Asia Institute - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 9 of 9
-
ItemNegotiating Secularism, Religious Freedom and Politics of Orthodoxy: Liberal-Progressive Muslim Discourse in Post-New Order Indonesia (1998-2013)( 2022)This thesis seeks to examine how liberal-progressive Muslim intellectuals have contributed to renewed struggles over religion-state relations and religious freedom in contemporary Indonesia, especially within the context of the country’s transition to democracy and the changing landscape of Muslim politics in the post-New Order era. One of the most significant markers of this changing political and religious landscape has been the revival of conservative and fundamentalist Islamic discourses and movements. Largely suppressed under the New Order, they have now gained greater prominence and official endorsement, putting into question the institutional support and dominance that the liberal-progressive Muslim discourse enjoyed in the 1980s and 1990s. Against this backdrop, the central question this thesis seeks to answer is how liberal-progressive Muslim intellectuals have contributed to the reconfiguration of religion-state relations and religious freedom in light of the competing trends of democratization and the conservative turn of Muslim politics. The thesis focuses on the views of liberal-progressive Muslim intellectuals in three distinct but interrelated debates in the early period of Indonesia’s democratization: (1) the debate on secularism; (2) the controversy over the Ahmadiyah question, and (3) the contest over the Blasphemy Law. The thesis begins with a critical review of the highly essentialist and strictly secular-liberal narratives on religion-state relations and religious freedom and discusses whether they offer a satisfactory analytical lens to adequately understand the discourse on religion-state relations and religious freedom in Muslim societies. This is followed by a historical investigation of the evolving discourse and configuration of religion-state relations and religious freedom in modern Indonesia. An examination of the views of liberal-progressive Muslim intellectuals in the three debates mentioned above are then presented in the following three chapters. The thesis is concluded with a summary of its main argument and a brief theoretical reflection. The thesis argues that the issue of religion-state relations and religious freedom continues to be one of the key areas of struggle between competing and polarized Muslim discourses in post-New Order Indonesia. It further argues that in these struggles, the voices of liberal-progressive Muslim intellectuals have not only competed with the voice of their traditional opponent, the conservative and fundamentalist groups, but also with the voice of mainstream moderate Muslim groups and official interpretation of the state’s ideological and constitutional discourse. Moreover, on the question of whether and to what extent the liberal vision of religion-state relations and religious freedom can be reconciled with Islamic theology and state ideology, it is evident there has been tension between liberal-progressive Muslims and some elements of mainstream moderate Muslim groups, as represented by the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Muhammadiyah and the increasingly assertive semi-government body Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI). The post-New Order struggles over religion, state and religious freedom are thus better portrayed as the contest between a civic-pluralist vision of state and religious freedom championed by liberal-progressive Muslims, and its integralistic-majoritarian rival, broadly shared by conservative-radical Islamic groups and some elements of mainstream moderate Islamic groups, and officially incorporated into the state’s ideological and constitutional discourse.
