Islamic Political Parties and Democracy: a Comparative Study of Pks in Indonesia and Pas in Malaysia (1998-2005)

View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ScholarBank@NUS ISLAMIC POLITICAL PARTIES AND DEMOCRACY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PKS IN INDONESIA AND PAS IN MALAYSIA (1998-2005) AHMAD ALI NURDIN S.Ag, (UIN), GradDipIslamicStud, MA (Hons) (UNE), MA (NUS) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES PROGRAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2009 Acknowledgements This work is the product of years of questioning, excitement, frustration, and above all enthusiasm. Thanks are due to the many people I have had the good fortune to interact with both professionally and in my personal life. While the responsibility for the views expressed in this work rests solely with me, I owe a great debt of gratitude to many people and institutions. First, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Priyambudi Sulistiyanto, who was my principal supervisor before he transferred to Flinders University in Australia. He has inspired my research on Islamic political parties in Southeast Asia since the beginning of my studies at NUS. After he left Singapore he patiently continued to give me advice and to guide me in finishing my thesis. Thanks go to him for his insightful comments and frequent words of encouragement. After the departure of Dr. Priyambudi, Prof. Reynaldo C. Ileto, who was a member of my thesis committee from the start of my doctoral studies in NUS, kindly agreed to take over the task of supervision. He has been instrumental in the development of my academic career because of his intellectual stimulation and advice throughout. Special thanks go to Prof. Ileto for his efforts in encouraging me to continue my PhD here at NUS, and his timely and valuable assistance in the final stages of this thesis project. Thanks are also due to A/P Goh Beng Lan for her advice and comments on my thesis. She was always supportive and encouraged me to finish my studies here at NUS. Thanks are also due to Prof. Nanat Fatah Natsir, rector of the Islamic State University (UIN Bandung) for his support and encouragement during my study period. ii Some institutions provided funds for my graduate studies, dissertation research and writing. Here, I wish to express my appreciation for the Research Scholarship support awarded me by National University of Singapore. Also, the generous funding of the Asian Muslim Action Network (AMAN) for my field research in Indonesia and Malaysia under its Research Fellowship Program for Young Muslim Scholars, is thankfully acknowledged. I would like to express my gratitude to my Indonesian and Malaysian sources, who provided invaluable assistance and friendship. Special thanks are due to both PKS and PAS party leaders and grassroots members from whom the data for this thesis was collected. The information I gathered from them has been absolutely essential to this work. I am also indebted to Thirumaran who was among those who helped in the editing and proofreading of the English. I am also grateful to my best friends Rudi Irawan and Akhmad Bayhaqi, for their encouragement and suggestions; they were always available whenever I needed their help during my stay in Singapore. Thank you, mates! All administrative staffs and friends at the Southeast Asian Studies Programme at NUS, also deserve my deep gratitude: Rohani Binte Sungib, Sharifah Alawiyah Bte Salim Alhadad, Rohani Binte Jantan, Tan Lucy, Idham Bachtiar, Maria Teresa Trinidad Tinio, Zuraidah Bte Ehsan, Beng Hui, Foo Shu Tieng, Jun Cayron, Arthur Chia, Silvia Mila Arlini, Shao Han, Danny Tan, Preciosa De Joya, Takamichi Serizawa, Pitra Narendra, Jay Cheong, Katie Elizabeth and Noorul Habib. I am also indebted to everyone in my family, especially my parents, Cucun and H. Abdul Latif, and to my mother- and father-in-law, Erri Kuswari and Djaenudin, whose love and prayers have provided me with a great source of support and inspiration.Most iii importantly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my beloved wife, Eva Priyani, and my dear daughters, Halwa Aulia Nurdin and Fakhra Parentia Nurdin, who sacrificed so much of their time by accompanying me while I completed this work. To them, this work is dedicated. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements ii Table of Contents v Summary vii List of Tables ix List of Illustrations x Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Problems and Research Questions 4 Scholarly Works on PKS 5 Scholarly Works on PAS 9 How the Present Study Differs from Others 11 Methodology and Field Work 13 Thesis Structure 18 Chapter 2: Democracy and Islamic Political Party: Contending Approaches 22 Democracy and Political Party 22 Procedural/Formalist Vs Substantialist 24 Islam and Democracy 27 Sayyid Qutb and Maududi’s Views 29 Ibnu Taimiyah and al-Mawardi’s Views 32 Democratic Values in Islam 34 PKS and PAS Views on Democracy 43 Democracy and Islamic Political Parties in Developing Countries 53 Chapter 3: The Rise of PKS in Indonesia and PAS in Malaysia 56 From Middle East and Pakistan to Southeast Asia 56 The Origin of PKS: Indonesian Context 68 PKS Birth through Democratic Process 72 The Origins of PAS: Malaysian Context 78 Internal Split among UMNO 82 Concluding Remarks 94 Chapter 4: PKS and PAS: Membership and Leadership 95 PKS: Cadre Party? 