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@spsuinjkt ISSN 2354-7952 RESENSIUlasan Buku dan Artikel Jurnal No. 42/Th. VIIJanuari-Februari 2019 www.graduate.uinjkt.ac.id Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance Without Liberalism

For those studying Islam in Indone- survey results – the book examines the sia, there have been a number of recent Judul Buku coevolution of socio-political attitudes works that have enriched the field and Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: by activists within Muhammadiyah, challenged how we come to think of Tolerance Without Liberalism. Nahdlatul Ulama and Persatuan Islam the relationship between Islamic activ- (Persis), and how they align with the Penulis ism, nationalism and democracy. Fears shifting political and social currents Jeremy Menchik that Indonesia is becoming a stricter of the late-colonial and postcolonial and less tolerant nation – Penerbit state. especially in light of recent demon- Cambridge University Press, 2017 There is an important concep- strations demanding Jakarta governor tual point here; tolerance must not Jumlah Halaman Basuki Tjahaja Purnama be tried for be approached as a value exclusive to 224 blasphemy – meanthat such scholastic secular-liberal theorising or ‘Western’ contributions cannot be moretimely, ISBN modernity, but as a category that devel- andthey have raised important ques- 978-1-107-11914-7 ops in relation to unique local factors. tions as to whether Islam and democ- Peresensi The significance of this constructivist racy must be viewed as inharmonious. Chaplin, C. (2017). approach is a refreshing departure For instance, Remy Madinier’s Islam from liberal-secular terminology that is and Politics in Indonesia provides a far too common to the study of Islam. thorough account of the Masyumi party’s relationship to Indonesia’s democracy in the 1950s and how it conceptualised the idea of a Muslim democracy (Madinier, 2015). Likewise, Michael Buehler’s The Politics of Sha- ria Law elaborates upon the spread of ‘Sharia’ by-laws in Indonesia that are based on political calculations linked to democratic competition rather than any coherent Islamist agenda (Bue- hler, 2016). It is into such a class that we must also place Jeremy Menchik’s Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance Without Liberalism. The strength of all these works is to chal- lenge essentialist notions that Islamic activists seek to undermine Indone- sia’s democracy, instead painting a far more complex picture of how Islamic activism, modernity and democratic traditions have evolved. In Islam and Democracy in Indonesia, Menchik utilises what he refers to as an historical constructivist approach to explain how and why Islamic intellectuals come to understand tolerance in the ways they do. Through rich empirical data – based on archival research, ethnography and No. 42/Th. VII/Januari-Februari 2019 RESENSI Hal 2

Instead of referring to Islamic activ- recognises six religions amongst its Syamsuddin, claimed in 1995 that ism as somewhat dichotomous – for citizenry. The mix of religion and na- urban migration had led to the ‘deter- example, ranging from conservative/ tionalism is not particular nor purely ritorialisation’ of the Muslim trading liberal, accommodationist/isolationist institutional, but belonging to one of classes that had been the organisation’s or moderate/radical – Menchik seeks to these six categories remains necessary traditional support base. Muham- understand what tolerance means from if one wishes to be considered a full madiyah, he lamented, was unable Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama and member of civil society. The civil and to respond adequately to such social Persis’ own perspective. By taking these political rights of those who fall out- transformations given the political into account, he argues that Indonesian side these recognised categories, such restrictions placed on it via the New Islamic activists promote an idea of as the Ahmadiyah or the followers of Order (Syamsuddin, 1995). communal tolerance that emphasises Javanese mysticism (kejawaan), are Menchik may overlook the sig- four important aspects: a stress on com- thus compromised not solely because nificance of such shifts due to the munal rights over those of the individu- they are seen as religiously deviant historical nature of many of the work’s al; communal selfgovernance; a need to by Islamic activists, but because they chapters, but given the use of ethnog- separate social and religious affairs; and fall outside the boundaries of Godly raphy and survey data, especially in the primacy of faith over other values. Nationalism that has been negotiated the penultimate chapter, it could be This line of argumentation is invigorat- between state and religious actors. worth providing more consideration ing, but what makes it convincing – and Such exclusion is not pre-ordained to these factors. Indeed, demographic a joy to read – is the richness of the data by theological dictums but instead de- shifts provided spaces into which trans- Menchik draws from and the unique pends on socio-political developments. local Islamic movements, such as the structure in which the book is arranged. For example, Menchik underlines how Muslim Brotherhood, Hizbut Tahrir Each chapter describes a new point upon Persis’ anti-Christian attitude of the and Salafism, emerged and whose exis- which he builds his main argument, 1930s softened two decades later (only tence has come to influence definitions highlighting attitudes towards a different to arise again from the 1960s onwards), of tolerance amongst the Indonesian segment of Indonesian society during a due not only to the role Christians played population more generally. This has given time period by each of the three in Indonesia’s revolution, but also to the certainly been the case in on-going Islamic organisations he has selected fact that catholic and protestant political anti-Shia campaigns as, while anti- as a case study. For example, Chapter parties provided useful allies during the Shia rhetoric is not new to Indonesia, 3 tracks the development of Nahdlatul country’s brief period of democracy in the ferocity it has taken over the past Ulama, Muhammadiyah and Persis in the 1950s. Similarly, Nahdlatul Ulama’s decade, including amongst members of relation to Christian missionary activ- role in anti-communist violence in the Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadi- ity; Chapter 4 provides an informative 1960s was not dueto theoretical objec- yah, can be attributed to the spread of account of evolving attitudes towardsthe tions to communistideology (although Salafi doctrine and the test it creates Ahmadiyah from the 1930s onwards; these existed), as they had remained in for these older organisations who are and Chapter 5 shows us how attitudes government with the communist party struggling to maintain their appeal to towards Hinduism and communism during both the democratic period and younger members. evolved during the 1950–1960s. The Sukarno’s Guided Democracy. Com- My critique cannot undermine effect of this layout is to paint a vivid munal tolerance therefore remains either the importance or the strength picture of the dynamics concerning how both a diverse and elastic category, and of this work though, as the book pro- Indonesians’ attitudes towards religion Menchik recognisesthis by grading it vides a significant contribution not and nationalism developed over time, along a ‘scale’ in which attitudes to only for those concerned with Islam many of which remain in play to this education, recognition, worship, speech in Indonesia but for political theorists day. and representation are considered. more broadly. Islam and Democracy By drawing on this history, Men- However, at points I wondered in Indonesia provides a thorough ex- chik moves beyond an understanding whether his approach is constructivist amination of how Islamic activism and of modernity and the nation-state that enough. Local opinions and political nationalism coexist as an overlapping interprets religion as a matter increas- factors are certainly considered, but phenomenon. By doing so it goes a long ingly relegated to the private sphere. In there is little mention of socio-econom- way in explaining why, as the title sug- a state like Indonesia, religion remains ic and demographic influences that gests, Indonesia’s Islamic organisations a key part of postcolonial modernity. have shaped and created existential accept tolerance but simultaneously Indonesia is not a secular state, but challenges for the Islamic organisa- reject liberalism.* rather one constructed on what he tions he examines. For example, the (Sumber: South East Asia Research, 25 terms as a Godly Nationalism that former head of Muhammadiyah, Din (3), 320–322)

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