Religion and Regulation in Indonesia

275 Pages·2017·2.262 MB·English

by  Ismatu Ropi (auth.)

ISMATU ROPI
RELIGION
AND
REGULATION
IN
INDONESIA
Religion and Regulation in Indonesia
Ismatu Ropi
Religion and
Regulation in
Indonesia
Ismatu Ropi
UIN Jakarta Indonesia
South Tangerang, Indonesia
ISBN 978-981-10-2826-7 ISBN 978-981-10-2827-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-2827-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016956540
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
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A
bstrAct
This book analyses the state regulation on religious affairs in modern
Indonesia, focusing on understanding its history and consequences to
citizen’s religious life.
Indonesian constitutions have preserved religious freedom, but by
the same token have also tended to construct wide-ranging discretion-
ary powers in the government to control religious life and to oversee
religious freedom. Consequently, during more than four decades, as the
Indonesian government has constructed a variety of policies on religion
based on those constitutional legacies that have mostly been interpreted in
the light of norms and values of the existing religious majority group. At
the heart of this issue is then a tension between ensuring religious order
and harmony on the one hand, and protecting religious freedom for all
on another. This book discusses at length that while successive govern-
ments have grappled with the problems of religious life, they have indeed
increasingly prioritized order and harmony over the rights of all citizens’
religious freedom.
Overall this book also argues that the history of the politics of regulat-
ing religion has been about “the constant negotiation” for the boundaries
of authority in regulating religious affairs between the state and the major-
ity. In this vein the government is eager to oversee and strictly control
religious activities, but at the same time the majority group is interested to
steer the direction of state policies to be closer to their norms and values.
v
r t
eferencing And rAnsliterAtion
All references in this book will be fully quoted the first time used in the
footnote, followed by the page number. In referencing the book, the
example is as follows: Peter W. Edge, Religion and Law (Aldershot:
Ashgate Publishing, 2006), 6–10. Later references will use a shortened
form of the work, followed by the page number such as Edge, Religion
and Law, 25. An example of referencing article from academic journal
is as follows: Neil A. Englehart, “Rights and Culture in the Asian Values
Argument: The Rise and Fall of Confucian Ethic in Singapore,” Human
Rights Quarterly 22, 3 (2000): 548–568. Later references for journal will
use a shortened form of the work, followed by the page number such
as Englehart, “Rights and Culture in the Asian Values Argument,” 559.
Reference to works in languages other than English, like Indonesian, will
also follow the above pattern.
In this book, all Indonesian terms are written according to their mod-
ern spellings as they are used in today’s Indonesian language. Instead
of using, for example, oesaha (effort), I have given its modern spelling,
usaha. In spelling some Indonesian names especially from the older gener-
ation, I follow the most common way those names are spelt at the current
time. For instances, I prefer to write Hasyim Asy’ari, not Hasjim Asj’ari,
or Sukarno and Suharto, not Soekarno and Soeharto respectively. In most
cases I keep Indonesian wording instead of translating them into English.
The examples are the word Pancasila and the phrase Ketuhanan Yang
Maha Esa (with italics). However in those cases generic translation of the
word or phrase will be supplied in its first usage.
vii
viii REFERENCING AND TRANSLITERATION
Considering the strong Arabic influence on Indonesian terms and
names, I have opted to employ their Indonesian spellings. Instead of
sharî‘a, kitâb, ‘ulamâ’ and fatwâ for example, I employ the terms sha-
riah, kitab, ulama and fatwa without italics. Likewise, the plural forms of
Arabic-influenced terms are indicated by adding the letter “s” to the word
in its singular form, as in kitabs or fatwas rather than kutub or fatawa. For
Arabic terms and names which are not part of Indonesian language, I use
the international standard of Arabic transliteration.
A
cknowledgements
This book is a revised version of my PhD thesis submitted to The Australian
National University (ANU) in 2012 and completed during my honorary
fellowship at ANU from September to November 2015. Many people
and institutions greatly contributed to the completion of this book. Chief
among them is Associate Professor Greg Fealy, without whose guidance
and constant encouragement the book could not possibly have been fin-
ished. His passionate commitment particularly to Indonesian studies, his
refreshing intellectual honesty, constructive criticism, advice and support
have been my model for academic excellence. Terima kasih banyak Pak
Greg! I would also gratefully acknowledge the ongoing support and advice
I received from Professor Edward Aspinall in PSC ANU.
I am grateful to Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (Universitas
Islam Negeri/UIN) Jakarta through the Office of Institute for Research
and Community Outreach (Lembaga Penelitian dan Pengabdian pada
Masyarakat/LP2M) for providing me with research grant to undertake
my fellowship in Australia as part of the 2015 UIN Jakarta’s International
Collaborative Research Program. Professor Dede Rosyada, the current
Rector of UIN Jakarta, Professor M Arskal Salim GP and Imam Subhi are
among who deserve my acknowledgements for their kind help.
It is a great pleasure to acknowledge the tremendous support from the
research centre where I have been working as a researcher for more than
twelve years, the Center for Studying Islam and Society (Pusat Pengkajian
Islam dan Masyarakat/PPIM) UIN Jakarta. Among them are Professor
Azyumardi Azra, Professor Komaruddin Hidayat and Professor Jamhari
for always helping me in many different ways. I thank all my research
ix
x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
colleagues in this institution, especially Professor Murodi, Dadi Darmadi,
Saiful Umam, Ali Munhanif, Oman Fathurahman, Din Wahid, Fuad Jabali,
Jajang Jahroni, Arief Subhan, Idris Thaha, Tasman and Didin Syafruddin
as I have benefited much from intellectual exchanges and friendship. To
those who are not mentioned by name, I wish to express my sincere appre-
ciation for all their beneficial contributions.
I would like also to record my gratitude to my mother, Hj. Siti Rohila,
who always prays for my success. She is the continuous light of my life. My
special sincere prayers go to my late father, H.M. Ropi Machmud, who
passed away during my first month of my graduate study at ANU in 2006.
My gratitude is also due to my parents-in-law in Rangkasbitung Banten as
well as my extended family in Jakarta for their support and care.
Finally, I would like to dedicate this book to my family. My deepest
thanks are due to my wife, Eka Indrawati, for her pure affection, caring,
honesty and constant love. Words are not enough to thank her adequately
for all the sacrifices she has made to accompany my life journey. My sweet
beloved daughters, Alefa Passadhya Raihani and Qisthi Vinaya Mahathira,
also deserve special appreciation and gratitude. They have always proven
to be my steady inspiration, happiness and joy.
At the very last, I have to mention that none of the above people is
responsible for any inadequacy or inaccuracy in this book. I alone take
responsibility for all those failings and errors.
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
About This Book 7
Scholarly Studies on the State–Religion Relationship
in Indonesia 8
The Structure of the Book 10
2 The State and Religion: An Overview 15
The Patterns of Relationship 15
The Nature of the Relationship 18
3 Theorizing Regulation of Religion 29
Regulating Religion and Religious Freedom 30
4 Religion and Religious Life in Indonesia:
Legacies from the Past 43
Agama: From Tradition to Political Identity 44
The Dutch and Religious Affairs 46
5 Negotiating Boundaries of Religion
Roles in the State System 57
Religiously-Motivated Struggle for Independence? 58
Debating the Dasar Negara 61
The Phrase Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa 73
xi