Trajectories of Islamic Liberalism in Contemporary Indonesia

Authors

  • Luthfi Assyaukanie Freedom Institute

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/arsr.v21i2.145

Keywords:

Islamic Groups

Abstract

Over the last ten years discussions on Indonesian Islam have pointed to the emergence of Islamic radicalism. The religious conflicts in Ambon and Poso, the Bali bombings, the church burnings, and a series of nightspot raiding in Jakarta bear witness that Indonesia is experiencing change towards radicalization. The old attributes of Indonesian Islam that was tolerant, respectful, and “different from the Middle East,” are now being contested. Scholars and journalists now overtly speak of the grievous threat of Indonesian Islam, in a way that they ignore the variety of its adherents: traditionalists and modernists, liberals and fundamentalists, santri and abangan. This article demonstrates that apart from the rise of Islamic radicalism in Indonesia, there is a process of moderation and progress. The failure of Islamic political parties in the last two general elections (1999 and 2004) and the rise of young liberal Muslims bear witness that Indonesian Islam is never monolithic. By analyzing the development of political Islam and the evolution of Islamic liberalism, this article argues that Indonesian Islam will not radicalize as some people like to think.

Author Biography

  • Luthfi Assyaukanie, Freedom Institute
    Luthfi Assyaukanie is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He is also Senior Lecturer at Paramadina University in Indonesia and Research Associate at the Freedom Institute in Jakarta. In 2006, he obtained his doctorate (PhD) in Islamic Studies from the University of Melbourne where his dissertation on Islam and political change in Indonesia won the Chancellor’s Prize for most outstanding PhD thesis. Assyaukanie has published three books, contributed 50 entries in two Indonesian encyclopaedias, and written over one hundred articles. He is currently conducting research on Islam and civil liberty in Indonesia and is a contributor to Liberal Islam Network/Jarigan Islam Liberal (http://islamlib. com/en/page.php?page=archives&mode=author&id=3). For more information, see http://www.assyaukanie.com/.

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Published

2009-03-04

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Assyaukanie, L. (2009). Trajectories of Islamic Liberalism in Contemporary Indonesia. Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, 21(2), 145-174. https://doi.org/10.1558/arsr.v21i2.145

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