-
ItemWomen in Islam: How Australian Muslim Feminist women practise their faith in a gender-positive way( 2021)This thesis researches how Australian Muslim feminist women practise their faith in a gender-positive way. The practical aspect of Islamic feminism in the Australian context has been under-researched within the Islamic Studies discipline, despite the growing popularity of pro-faith feminism. This research seeks to understand how Muslim feminist women have challenged and reframed traditionally patriarchal practices and interpretations of their faith in order to support or form their belief in divinely sanctioned gender equality. The position of women in Islam is a topic fraught with disagreement and controversy. While many Muslims argue that God has proclaimed men and women to be equal, others declare that the Qur’an and Muhammad’s sunnah place men in a position of superiority over women. Some Muslim women argue that Islamic practices that favour male superiority are not due to the Qur’an placing men in a position of authority. Rather, they are due to the tradition of men interpreting the foundational texts and imbuing within them a patriarchal bias. Muslim women are challenging this convention through interpreting the texts themselves from a feminist perspective. The result of these changing interpretations is a version of Islam that empowers women and encourages gender equality. Yet there are some controversial aspects of Islam - for example, Qur’an verse 4:34, often known as “the beating verse” - that present more of a challenge than others in being reinterpreted as gender-positive. This thesis, therefore, addresses these aspects of the faith that have traditionally been utilised to support male superiority and patriarchal practices. Due to the paucity of existing research on this topic in the Australian context, this research relies heavily on independent fieldwork in the form of semi-structured interviews. This thesis utilises the theoretical framework of standpoint feminism, which places women’s lived experiences as central to understanding society and for challenging patriarchal knowledge paradigms. Through employing a feminist standpoint as a theoretical framework, this research presents a counter-narrative to the persistent characterisation of the Muslim woman as an oppressed, agentless being who needs to be ‘saved’ from her culture. In order to challenge patriarchal practices within Muslim communities, the voices of Muslim women presenting an alternative, yet equally legitimate interpretation of the faith must be amplified.
-
ItemSecular, religious and supernatural: an Eastern Indonesian Catholic experience of fear (autoethnographic reflections on the reading of a New Order-era propaganda text)( 2017)This thesis examines an Eastern Indonesian Catholic experience of fear by analysing how a New Order-era propaganda text dealing with the political upheavals of 1965-66 triggers and maintains fear in one Eastern Indonesian Catholic reader – myself. It uses the methodology of autoethnography to examine the fears that I myself experienced in 2004 when encountering a 1967 Catholic propaganda text entitled, ‘Dari Madiun ke Lubang Buaya, dari Lubang Buaya ke…?’ [From Madiun to the Crocodile Hole, from the Crocodile Hole to...?]). By analysing my own experience of fear in reading the text, I argue that the Eastern Indonesian Catholic experience of fear involves three interlocking dimensions – secular, religious and supernatural. These three forms of fear are experienced simultaneously by the reader (myself). The From Madiun text is primarily a secular narrative of the 1965-66 events, but the reader brings his culturally-conditioned religious and supernatural fears when reading it. I argue that supernatural fear is the most unspoken but most powerful form of fear that I experienced when reading the text, and this reflects my membership of the Lamaholot community in which supernatural fear is pervasive. The thesis contends that in relation to 1965, the Catholic Church’s propaganda created an explicit secular fear of communists, an implicit religious fear of Muslims, and a hidden supernatural fear of ghosts. While secular fear represented the nemesis of secularization and a danger to the Indonesian nation-state and to the Catholic Church was the most overt form of fear that the Catholic Church directed against communists, the most profound fears which the Church was able to instill in its members were religious and supernatural forms of fear. These three forms of fear are experienced simultaneously, and the fear of 1965 is not therefore simply a matter of the past, but also of the present. Eliminating the secular threat of communism in 1966 increased the religious threat of Islam and multiplied the supernatural threat from ghosts, which remain very strong in contemporary Lamaholot society. The thesis thus relates the fear of 1965 to the cultural belief systems of my Lamaholot community, belief systems that maintain the fear of 1965 to the present day.
