Organizational Behavior: Attitudes, Ethics, and Employee Motivation

Role of Islam in Politics of Indonesia and Malaysia

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A. Introduction

In South East Asia, there is an increasing political influence of Islam. The fall of the Soviet Union and the bloc of Communists led to the decline of communism as a political force in this region (Amir, 2003). After the fall of communism, we are faced with a situation where religious and ethnic concerns are gaining a renewed significance in dictating the political destination of the region. The ethnic differences in South East Asia have been made worse by the religious divisions related to Islam. There are religiously oriented groups that are taking part in extreme and violent activities which have great potential to create long-term threat to the regions' stability. The Sunni Islam has flourished into an established religion in many countries where Indonesia and Malaysia is included (Amir, 2003). The growth of this religion has continued ever since the first Muslim traders from the Arab world came to the shores of South East Asia in the seventeenth century.

There was a resurgence of Islam in the early 1980s all over the world and the elements of radicalism in Islam have moved to the political Asia from what has been seen in the Middle East (Anwar, 2012).There is a need to ensure that the Islamic political radicalism in South East Asia is checked to prevent a case of aggravated political crisis in a region that has recently been faced with a higher economic crisis. The future of emerging Islamic influence in politics of the region will depend on how the current leadership in the region will react to the emergence of the situation.

It is important to note that South East Asia has Indonesia which is considered the most populous Muslim country in the globe. Here we look at the situation as it currently is in Malaysia and Indonesia since Islam is a dominant religion in these countries.

B. Malaysia

Malaysia is a country that cannot be described in a single statement, it is considered as authoritarian and democratic, it is Islamic as well as Asian, tenuous as well as stable. The population of the country is up to 60% Muslim yet Islam is one factor that has a political impact on the country (Anwar, 2012).

i. Background of the Muslim Connection in Malaysia

Researchers believe that the religion first came into the country when Muslim Arabs came into the Islands of Southeast Asia around the period in the 8th century. Around the 14th century, it is believed that Islam came to the port of Malacca which is on the West Coast of Malay Peninsula by the Tamil Traders. The Sunni Muslims were greatly influenced by the Sufi mysticism which did combine with the Malay beliefs as well as custom. This did allow for the evolution of the unique form of Islam that is in Malaysia today (Mark, 2010).

After it was introduced, Islam did grow, and it was engrained in the dominion of Malacca in 1445 when there was a coup that led to the installation of a Muslim ruler and the creation of the Malacca Sultanate. It was the Sultanate that acted as a basis for the development of Islam in the political aspect of the Malaysia when the Sultanate asked for peaceful and rapid conversion of the subjects to as well as the royal families into Islam.

There is a great connection between Malay identity and Islam, which did start at the period when bumiputras did believe that they had the right to be given certain privileges above the Chinese and the Indians (Anwar, 2012). This is when the Malay nationalism did arise which is greatly tied to the beginning of the Muslim political influence in Malaysia. It is Muslim and Bahasa Malayu which is the main language in Malay that have been known to make up the main components of Malay identity.

a. The role of Malay Nationalist Movement

This is a movement that indeed ensured that it had moved the Islamic issues to a point where they were central to the political life of Malaysia in 1946. The movement was able to come up with a political force that was very powerful and up to date is seen to be one critical player in the current Malaysian politics.

b. The effect of United Malays National Organization (UMNO)

The British did put its support behind the Malay Union, which was being fought by the Malay elite who led the UMNO. The Sultans and the British in 1948 created the Federation of Malaya with a constitution which did protect the special rights of the Malays (Fachry & Bahtiar, 2010). There was a temporary alliance that was formed in 1952 despite the fact that there were ethnic tensions. The alliance was formed by UMNO and the Malayan Chinese Association. This was seen as a victory going the way of both parties.

The UMNO was also significant when it came to the establishment of Islam as the official religion of the state; it was seen by UMNO as a means through which the constitution would be given the external features that are related to an Islamic State.

ii. After Independence Political Practice in Malaysia

The country got its independence from the British in 1957 and ever since it has adhered to the provisions of the Constitution and has always carried out national and state elections. Practically it can be said that the Malay-Muslim UMNO has managed to gain the highest support regarding votes gathered during each and every federal election that has been conducted in the country (Mark, 2010).

