2019 Election and Strengthening Political Identity:

The Importance of the Role of Nu & Muhammadiah in Maintaining

Quality Democracy

Syafhendry and Setyo Utomo

Departement of Government Science, Universitas Islam Riau, Pekanbaru, Indonesia

Keywords:

Islam, Democracy, Politics of Identity

Abstract:

Post-reformation, the 2019 election was felt as the most present election tension among the community, com-

pared to the previous elections since the 1999 general election. The use of identity politics by attracting

religious sentiments into the political realm was truly massive and almost split the afﬁliated communities in

the two big poles of sympathizers and supporters of two vice presidential presidential candidates Joko Widodo-

Ma’ruf Amin vs. Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno. Islam as the majority religion in Indonesia, greatly de-

termines the future of democracy in Indonesia. The success of the implementation of post-reform democracy

which is driven by Islam, must be maintained and continued. NU and Muhammadiah as representations of

the two largest Islamic organizations in Indonesia are required to provide enlightenment to build moderate

community thinking, to strengthen the building and quality of democracy. The 2019 presidential election is

expected to be a learning to prepare a quality democracy far from the use of identity politics.

1 INTRODUCTION

After the wave of reform 98 has placed Indonesia as

an ideal model of democracy, for world countries in-

cluding the Islamic State in the Middle East. After the

fall of the Suharto regime, Indonesia has transformed

into a stable democratic country and has experienced

signiﬁcant economic growth. As a nation with a plu-

ralistic society with a majority of Muslims, Indonesia

is able to present democracy as an ideal system in the

practice of nationhood. This has also shifted the west-

ern view of the Islamic world which initially doubted

democracy could grow in Islamic countries. Indone-

sian Islam has promoted the world, that Islam and

democracy can compare well, without having to con-

tradict the two. The success of the democratic process

in Indonesia is marked by the running of elections that

are safe, peaceful, run democratic without being ac-

companied by conﬂict and war. Indonesia’s success

in building the democratization process brings appre-

ciation and praise from world leaders. US Secretary

of State Hillary Clinton called Indonesia an example

of democracy for the Muslim world. While giving a

speech at the State Palace, even Clinton said ”Indone-

sia is a model of how Islam, democracy, modernity

and women’s rights can grow together and harmonize

in a country”. Not to forget, President Obama in his

last address at the UN General Assembly (Tuesday,

20/09/2016) praised Indonesian democracy as a good

example for the model of world democracy. Obama

stated ”Indonesia has succeeded in making the people

the holders of sovereignty”. This is in line with the

rise of the democratic movement that is widespread

in most Islamic countries in the Middle East (Arya

Fernandez, 2019).

But efforts to advance and maintain the democ-

ratization process go well in countries with hetero-

geneous societies are not easy and without obstacles.

The 2019 election shows, Indonesia has just entered

a test that is quite crucial in its democratic journey.

Where the issue of SARA (ethnicity, religion, race

and between groups) really surfaced and became a

wild ball to bring down opponents, in order to win the

election. As a country whose people have just learned

about democracy, they have not fully realized that the

issue of SARA is actually a form of black campaign

that is intentionally created by political forces to win

the contestaton is very risky for the integrity of this

nation.

The phenomenon or problem in this study is

the strengthening use of religious sentiment in the

2019 presidential election amidst a pluralistic society,

which can be an entry point for radical thinking that

472

Syafhendry, . and Utomo, S.

2019 Election and Strengthening Political Identity: The Importance of the Role of Nu Muhammadiah in Maintaining Quality Democracy.

DOI: 10.5220/0009427104720476

In Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Social, Economy, Education and Humanity (ICoSEEH 2019) - Sustainable Development in Developing Country for Facing Industrial

Revolution 4.0, pages 472-476

ISBN: 978-989-758-464-0

can threaten the future of democracy in Indonesia.