-
Item‘Ishq and the Literary: Exploring Rūmī’s Mathnawī as a Sufi Text( 2016)Although there has been a bourgeoning corpus of studies on Rūmī in terms of his mystical ideas, there has been till present, very little attention paid to the literary aspects of his works – especially the Mathnawī as his narrative magnum opus. This thesis explores Rūmī’s Mathnawī to understand how it functions in the broader context of Sufism and literary production. Its approach is twofold: first, it provides a close literary reading of select passages from the Mathnawī through generic, rhetorical and narrative constructs; and second, delineates its broader theological/epistemological contexts. Therefore, through its emphasis on literary form, this thesis identifies how the Mathnawī’s literary structures both relate to, and are informed by Rūmī’s Sufi thought – specifically his ontology of ‘ishq (passionate love). Thus, adopting a literary approach to Rūmī’s works, the present study explores questions relating to the literary form of Rūmī’s Mathnawī such as: genre, function, the Mathnawī’s intertextuality with the Qur’ān, the complexities surrounding the Sufi notion of authorship, meaning and hermeneutics, as well as Rūmī’s specific notion of the “ideal reader” as a potential wayfarer on the Sufi path of ‘ishq. Finally, this thesis employs close-analysis to a specific tale from the Mathnawī (The King and the Handmaiden) in order to explore how Rūmī attempts to transform his readers through specific narrative structures. This thesis concludes that by the very act of producing the Mathnawī, Rūmī was effectively participating in the textualisation of his Sufi path of ‘ishq. In this sense, the present thesis addresses the kinds of strategies employed in Sufi writing to convey mystical ethos and content, to shape religious subjectivity in distinctive ways, or even to influence the cosmos through specialised acts of reading and writing such as the act of consuming and producing literature. The present study does not simply contribute to the niche field of Rūmī studies, but also draws attention to how consideration of its topics may change the way we think about Sufism and literary studies more broadly, as well as contributing to the broader field of world literature. A study of this kind is not only valuable in its contribution to a deeper understanding of Sufism within the field of Islamic studies, but also because analysing Rūmī’s particular works through an explicitly literary scheme may help in developing more nuanced and relevant descriptions of mystical or sacred literatures.
-
ItemActive citizenship of Muslims in Australia and Germany: civic and political participation of a socially marginalised group( 2015)Modern citizenship in the West is commonly regarded not only as a legal status but also as a social process of citizens’ engagement in civil society and the political arena. This study examines Muslims’ active citizenship in Australia and Germany against the backdrop of the social marginalisation and scrutiny they experience in both countries. The basic understanding of active citizenship draws on an eclectic theoretical framework, emphasising the performative nature of citizenship, enacted through various forms of civic and political participation. Based on 30 in-depth interviews with active citizens of (self-declared) Muslim background, this research pursues a comparative approach to examine Muslims’ participation in Australia and Germany. It provides fresh insights into Muslims’ trajectories of civic activism, their goals, motives and empowering factors, and personal implications of their participation. The findings underscore the enormous complexities and dynamics of Muslims’ participation in civil society and the political arena, dispelling widespread misconceptions of Muslims’ active engagement as socially isolated – and isolating – activism. Muslim community organisations often play a key role for Muslims in Australia and Germany both as a location of civic participation and as a gateway for other, often more mainstream-oriented manifestations of activism. The study also discovered that the majority of interviewed Muslim citizens (including those active within a community context) pursue a predominately republican agenda, seeking to contribute to the greater good of society at large or to promote social justice. In contrast to commonly raised concerns about Islam as a hampering factor for citizenship, the results of this analysis demonstrate that the Islamic faith is a powerful resource and driving force for many Muslims’ active engagement. Moreover, the study found that personal or collective experiences of exclusion, including the public misconception of Islam, often have empowering effects on Muslims’ civic activism. The cross-national comparison points to many similarities between the ways in which Muslims in Australia and Germany perform their citizenship, but it also reveals differences; these seem, at least partially, attributed to divergent political opportunity structures in the two national settings. The recognition of Muslim community organisations as ‘normal’ civil society stakeholders, institutional opportunities for Muslims to contribute to the political discourse and social networks between Muslim organisations and mainstream institutions, for example, appear more advanced in Australia. All these structural differences, in addition to the countries’ citizenship regime and access to political right, appear to have implications for Muslims’ activism.
-
ItemDemocratization and Islamic political activism in Muslim-majority countries: Egypt and Indonesia( 2008)The discussion concerning the prospects for democratization in Muslim-majority countries has been revived in recent years. It has been widely argued that the repression and exclusion of Islamic movements from the political process in Muslim countries breeds radicalism, while political engagement and inclusion, however, encourages moderation and compromise. The fact that only few Muslim states have been affected by the recent global wave of democratization has raised many questions concerning the impact of Islam and Islamic activism on democratization. Does Islam or Islamic activism hinder democratization and strengthen authoritarianism in the Muslim-majority countries? Can democratization progress in Muslim countries without the full inclusion of the major Islamic forces in the formal political process?