Even though it is understood that the Muslim-led parties have the majority numbers that would help them in terms of amendment of the constitution, it is worth noting that this has not taken place due to the fact that Malaysia is not a country that is being run in a Muslim vacuum, there are other special factors that are considered. The power of the BN and UMNO in the country is being checked through important religious and ethnic groups as well as the interests that are being harbored in BN (Anwar, 2012).

a. The Islamic Symbols

In Malaysia, it can be said that the Islamic issues and symbol have a great role in politics, yet they are highly subordinate and are only linked with the greater role of politics in the society of Malays that is quite pluralistic (Fachry & Bahtiar, 2010). The reason as to why UMNO has been able to be a successful force in Malaysia is because it has been able to take into consideration the ethnic considerations while it continues to pursue a consociational form of democracy.

b. The failure of Parti Islam Se-Malaysia

This is seen as the principle rival to UMNO when it comes to the Muslim population in Malaysia. It has not been able to push for a greater challenge on UMNO due to the fact that it has not been able to cater for the practical demands that are usually put together by a society that is pluralistic in nature. PAS is seen as political movement that is keen in ensuring that the country goes back to the Sunna and rejects the democratic political models of the west. PAS was created in 1951, and it was against the fact that UMNO had a soft spot for secular stance; it wanted to elevate Islam to the symbolic status under the constitution.

iii. Summary in Malaysia

Islam has served as both a mobilizing and polarizing factor in the politics of Malaysia from the period of Malacca Sultanate, to the period under the British rule and in the current political system. There has been a tag of war between the two key Muslim parties in Malaysia, the UMNO and the PAS in their attempt to get dominance of the Malay politics while at the same time preventing a situation where the non-Muslim are alienated through infringement into their rights.

The pluralistic nature of the Malaysian society has made it difficult for the political parties that are affiliated to the Islamic belief to come up with a clear symbolic act of Islam. There is a blend of both the substantive acts and symbolic acts even though the symbolic act in most cases does outnumber the symbolic act. There is a deep concern among the political class of the importance of ensuring that they maintain a Muslim political statement without infringing on the political rights of the non-Muslim (Anwar, 2012).

C. Indonesia

Indonesia is the worlds’ third most populous nation, and it is considered to be the world's biggest population of Muslims (Fachry & Bahtiar, 2010). The Indonesian history is built through Islam as one of the biggest threat that has ever made it up. In the same wave, it is understood that the Islamic history in Indonesia makes up one of the most obscure parts of their history.

1. Historical Background of Islam in Indonesia

Historically, it is stated that the most reliable evidence of Indonesian converts to Muslim is found in the Northern parts of Sumatra. This is the second largest island in Indonesia. Marco Polo in 1292 arrived in Sumatra while moving to China, and he was able to find that Perlak was a Muslim town yet the neighboring towns of Pasai and Sumadra were not. The first Sultan of Samudra was sultan Malik whose grave is dated back to 1297.

The spread of Islam among the Indonesians has been described as being a contagious disease since it happened simply because it was Islam. The reason as to why Islam was able to be successful was due to its ability to adapt and change as per the local customs of the people. The growth of Muslim was quick since then and today, it is understood that up to 90% of the 190 million inhabitants are Sunni.

2. The Suharto Regime (1968-1998)

Even though 90% of the Indonesian population is sunni, the politicization of this people under the Islamic banner was heavily discouraged especially under the famous Suharto regime. The Pancasila, which is the official state ideology, has always taken the precedence over the Islamic thought. Pancasila is an ideology that was developed under the belief in unity, belief in a single God and making decisions through consensus.

The ideology of Pancasila has been known to have been the main force behind holding the different ethnic Indonesian groups together. Islam as a religion has only been used as a means through which people carry out mass mobilization. This has been seen as a great threat to the security of the country. It has to consider that when Pancasila was to be adopted as the only ideology, there was great outburst among several Muslim, and several demonstrations took place (Taufik, 2011).

3. The Indonesian Election of 1999; Suharto’s successor

When Habibie did oversee the general elections in 1999, there were approximately more than ten parties with Islamic affiliation that did take part in the competition. This is a situation which could not have taken place a year before when Suharto was in power, and the Pancasila was the main ideology (Murphy, 2002).It was during this time that Partai Persatuan Pembangunan (PPP) was turned into an Islamic outfit, and its flag was changed to make room for Ka’bah, the party principle did change to Islam from the initial Pancasila.

