COVER STORY Standing Up for Islam
Muslims are fighting back—not just against the West but also against the militancy in their midst. A TIME Special Report on the diversity of Islam in Asia
After Bali
Asia—and the world—reels after a devastating attack (Oct. 28, 2002)
Indonesia's Rage Culture
Why does a moderate Islamic nation serve as a hotbed for religious extremists? (Oct. 28, 2002)
Taking the Hard Road
Indonesia's tough choice: crack down on extremists and risk backlash—or incur America's wrath (Sep. 30, 2002)
The Moderate Majority
Asia's progressive Islam can be a strong weapon against extremism (Oct. 28, 2002)
The Politics of Islam — page 2
Still, it took the 1997 Asian economic crisis and the instability it created, rather than religion, for PAS to rocket to prominence. The crisis led to a clash between Mahathir and his popular Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim over how Malaysia should tackle the financial fallout; the dispute turned political and ended with Anwar being jailed on questionable corruption and sodomy charges. The incident put the spotlight on cronyism in UMNO, soured many ethnic Malays on what they felt was Mahathir's heavy-handed rule, and drove voters to PAS and its message of Islamic morality and egalitarianism.
In Indonesia, too, the economic crisis unleashed the Islamists by toppling Suharto, the country's autocrat for 32 years who had kept Islamic groups under his thumb. A smorgasbord of Islamic-leaning parties formed—some, like PAS, pushing for an Islamic state, others forwarding more moderate views. Combined, these parties gained more than one-third of the national vote in 1999 parliamentary elections.
The Islamists were disappointed with the turnout, but in Indonesia's fractured political scene, they got enough support to crown themselves kingmakers. First, the elections' big winner, Megawati Sukarnoputri, was blocked from the presidency by the Islamists, who disapproved of a woman being head of state. Instead, they installed the most liberal of Islam's politicians, Abdurrahman Wahid. Then in 2001, the parties led the charge to dethrone the incompetent Wahid, allowing Megawati to finally become President—but with a more conservative Islamic Vice President, Hamzah Haz, who boasts three wives (Islam allows four) and has been openly sympathetic to the country's most-extreme Islamic movements. The Islamists even had an impact on the war against terror. Fear of their political power tempered Megawati's enthusiasm for taking on extremists and militants; it took an atrocity like the Bali attack to spur her government into action. Now the Islamists are looking to make even greater gains in the 2004 elections, perhaps even claiming the presidency.
And, as in Malaysia, they will be using mosques as their springboard. In Kota Gede, a traditional Javanese town on the outskirts of Yogyakarta, the National Mandate Party, known by its Indonesian acronym PAN, won the most votes in the 1999 general elections, thanks to its affiliation with the Islamic organization Muhammadiyah. PAN was founded by Amien Rais, the former chairman of Muhammadiyah and the current speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly, the nation's highest legislative body. Rais quickly tapped into Muhammadiyah's network of 30 million adherents for votes. In Kota Gede, Muhammadiyah is entrenched like a second government, providing crucial social services and education where the national government has disappointed the poor. It built the hospital and many of the schools and mosques in the surrounding area. Most of the local religious teachers, called imams, are trained and paid by Muhammadiyah as well. "The whole process of how people vote begins in the mosque," says Abdul Munir Mulkhan, a sociologist at the Sunan Kalijaga Islamic Institute, who lives in Kota Gede.
PAN's big vote getter in Kota Gede was 70-year-old Haji Basyori Anwar, the chief imam at the Masjid Besar Mataram, Kota Gede's prominent 17th century mosque, and the town's most respected religious figure. A former local Muhammadiyah chief, Basyori stood by Rais' side at the old mosque when he announced to the community the founding of PAN. Then he went on the campaign trail in Kota Gede, giving speeches explaining how PAN grew out of Muhammadiyah. "The congregations of the country were blank about who to vote for," Basyori explains. "My role is as an elder here. They look at me and see how I act, and they see who I am inclined to vote for."
But Rais, who says he will make a bid for Indonesia's presidency in 2004, is no Nik Aziz; in fact, he's just the opposite. Rais is an Islamic politician trying desperately not to act like one. Instead of lectures on the Koran, Rais appears on cheesy television variety shows crooning old Javanese hits. Instead of robes and turbans, he sports business suits, golf shirts and khaki slacks. When some Islamic parties tried to alter the national constitution last year to add a reference to Islamic law, Rais helped squash the movement. PAN, he stresses again and again, is an open party, not just for religious Muslims or Muhammadiyah followers. His reason for taking this stand is a pragmatic one. "Political parties based on religion don't have a promising future" in Indonesia, he says bluntly. "There is a difference between piety and politics."
His assertion may at first seem odd. Indonesia is the world's most-populous Muslim country and supposedly a hotbed of Islamic extremism. But Indonesia, he believes, is too diverse for political Islam to have widespread appeal. "Our natural philosophy is pluralism," explains Rais. "The best way is to stick in the middle" of Indonesia's varied secular and Islamic factions, pointing forcefully with an index finger to a mythical point in front of his nose. PAN's own experience in Kota Gede proves Rais' point. Despite PAN's strong links there, only 33% of the voters turned out for PAN in 1999.