-
ItemFrom conflict to resolution: Turkey's secular state and political Islam: a case study of the policies of the Justice and Development Party( 2012)Republican Turkey has conventionally been regarded in the West as a secular democratic state, and a model for the rest of the Muslim world. The present study contests this assumption by analysing the success and stamina of the ostensibly Islamic Justice and Development Party in the staunchly secular Turkish Republic. The rise of the JDP has ignited fears both domestically and in the international arena that Turkey, the once secular stronghold against Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East, is gradually being overrun by creeping Islamisation. The governing JDP, in power since 2002, has a recognised affinity to religion. Its alleged Islamist background has alarmed Turkey’s Kemalist elite, who suspects the government is harbouring a secret agenda to Islamise the Turkish state and society. Contrary to such concerns, this study has found that the JDP, although culturally conservative, is committed to liberal democratic principles and revising the undemocratic practices of the Kemalist regime. The governing JDP, whilst generally supportive of the status quo, poses a challenge to the Kemalist state by seeking to redefine the Kemalists’ understanding of secularism. Paradoxically, the JDP has emerged as the champion of political reformism, which is in contrast to the authoritarian, statist ideology enforced by the Kemalist establishment. The JDP’s espousal of the principle of secularism and its refusal to employ Islamist rhetoric establishes its secular democratic credentials. Further, the thesis has also examined how the JDP’s commitment to the European Union accession negotiations and its efforts to reduce the political role of the Turkish military is indicative of its liberal democratic outlook. Analysis of the JDP’s policies, the party programme and ideology reveals that the government’s attachment to liberal democratic principles, ironically, furthers its culturally conservative agenda by undermining the Kemalist monopolisation of the concepts of modernity, progress, democracy, and secularism. The study has found that the JDP is attempting to resolve the decades-old conflict between secularism and political Islam in Turkey by reinterpreting Kemalism and implementing policies based on its ‘conservative democracy’ ideology, which is a blend of reformism and conservatism. The JDP experience has broader ramifications for international relations in a post 9-11 world by dispelling the widely-circulated belief that a pro-Islam party cannot operate within clearly-defined secular parameters, or be a proponent for genuine democratic reform. The study has found that far from working towards the establishment of an Islamic state, the JDP’s policy initiatives have led to the consolidation of democracy in Turkey and the enhancement of civil liberties and basic freedoms long suppressed by the Kemalist regime. Moreover, the case study of the JDP has illustrated that Islam and democracy are neither monoliths nor mutually exclusive. By endeavouring to reclaim an authentic Islamic identity whilst subscribing to a modern conception of liberal democratic governance, the ruling party demonstrates that one may be a Muslim culturally and a democrat politically.
