Was President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo promoting secularism when he called on the people not to mix religion and politics?

The President’s statement, made during his visit to Barus in Central Tapanuli to officiate the Islam Nusantara Monument last week, left political leaders, Muslim clerics and academics wondering what exactly the President was trying to say and what motivated him to say it.

The ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), of which the President is a member, said Jokowi was not trying to turn Indonesia into a secular state, nor was he promoting the types of secularism implemented in Western countries.

The President’s statements, PDI-P executive Hendrawan Supratikno said, were in line with the PDI-P’s political platform, which is to separate what is religious and what is political. “In politics, anything can be done to achieve goals, while religion is divine and that is why the PDI-P tries to not mix political values with religious values,” Hendrawan told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Hendrawan said the PDI-P campaigns for clean politics by encouraging its members not to use religion to achieve their goals. “Indonesia is not a religious country, but it respects faith in God. Regarding religious matters, you have to pick leaders who have the same faith as you, but that is not the case when choosing political leaders,” Hendrawan said.

Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Syaifuddin previously said Jokowi was only trying to remind people not to mix “bad from politics and good from religion.”

(Read also: Jokowi accused of promoting secularism)

The minister added that the President was well aware of the importance of religion for Indonesian people in everyday life, adding that Jokowi believed that religious diversity could be used to unite people in the country.

When asked to clarify Jokowi’s statements, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said: “Just ask the President directly.”

Peoples Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Zulkifli Hasan said Jokowi’s argument should not be taken out of context, suggesting that the President might have been referring to the political tensions ahead of the second round of Jakarta elections. “Religions teach noble values. However, when people slander each other in the name of religion, that is the politicization of religion. That is not allowed,” Zulkifli, who chairs the Muslim-based National Mandate Party (PAN), said.

University of Melbourne sociologist Vedi R. Hadiz said politics and religion could not be completely separated in Indonesia, arguing that Jokowi apparently made the statement out of concern about the rising sectarianism in the Jakarta election.

“The statement reflects his concern about the strategy used by Anies Baswedan that seems to be trying to use religious sentiment to win the regional election,” he said.

He added that politicians were trying to exploit growing Islamic populism to achieve political goals by appearing more “Muslim” than others.

Dicky Sofjan from the Yogyakarta-based Indonesia Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS) at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) concurred with Vedi, saying that the President was not calling for secularism.

“I think Jokowi just wanted to avoid explicitly saying, ‘politicization of religion’ because that could offend many parties,” Dicky said.

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