The important role of NU and Muhammadiah as the

largest Islamic community organization in Indonesia

is here, so that people are not trapped in the use of

identity politics in democratic practices in Indonesia.

Be advised that papers in a technically unsuitable

form will be returned for retyping. After returned the

manuscript must be appropriately modiﬁed.

2 METHOD

This research uses a qualitative approach with a case

study research design. According to Creswell (2014:

14) case studies are investigative designs found in

many ﬁelds, especially evaluations, where researchers

develop in-depth analysis of a case, often a program,

event, activity, process, or one or more people. Mean-

while, according to Yin (2018), case studies are em-

pirical methods that investigate contemporary phe-

nomena (”cases”) in depth and in real world contexts,

especially when, and may not be clear. In the con-

text of this research, the focus of this study is to ana-

lyze the strengthening of identity politics in the 2019

elections in Indonesia, especially the strengthening of

identity politics in the 2019 presidential election in

Indonesia. This is due to the strengthening use of re-

ligious sentiment by sympathizers and supporters of

two pairs of presidential candidates in the 2019 presi-

dential election. This condition can be a serious threat

to the future of democracy in Indonesia.

Data collection in this study comes from docu-

mentation and archival records such as books, re-

search journals, reports, survey data, and articles in

mass media and online media. The power of data

collection techniques according to Yin (2018) is sta-

ble, inconspicuous, speciﬁc, and broad. Data col-

lected from various sources are then analyzed using

approaches and theories that are relevant to research

and produce research conclusions.

3 THE MASS OF THE POLITICS

OF IDENTITY

During the implementation of the campaign period

lasting 8 months, the public was more served by cam-

paigns that manipulated racial issues, identity politics,

fake news content and speeches of hatred that were

far from presenting substantive issues. This condi-

tion is aggravated by the massive campaign mobil-

ity on social media, by presenting SARA issues and

containing hate speech (Pukapol UI, 2019 ”Managing

Political Identity: Counter-Narrative Strategy Against

Politicization of Identity Politics in 2019 Election

Through the Involvement of Candidate Campaign

Teams”) . Public was carried away by being trapped

in mutual support actions due to the strengthening of

sensitive issues made by the buzzers by loading con-

tent with religious sentiment. The use of religious is-

sues to attack the presidential candidates is very easy

to ﬁnd, both on social media, even in religious lec-

tures which mention the Jokowi regime as anti-Islam,

criminalizing the ulama to pro against China. The Na-

tional Fatwa Guards Movement (GNPF Ulama) and

the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), have become Is-

lamic forces that often display religious issues in the

public sphere. The political elite seems unable to con-

trol themselves, by drawing on the issue of SARA

(ethnicity, religion, race and between groups) to the

political vortex. Even black campaigns that tend to

attack the personal self of each candidate are unavoid-

able. This can be seen from the narratives and move-

ments that were built by the team and sympathizers of

the two pairs of candidates to attack each other with

the aim of bringing down the opponent, while also in-

tending to gain sympathy and support from the com-

munity. Even splits appear to be intensiﬁed through

or by users of social media to sow disputes and spread

disinformation that can lead to misunderstandings in

the community. This further adds to the complexity of

the problem, this condition is increasingly difﬁcult to

eliminate in the near future, because the use of social

media is very high by the community.

Since the elections in 1999, the 2019 elections

have been felt to be the most extreme resulting in

polarization and almost dividing society. Many hope

that post-election tensions will decrease, but it seems

that it is not as simple as what is desired. Various

actions and protests continued to color after the elec-

tion. The siege of the Bawaslu ofﬁce and the refusal

of the Constitutional Court’s ruling on the results of

the presidential election accompanied by the tendency

to reject election results by sympathizers and mass

supporters of the presidential candidate pair showed

that the 2019 election had given rise to serious prob-

lems that could give rise to potential structural and

horizontal conﬂicts.

