GJAT | DECEMBER 2019 | VOL 9 ISSUE 3 | 27 ISSN : 2232-0474 | E-ISSN : 2232-0482 www.gjat.my The Influence of Middle Eastern Islamic Political Thought on Islamic Political Parties in Indonesia: The Case of PKS

Ahmad Ali Nurdin Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati, Bandung, Indonesia Tel: +6282117543973 E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract Muslim world. The role of Islam in politics was not only reflected in governmental and This paper primarily focuses on the influence social organizational activities, but was also of Middle Eastern Scholars on the Prosperous the concern of the scholars as well. Muslim Justice Party or the Partai Keadilan Sejahtera scholars like Jamaluddin al-Afghani and (PKS) of Indonesia. By looking into the way Muhammad ‘Abduh in Egypt, and Sir Sayyid the party establishes and develops itself, and its Ahmad Khan and Muhammad Iqbal in the member recruitment style, this paper shows that Indian subcontinent were actively involved the influence of Middle Eastern scholars on the in disseminating ideas of modernism and party’s ideology is relatively significant. The resurgence. “Islamic modernism” consisted emergence of what was known in Indonesia as primarily of intellectual movements driven by the dakwah or tarbiyah movement, which later several factors, and is particularly concerned came to influence the establishment of PKS, was with Muslim ‘backwardness’ vis-à-vis Western in fact an extension of the movements promoted colonial influences. Although modernism in by Abu A’la Maududi in Pakistan and Hassan Islam was originally conceived in the Middle al-Banna in Egypt. For the PKS, books written East, Middle Eastern modernist movements by Maududi and al-Banna have become main later managed to influence Muslims around sources for its members’ training activity, known the world, especially those in the Indo-Pakistan as the liqo activity. The liqo training method, sub-continent and, subsequently, in Indonesia one would argue, is clearly akin to the one too, to get actively involved in such intellectual used by the Egyptian al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun movement. movement to recruit its members, except that to the Ikhwan group, the liqo is actually termed as This paper discusses the ideological influences usrah. With its systematic method of gathering, of Middle Eastern and Indo-Pakistani scholars each member of the PKS who has attended the on the establishment, development and party liqo for a long period and considered capable cadre recruitment style of the Partai Keadilan enough to translate the knowledge gained, is Sejahtera (PKS) or Prosperous Justice Party of urged to create another new liqo group and try Indonesia. Central to our study is the question to recruit new members. of how the political thinking of those scholars, particularly that of Hassan al-Banna of Egypt Keywords: Islamic party; Dakwah; Liqo; and Abu A’la Maududi of Pakistan, influenced Middle Eastern Influence;Usrah the political thinking of Indonesian activists in establishing Islamic political parties like the Introduction PKS. It is however important to note at this juncture that although Maududi was a Pakistani, The early development of Islamic political his ideas were considered as Middle Eastern thinking in Indonesia cannot be separated in origin and therefore this paper anchors its from the issues and problems that appeared arguments on the Middle Eastern origin of and became a concern of Muslim scholars Indonesian Islamic modernism and revivalism. from the 18th to the early 20th century in the As a matter of fact, the title of this paper

This journal is a member of and subscribes to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) GJAT | DECEMBER 2019 | VOL 9 ISSUE 3 | 28 ISSN : 2232-0474 | E-ISSN : 2232-0482 www.gjat.my presupposes the notion that modern ideas on Middle Eastern scholars resulted not only in the Islamic modernism and Muslim resurgence modernist-reformist approaches but also some had their roots in early Middle Eastern Islamic revivalist approaches to address the problems political thinking. of Islam in Indonesia. For example, the ideas and movements led by Abu A’la Maududi From Middle East to Indonesia and Hassan al-Banna have had great impact on Indonesian and Malaysian Muslims. The The wave of Islamic reformism came to emergence of what was known in Indonesia Indonesia in the early twentieth century. as the dakwah movement or the phenomenon Transmitted generally by returning Indonesian of Islamic revivalism in the seventies, which students from Cairo who brought with them influenced the establishment of PKS, was in fact reformist literatures, Islamic modernism soon a continuation of the movements promoted by gained momentum in the Malay-Indonesian Maududi in Pakistan and Hassan al-Banna in world. The Islamic modernist movement in Egypt. According to M. Kamal Hassan (2003), Indonesia, considered to be the root of moderate Maududi along with Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966) and modernist Islam in the country, constitutes and Khomeini (1900-1989) were the most a remarkable milestone in the continuous and important Islamic thinkers and spokesman for substantial influence of Middle Eastern Islamic the holistic vision of Islam. scholarship on Indonesia. By