The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Opinion | Thu, June 17 2004, 12:00 AM
Ahmad Najib Burhani, Jakarta
The issue of the
implementation of sharia is not of much interest to Indonesian people,
whether Muslims or non-Muslims. The April 5 legislative election results
are the best proof of this statement.
The Crescent Star
Party (PBB), one of the parties that promotes sharia, gained less than
three percent of the votes and failed to pass the electoral threshold.
Another Islam-oriented party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS),
avoided this fate, and instead made substantial gains, garnering around 7
percent of the votes, up from the 2 percent it got in 1999, by focusing
on more popular themes, such as clean government. The PKS did not
include the implementation of sharia in its campaign manifesto.
The issue of the implementation of sharia is also regarded as a risky
and sensitive topic in the campaign for the forthcoming July 5
presidential election. Amien Rais, the presidential candidate from PAN
(the National Mandate Party), who had a close relationship with radical
Islamic movements, does not employ this issue as a campaign topic. He
would rather employ the issue of development and the eradication of the
corruption.
The proponents and supporters of sharia are small
in number. The majority of the Indonesian population, both Muslims and
non-Muslims, rejecting the idea. The NU (Nahdlatul Ulama), the country's
largest Muslim organization, and Muhammadiyah, the country's second
largest Muslim organization, have also rejected the notion.
In spite of their small number, the proponents of sharia have had some
success in propagating the notion in Sulawesi, Sumatra, East Java,
Banten, Flores, Sumba and in the Bandung area.
There are many
reasons why sharia has come to the fore in Indonesian political
discourse. Three of these are as follows: 1) the classic and perennial
issue for Muslim politicians -- choosing between a theocratic state or
secular state, 2) the failures of Indonesian governments, and 3) the
global resurgence of Islam.
Now, the question is why, despite
the fact that Islam is the majority religion in Indonesia, sharia has
not been implemented in this country. Why has the Indonesian population
consistently refused to adopt sharia as the law of the land?
Of course, there are many answers to this question. It is said that the
majority of Muslims in Indonesia are nominal Muslims. Thus, they are
not eager to accept ""total"" Islam in their daily lives. Some say they
are not interested in adopting sharia as they are afraid of it.
There is, however, a more sophisticated reason as to why the majority
of Muslims in Indonesia reject the implementation of sharia. This is
related to the idea of multiculturalism. The implementation of sharia
represents the enforcement of a particular social, political and
religious identity. This means that other identities are regarded as
having inferior values than the dominant identity. The proponents of
sharia are of the view that there is only one Islam -- that Islam as a
monolithic entity.
In fact, there is tremendous cultural
diversity in Islam, or, in other words, there is ""cultural diversity
within civilizational unity in Islam"". There are more than four popular
schools in Islamic law. There are also numerous schools in Islamic
theology. There are various cultural models in Islam; Euro-Islam,
Afro-Islam, Indo-Islam, Java-Islam, and so forth.
Even in
Indonesia, there are various Islamic parties and Islamic camps. Thus,
the enforcement of sharia, and the view of monolithic Islam, goes
against Islamic principles that promote pluralism, equality, justice and
tolerance.
Instead of promoting sharia, it is imperative to
disseminate Islamic multiculturalism. Islamic multiculturalism is the
perception of Islam as a blessing for all creatures, Islam as a shelter
and an ""umbrella"" for minority groups, rather than a threat and danger
for minority groups and other religions. Within Islam itself, actually,
there are many groups.
It is no so difficult to see the
great number of local cultures that combine to make up Islamic
civilization. Thus, promoting multiculturalism means honoring Islam and
other religious as well.
The writer (najib27@yahoo.com
) is a lecturer in the School of Theological Sources and Philosophy at the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University.
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