Anti-Shia mass mobilization in Indonesia's democracy: Godly alliance, militant groups and the politics of exclusion

Abstract

This article examines violence against religious minorities, especially Shia groups in the democracy of Indonesia, focusing particularly on the case of the 2016 anti-Milad Fatimah (Fatimah Birth Commemoration) mass mobilization performed by IJABI (The all-Indonesia Assembly of Ahlul Bait Associations) in Bondowoso, East Java, Indonesia. This article finds that the anti-Milad Fatimah mass mobilization involved alliances and conspiracy between Godly Muslim groups with a varied agenda. Sunni militant groups from the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), FPI (Islamic Defenders Front), Wahabi/Salafi, and Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) groups, which merged into FOKUS (Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama'ah Communication Forum), were the main protagonists who played a key role in driving mass mobilization. Unlike previous studies that understood the anti-Shia movement merely as a form of affirming Islamic orthodoxy, this study finds evidence that there were wider agendas than the theological ones. Excluding the Shia from capturing Islamic public space and challenging religious authority and local power which was dominated by moderate Muslim groups were the socio-political agendas which contributed to the anti-Milad Fatimah mass mobilization. The involvement of radical Islamist groups, such as the activists of the Tarbiyah and HTI heralded a strong political agenda behind mass mobilization. However, the ultimate goal of applying Islamic Sharia will never fade from the religious movements of Islamist groups.