the demand of islamic law
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The Demand for Islamic Law in Indonesia:
Is it A Solution or a Blunder?
Introduction
This paper tells about the demand for Islamic law in Indonesia as
suggested by several Muslim organizations. The idea of Islamic law
has been revived by a number of Islamic activists as their concerns on
Indonesian crisis in all aspects of Indonesian life, such as political and
governmental crisis, economic crisis, moral crisis, and so on. This idea
is not easy to get the Indonesian peoples agreement, even for the
Muslim community themselves. This paper will explore and analyze the
arguments for and against the implementation of Islamic law in
Indonesia, mainly in terms of Indonesias political culture.
It is well known that Indonesia is the country with the largest
Muslim community. Although Islam was not the first religion to come to
Indonesia, it could be accepted by the majority of Indonesian society.
Out of more than 200 million Indonesian people, Muslims occupy 86
percent of the whole population. In the latest census in 2000, it shows
the following percentage that Muslim 86.1%, Protestant 5.7%, Roman
Catholic 3%, Hindu 1.8%, other or unspecified 3.4%.1 It is no wonder
1 Data gained from Indonesian population 2000 in CIA World Factbook, and accessed throughhttp://www.indexmundi.com/indonesia/religions
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that Islamic teaching has been absorbed as one of the Indonesian
cultural values. Besides, Indonesian political culture is also influenced
by this Islamic teaching.
This condition has led to claims by some Indonesian Islamic
movements to consider the need to the application of Islamic law in
Indonesia. It also can be said that they want the Indonesian
constitution not only adopt (some) Islamic values, but also to
implement (the whole) Islamic teaching, or well known as Shariah.
They argue that the implementation ofShariah will satisfy the majority
people of Indonesia, and at the same time protect the non-Muslim
rights. Moreover, to them, Islamic law is the only ideal model for
Indonesia to spread out Gods will to arrange better life in the world
and the hereafter.
In the Indonesian political discourse nowadays, the idea of
implementing is getting more and more attention. Actually if compared
with those who oppose the idea, those who favor are too few. I quote
Jones words in Kipp, et.al. (1987). Today most Indonesian Muslims
have given up talk of an Islamic state, but not all have given up hope
(p.17)
The Socio-Culture of Indonesia
Indonesia is a very diverse country. It consists of various
backgrounds of ethnicities, races, and religions. The fact that Indonesia
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owns five biggest islands and tens of thousands of small islands has
emphasized its diversity. No less than 300 ethnics inhabit Indonesian
land and hundreds of language and local dialects are spoken all over
the country. In addition, each ethnic expresses its own cultural identity
through dance, dress, music, carving, and other artistic forms as well
as through laws, customs, and etiquette (Drakeley, 2005, p.xiv).
With these very diverse backgrounds, we cannot say that
Indonesia has a single culture. Each ethnic in each region has its own
culture. If there are 300 ethnics in Indonesia, it means there are 300
different cultures. Thus, its not surprising if Legge (1964) insists that
Indonesias motto Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (in English, unity in diversity)
is more as an aspiration rather than a solid reality (p.3).
Even though Islam is the majority religion in the country, the
Indonesian Muslims are not of the same variant of Islam. Some of the
Muslims are likely to be identified as traditionalist ones, while the
others may be considered as reformists, modernists, or even
radicalists. Among them there are basic differences in interpreting
Islamic teaching although there are a lot of common values that they
hold.
In addition, there are two biggest Islamic organizations in
Indonesia which dominate the overall population of Muslim community
there. They are Nahdlatul Ulama (which is in English may be best
translated as the Awakening of Islamic Clerics, and often abbreviated
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as NU) and Muhammadiyah. NU was founded in 1926 and best
considered as traditionalist Muslim, while Muhammadiyah was
established fourteen years before NU and best identified as modernist,
reformist Muslim. In the real daily practice, NU is more accommodative
to acculturation between Indonesian (and mainly Javanese) culture and
the Islamic dogma. Meanwhile, Muhammadiyah is more puritan in the
way it ensures the people to revive the values of Islam as they were in
the era of the Muslims prophet Muhammad. It gives little (if none)
chance to combine the Islamic values (which were originally from Saudi
Arabia) with the local ones.
Besides there is a majority religion in Indonesia, there is also one
dominant ethnic, i.e. Javanese. Ethnic Javanese are mainly
concentrated in Central Java and East Java, which are in Java Island.