and large, the modernist movement in Southeast Asia had Based on his brief survey of Maududi’s influence its influence from the Middle East even before on Muslim thought in Southeast Asia, Hassan World War II. Referring to the first four decades concludes that Maududi’s ideas have had a great of the twentieth century, Indonesian scholars impact on Indonesian and Malaysian Muslim like Deliar Noer argued how reformist ideas movements in the seventies. While those ideas like those of Muhammad ‘Abduh and Rashid have had influence on mainstream Indonesian Rida had fired the imagination of Indonesian social organizations like the Nahdatul ‘Ulama’ youths since very early (Noer, 1978). To Eliraz (NU) and Muhammadiyah, those revivalist ideas (2004), the narratives of Islamic modernist also influenced other Muslim movements in movements in Indonesia are, without question, Indonesia and Malaysia. Besides the fact that intimately and deeply connected with the returning Malaysian and Indonesian students Middle East, except that certain Islamic ideas from the Middle East spread their ideas in their and streams of thought might have underwent home countries, Hassan (2003) further explains some modifications. The greatest success of how Maududi’s ideas, particularly those on Islamic modernist movements in Indonesia was the relationship between Islam and politics, primarily due to Egyptian influence. They made God’s sovereignty, and the establishment of Abduh’s ideas essentially religious in character the Islamic state, also got disseminated. In the and a subsequent platform for an original and case of Malaysia, Hassan says, comprehensive reformism project that posed a substantial challenge to the traditional status The English translation of Maududis’ writing quo. Muhammad Abduh’s heritage appeared and ideas were already available in Kuala to be a significant source of inspiration for Lumpur bookshops in the early sixties. progressive ideas that emerged in the early Maududi’s writings, translated into English 1970s and later became an influential stream mostly by Khurshid Ahmad and published by the of thought in neo-modernist Islamic discourse Islamic publications Ltd of Lahore, were one of in Indonesia. the most important sources of Islamic education of the English-educated Malay intelligentsia However, the influence of the transformation in the seventies and eighties. The writings of of intellectual thinking and movement among

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Sayyid Qutb were equally popular (Hassan, Al-Farisi mosque of the Bandung Institute of 2003, 430-431). Technology (ITB), Tarbiyah student activities still exist. This mosque, more than merely a This means that since the sixties, Indonesian place of religious worships, has evolved into and Malaysian Muslims have been familiar a center of Islamic society. It provides various with the ideas of scholars from Middle Eastern services for its members (ITB students) and countries. the Muslim community outside the campus, such as education, marriage consultancies and The Establishment PKS and the Tarbiyah even a banking system. In the 1980s, one of Movement the founding fathers of the mosque, Imaduddin Abdul Rahim, popularly known as Bang Imad, Partai Keadilan Sejahtera was founded on July introduced to the Salman community the 20, 1998 and was officially declared a party thought and organizational traditions of the on August 9 of the same year. The time of its Egyptian al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun that was to birth of course cannot be separated from what influence heavily on the way the Salman mosque is called in Indonesian history the Reformasi community organizes its activities, which, up to post-Soeharto. Thus, it is reasonable to assume the present, is still maintained by the mosque that the PKS establishment was a response to the administrators. This phenomenon is also national political situations in Indonesia then. found in other major universities in Indonesia, usually state-owned, such as the Shalahuddin However, different from other new political Community in Gadjah Mada University, the parties that have sprouted instantaneously al-Huriyyah Community in Bogor Institute during the reformation era, the PKS’s birth of Agriculture, and the Arief Rahman Hakim was likely the final step or ‘final product’ of a Community of the University of Indonesia long-term religious and social movement since (UI). In my interview with the members of the the 1980s known as Kampus Da’wah (“Campus Indonesian Parliament from PKS, I learned Proselytizing or Propagating”) movement, that many of them were former Tarbiyah also referred to as Dakwah, or Tarbiyah. Nur activists. For instance, Zulkieflimansyah, a Mahmudi Ismail, the first PKS President, argued PKS parliamentarian, admitted that when he was that the historical and ideological roots of his the chairman of the UI Student Senate in 1994, party went back a very long time - almost twenty he was actively involved in Tarbiyah activities years (Tempo, 1999). at the UI mosque. When his term as Senate chairman ended in 1998, he was replaced by The Tarbiyah movement is a movement that another mosque student activist, Rama Pratama, began in Indonesia in the late 1970s in major who was also a former PKS Parliamentarian. university campuses as