Interpreting Recent Jakarta Gubernatorial Contest: Mobilizing Islam for Winning Local Election

source: Kompas.com

Muhamad Iksan

Abstract

Jakarta election 2017 had came after political dispute of Presidential election 2014 was seem still far from resolve. The contest was high tension, tumultuous and full of religious speech to vote for candidate-backed up. The 2017 local election result was surprising after Anies Baswedan able to outperform Basuki Tjahaya Purnama with lengthy margin. This paper aims to answer two critical questions: (1). How mobilizing faith-based reason (in this case- Islam) could benefit for winning the election. (2). How Al Maidah case of former Governor Ahok could be explained as issue creation that altered outcome of local election. I was revisiting several findings i.e. religious cleavage analysis of Liddle (2003), normalization of Islamist political party from Bubalo, Fealy and Mason (2008) and stealth Islamization from Pepinsky, Liddle and Mujani (2010).

I argue that formation of Al Maidah 51 case as tipping point was dependent on the dynamic interplay between initiator and trigger device, outcome issue creation – the Ahok’s blasphemy case. This trending case resulted Ahok’s lost the election and now in prison for two years. Therefore, was local election a clear sign for revival of radical Islamism (FPI) and political Islam (PKS) post Jakarta election. Main reaction could be drawn from the last election there was tendency of normalization Islamist political parties together with incident diverse agenda between PKS and FPI. It was really yield cautious optimism for future of Islamist political development in Indonesia. On the Ahok’s Al Maidah case should not convicted as blasphemy. His case had already created public pressure and trial by the mob which were major factors to create an issue that cold altered final outcome of this local election of 2017 gubernatorial contest.

Keywords: Jakarta local election, radical Islamism, Islamist. blasphemy

This piece is first publish in The Indonesian Quarterly – 2nd quarter 2018 Vol 46 No.2 – Center for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta – Indonesia

Muhammad Iksan is a faculty member of Paramadina University and Senior Researcher at Paramadina Public Policy Institute.

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Muhamad Ikhsan

Iksan is a lecturer at Paramadina University in which he teaches Anti-Corruption, Risk Management, Microeconomics, Managerial Economics, and Business Environment and Strategy. Prior joining Paramadina, he worked at capital market industry. He participated in short courses including: Public Finance Management in Changing World at KSG Harvard (2015), Understanding Politics and Government in Georgia (2016), and Education in Crisis at International Academy for Leadership – Germany (2017). He plays major role in researches including: assessment of performance based management post-one decade State Finance Law, budgetary reform of judicative branch, education and technology initiative and anti-corruption action research with KPK. He holds a master degree in Strategic Finance from Paramadina University (2011) and bachelor degree in Business Administration from University of Indonesia (2005). Iksan can be reached through muhamad.ikhsan@policy.paramadina.ac.id.

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Interpreting Recent Jakarta Gubernatorial Contest: Mobilizing Islam for Winning Local Election

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Muhamad Iksan

Abstract

Jakarta election 2017 had came after political dispute of Presidential election 2014 was seem still far from resolve. The contest was high tension, tumultuous and full of religious speech to vote for candidate-backed up. The 2017 local election result was surprising after Anies Baswedan able to outperform Basuki Tjahaya Purnama with lengthy margin. This paper aims to answer two critical questions: (1). How mobilizing faith-based reason (in this case- Islam) could benefit for winning the election. (2). How Al Maidah case of former Governor Ahok could be explained as issue creation that altered outcome of local election. I was revisiting several findings i.e. religious cleavage analysis of Liddle (2003), normalization of Islamist political party from Bubalo, Fealy and Mason (2008) and stealth Islamization from Pepinsky, Liddle and Mujani (2010).

I argue that formation of Al Maidah 51 case as tipping point was dependent on the dynamic interplay between initiator and trigger device, outcome issue creation – the Ahok’s blasphemy case. This trending case resulted Ahok’s lost the election and now in prison for two years. Therefore, was local election a clear sign for revival of radical Islamism (FPI) and political Islam (PKS) post Jakarta election. Main reaction could be drawn from the last election there was tendency of normalization Islamist political parties together with incident diverse agenda between PKS and FPI. It was really yield cautious optimism for future of Islamist political development in Indonesia. On the Ahok’s Al Maidah case should not convicted as blasphemy. His case had already created public pressure and trial by the mob which were major factors to create an issue that cold altered final outcome of this local election of 2017 gubernatorial contest.

Keywords: Jakarta local election, radical Islamism, Islamist. blasphemy

This piece is first publish in The Indonesian Quarterly – 2nd quarter 2018 Vol 46 No.2 – Center for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta – Indonesia

Muhammad Iksan is a faculty member of Paramadina University and Senior Researcher at Paramadina Public Policy Institute.