However, people of this ethnicity have been spreading all over
Indonesia and it has the largest population all over Indonesia. In the
latest data of Indonesian demography, taken from the latest census of
2000, it indicates that of the entire Indonesian population Javanese
occupies 40.6%, Sundanese 15%, Madurese 3.3%, Minangkabau 2.7%,
Betawi 2.4%, Bugis 2.4%, Banten 2%, Banjar 1.7%, other or
unspecified 29.9.2The dominance of Java has attracted observers to
study it more in depth because it reflects the main Indonesian
socioculture.
2 Source: Indonesian population 2000 in CIA World Factbook, and accessed throughhttp://www.indexmundi.com/indonesia/ethnic_groups
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Studying about Javanese we cannot be away from Geertzs work
on it.3He classifies Javanese society into three main categories: Santri,
Priyayi, andAbangan. He defines santri as the group of Javanese
Muslim who is more concern with the Islamic doctrine rather than the
ritual detail. For the santris, said Geertz, self-declaration as being
Muslim is very important as well as to apply Islamic doctrine to life.
(Geertz, 1960, p.126-130). The examples ofsantri groups are NU and
Muhammadiyah although one is traditionalist while the other is
modernist. Meanwhile, abangan in Geertz conception is a group of
Javanese people (many of whom are Muslim) who are more fascinated
with ritual detail rather than the doctrine. They are very tolerant about
religious beliefs (ibid.). I want to add here that inAbangans mind the
belief in God is must, but the application of worshiping does not have
to be performed exactly as in the Islamic doctrine. For example, they
rarely (if not, never) pray five times a day, like other Muslim santris.
The last category in Javanese community ispriyayi. Geertz identifies
priyayi as a man who could trace his ancestry back to the great semi-
mytical kings of pre-colonial Java[in because of the Dutch long-term
colonialisms influence the definition]widened to include commoners
pulled into the bureaucracy as the supply of authentic aristocrats ran
out (Geertz, 1960, p.229). He also adds thatpriyayi is a group of
religio-aesthetically concerned warrior gentry, receivers of foreign
3 Clifford Geertz wrote a book The Religion of Java in 1960 that has become the main referencefor many observers to study Indonesian culture, especially of Javanese.
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cultural fashions and the rationalizers of local ones.
TheAbangan, Santri and Priyayi are mostly Muslim, but they are
of different levels of religiosity. The santri groups are dealt fully with
the five pillars of Islam, i.e. 1) the acknowledgment that there is no god
but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, 2) the
application of five prayers in a day, 3) the alms (for those who can
afford it), 4) The fasting during Ramadhan,and 5) hajj pilgrimage (for
those who can afford it). In addition, the santri groups always avoid un-
Islamic activities, such as those of pre-Islamic traditions. Meanwhile,
thepriyayi, although identified as Muslim, they still keep the pre-
Islamic heritage (in which sometimes contradictory to Islamic values).
They may pray five times a day, but are still interested in metaphysical
philosophy. Unlike santri andpriyayi,abangan are basically animistic,
fond of visiting the witch doctors, and are interested in making
offerings. (Neill, 1973, p.254). However, abangan mostly consider
themselves as Muslims.Abangan may also do the fasting, but they
usually have different purpose and reason. For example, ifsantri do
the fasting only for fulfilling their duty as Muslims, abangan do this for
the condition for asking wealth and the like to the God. Drake (1989)
adds another important notions as follows:
Not only is there a difference between traditional,nominal abangan and devout santri, but there is asignificant gap between fundamentalists andmoderates, between those who believe it is impossibleto separate religion from politics or any other aspect of
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life, and those who support the depoliticization ofIslam, believing that a pragmatic differentiationbetween religion and politics is necessary forIndonesia to cope with the demands of modern times.(p.230)
From the explanation above it is clear that Indonesian socio-
cultural aspects are so diverse. Even in one ethnicity (like Javanese)
their interpretation of religion is different from each other. That is way
Indonesia must apply a constitution that can accommodate and
tolerate their differences because this can share the values that
Indonesian people have.
The Political Culture of Indonesia
In terms of political culture we cannot say that Indonesia has a
single one, as Indonesia is too complex if categorized into one culture.
However, the major Indonesian political culture can be said of
Javanese. This is because Javanese has the biggest ethnic in Indonesia
as well as the most dominant one. Many key persons in Indonesian
government, be they in the central, provincial, or local level are of
Javanese ethnic. This shows that Java, along with Javanese ethnic is
central to all political power.
