islam, politics and change

26 islam, politics and change

the pkb and the socio-religious organisation it is close to, the Nahdlatul

Ulama.

The contributions by both Permata and Zuhri show how diverse
membership can be. Members of Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama
and other Islamic organisations have joined the pks, while pks and Jemaah

Tarbiyah activists are among the members of the Nahdlatul Ulama and

Muhammadiyah. This has given rise to the accusation of ‘infiltration’ of

Islamists in Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama. There may indeed
have been real cases of infiltration, but in other instances, probably more
numerous, using that word conceals the point that fundamentalist Islamic

ideas advocated by the pks are also supported in Nahdlatul Ulama and

Muhammadiyah circles. Under such circumstances, the pks’ missionary

zeal has met with fierce competition over control of social and religious

institutions. Zuhri concentrates on one of these cases, reconstructing how
the pks took over a ‘Muhammadiyah’ mosque in Central Java and the
‘war’ that was the result. Other cases, also touched upon by Zuhri, involve

rivalries over the control of boards of branches of Nahdlatul Ulama and

Muhammadiyah and secular and religious schools and universities.

While Permata’s report can serve as an example of the internal
dynamics of Islamic organisations, Zuhri’s analysis provides an insight
into competition as a result of Islamisation efforts within the Islamic
community, which is also played out elsewhere in Indonesia. Their
contributions are complementary. While Permata concentrates on the
pks as a political party, Zuhri focuses on its religious work among Muslims
and the central role the mosque plays in the religious propaganda and
political mobilisation of the pks. Zuhri describes the growing concern
of Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama over the rising influence
of Islamists in their community and the competition over religious
institutions, forcing them in 2006 and 2007 to take measures to turn the
tide of such ‘infiltration and sabotage’. Warnings against the points of

view of Middle Eastern Islamists have also become more frequent.

Islamic political parties and socio-religious organisations are prime

actors in the embedding of religion in national and regional legislation

and in society. They can act both as a motor and as a brake. There have

been frequent appeals to Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama, being

the largest socio-religious organisations in Indonesia, to speak out in
favour of religious tolerance, and to combat the spread of terrorism in
the country. A litmus test of religious tolerance is the attitude towards
Ahmadis and Shiʾites and the reaction to their harassment. That is why this
section concludes with an analysis by Bastiaan Scherpen on the response
of the Islamic political parties and the socio-religious organisations
associated with them to the mob violence targeted against Ahmadiyah