Islamising Indonesian: The Rise of Jemaah Tarbiyah and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS)

Abstract

This thesis presents a study of the emergence of a new Islamic force in Indonesia, Jemaah Tarbiyah and its political vehicle the Prosperous Justice Party, Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS). Jemaah Tarbiyah emerged in the mid 1980s, mainly on campuses, and in 1998, it transformed itself into political party known initially as the Justice Party, Partai Keadilan (PK) and then since 2003 it changed its name into PKS. This study focuses on their origins, ideology and efforts to Islamise Indonesia. It also attempts to analyse the relations of the movement with the existing Islamic groups in Indonesia and its stance towards the implementation of shariah, Islamic law. In general, I argue that its emergence has contributed to shaping a new variant of santri, or observant Muslims in Indonesia which has gone beyond the modernist and traditionalist classifications. Its emergence has contributed in shaping new forms of Islamisation in Indonesia, both in society and the state. In this thesis, I propose other classifications of santri in contemporary Islam: convergent, radical and global. Jemaah Tarbiyah is categorized as a movement of a global santri. In contrast to fundamentalist features of other Islamist forces in the Islamic world that have been influenced by the Muslim Brothers of Egypt, Jemaah Tarbiyah has shown an accommodative and flexible approach in responding to religious and political questions. It has been an agent of Islamisation that has followed a course between accommodationist and purificationist reformism. Jemaah Tarbiyah demonstrated its non-violent approach in responding to the political repression of Soeharto’s New Order. Jemaah Tarbiyah sought to avoid direct confrontation with the regime and focused its activities on predication. Since becoming a political party, the movement has had to adjust its Islamic aspirations to political realities. A pragmatic approach has become its choice in order to attract popular support. In fact, this too has been largely influenced by the ideas of Hasan al-Banna of the Muslim Brothers, who laid the foundations of reform within the system. al-Banna Sufi influence of Islam shaped his method of gradually bringing change to society and the state. This has been the approach adopted by activists of Jemaah Tarbiyah and is manifest also in PKS’s political praxis. The heterogeneity of Jemaah Tarbiyah activists has been understudied but it has activists from a traditionalist background - in addition to modernists and revivalists. All have contributed to domestication of a trans-national movement into the Indonesian context. In this regard, the role of campus Islam activists in promoting the ideas of al-Banna and using them as a guideline for political activities is very significant. On the issue of the implementation of shariah in Indonesia, Jemaah Tarbiyah, through its political party, PKS has not tried to impose shariah but rather it has attempted to revise its image by focusing on the issues of prosperity and justice. An analysis of the experiences of Jemaah Tarbiyah and PKS in Indonesia is crucial to an understanding of how an Islamist group can influence the state within the democratic system.