internal dynamics of the prosperous justice party and jamaah tarbiyah 41
histories and legacies of Islam-based political activism in Indonesia,
and the institutional frameworks provided by the dynamics of political
competition. This will show how the jt is uniquely Indonesian in
character and needs to be assessed in its own context.
Among its unique characteristics, the jt never publicly declared itself
to be a branch of the Egyptian Muslim Brothers and it never disclosed
its mechanism of relationships with its Egyptian headquarters. This has
resulted in different interpretations among observers, as well as among its
members. It is unlike other transnational Islam-based organisations such
as Hizbut Tahrir, Ahmadiyah, or Jamaah Tabligh, which publicly declare
their status and, consequently, the people who join the organisations
know that they are part of international networks and under the auspices
of their headquarters overseas. Although among jt’s top leadership it is
clear that their organisation is a local branch of the Egyptian Muslim
Brothers and it is bound by their statute, this is not so clear for jt activists
and members lower down the hierarchy. Many perceive the jt to be a
domestic Islamist organisation, or an organisation only inspired by the
Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
2.1 Chronological Events
The history of the jt started when four graduates – Hilmy Aminuddin,
Salim Segaf al-Jufri, Abdullah Baharmus, Encep Abdusyukur – returned
from studying in the Middle East and founded an organisation dedicated
to Islamic propagation (dakwah) by adopting the model of the Egyptian
Muslim Brothers’ organisation, including its organisational structure,
recruitment and training. They utilised cell-like groupings, in which one
mentor recruits, trains, and supervises five to ten members, and the cell
members only know each other; they do not know members of other
cells.²⁶
Initially, under the leadership of Salim Segaf, the jt recruited only
select members. They targeted those who were fluent in Arabic and
knowledgeable in Islamic studies, and therefore they remained a limited
and a small group. Later, when Salim Segaf went to continue his studies
in Saudi Arabia, the leadership of the organisation was handed over to
Some speculate that mb founder Hassan al-Banna adopted the organisational
structure of Mussolini’s facist army: see Francis Fukuyama and Nadav Samin,
‘Can Any Good Come of Radical Islam?’,Commentary Magazine, September
- Others say it refers to the Sufi tradition of which al-Banna had been a
member. See Ibrahim M. Abu Rabi,Intellectual Origins of Islamic Resurgence in
the Modern Arab World(Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996), 67.