96 Models of Cadre Recruitment 102 Intensive Cadre Training (Liqo and Muqoyyam) 103 Student Networking Overseas 113 Big Family and Polygamy 117 PKS Leadership Recruitment 124 Majlis Shura Selection 124 Selection of Parliament Candidates from PKS 127 PAS Membership 131 PAS Leadership 149 Concluding Remarks 155 v Chapter 5 PKS, PAS and the 1999 Election 158 PKS and the 1999 General Election 158 Political Situation Prior to Indonesian 1999 General Election 158 1999 General Election 160 PKS’s Performance in the 1999 Election 163 PAS and the 1999 General Election 172 PAS’s Victory? 179 Concluding Remarks 190 Chapter 6: The PKS and PAS in the 2004 Elections 195 PKS Performance in the 2004 Indonesian General Election 195 From Partai Keadilan to Partai Keadilan Sejahtera 199 The PKS in the 2004 Legislative Election 206 The Presidential Election and PKS’s Position 215 PAS and the 2004 Malaysian Election 230 The 2004 Election Result 234 PAS’s Defeat? 238 PAS Internally Driven-Factors 239 External Factors 242 Concluding Remarks 249 Chapter 7: Conclusion: PKS and PAS Compared 251 Postscript: PAS and PKS in the 2008 and 2009 Elections 264 Bibliography 276 APPENDIX 1: Websites Related to PKS 290 APPENDIX 2: List of PASTI Pre-School in Kelantan 293 vi Summary This thesis focuses on the participation of Islamic political parties that have a democracy platform in Indonesia and Malaysia, Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS) and Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), during 1999-2005. I examine the similarities and differences between these two Islamic political parties: origins, views on the relationship between Islam and democracy, manner of recruiting members and leaders, and their participation in the 1999 and 2004 elections. The thesis takes the position that these Islamic political parties are not a threat to democracy at all. Therefore, the main questions addressed here is: How do the PKS and PAS reconcile Islam and democracy? In order to answer the question, I evaluate the PKS and PAS’s view on democracy, implementation of democratic values in the process of parties’ establishment, in recruiting members and leaders, and in their participation in the 1999 and 2004 elections. Having examined the research questions, data and evidence, the thesis argues that two possible and comparable, ways, are embodied in the experiences of PKS and PAS, in which an Islamic political party can co-exist with democratic rules and can share in the same vision and enjoy a reasonable possibility of electoral success. PKS and PAS believe that democracy goes to the roots of Islam and the Indonesian and Malaysian context in which they exist; and that it is a good political tool for an Islamic party like PKS and PAS to achieve its political goals. Due to different historical establishments and the different national political contexts of Indonesia and Malaysia, PAS and PKS have their own styles of promoting their ideology and programs to their supporters. However, the PKS and PAS are similar in their objectives of struggling for Islamic ideology through the vii democratic process and not through “street parliaments,” and of being actively involved in strengthening democracy in their countries. This comparative study suggests that Islamic political parties in Southeast Asia can successfully participate in democracy in the region. The PKS and PAS have proven this to be so. If both parties are consistently playing their role in democratization and are given the opportunity to be ruling parties in the future, I believe that the stereotype of Islam as incompatible with democracy could finally be eliminated. The experience of PKS and PAS, which struggle through democratic processes in promoting their objectives, offers us a picture of the peaceful development of Muslim movements in Southeast Asia, which differs markedly from the dominant stereotypes of Islamic movements in this post-9/11 world. viii List of Tables Table 1: Halaqoh Materials 110 Table 2: Parliament Member from PKS (2004-2009) and Number of Children 119 Table 3: Criteria for the Candidates of Parliament Members from PKS 128 Table 4: List of PASTI’s Offices around Malaysia 142 Table 5: Contents of Compact Disks Sold in the Friday gathering in Kelantan 145 Table 6: Examples of Websites Related to PAS 148 Table 7: Malaysian Parliamentary and State

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