Asia Institute - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 7 of 7
-
ItemForeign policy legitimacy and moderate Islamic identity in Indonesia: the Megawati government’s response to the International War on Terrorism (2001-2004)( 2017)Since 2001, the government of Indonesia had made frequent reference to moderate Islam as a part of the country’s international identity. Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Deplu) underscored in its various official statements that the country is the home to moderate Muslims and hailed its moderation as a true face of the Islamic tradition of tolerance and peace. The reference to moderate Islamic identity raises an empirical puzzle given the non-Islamic identity of Indonesia. Deplu had always represented the country’s pluralism in terms of religion, culture, and ethnicity as the essential characters of Indonesia. Moreover, this national identity had been frequently referred to as the reason why foreign policy elites had never included Islam into the state symbols abroad. This study, therefore, asks why did the government construct moderate Islamic identity in its foreign policy discourse and practice? This dissertation traces the processes leading to the construction of moderate Islamic identity in the foreign policy official statements during Megawati’s terms (2001-2004). It argues that that the government’s views of its “foreign policy legitimacy” shape the construction of this identity. More specifically, in response to challenges by domestic Muslim groups, the U.S., and its allies to its foreign policy decisions with regards to international war on terrorism, the government constructed moderate Islamic identity as a frame for the legitimacy of its foreign policy values (“foreign policy value legitimacy”); of its foreign policy decision or practice as seen by domestic actors (“domestic foreign policy legitimacy); and as perceived by external actors (“external foreign policy legitimacy”). The exploration of leaders’ views of their foreign policy legitimacy helps to explain the government’s reference to Islam as an identity in the context of identity dilemma. It contributes to the literature of Islam in Indonesia’s foreign policy by advancing the understanding that Islam, as a fluid and contested identity and values, could become both constraints and opportunities for foreign policy leaders to act.
-
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.
-
ItemOut of the shadows: female puppeteers and the changing tradition of Javanese shadow theatre( 2016)This project investigates the female puppeteer (dalang) phenomenon within Javanese shadow theatre practice (wayang kulit) – primarily focusing on the Sukarno era (1945 – 1965), New Order era (1966 – 1998), and reformasi (1999 – 2001)/post-reformasi (2002 – present) era – and serves as an introduction to the female dalang experience. As a common belief held among members of the Javanese community, women dalang are frequently deemed as inferior guardians of wayang’s esoteric knowledge relative to their male counterparts – perceived as simply novelties of the shadow theatre stage. Further emphasising their marginal status, female dalang are also faced with severe limitations within ritually significant, exorcistic performances (i.e. ruwatan) due to local notions of gendered power. Rather than being acknowledged as “true dalang,” women are typically labelled as ineffective conduits to the non-corporeal realm, understood to possess very little potential to accumulate the requisite “spiritual potency” within a ritual context. As a result of these deleterious attitudes towards the female dalang community, as well as their relatively low numbers, these women have often been relegated to the periphery of academic inquiry. Contrary to popular belief, however, this thesis reveals both the challenges and advantages of the female dalang experience, presenting them as legitimate and “true dalang” of power and authority. This account of the female dalang community will be firmly situated both within the history and the contemporary social setting of wayang practice and discourse. Employing methods of structured/semi-structured interviews, participant-observation, discourse analysis and demographic studies, this project uncovers how cultural and societal shifts have affected change within the shadow theatre practice, how these changes reflect upon the evolution of gender roles and hierarchies, and how measuring these changes may allow us to project future trends of the female dalang phenomenon and the shadow theatre tradition in general. The project also sheds light more broadly on the status of women in contemporary Javanese society.
-
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?
-
ItemContextualising political Islam in Malaysia and Indonesia( 2013)This thesis presents a study of how political Islam has affected the socio-political space in Malaysia and Indonesia with a focus on the reformasi era and thereafter. Islam has been an integral part of the social, cultural and political landscape of the Southeast Asian region, especially in Muslim majority countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. The aftermath of September 11, 2001, has strengthened Islamic identity and consciousness in this region. The rise of radical Islamic groups in both Malaysia and Indonesia, together with a series of terrorist attacks in Indonesia, has continued to draw attention to the rise of Islamism in this region. This has highlighted the predicament of reconciling revivalist Islam with simultaneous democratic reforms in Malaysia and Indonesia. This thesis argues that Islamisation is having a negative impact on democracy in both Malaysia and Indonesia, especially since the 1990s. The thesis demonstrates how and to what extent Islam has been appropriated by political parties in response to democratic reforms sparked by the reformasi movement. It looks at some of the issues at the heart of the debate between Islam and democracy, such as the increasing use and implementation of the shari’a law; the responses towards religious pluralism and diversity, as well as how the mostly secularist-nationalist government is dealing with radical Islamic groups. In general, this thesis argues that this ‘state-based’ push towards political Islam in Malaysia has been much more detrimental compared to the ‘civil society based’ Islamisation efforts found in Indonesia. Malaysia has embraced political Islam much more fervently than Indonesia. The emergence of a less tolerant strain of Islam can be found in both countries and it has affected the more pluralistic silent majority. This transformation has a significant, yet, at times, having a negative impact democracy and democratic reforms in the country. Considering the immense effect of the reformasi movement, in which the direction and influence of Islam changed markedly from previous years, there is an urgent need to update and revise our understanding of Islam in this region since the reformasi era. The reformasi period in the late 1990s brought significant new developments in both Malaysia and Indonesia. The current political framework has created the conditions under which Islamists have pursued their agenda for social and political transformation. This thesis will seek to make sense of these developments and place them into a cohesive framework of academic analysis. I will then show how political Islam has affected the socio-political space since reformasi in these two countries, identifying parallels and divergences between political Islam in Malaysia and in Indonesia through a comparative analysis.
-
ItemLiberal Islam in Indonesia - from revelation to reason and freedom: the Mu'tazilites, Harun Nasution and the Liberal Islam Network( 2010)This thesis examines how reason and freedom have been expressed in Islam through a study of the Mu'tazilite movement in 8th century Persia, the Indonesian Islamic scholar and educator Harun Nasution and the Liberal Islam Network formed in Indonesia in 2001.
-
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.