“Electing a President is Islamic Worship”—The Print Media Discourse of Azyumardi Azra during Reformasi (1998–2004)

Abstract

This article analyzes and contextualizes the journalistic activity of Islamic academic and celebrity public intellectual Azyumardi Azra during the Indonesian democratization process from 1998 to 2004, the so-called Reformasi. An in-depth content analysis of 84 media articles Azra published in the four most prominent Indonesian media outlets is presented. It finds that in his position as rector of the country’s largest Islamic higher education institute, Azra mostly addressed the educated Indonesian middle class on topics such as the compatibility of Islam and democracy and interfaith tolerance and peace, and that he also articulated sharp criticism on the country’s political and religious elite and civil society, all of which actively contributed to critical discourse and the expression of freedom of speech in the democratizing public sphere. The article first discusses several classical sociological aspects of public intellectuals and assesses their relevance for the Indonesian context. Next, by drawing on the history of state-funded Indonesian Islamic academia, the article argues that Azra’s public political engagement and discursive style are representative and illustrative of a broader phenomenon that since the country’s independence shapes the Indonesian public sphere: the public political agency of Islamic academics who act as cosmopolitan brokers in society. The article further argues that the Indonesian Islamic academic milieu constitutes a distinctive religious actor group in political processes and in publicly backing up democracy—dynamics that deserve more scholarly attention.