The new thesis was discovered by Mietzner and

Muhtadi (2018) in (Arya Fernandez, 2019) stating

that the phenomenon of strengthening conservatism

among voters after the action movement 212 by the

National Movement Guards Fatwa Council of Indone-

sian Ulema (GNPF MUI) ﬁgures. Before the actions

of 212 conservatism among Muslim voters experi-

enced deterioration, in the period 2010 to 2016. In

different publications, Mietzner, Muhtadi and Halida

2019 Election and Strengthening Political Identity: The Importance of the Role of Nu Muhammadiah in Maintaining Quality Democracy

473

(2018) explained that mass mobilization in action 212

affected an increase in support for the agenda of the

Islamic political agenda. The LSI survey ﬁndings, as

quoted by Mietzer, et al., Also showed an increase in

the average rejection of non-Muslims in ﬁlling polit-

ical positions from 42.3% in 2016 to 49.6% in 2017.

The mobilization of action 212 was also encouraged

because previously there were voter rejections against

non-Muslims. Muslims in politics and refusal to co-

exist with people of different faiths.

Noise in elections, both presidential elections and

regional elections is not a new phenomenon in a

democratic event both in Indonesia and in western

countries. Efforts to attract religious sentiments,

racial sentiments, tribes to the political territory are

often practiced by politicians and elites. So that it re-

quires maturity and political awareness for the com-

munity, not to be easily trapped in issues that are

not substantive. In the noise of democracy there are

gaps in the creation of seeds of conﬂict and excessive

fanaticism. Therefore, psychologically, democracy

requires people who are sufﬁciently educated, open

minded, tolerant, able to accept differences, and can

show empathy for others. Efforts to burn racial sen-

timents to an extreme stage have occurred in political

history that took place in Germany. What happened in

Germany in the mid-1930s is an example of the dan-

ger of fanaticism. At that time, their economy was

knocked down by the ﬁnancial crisis in Europe and

America. Plus, Germany had just lost in World War

I. Millions of people were unemployed, poor, hungry

and frustrated. In such conditions Adolf Hitler and the

Nazi Party won elections. German Chancellor Hitler

revived fascism and killed democracy. Hitler, accord-

ing to Professor of University of Indonesia Psychol-

ogy HamdiMuluk, gained a single loyalty in the coun-

try by manipulating the fears of the German people.

Chancellor also conquered Poland so that World War

II broke out. From here shows that blind fanaticism

can drown common sense (Arya Fernandez, 2019)

Identity politics is part of an attempt to politicize

the use of the identity of a collective group of feelings

of ’confusion’ which are the main basis for bonding

group ties and collectivity. Identity here can take the

form of ethnicity, race, religion, class and others. This

primordial bond is then politicized in such a way by

interest groups for certain purposes, including for po-

litical purposes. Puritanism or the teachings of purity

or orthodoxy also play a major role in producing and

distributing the idea of ’goodness’ towards members

on the one hand, while on the other hand closing the

reasoning of resistance or critical members of certain

identity groups. Identity politics, according to (Ab-

dillah, Ubed, 2002) is a politics whose main focus

is study and its problems regarding differences based

on physical body assumptions, political ethnicity or

primordialism, and religious, belief, or language con-

ﬂicts.

Blind fanaticism can ﬂourish in a democratic po-

litical climate such as in the 2019 general election.

Fanatics are vulnerable to cognitive bias. Sometimes

fanatics can no longer accept the truth from other

groups. Zealots only believe that only the group is

right. In some conditions, the feeling of love for the

group itself which encourages a person to ﬁght for his

group is something normal and natural. In a political

partisan attitude that encourages loyalty and willing-

ness of people to volunteer for parties is sometimes

needed. But what was alarming was, when religious-

based populism became increasingly violent. While

politicians continue to be engrossed in playing identi-

ties, fan voters to stay hot. Therefore, to be a critical

voter, everyone must introspect to examine fanaticism

within themselves. Only in that way can we save our

democracy.

