Political Dancing of the 2019 Presidential Election
Ahmad Suaedy,
On the New York Times opinion website (14/2/2019), novelist Eka Kurniawan analyzed the victory in the 2019 Indonesian presidential election.
By placing vice president candidate Ma\'ruf Amin as the main factor in the Joko “Jokowi” Widodo-Ma\'ruf Amin pair and issues of Islamic identity perpetuated by the Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno pair, he concluded that the presidential victory has been determined.
According to Eka, by looking at the track record of kiai (cleric) Ma\'ruf on his capacity as a cleric on religious sectarian issues and discrimination against minorities as well as the institutions, it cannot be denied that that will happen later. And, Jokowi -- despite his position as president -- has been trapped inside the frame. Meanwhile, if the second pair wins, by looking at the main support groups that are vocal about the sectarian issues they promote, it will show the same thing.
White mattress
By looking at the factors and units of analysis being used, the conclusion made by Eka is true. However, I think he forgets other developing factors, both in the Indonesian atmosphere in general and the shift of each individual and group that surrounds it. Borrowing variants of Javanese or Indonesian religion by MC Ricklefs as abangan (nominal Muslim) and putihan (pious Muslims), or Clifford Geertz with three variants, priyayi, santri (pious Muslims), abangan, where those variants are above the abangan thick mattresses.
However, now the mattress itself has changed to what Bob Hefner (2018) calls whiter religious fields. However, for Hefner, the whiteness of the mattress does not necessarily mean more conservative behavior of the Muslim community but there is also the strengthening of pro-diversity and pluralism groups within the putihan group of the mattress. Hefner shows two groups that are increasingly prominent in the Indonesian Muslim community, namely the adreng (eagerness) of the Indonesian middle class toward mysticism and women\'s equality in various fields of life.
Sufistic Islam does not only have an open character but also fights for openness itself to open space for itself. In history, since Islam spread in Java or Indonesia, sufistic Islam has become a place in the Islam-culture "mixture" with local beliefs or what Ricklefs called it mystic synthesis in Java (2006) since the 14th to the 19th century. However, the sufistic character now shows more of its social character than its mystical beliefs.
According to Hefner, Islamic schools now tend to be dominated or at least having 50 percent of female students, something that did not happen in the past. At the same time many feminist activists are born to fight for women\'s equality in society and the doctrine of Islam itself. It is also easy to find women\'s political leaders appearing with Islamic accessories but are advanced in driving good and non-discriminatory public services.
If our observations are expanded, we can find that the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has long established an Islamic wing in its management under the name Baitul Muslimin, a party that is still labeled an abangan warehouse. Moreover, we can now easily find fighters for human rights, gender equality and democracy with santri or putihan backgrounds and every day they use the symbol of Islam in public spaces such as headscarves for women.
In other words, it is true that by recruiting kiai Ma\'ruf as his deputy, Jokowi is rolling out a white mattress as a place to dance in the politics of the 2019 presidential election. However, the rhythm of the next dance will not necessarily be dictated by a conservative rhythm that was the previous representation of kiai Ma\'ruf. Also, if pair number two wins, broader concessions may be given to them, but it will not necessarily follow the whole group\'s will, given the strengthening of the layers of diversity and pluralism also exists within each group of the respective pair group.
Shift
Since the 212 demonstration that led to the imprisonment and defeat of Ahok, also known as BTP, in the Jakarta gubernatorial election, there has actually been a shift, both in Jokowi and kiai Ma’ruf and his large community, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), also in the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI). Jokowi is increasingly aware that moderate Islam is important not only for the continuity of his presidency, but also the success of just and equitable development and closing the gap which becomes one of the reasons for the religiously motivated opposition movement. Since then, for example, Jokowi has not only visited the Islamic community and Islamic boarding schools very frequently, he has also directed substantial funds to empower the people under them, both through NU and Islamic boarding schools and Muhammadiyah and other Islamic organizations.
It incidentally happened that since August 2015, kiai Ma\'ruf who had previously been full time as the general chairperson at the MUI was then elected as Rois ‘Am of the central executive board of NU so that he had to divide his time and balance. Initially, the election of Ma’ruf as the Rois ‘Am of NU was feared by many people that NU would possibly change to be more conservative. However, what happened was that kiai Ma\'ruf adjusted to the views of NU which also frequently collides with the MUI for a long time in terms of minorities and sectarianism.
Kiai Ma\'ruf has since changed the course closer to Jokowi and changed the attention from the religious comprehension of the (minority) people to the empowerment of the religious followers. Kiai Ma\'ruf also supports the banning of HTI mass organization. Therefore, it cannot be measured that any pair that wins the presidential election will be one hundred percent more conservative or to what extent their conservativeness will be later. Both have the same potential to be more conservative, but seeing the shifts that occur, kiai Ma\'ruf cannot be called the dominant factor that can direct the policy.
There are still opportunities for those who do not want a more conservative government for supporters in the inside and outside to keep the winning pair from leading to religious conservatism. However, indeed we are forced by the times to dance on the increasingly white mattress. (Ahmad Suaedy, Member of the Indonesian Ombudsman)