-
ItemContesting the future: Muslim men as political actors in the context of Australian multiculturalism( 2012)In the period 2001-2011, Australian Muslims have inhabited an often hostile social climate characterised by extreme levels of scrutiny, public surveillance and pressure. Australian Muslims have been cast in the dominant hegemonic discourse as either ‘at-risk’ of radicalisation or as a potential ‘threat’ to Australian values. Young Muslim men in particularly have been portrayed as potential terrorists, criminals or misogynistic oppressors and as a problem that must be solved. The question of Muslim identity in Australia has clearly become a central pivot around which debate has focussed for both the place of Islam in Australia and the adequacy of the official state policy of multiculturalism. However despite the centrality of young Australian born Muslim men to these questions and an emerging body of literature, they remain poorly understood. In the past decade Australian-born Muslim men have sought to challenge dominant negative representations and simultaneously to shape the development of Islam in the local context. This thesis aims to understand how social influences interact to influence different forms of political action by Australian-born Muslim men in Melbourne and in so doing to reveal insights into the developments in Islam and its interactions with Australian multiculturalism. This occurs through the examination of three ‘exceptional examples’ of Australian-born Muslim men undertaking political action. Muslim hip hop group The Brothahood have toured extensively throughout Australia and Asia whilst Waleed Aly has emerged as one of Australia’s leading public intellectuals, with his vast body of work published across national and international media, legal and literary journals. These young men have become successful political actors displaying highly creative and empowered ‘project identities’ to challenge both racism and hard-line textualist Muslims, shaping the future of Australian Islam and multiculturalism. In contrast, the young men of Australia’s first convicted terrorist organisation the Benbrika Jama’ah displayed a disempowered ‘neo-resistance identity’ seeking to commit an act of destructive violence against the State and were completely unsuccessful as political actors, reinforcing the hegemony of those they were seeking to challenge. This thesis is based on extensive fieldwork and unprecedented access to over 4000 pages of Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) listening surveillance device and telephone intercept transcripts. A Bourdieuian analytical frame is employed to reveal how key social influences interact as either enabling or disabling influences, shaping the development of constructive ‘project identities’ and ‘neo-resistance identities’. Enabling social influences and interactions include Tasawwuf (spiritually focussed) and traditional Islam, high levels of education, professional employment, exposure and familiarity with Western cultures, the multicultural State and an upward social trajectory whilst disabling influences include low levels of education, unemployment, welfare dependence, unskilled work, criminal activity, the coercive State and a downward social trajectory. These findings have important implications for understanding the development of both Islam and multiculturalism in both the Australian and wider Western contexts, revealing the intertwined yet contested nature of both, the benefits to Australia of a critical and robust political Islam and the centrality of hope and recognition to shaping constructive political engagement by Australian born-Muslims.
-
ItemFaith and the state: a history of Islamic philanthropy in Indonesia( 2008)Zakat (almsgiving), sedekah (donation, giving) and waqf (religious endowment) are forms of philanthropy Muslims in Indonesia, as well as in other parts of the world practice. This thesis examines the historical development of Islamic philanthropy and questions how Islamic philanthropic activities have affected the relationship between faith and the state. It discusses a contestation between the state and Muslim civil society in managing Islamic philanthropy. The thesis shows that the history of Islamic philanthropy in Indonesia is one of rivalry between faith and the state: between efforts to involve the state in managing philanthropic activities and efforts to keep them under the control of Muslim civil society which uses Islamic philanthropy to empower itself and to promote social change. Activities and efforts to modernise Islamic philanthropic practices have mostly been supported by Reformist Muslims in their aim to Islamise society and by Islamists who aim to Islamise the state. The interrelation between Muslim civil society and the state in the history of Islamic philanthropy in Indonesia is dynamic. It demonstrates a contested balance between private faith and the public realm, or between Muslim civil society and the state. From the time of the Islamic monarchs, through the period of Dutch colonialism and up to contemporary Indonesia, there have been different levels of development and interest in Islamic philanthropy, either from the rulers or from Muslim civil society. Philanthropy is an indication of the strength of civil society. Throughout Islamic Indonesian history, there has been a balance between the efforts to either keep philanthropy under the control of Muslims or to institutionalise it under state control. When the state was weak, philanthropy developed powerfully and was used to challenge the state. When the state was strong and powerful, Muslim civil society tended to weaken but still found ways to use philanthropic practices in the public sphere to promote social change. In modern-day Indonesia this phenomenon is very much still the practice. While state imposition of philanthropic practices, in particular zakat, has been contested, philanthropy remains a firm basis of civility. The thesis argues that although political circumstances influence the development of Islamic philanthropy, the state‘s capacity to control it is sharply limited because Muslim philanthropic practice is generated by the altruistic and reciprocal nature of people. For the most part, Islamic philanthropy remains in the hands of Muslim civil society, irrespective of the political nature of the state.