a response to the Zulkieflimansyah believes that student activists repressive policies of the Suharto regime toward in other universities in Indonesia continue to Muslim groups that aspired to the idea of an be associated with mosque-based activists. Islamic political system. The movement found Tarbiyah activists in many ways dominated university campuses all over Indonesia a fertile the student Senate at the UI and formed part ground for recruitment and the cultivation of of the PKS’s recruitment channel. members. Students from across the archipelago focused their activities in the campus mosques, Tarbiyah has also found campuses to be an cultivating through small religious study excellent arena to train members in the art of groups a creed that combined the Islamism power politics, which after education is the next of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood with the idea step following the discussion groups. As the of individual faith and reform. Based on my Tarbiyah activists graduated they spread their observation during a recent visit to the Salman network beyond the campuses. They formed

This journal is a member of and subscribes to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) GJAT | DECEMBER 2019 | VOL 9 ISSUE 3 | 30 ISSN : 2232-0474 | E-ISSN : 2232-0482 www.gjat.my religious study circles in the companies where of reformation in terms of whether they should they worked and in mosques, especially in the form a mass organization or a political party, cities. Following the fall of Soeharto, intensive or simply remain and maintain their movement discussion took place among Tarbiyah activists as a Tarbiyah movement focusing on dakwah on how they should respond to the reformation inside and outside Indonesian universities. era. It is a time when the Indonesian people had a great opportunity to express their opinions, Furkon (2004) mentions that some 6000 including establishing any type of political questionnaires were distributed to Dakwah parties, be they religious or secular. There was activists through established networks. The an intense debate among Tarbiyah activists as respondents were chosen from those members to whether they should establish a political who had been active in the movement for fifteen party or not. to twenty years since its establishment, and included both campus activists and their alumni According to Aay M. Furkon (2004), there who worked outside. This movement has had was a more intensive discussion (musyawarah) very effective networking due to its frequent among the members when the Dewan Dakwah meetings. Members often met in seminars and Islamiyah Indonesia (DDII, Indonesian Islamic conferences, discussions, book launchings, and Propagation Council) failed to establish a other programs related to religious activities political party based on Islam as its ideology. organized by Tarbiyah activists. The establishment of Partai Bulan Bintang (PBB), facilitated and supported by DDII, The effectiveness of their established network whose ideology was based on the Pancasila could be seen from the fact that from the 6000 (the five national pillars of Indonesia) instead questionnaires distributed, around 5800 were of Islam, disappointed Tarbiyah activist and returned. The result of the survey was surprising: DDII members. In fact, Abu Ridha (a Tarbiyah 68 per cent of the activists surveyed wanted to activist and one of the PKS founding fathers) establish a political party, 27 per cent of them initially instructed that Tarbiyah activists wished to form a mass organization, while the took a ‘wait and see’ attitude toward DDII’s remaining five per cent neither hoped to establish decision believing at that time that it would a political party nor a mass organization; they lead to an Islamic party. But when the PBB wanted to keep and maintain their movement party ultimately came to materialize and was simply as a dakwah movement, whether on soon realized as not an Islamic-based party, campus, in Islamic boarding schools, or in other the Tarbiyah activists quickly got together and non-governmental organizations (Damanik, held their meeting (musyawarah) to respond to 2002). DDII’s decision. Based on the polling result, some 52 Tarbiyah This Tarbiyah meeting was later extended to the activists further met again to follow up on the larger Indonesian community through surveys findings. These 52 activists represented groups conducted throughout Indonesia, both inside and and institutions involved in the Tarbiyah network outside the universities. Questionnaires were that had come from different educational distributed among Tarbiyah activists existing on backgrounds. They were also of different campus as well as the alumni community, who genders, ethnicities and professions (Furkon, have branched out into different employment 2004). Their professional backgrounds were very activities – government employees, members diverse, ranging from lecturers in universities of non-governmental organization (NGO) or (both public and Islamic universities) to entrepreneurs. The objective of the survey was entrepreneurs, businessmen, pesantren-leaders, to know what their ideas and responses were and student activists. Regardless, they all had to the Indonesian political situation in the era similar dakwah activities in their backgrounds.

