Religiosity, parties and election: Islamization and democratization in post-Soeharto Indonesia

Abstract

The political development in Indonesian during the first decade of reform era<br />witnesses a resurgence of Muslim politics, which had been facing a political impass<br />during the 1970s and 1980s. In contrast to current political development in the<br />Arab World, the resurgence of Muslim politics in Indonesia has been marching<br />hand in hand with democratization. The blossoming of tens of Islamic political<br />parties by no means that they speak with a single voice. Rather, political Islam is<br />now represented by parties with more diverse platforms. Those parties are not<br />only varied in their commitment to an Islamist agenda but also strongly divided<br />on this agenda. Yet, they all welcome and uphold “Muslim” aspirations. As far as<br />their performance in the 1999 and the 2004 elections is concerned, there was a<br />significant decline for Muslim politics compared to the first democratic election of<br />1955. The results reflected the minority appeal of Islamism, regardless of both<br />the fact that the majority of the Indonesians are Muslims and the fact that there<br />has been increasing Islamic revivalism within Indonesian society.