We may also divide Indonesian political culture into three.4 They
are traditional political culture, Islamic political culture, and Modern
political culture. In the traditional political culture, Javanese culture has
4Source:http://countrystudies.us/indonesia/85.htm
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a very good place. This is because Javanese people handled many
important positions in the New Order. This Javanese culture is a
patrimonial bureaucratic which is full of the attitude of obedience to
respect seniors, conform to hierarchical authority, and to avoid
confrontation. This is what makes Javanese people are very obedient to
the rulers. It also proves that Javanese are never involved in a series of
rebellions to the republic. The Islamic political culture of Indonesia is
also diverse since there are at least two mainstreams of Islam:
traditionalists and modernists. The two mainstreams see differently
about the role of Islam in the society. One sees that it is a must to
formalize Islam and separated from societys culture, while the other
sees that societys culture should be accommodated in applying
Islamic values. However, both Islamic mainstreams see that the
country should be in harmonious with the Holy Koran and Hadits orAs-
Sunnah5, the two main sources of Islamic belief. The third political
culture of Indonesia can be said as the modern culture. In modern
culture I can argue that Indonesian people try to implement global
value in their own interpretation. They start to look at the model of
American democracy. People may judge some conducts as democratic
or non-democratic based on the Western (here, American) conception
of democracy.
However, from the facts above we can see that Indonesian
5Hadits or (also called)As-Sunnah is a compilation of what Prophet Muhammad had said, done,and/or decided during his life.
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political culture is not single, either. It has various kinds of culture to
apply though there are some common things. The common thing in
Indonesian political culture is that there is still conformity to
hierarchical authority. Let me take a simple example. In Indonesia it is
very uncommon to see ordinary people speaking with people of
authority, for example a mayor speaking to a local shop keeper. There
must be always a gap of conversation between them. The shop
keeper will have to behave very properly (if he/she knows that the
person whom he/she is talking to is a mayor. With this reality, it can be
said that it is hard for the people of lower level to disobey the people of
the higher level. This phenomenon almost happen in all Indonesian
regions regardless their ethnicities, races, and religions.
Debates about the Implementation of Islamic Law in Indonesia
Since the pre-Independence era, the discourse about the
importance of unification between state and religion has been a central
debate. In pre-Independence era, the founding fathers were to agree
the inserting of several phrases indicating Islam as Indonesias formal
religion. At that time, the members of the Preparatory Committee for
Indonesian Independence (Panitia Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia)6
drafted the Jakarta charter. In the Jakarta Charterit was mentioned
that the state was to be based upon belief in God, with the obligation
6 This committee was actually made by the Japanese authority in Indonesia that had promised togive and Indonesia independence and to decide when to give it. However, finally Indonesianfounding fathers decided the fate of Indonesia. The committee comprised representatives ofIndonesian nationalists and Islamic leaders.
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for the adherents of Islam to carry out Islamic law (Ricklefs, 1993,
p.209).
After the independence, there was a compromise, which stated
that Indonesia was a religious nation, without making a certain religion
or faith to be the nations religion. Ricklefs (1993) adds that it is the
Japanese navy who warned that Christian Indonesians would not agree
of the special role held for Islam, so the Jakarta Charter and the
condition that the head of state must be a Muslim were deleted
(p.213). The founding fathers of Indonesia wanted to unite Indonesias
diverse people to identify common values and then be committed to
these.
After that, it was agreed that the ideology of Indonesia as
Pancasila, rather than Islamic Law since Pancasila is more
accommodative to those differences. In addition, there is no separation
of rights and responsibilities between Muslims and non-Muslims as long
as they are all Indonesian citizens. Of course, within Pancasila there
are Islamic values. However, it became common values as all religions
teach good values. For example, Pancasila consists of five principles as
follows: 1) Belief in God, 2) Nationalism, 3) Humanism, 4) Democracy,
and 4) Social Justice. Those values are acknowledged also by Islam as
well as other religions. In other words, rather than applying Islam as
the foundation of the country, the founding fathers agreed to adopt its
values. Some Muslim activists agreed it, but some others didnt.
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Pancasila that was then adopted as the basic principle for
Indonesia proved to be suitable for the Indonesian diversity. In Suharto
regime Pancasila was promoted to be the only azas or basic foundation
for all people in Indonesia. Organizations or any associations which do
not adopt Pancasila as the basic foundation will be regarded as illegal
and government would ban them.
