Abstract
Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS, The Justice and Prosperity Party) is the largest Islamist political party in Indonesia. It has roots in the religious and political and religious teachings of the Muslim Brotherhood and promotes what Oliver Roy calls "deculturized religion." The party can be understood as the political component of a larger social movement that seeks to transform Indonesian society and culture in ways that would establish Shari'ah as social, if not political, reality. It is also committed to the electoral process and to working inside the Indonesian political system in a more general sense. Until recently, the PKS has dismissed local modes of Muslim practice and much of Indonesian culture as "un-Islamic." The extent of the party's transformative agenda is unclear for three reasons: it shares the Muslim Brotherhood's gradualist approach, it is less than transparent about its goals, and it is divided into purist or "Justice" and pragmatic or "Prosperity" factions. The leadership of the Prosperity faction is currently ascendant and is attempting to reach beyond its Islamist base by sponsoring musical and dramatic performances it hopes will appeal to Muslims devoted to Javanese and other Indonesian cultural traditions. Ethnographic and web-based research indicate that these efforts are greeted with considerable suspicion.
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Notes
For more on Indonesian political parties, see Woodward (2008a).
HTI is the Indonesian branch of Hizbul al Tahrir al-Islami (The Islamic Salvation Party)—an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood founded in Palestine in 1953. It is active in Australia, Europe and North America and is outlawed in most Muslim majority countries (Woodward 2010: 175).
The most recent of these involve a PKS legislator being caught watching pornographic videos during a parliamentary session and the party’s use of its control of the Agriculture Ministry to profit from meat imports (http://www.celebritiesevenue.com/analysts-observe-voter-backlash-for-pks-in-excess-of-scandals.html). Indonesian analysts speculate that these scandals will have a negative impact on the party’s performance in future elections
We have argued elsewhere (Woodward 2010) that there are Muslim movements and organizations in Indonesia and elsewhere that embrace Ibn Tamiyyah’s and al-Wahab’s teachings concerning the doctrine of the Unity of God (tauhid) that are firmly rooted in local cultural traditions. This distinguishes reformist orientations from the neo-Wahhabism Roy describes. PKS would appear to be located on the boundary between the two.
On Hasan al Bana and the Muslim Brotherhood see Mitchell (1993).
The hatred is mutual. In 1994 when Wahhabi forces attacked the city of Tarim in Yemen, they turned assault weapon and rocket propelled grenade fire on the cities cemeteries where many Hadrami saints are buried. (Ho 2006: 6). As one Hadrami in Singapore put it: “For sins like this there can be no forgiveness.”
This perceived distinction does not completely reflect political reality because there are also Hadramis, including Habib Rizieq of Front Pembela Islam (Front for the Defense of Islam) associated with exclusivist, violent movements.
A performance can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFMbOlPNABo
Today News Indonesia, 22 February 2011, http://today.co.id/read/2011/02/22/12164/tiru_pkb_pks_akan_kawinkan_islam_dengan_budaya_lokal
Jakarta Globe, 8 April 2011, http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/pks-legislator-denies-downloading-porn-in-dpr/434245 (accessed 10 May 2011)
PedomanNews.com, 22 March 2011 http://www.pedomannews.com/tokoh-a-wawancara/berita-tokoh-a-wawancara/kabar-tokoh/2337-selain-mengenai-korupsi-yusuf-supendi-juga-cerita-soal-poligami-petinggi-pks (accessed 10 May 2011) Jakrta Post, 28 March 2011, http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/03/28/bad-apples-see-islamic-pks-veer-course.html
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Woodward, M., Amin, A., Rohmaniyah, I. et al. Getting culture: a new path for Indonesia’s Islamist Justice and Prosperity party?. Cont Islam 7, 173–189 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-012-0187-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-012-0187-x