Fear of Islam or fear of the future!

By Dr. Terry Lacey

(May 09, Jakarta, Sri Lanka Guardian) There are fears in Indonesia that the electorally powerful emerging coalition between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and his victorious Democratic Party, which won the April 9th general election and four Islamic or Islam-based political parties, led by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), may become dangerous to democracy and pluralism in Indonesia.

Four Islamic-linked parties, the PKS, the National Awakening Party (PKB), the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the United Development Party (PPP), have united with the Democratic-led coalition, and 12 other small parties, representing 46 percent of voters, and more than half the seats in the House of Representatives.

It is now argued that the large numbers of voters excluded from the elections register, could be attributable to “excessive political maneuvering” by the President to limit political competition, which could undermine the legitimacy of the general elections, if challenged in the Constitutional Court.

His detractors say SBY is “generally perceived as a weak leader,” citing his failure to stop creeping Sharia law in local government, saying he did not defend religious liberty in the case of the Ahmadiyah sect and allowed an illiberal anti-pornography law to be railroaded through Parliament in pre-election party games.

Yet over 60 percent of Indonesians say SBY and the government are doing a good job.

It is also argued his Democratic Party is seen “not to have a strong ideology“.

Yet the Democratic Party - PKS coalition is founded on a political agreement in support of global economic reform, anti-poverty programs, anti-corruption measures, reform of public administration and support for small and medium enterprises.

These are positions shared by the SBY government and the PKS, despite the latter being called “conservative” by its critics.

Or does it represent political Islam ? Is that always “conservative”? Or is the fear of it that it is socially radical, threatening change to established interests?

But terms like political Islam, Islamic, Islam-based, Islamacist and fundamentalist are not defined objectively in the press to describe clear differences between political ideas linked to theologically held positions.

Instead Islam has become a political football, kicked around by different interests, without a second thought as to religion or the moral values that should come from it.

Definitions are manipulated according to political interests and the average Muslim is left wondering what on earth this all has to do with the basic teachings in the Holy Koran.

SBY´s well-positioned and strong coalition, standing on a track record of reform and economic success, is almost certain to win the July 9th direct presidential elections in the first round, (with over 50 percent of the votes) alongside the four main Islamic-based parties.

It is feared by some that these Islamic parties may politically dominate the coalition. And do what ? Introduce an Iran style regime in Indonesia ? And pigs might fly instead of catching the flu.

However, Jusuf Wanandi, Vice Chairman of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) expresses cogently the fears of part of the Indonesian economic, social and political elite that the political balance of the new incoming coalition could threaten the consolidation of Indonesian democracy and open the door to real threats, prior to the 2014 elections, when new personalities and leaderships might be expected to emerge. (Jakarta Post 07.05.09).

But the nub of the present political problem is precisely that yesterdays men and women have lost, while tomorrows men and women come mainly from new parties. Both the Democratic Party and the PKS were formed after the Soeharto regime fell.

That leaves a generation of political wheeler-dealers and business operators going out of business.

Maybe the real fear is the fear of change and that the people no longer want the old parties or the old politicians and would rather have the PKS, soap opera stars, or little green men from the moon, so long as they bring change.

Even the best political football players currently kicking Islam into yet another corner may not be able to avoid that conclusion.

Terry Lacey is a development economist who writes from Jakarta on modernization in the Muslim world, investment and trade relations with the EU and Islamic banking.

-Sri Lanka Guardian