It was a hard time for many Islamists because they were still in
doubt whether following this government rule would be contradictory
to Islamic teaching. Some of them could accept Pancasila as the
ideology of Indonesia, but they still doubted if it applied to their own
social organization. They would not agree ifPancasila became the
only azas for all kinds of organization.
However, finally Islamic movements could accept it after NU, the
biggest Muslim organization in the country, agreed it. NU was the first
Islamic organization which explicitly accepted the idea. On December
21st, 1983, in one letter of decision (Surat Keputusan) by the Higher
Board of Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) it said that NU declared five points of
the relationship between Pancasila (the Basic Principle of Indonesia)
and Islam as follows:7
1. Pancasila is the foundation and philosophy of the Unitary State of
the Republic of Indonesia is not a religion, and cannot replace
7 The text is translated from the original version into English by the writer. This text was accessedthrough NUs official website:http://www.nu.or.id/page.php?lang=id&menu=news_view&news_id=10848
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religion and cannot be used to replace the existence of religion.
2. The Principle "Belief in God" as the foundation of the Unitary
State of the Republic of Indonesia which is in accordance to
article 29 section 1 in the 1945 Constitution of Indonesia, which
is the base of the other principles, reflects tauhidin the
conception of Islamic belief.
3. For Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Islam is aqidah8 and shariah,9 which
include aspects of human relations with Allah and human
relations with other humans.
4. The acknowledgment and application ofPancasila are the
realization of the Indonesian Muslim community to apply their
religious teaching.
5. Consequently, NU has the obligation to maintain the correct
conception ofPancasila and its application which is pure and
consequent by all parties.
Apart from that, there are still a number of groups who are
dissatisfied with the adoption ofPancasila rather than Islamic law. The
former president of Indonesia, Abdurrahman Wahid or usually called
Gus Dur10 in his article NU, Islam, dan Demokrasi mentions that two
8Aqidah is Arabic word. It may be translated as the belief or faith in the existence of God9Shariah is also Arabic word. In this context it is best translated as the application of formalworship to show obedience to God.10 Abdurrahman Wahid or Gus Dur was president of Indonesia in 1999-2001. In 1984-2000 heserved as the chief of NU (Nahdlatul Ulama), the largest Muslim organization in Indonesia, andperhaps in the world.
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of those who favor Islam are PPP (Partai Persatuan Pembangunan the
Unity Development Party) and PBB (Partai Bulan Bintang Crescent
Star Party), while those who oppose the idea of Islamic law are PKB
(Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa National Awakening Party), the party
which he leads and PAN (Partai Amanat Nasional National Mandate
Party), whose founder is the former Chair of National Upper House.11 If
we have a look at the principle that is used in those parties we can find
the difference more obviously. The party basic principle of PPP and PBB
is Islam, while that of PKB and PAN is Pancasila. I can add here that the
other party that adopts Islam as basic principle for the party is PKS
(Partai Keadilan Sejahtera Welfare Justice Party). PKS is a new Islamic
Party which gains a lot of support especially from young educated
Muslims. This party even has more strategic agenda in struggling
Islamic law for the Constitution of Indonesia.
The fall of Suharto regime has led to political euphoria in which
Indonesian want to celebrate their independence. Many people
express it differently. Some ethnic minority groups express it by
establishing new parties which are affiliated to their ethnicities. Some
Islamists express it by making Islam as the basic foundation or azas for
their parties. This is because in Suharto regime, the only azas that was
acknowledged by the government was Pancasila. Thus, when the
11Gus Dur mentions this in his article NU, Islam, dan Demokrasi in his own website:
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regime collapsed people make use of it by reviving their own
aspiration. In addition, the idea of Islamic law has now been revived
and slowly but surely it gains more supporters.
The Islamic law supporters argue that Indonesian democracy is
not the real condition that many people are dreaming of. They insist
that the democracy in Indonesia has only been in the practice of the
general election. The general election which ran peacefully was often
used as the parameter of the success of democracy. After that, there
are still many severe conditions of the society since the practice of
corruption and other illegal behaviors never ends.
To them, democracy is from Western countries and it is a man-
made product. Thus, it will not answer the problems of a nation totally
because mans logic and rationality are very limited. Meanwhile,
shariah is God-made and since so it is perfect. It is simply because God
knows everything, but men dont. If God has decided that something is
about to happen, so it happens.
