Political Legitimacy in Indonesia: Islam, Democracy, and Good Governance

Abstract

The success of Indonesia’s democratic transition has implications that go well beyond Southeast Asia. President Suharto’s abrupt resignation in May 1998 opened the way not only for democracy but also for Islamist politics, after four decades of authoritarian suppression of political Islam. The elections of 1999, 2004, and 2009 have allowed voters in the world’s largest Muslim nation to respond to Islamist claims that political legitimacy can only be found in religious politics and an Islamic state. Consequently, the push for democratic reform in the Middle East has observers looking to Indonesia for evidence that Islam and secular democracy are compatible.