4 NU & MUHAMMADIAH MUST

DARE TO AGENCY

Islam as the majority religion in Indonesia must re-

alize that the challenges of nationality in this era of

modernization are increasingly complex and extreme.

The atmosphere of information disclosure through the

proliferation of information technology that can be

accessed by each individual community can have a

serious impact on unity in the community. Islam as a

religion that brings the message of rahmatanlil’alamin

(mercy to all nature), must be able to provide a real so-

lution for every challenge and dynamic that occurs in

the era of modern democracy.So that the presence of

Islam is truly able to provide calm and peace not only

for individuals, but for the collective life of nation and

state. Islamic principles and values, which humanize

humans, are expected to bring enlightenment and ma-

turity to society in democracy.

In many sources and teachings, Islam teaches the

practice of democracy in the life of nation and state,

even the practice of democracy itself has been go-

ing on since the era of the leadership of the Prophet

Muhammad, until the reign of khulafaurrasyidin. The

consultative model during the khulafaurrasyidin is a

form of democratic spirit known as ahihalliwal’aqdi

which has the function of electing the head of state

or government through a process of deliberation and

election. Here is very clear in the early days of Is-

lamic rule that has been applied in the state system

(Farih, 2016; Jati, 2013). According to experts in

ICoSEEH 2019 - The Second International Conference on Social, Economy, Education, and Humanity

474

contemporary Islamic thought democracy must pro-

vide the same space and place for all groups in soci-

ety. The value of justice, equality must be upheld to-

gether. Like the opinion of Abdurrahman Wahid and

Nurcholis Madjid which states that democracy con-

tains two values, namely the value that is fundamen-

tal and that is derivative. According to Abdurrahman

Wahid, the main values of democracy are freedom,

equality, deliberation and justice. Freedom means in-

dividual freedom before state power and a balance be-

tween the individual rights of citizens and the collec-

tive rights of society. Nurcholish Majid, as quoted by

Nasaruddin, said that a country is called democratic

to the extent that the state guarantees human rights,

among others: freedom of expression, freedom of as-

sociation and assembly. Because democracy rejects

detectiveism, feudalism and authoritarianism. In a

democratic country, the relationship between the au-

thorities and the people is not a power relationship

but based on laws which uphold human rights(Jurdi,

2011; Muhammadiyah, 1995).

NahdlatulUlama (NU) and Muhammadiah as

spread Islamic organizations in Indonesia that have

moderate understanding, are increasingly being de-

manded for their active participation in guarding the

journey of democratization in Indonesia. The val-

ues and democratic practices that have been taught

by NU ﬁgures, Muhammadiah, such as Abdurrah-

man Wahid (4th Republic of Indonesia president)

and BuyaSyaﬁ’IMa’arif (former General Chair of

PP Muhammadiah) who continue to be consistent in

guarding digniﬁed democracy need to be continued

by the next generation. It is inevitable for activists,

individuals and Islamic civil society groups in NU

and Muhammadiyah, to make the same effort to con-

tribute to enlighten the community by promoting the

ideas of digniﬁed democracy among Muslims and

maintaining the independence of civil society as the

main pillar for maintaining and carrying out the pro-

cess quality democratization, far from the issue of

SARA and the politicization of identity politics. At

the same time the creation of critical groups is also

very necessary to create control and balance to control

the running of government by the power of society.

5 THE ROLE OF ISLAM IN

PROMOTING

DEMOCRATIZATION IN

INDONESIA

In the long journey of this nation, Islam as the ma-

jority religion has played an important role in push-

ing the democratization process in Indonesia. The

existence of NU and Muhammadiyah as the largest

Islamic organization is undoubtedly in an effort to

strengthen the building of civil society in Indonesia.