Formalistic (if not said fundamentalist) Muslims are always
convinced that God through His messenger has given the whole
solution for mankind to live in the world and to prepare for the
hereafter. There is nothing incomplete in the Holy Koran andAs-
Sunnah. Everything is there, even about the rule of daily practices.
Even political affairs have been explained in detail in Islam. Prophet
Muhammad has given the examples of his success in managing
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Madinah, which they also called as a civil society.
The shariah supporters see that democracy in Indonesia gives
more bad excesses rather than the good ones. People will tend to use
only their logic without any consciousness to the holy teaching from
the God. Therefore, democracy is not more than justification about
anything human beings like to do as long as it is supported by the
majority. They argue that many times democracy act to support
something that is actually contradictory to religion (here Islam). For
example, it will allow gambling, alcohol consumption, free sex, and the
like as long as it has support in the parliament. (Man-made) democracy
never decides what should be, but it only decides what it is. If this
happens, in their opinion, it will slowly but surely destroy the nation by
itself.
They insist that the best thing that they can do is to establish the
implementation ofshariah. With shariah people are not suppose to
argue or oppose what God has commanded. They just need to obey
whatever is said in the Holy Koran andAs-Sunnah.There is no need to
protest what the dogma has taught. By obeying the God-made rule,
people will surely reach the real happiness. In brief, shariah is the only
solution to any country, including Indonesia.
Unlike its supporters, those who oppose shariah will just see the
real example of the implementation ofshariah in the world. There is
never a good example right now of the realization ofshariah. It cannot
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be said that Saudi Arabia (which has implemented shariah) is a good
example. One cannot claim any country that is successfully
implementing shariah in the world as a successful country in common
sense. Saudi Arabia even has a lot of problems with Indonesia in the
cases of labors. Not few Indonesian female workers get abused or
other improper behaviors from Saudi Arabian people. In addition, the
law in Saudi Arabia does not seem to support the Indonesian female
workers rights.
Also, in the international relations, the countries that adopt
Islamic law or shariah have not proved to promote peace in the world.
Even many Arab nations (which all implement shariah) are often
involved in long and bloody disputes. Lets take examples of Quwait vs
Iraq, Iran vs Iraq, and so on and so on. And in the domestic affairs
there is not enough fact of their success. Moreover, those cases
happen in generally Arab countries which are culturally similar. How if
the country is so diverse such as Indonesia? Would it be impossible for
the realization of the idea ofshariah?
Besides that, the idea ofshariah implementation will just hurt the
feelings of other Indonesia minority religions. Those who oppose the
idea ofshariah always consider the effect of the application to those
minorities. The minorities will never accept the idea because it will just
like excluding them form the mainstream of the country. The minorities
will never be treated equally by the law because they are indeed not
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equal. This is because people other than Muslims in the shariah will
not have the same rights and obligation. Those who are obliged to do
shariah are only Muslims and therefore, Muslims will become the
subjects in many (if not all) important governmental positions.
Meanwhile, the people from the other religions are only the objects of
the government policy. And this is just not fair. Although minority
religions in Indonesia are only 12 percent of the whole population, it
does not mean that they have to accept what the majority decides. It
will be a hard work to ensure those minorities just to follow the rule
that apply to them. Not only that. Even, it is very hard to make sure
the whole Muslim community about the importance ofshariah
application in Indonesia.
Analyzing the Demand ofShariah Implementation
I argue here that shariah is not only inappropriate for the solution
of problems in Indonesian context, but also because it can be a blunder
to Indonesian national life. Religious conflicts, mainly, will escalate to
higher degrees. There will be too many ending discussions related to
this. People who are not satisfied will try to defend their opinions
starting from the gentle actions until the hard ones, and the victims
will be Indonesian people themselves. Adherents of Christianity and
other minority religions will not follow this formulation. They will think
that they are treated just like as second-class citizens. Not only
conflicts with other religions will happen, but also conflicts within Islam
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itself. For Islam is of many kinds of interpretation, each will struggle to
promote their own ideals. Each wants to urge the values of Islam based
on their own interpretation. Traditionalist and modernist Muslim may
fight each other to insert their aspiration which may contradict to the
others. As a result, the communal conflicts that severely happened in
the early Post-Suharto era are likely to go on.