The new agenda by the new party was to redistribute wealth from the ethnic Chinese to the Muslim and also to carry out a strict form of religious incorporation.

a. Amien Rais versus Abdurrahman Wahid

In the mainstream Muslim, there was a huge battle for the majority; the battle was carried out between the modernist and the traditional streams. Wahid and Rais were the main party leaders during this period and they had different and divergent approaches regarding the role of Islam in politics (Fachry & Bahtiar, 2010). Wahid did have a secular understanding due to his background of studies in Cairon and Baghdad. He was committed to pluralism in Indonesia rather than having an Islamic state.

4. The New Indonesian Government

It can be said that the Indonesian government has reaffirmed the need for a tolerant as well as an inclusive form of governance (McAmis, 2002). There has been a certain sense of fracture of unity in Indonesia due to the radical stance that has been taken by some of the leaders that came after Suharto. Wahid did have a single goal which was to ensure that there is a country with political as well as ethnic diversity.

Wahid did continue to act as a force that is concerned with mutual respect and moderation among the various political groups in Indonesia. Through his leadership, he was able to demonstrate the need for high level of reconciliation as well as tolerance in the political spectrum (Murphy, 2002). There has been a call for respectful dealing with the traditional Chinese community and in 2000, there was an apology and a visit to East Timorese in order to ensure Unity.

5. The current situation

There have been questions as to whether a political form of Islam is coming up in Indonesia. In 2014, the parliamentary elections were won by Muslim parties in a percentage that is highly alarming; 30%. There is a belief that the Islamic element in political power could be changing years after Sukarto and Sukarno had curtailed such efforts (Taufik, 2011). The fact that more Islamic political parties are coming up should not be taken lightly. Even though the current president Joko Widodo has been seen as a nationalist candidate, there are cases in the future when the political landscape will be shaped through political tendencies that are Islamic and intolerant to any form of democracy (McAmis, 2002).

D. Conclusion

In South East Asia, Islam has been seen as a moderating as well as a constructive force in politics. There are millions of Muslims in this region, and therefore, there have been continued efforts to ensure that there is nothing that will turn Islam into a violent and radical force that it has become in most parts of the Middle East (Osman, 2010). In any case, this will be the direction taken; it will be extremely dangerous for the country. There are laid back and tolerant Muslims in South East Asia who have refused to be drawn into the radical and intolerant tendencies that have for long killed the democratic process in most parts of Middle East.

Even though Muslim is growing as a religion in this region, there are still great elements of hopes and optimism when it comes to a constructive and peaceful accommodation between modernism and Islam. In Indonesia, even after the end of Sakarto and Sukarno rule, they have demonstrated that they are capable of electing leaders who are moderate, inclusive and pluralists in the form of Abdurrahman Wahid and more recently Joko Widodo (Pigeaud, 2005).

The above forms of democratic elections have indicated that the Islamic world can exist well with the current modern set up in the democratic organizations (Reid, 2012). In Malaysia, nothing has changed between the two main Islamic parties in the form of PAS and UMNO. They understand that it is important to have a country that is highly tolerant to the different groups that live in it and not to curtail the democratic rights of others through religious belief.

References

Amir, Z. (2003). Peta Islam Politik Pasca-Soeharto. Jakarta: LP3S,

Anwar, S. (2012). Pemikiran dan Aksi Islam Indonesia: Sebuah Kajian Tentang Cendekiawan Muslim Masa Order Baru. Jakarta: Penerbit Paramadina, 2012.

Fachry, A & Bahtiar E. (2010). Pathfinding a New Path of Islam: Reconstruction of Indonesian Islamic Thoughts within the New Order Epoch . Jakarta:Puslitbang KementrianAgama RI, 2010.

Mark, R. (2010). Toward a New Paradigm: Recent Developments in Indonesian Islamic Thought. Arizona: Arizona State University

Murphy, D. (2002). A Fight for the Hearts and Minds of Malaysia, Christian Science Monitor, October 30, 2002,  http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1030/p08s01‐wosc.htm.  Central Intelligence Agency, “Malaysia,” The World Factbook, 2004, http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/my.html.  

McAmis, R.D (2002). Malay Muslims: The History and the Challenges of Resurgence Islam in Southeast Asia (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 10‐16.  

Osman, T. (2010). Islamization of the Malays: A Transformation of Culture,” in Readings on Islam in Southeast Asia

Pigeaud, T. (2005). Java in the 14th Century: A Study in Cultural History (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff)

Reid, A. (2012). Southeast Asia in the Early Modern Era: Trade, Power, and Belief (Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press)

Taufik, A. (2011). The Formation of a New Paradigm: a Sketch on Contemporary IslamicDiscourse," in