Elina Noor, and Arif Rafiq for their support of the Project’s publications. Stephen Philip Cohen Martin Indyk Peter W. Singer Shibley Telhami Project Co-Convenor Project Co Convenor Project Director Project Co-Convenor III EXECUTIVE SUMMARY gainst the background of the ‘war on terror’, ary activity, but it would also include a group such as Amany people have come to view Islamism as a al-qa‘ida whose acts of terrorism are arguably driven monolithic ideological movement spreading from the less by concrete political objectives than religious inspi- center of the Muslim world, the Middle East, to ration, albeit of a misguided form. This paper therefore Muslim countries around the globe. To borrow a uses the term ‘neo-fundamentalist’, developed by the phrase from Abdullah Azzam, the legendary jihadist French scholar Olivier Roy, to describe these groups and who fought to expel the Soviet Union from will study the transmission of both Islamist and neo- Afghanistan in the 1980s, many today see all Islamists fundamentalist ideas to Indonesia. as fellow travellers in a global fundamentalist caravan. This paper evaluates the truth of that perception. It Islamist ideas from the Middle East have indeed been does so by examining the spread of two broad cate- imported into Indonesia by Muslims looking for new gories of Islamic thinking and activism — the more ways of thinking about the relationship between politically focused Islamism and more religiously Islam, politics and society. Some Indonesian students focused ‘neo-fundamentalism’ — from the Middle who travelled to the Middle East came back influenced East to Indonesia, a country often cited as an example by the ideas of the Muslim Brotherhood. More malign of a formerly peaceful Muslim community radicalized influences would also be imported by Indonesians by external influences. who went to Afghanistan in the 1980s and 90s to fight in the jihad against the Soviets and forged links with Islamism is a term familiar to many. Most commonly it the future leaders and activists of al-qa‘ida. But is used to categorize ideas and forms of activism that Islamist and, in particular, neo-fundamentalist ideas conceive of Islam as a political ideology. Today, a wide have also been imported from the Middle East. Most range of groups are classified as Islamist, from the notably, missionary activities by official and non-offi- Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood to al-qa‘ida. While such cial organizations from Saudi Arabia played a critical a categorization remains appropriate in many cases, role in the emergence of a salafist current within the Islamism seems less useful as a label for those groups Indonesian Muslim community. that do not see Islam as a political ideology and largely eschew political activism — even if their activism some- The impact of these ideas has varied. Elements of times has political implications. Included in this category Muslim Brotherhood thinking helped the Islamist are groups concerned primarily with Islamic mission- Prosperous and Welfare Party (PKS) play a positive IV Between the Global and the Local: Islamism, the Middle East, and Indonesia role in Indonesian politics, though some of the The issues canvassed in the paper are of obvious rele- darker sides of the PKS, notably the anti-Semitic views vance to policy makers. At a time in which al-qa‘ida is and anti-western conspiracy theories of some of its increasingly seen as an ideology rather than an organ- members, have also been influenced by thinking from ization, assessing the extent to which that ideology has the Middle East. Many of the Indonesian groups sup- spread, and how it has done so, provides clues as to the ported by Saudi Arabia limit their activism to the pro- future trajectory of the terrorist threat. But it is also motion of Islamic piety — albeit of a fairly puritanical important for policy makers to understand the differ- form — though some have participated in violent sec- ences within, and evolution of, Islamism, particularly tarian conflict. More insidious has been the influence with respect to the role of Islamist parties in nascent of al-qa‘ida and other Middle Eastern sources on doc- democracies. A number of policy implications flow trine and operational techniques of the Indonesian from the conclusions of this paper: terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). 1. In focusing on the global, don’t lose sight of the local Nonetheless, Indonesian Muslims have also been In focusing on the transnational dimensions of con- selective in their appropriation and application of temporary terrorism, governments should not lose Islamist and neo-fundamentalist ideas from the sight of local causes. Today, there is a tendency to see Middle East in Indonesia. A process of selection and contemporary terrorism as largely a function of the indigenization is almost always at work. In terms of spread of a global ideology. But while the transmis- Muslim Brotherhood thinking, the gradualist sion of extremist ideas is part of the problem, it is by approach of Hassan al-Banna has been utilized more no means the sole defining characteristic. Local fac- than the revolutionary ideas of Sayyid Qutb and his tors will still be critical in determining the future radical heirs. The influence of Middle Eastern salafist trajectory of the terrorist threat in Indonesia, from sheikhs is sometimes manipulated by their local the dynamics of Muslim–Christian relations and the Indonesian representatives. Even the relationship continuation of sectarian violence, to the relation- between al-qa‘ida and JI is not one of command and ship between Islamist and neo-fundamentalist control. There are, arguably, tensions within JI groups and the state. between those of its members keen to pursue the imperatives of al-qa‘ida’s global project and those 2. Adopt a more nuanced categorization of Islamists within the organization focused on more local, if still and neo-fundamentalists violent, priorities.
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