Resisting Democracy: The Front Pembela Islam And Indonesia's 2014 Elections

Transcript

This year, 2014, is election year in Indonesia. There are however vigilantes such as Front Pembela Islam (FPI; Defenders of Islam Front) who reject secular democracy and instead advocate a return to what they argue are the Islamic foundations of the Indonesian constitution and state ideology. •But despite declaring democracy haram (sinful), the FPI and other such groups have proven themselves adept at manipulating the dynamics of Indonesia’s decentralised electoral system to their advantage, obtainingkey policy concessions and positioning themselves as brokers for politicalelites seeking to capture the conservative Muslim vote. •These have found ideological bedfellows amongst New Order apologists seeking to roll back democratic reforms. Calls for ‘democratic downgrading’ from political parties such as Partai Demokrat, considered alongside the authoritarian credentials of a number of front runner presidential candidates suggest that Indonesia’s democratic future is by no means secure. •In the run-up to the elections for the presidency and national legislature in 2014, a number of political parties have shown interest in forming alliances with the FPI. The key exception has been the PDI-P and its likely presidential candidate, the governor of Jakarta Joko Widodo.