Religious Sentiments In Local Politics

Abstract

The rise of religious sentiments and identity politics in Indonesia is currently in critical phase. Indonesia is neither a Muslim nor a secular country, although it recognizes the existence of God in its first principle of state philosophical theory. Together with corruption and human rights, religion is a fundamental issue in politicians’ campaign materials, as these topics can be considered key for attracting voters. The fall of President Suharto’s New Order should be considered as the starting point of the sublime journey of political identity, which often implicates religions and ethnicities under the umbrella of democratic practices. However, after the fall of Suharto and the New Order regime, religious sentiments were not utilised for attacking other religions until the 2017 Jakarta election. The rise of religious sentiment during the 2017 Jakarta election successfully split Indonesia into two sides: those with a nationalist ideology and those with a religious ideology. It is hypothesized that this separation will sooner or later cause two dangerous practices in the Indonesian society: Islamic exceptionalism and iron fist ruling government. This qualitative article examines how Islamic exceptionalists have portrayed and framed themselves within Indonesia’s democratic practices and why the religious ideology is again on the rise. It explores arguments about why increases in religious sentiments and identity politics should be considered a critical test for Indonesia’s socio-politics and decisive for the progress of Indonesia’s democracy. Interestingly, the results show that in the context of local politics, most people are not attracted by and do not vote for candidates who exploit religious sentiments during their campaigns.