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COMMENTARY: Jakarta election and the rise of hip Muslim voters
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Do it our way: Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (right) and Sylviana Murni give the thumbs up while registering as gubernatorial and vice gubernatorial candidates at the Jakarta General Elections Commission on Friday. The photo below shows Anies Baswedan (left) clasping hands with his running mate Sandiaga Uno. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
L
ife has been particularly hard lately for Yusril Ihza Mahendra, leader of the Crescent Star Party (PBB), one of the last vestiges of Indonesia’s Islamist politics that reached its heyday during the Sukarno era.
After months of engaging in absurd theatrics that included sporting a Mickey Mouse T-shirt while shopping at a wet market in West Jakarta and the intensive lobbying of leaders of secular political parties, the former law and human rights minister just had to accept the fact that the current political mood —driven mainly by talkative, demanding, judgmental millennials with their smartphones — does not favor his political bid in the capital.
Yusril had worked hard. He was only days away from clinching a nomination when Anies Baswedan, a Muslim scholar who had no formal affiliations with any political party, suddenly showed up and snatched his only chance to become a Jakarta governor.
Neither the Cikeas Coalition, led by former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, nor the Kertanegara Coalition, led by former general Prabowo Subianto, thought Yusril had a good chance to win the race against the incumbent: Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama.
Yusril’s failure to join the gubernatorial race symbolizes the post-Islamist turn of Indonesian Muslims, particularly in Jakarta.
In recent years, the country has witnessed the emergence of what author Ariel Heryanto calls post-Islamism in his book, Identity and Pleasure: The Politics of Indonesian Screen Culture. The term, coined by Iranian sociologist Asef Bayat, has several meanings, but it generally refers to a departure from Islamism, a political ideology that aims to create a formal Islamic state.
There is no doubt Indonesians have become more religious, but that does not necessarily mean they are supporting Islamist agendas. Islamists and post-Islamists have totally different attitudes toward many issues, be they religious or secular. For Islamists, for example, the hijab is a political statement (imagine the female Islamic activists, the akhwats, at universities in the late 1980s). For post-Islamists, the hijab is a fashion statement (imagine performers Zaskia Adya Mecca and Dewi Sandra).
The former denounce cinemas as symbols of “Western decadence”; the latter support production of Islamic-themed films so they can go to cinemas without having to compromise their faith. Post-Islamists represent a new generation of Muslims, young and affluent, who can easily blend Islamic values and popular culture. In short, they are “cool” Muslims.
How Islamic, or cool, are they? In his study, Heryanto made it clear that — just like Islamism and the term “cool” itself — post-Islamism is not monolithic. Some post-Islamists are more liberal/conservative and hipper/lamer than others.
Hijab-wearing Muslim college girls can listen to Swedish R&B singer Maher Zein and local band Wali, or they can scorn Wali as alay (uncool) and choose to post filtered photos of themselves in a Kings and Convenience concert on Instagram.
I argue that post-Islamists could make up the majority of voters in Jakarta and the three candidates in the race will be competing for their votes.
Amalia Ayuningtyas, founder of Teman Ahok, who wears a hijab to show her identity as a Muslim, represents the city’s post-Islamists who see Ahok as the right person to lead the capital regardless of his race and religion.
A July survey by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) showed that many Jakartans do not care about race and religion in choosing a leader, which explains why Ahok could top many political surveys in terms of electability.
The LSI survey, however, does not necessarily mean Jakartans are not racist or will not look into a candidate’s race and religion. It is possible that the people interviewed in the survey just did not want to come off as racist or sectarian, so they claimed race and religion did not matter in elections.
Post-Islamists are too urban, too hip and too educated to be lumped together with members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) and their ilk.
The other explanation for it would be the fact that a few months ago Ahok was the only candidate to have what it takes to lead Jakarta. Other than Yusril, Ahok’s initial rivals included gaffe-prone songwriter Ahmad Dhani and United Development Party (PPP) politician Lulung Lunggana, who are basically the embarrassing uncles of anyone who hates Ahok.
But the game changed with the nomination of Anies, the poster boy of Indonesia’s post-Islamist culture and politics. Unlike Agus Harimurti, who seems to have no idea whatsoever about what he is doing after having been nominated as gubernatorial candidate at the 11th hour by his own father, Anies, a renowned scholar and former education minister, offers what Yusril, Dhani and Lulung could not give: the type of Islam that does not make you look medieval.
Anies, therefore, could be a formidable rival for Ahok. Jakarta’s Muslim voters may not be racist and sectarian, as the LSI survey claimed, but if they have to choose between Anies and Ahok, regardless of the candidates’ programs and leadership skills, they would likely be more comfortable with the former.
That said, despite all the noises made by anti-fun Islamists and their snotty liberal foes, the Ayat-ayat Cinta (Verses of Love) generation, with their stylish hijab and cool blogs, may have the final say in this election.