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It may be assumed that the 52 leaders were those From the above charter of declaration, it could who had at some point been involved in religious be argued that PKS’s establishment was a activities held in campuses in Indonesia. collective effort triggered by a shared vision and mission to strengthen dakwah activities After several intensive discussions, the 52 among its members. It also indicates the idea representatives finally agreed to form a political of ‘amal jama‘i (community effort) in which party that later came to be known as the Partai all components of the community who were Keadilan (Justice Party). The proclamation of involved in its party formation had a similar the new party took place in an open area in vision, mission and responsibility to develop the front of the Al-Azhar mosque in Kebayoran party as a “vehicle” to expand dakwah activities. Baru, Jakarta, on August 9, 1998, attended Thus, failure to manage the party equally means by around 50,000 supporters. The 52 original failure to expand their dakwah mission. activists were called the Dewan Pendiri Partai Keadilan (the Council of the Founding Fathers Influence on PKS Cadre Training Style of Partai Keadilan) (Furkon, 2004). As has been noted earlier, besides the writings Since its establishment, the PKS founding fathers of Middle Eastern modernist scholars like have implemented democratic procedures to Muhammad Abduh, Jamaluddin al-Afghani guide the formation of the party. One of its and Rashid Ridha, Indonesians also regard the pillars of democracy is that votes must be works of revivalist scholars like Maududi and allocated equally among members and that al-Banna with equal reverence and respect. the expressed preferences of each member However, in the case of Maududi, it was not must be considered. This democratic procedure only his writings that Indonesian scholars were can be easily identified in the document of influenced by in the first place, they were also proclamation written by Hidayat Nur Wahid. exposed to his ideas as a result of a direct The charter of declaration says: contact between the leader of the Masyumi Party, Mohamad Natsir, and Maududi, who The Justice Party was founded not by a was also the leader of the Jamaat’i al-Islami person nor by several activists. Instead, its Party in Pakistan. Natsir visited Pakistan in establishment was decided through a democratic 1952 and met Maududi as part of his effort musyawarah (consultation) as aspired to by to gain international support for the fledging all its activists. A comprehensive survey that Indonesian Republic. Natsir was aware of the covered all dakwah activists in several mosques writings of Maududi at that time and other in universities in Indonesia, had been conducted Masyumi leaders could very well have quoted months earlier to see what their responses to some views of Maududi, particularly when the political situation in Indonesia were. The there were serious debates in the early period result of the survey showed that the majority of of Indonesian independence between Natsir, a activists agreed that it was an appropriate time Muslim nationalist, and Soekarno (Indonesia’s for them to strengthen their dakwah activities first President), a secular-nationalist, on whether by establishing a formal political party. This Indonesia should become an Islamic state or survey demonstrated a growing common vision not. In these debates, it was believed that Natsir among dakwah activists, which can become a adopted the ideas of Maududi, which articulated dynamic asset to manage the party in the future. the holistic Islamic perspective and argued After the strong will to establish a party had that Indonesia should become an Islamic state. been decided, integrated visions among them However, Natsir did not totally adopt Maud