Religious conflicts happened very badly in 1999 when Ambon, a
city in Maluku Indonesia, in which Christians and Muslims had lived
there peacefully, was struck by the violence conflict. Unfortunately, it
was between Christians and Muslims who had lived side by side in
peace for very long time. There were a lot burnings of mosques and
churches. Hundreds of people were dead, and thousands of them were
homeless. Even though many scholars believe that it was not purely a
religious conflict, it cannot be denied that religious sentiments still
played essential roles in the national life. For example, what happened
in Ambon Maluku was initially because of other (economic or political)
issues, but then it could be easily driven to the religious intolerance
because religious sites as well as religious people were then becoming
targets of the conflict. The conflict wouldnt have been bigger unless
the religious sentiment was suggested.
This is the fact that Indonesian people is easily mobilized by
religious issues. Just like what happened in the Suharto era. There was
an issue of Christianization which aroused the anger of Muslim society.
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Muslims could not accept this as a legal practice. Many Muslims at that
time were reported convert to Christianity. As the reaction of this,
Indonesian Muslims struggled to diminish the Christianization. Many
illegal churches were burnt down. Again and again it was because of
the religious sentiments. People find it hard to understand that
tolerance is a must in the integration of Indonesia. They may
understand it, but when faced with real situation they may lose their
consciousness, mainly if driven by religious fanatism.
In the Muslim community itself especially from the abangan,
which is actually the majority group of Muslim, it is too difficult to
accept the consequence. In their mind, religion is only a private matter
between men and their God. One cannot force someone else to do
worship as it is suggested by God, because each has their own
appreciation of religion. In abangan or common Muslims, with the
relatively lower degree of religiosity, shariah is all about the
punishments that in the human rights sense are unacceptable. Some
of the punishments that they are worried about (because they think
that these are inhuman are the cutting hand for thieves, dead penalty
forzina doing sex out of legal marriage, and many more.
Besides, those who support the establishment ofshariah have no
enough reference about the real implementation of it. All of them
refered the shariah to what had been done by Prophet Muhammad in
the early 7th century. To me its too long to return back to the nostalgic
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of the past. Also, the conditions and situations of the society are far
different. Those who support shariah fail to see that people are always
changing. To them, no matter how people change, but Gods command
is never changing. In here I argue that the shariah supporters are
textualists. They never give enough consideration of the application in
todays context. Even, if they are based on the context, they still have
hindrance to insert it in the modern atmosphere. The text is never
changing. It is true. But since the society is always changing, updated
interpretation should be applied.
I cannot believe if there is a consensus ofshariah in Indonesian
context, even in the Muslim community. They often disagree with each
other in the very simple implementation of Islamic teaching in daily
life. I take an example, that the Modernists never agree with the
typical way of the worship performed by the traditionalists. They might
say that it was not based on the real Islam. So, what is real Islam is
still debatable. Another example is that the Modernists and
Traditionalists often hold the celebration of Eid el Fitr (the Islamic holy
day) in different days. The traditionalists may hold it later then the
Modernists, or vice versa. I think if they may disagree in a very simple
case, how can they agree each other in the bigger case, like the state
affairs?
The idea of promoting Islamic law or shariah is then only a
utopia. It is only nostalgia of the past and the hope for a never-realized
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condition. It is rather than as blunder rather than solution. Indonesia
has once reached national integration which can include all differences
in Indonesia with the formulation ofPancasila, but then shariah idea
came to destroy all the good order.
Conclusion
Shariah implementation has been revived by some Muslim
activists to repair the condition of Indonesia which is full of bad
practices of corruption, collusion, and other bad things, be they in
governance or in the Indonesian daily life. They argue that Islamic law
is the only solution to bad Indonesian life. This idea has got a lot of
oppositions not only from non-Muslims but also from the Muslims
themselves, though. The oppositions say that it will endanger the
Indonesian diverse society.
From the perspective of socio-culture and political culture it can
be concluded that Islamic law or shariah is not a solution to Indonesian
context. Even, it can be a blunder in which conflicts may occur
severely. The conflicts are not only between Muslims and non-Muslims
but it can be within Muslims. This can be so because there is no
agreement which kind of Islam is going to be applied.
The best thing that can be done is to keep the Pancasila as the
basic foundation for Indonesian people. Pancasila has proved to be the
most accommodative formula for Indonesia which consists of people
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from different backgrounds of ethnicities, races, and religions. What is
to improve is to insert religious values not only from Islam but also
from other religions which can give benefits for the whole community.
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