To strengthen the democratization process in Indone-

sia, NU and Muhammadiyah are required to be brave

enough to put on a body and continue to be consistent

in continuing the function of political education to-

wards their followers and the general public, to carry

out a digniﬁed democratic process. The success of

NU and Muhammadiah in guarding the process of po-

litical transition after the fall of the New Order under

Suharto’s authoritarian government to a democratic

system of government must be the spirit, that the two

largest Islamic community organizations are always

awaited to play a role in overseeing the democrati-

zation process in this democratic government. The

presence of Gusdur (Abdurrahman Wahid) as Chair

of the PBNU and AmienRais who served as chair-

man of the PP. Muhammadiyah at that time with the

98 student movement had increased public awareness

in demanding the administration of democratic gov-

ernance. So that the process of transition of power

at that time from totalitarian rule under the Soeharto

regime to democratic reform government could run

smoothly(Muhammadiyah, 2015; Olsan et al., 2003).

After the fall of Soeharto, efforts to strengthen

democratization also continued when Gusdur entered

the government, where in the 1999 election Gusdur

was elected as President and AmienRais sat as chair-

man of the Republic of Indonesia MPR. Gusdur’s

policy to revoke the dual function of the Indonesian

Armed Forces (TNI) that returned the military to the

function of national defense was as an entry point

and basic foundation to strengthen the democratiza-

tion process in the practice of the life of the nation and

state. With the return of military power to the func-

tion of national defense, civil society groups regained

their role in voicing and participating in determining

State policy. Even since reformation, various ﬁgures

and civil society groups have formed political parties,

as a sign of the presence of a democratization room,

where every community has the same political rights

to vote and be elected, both in the executive and leg-

islative branches. The freedom to establish a political

party had never happened before under the rule of the

new order which had been in power for 32 years, be-

cause the existence of political parties was restricted

and controlled by the State, namely only 3 political

parties were permitted namely, PPP, PDI and Golon-

ganKarya all under control of the Suharto regime.

From the above conditions, it shows the great

commitment of Islamic leaders to realize democrati-

zation efforts that are actually carried out in the sys-

2019 Election and Strengthening Political Identity: The Importance of the Role of Nu Muhammadiah in Maintaining Quality Democracy

475

tem of government in the reform era. Even Gusdur’s

efforts as president of Indonesia at that time to realize

democratization in Indonesia had to be paid dearly be-

cause Gusdur had to lose his power as President of the

Republic of Indonesia because of the democratization

process that emphasized freedom in politics. Political

power in parliament at that time succeeded in carrying

out political propaganda which led to the overthrow

of Abdurrahman Wahid from the seat of the President

of the Republic of Indonesia even though in an un-

constitutional manner. Even though Gusdur had to

step down to lose its power as president, the democ-

ratization process in Indonesia continued until now,

even making signiﬁcant progress in the process of na-

tion and state. So from here Islamic ﬁgures such as

Gusdur, NurkholisMadjid, BuyaSyaﬁ’iMa’arif can be

said to be reformers in efforts to democratize the po-

litical system and the government system in Indone-

sia.

The ideas of democratization that have been built

by Islamic reformist ﬁgures such as Gusdur, Nur-

cholisMadjid on young activists from the two largest

Islamic organizations have led to a strong movement

for the continuation of the democratization process in

the next generation. Young Islamic activists continue

what has been pioneered by reformists in building Is-

lamic legitimacy over democratic ideas, but in the for-

mat of new social movements that are in line with a

more moderate contemporary context. namely social

movements that no longer emphasize the struggle for

identity politics, but emphasize diverse identities. It

no longer emphasizes the interests of organized large

groups, such as political parties, but the interests and

rights of citizens are no longer dependent on state sup-

port, but rely on the independence and autonomy of

civil society.

6 CONCLUSION

The future of democracy in Indonesia will be largely

determined by the efforts of Muslims in developing

and maintaining democratic consolidation both at the

level of awareness and practice of democracy on two

levels: the state and society. NU and Muhamma-

diah as the largest Islamic organization in Indonesia

are required to give their role in seeking digniﬁed

democracy, fostering inclusive and moderate attitudes

among diverse societies.

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