3 - Shari'ah Concerns, Motives, and Qualities

Summary

In the previous chapter, I described shari'ah as a focal point for promoting the restoration of Muslim identity within the national idea in a debate often strongly tinged by emotions of loss and segregation. In this chapter, I will argue that shari'ah politics in early democratic Indonesia have rather been desultory and paradoxical (in the case of Partai Persatuan Pembangunan [“Unity Development Party”, PPP]), derivative and formalist (in the case of Partai Bulan Bintang [“Crescent Star Party”, PBB]) or fallen victim to the overall strategic outlook (in the case of Partai Keadilan [“Justice Party”, PK, later PKS]). Moreover, the quality of the shari'ah discourse has been markedly shallow. The promotion of shari'ah and the seven-word Jakarta Charter clause contained little or no plan for their realization.1 One auxiliary reason for this shallowness was perhaps the lack of Islamist political power. Obtaining less than a fifth of parliamentary seats in the 1999 elections, Islamist parties were well aware that their bid for shari'ah would be defeated in parliament. The apparent futility of the effort to make shari'ah succeed in democratic Indonesia might have made a genuine and profound discussion of shari'ah issues appear rather gratuitous to some Islamists. Accordingly, the last day of the final MPR session on 10 August 2002 returned Paragraph 29 on “religion” to its original wording, following a decision through mutual consultation (musyawarah). The current paragraph states in Article One: “the State shall be based upon the belief in the One All-Powerful God”; and Article Two: “the State guarantees all persons the freedom of worship, each according to his/her own religion and belief”. For now, this brought the struggle to implement shari'ah at the national level to an end. Hereafter, it moved towards the implementation of shari'ah friendly legislation on the local and district level.

When the democratic period was under way, shari'ah had been partly recognized and effective in family law (marriage, inheritance), banking, religious foundations (waqf), and parts of the economy. But it is not fully effective law. The marriage law, for example, above all handles divorce. Significantly, Indonesia's jurisdiction lacks a Shari'ah High Court. There is unclear and divided authority over the Religious Justice administration and an erratic application of existing regulations.