Page 42 - AEI Insights 2019 - Vol. 5, Issue 1

AEI Insights, Vol 5, Issue 1, 2019

maintained that Islam had become corrupted through its historical accretions from foreign
influences”.
On the same token, Azim A. Nanji (1996) defined Islamic revivalism as a situation which has
been “characterized by consciousness that Muslims had strayed from the essential principles
of their religion, and it advocated renewed attentiveness to the Qur’an, emulation of the Prophet
in daily conduct, and strict adherence to the Shari’ah” (Azim A. Nanji, 1996, p. 35). This paper
attempts to analyse Islamic revivalism in Indonesia. It argues that Islamic revivalism in
Indonesia is a continuous process of Islamisation. This is reflected in the increasing piousness
of Muslims. Finally, it draws on the nature and causes of the Islamic revivalism since its rupture
in the 1970s.

Islamic Revivalism in Indonesia

Despite Indonesia being the largest Muslim-populated nation in the world, Islam in Indonesian
politics, especially during the era of the Old Order (Sukarno era) and the early reign of Suharto,
was considered an outsider. Being politically and economically restricted, Muslims reacted
differently to the new developments of the New Order era (Hassan, 1982). Firstly, there were
many young Muslims who joined the government as civil servants, from the university-based
Islamic Student Association (HMI- Himpunan Mahasiswa Islam) and high school-based
Indonesian Islamic Students (PII- Pelajar Islam Indonesia) association. These young Muslims
were willing to cooperate with the New Order regime and work for change from within the
system (Hefner, 1997b, p. 80). This was due to the collaboration between young Muslim
students’ association and the military in combating the Communists upon the rise of the New
Order era.
Secondly, there were also modernist Muslims included amongst the senior members of the
Council of Indonesian Muslim Associations (Masyumi-Partai Majelis Syuro Muslimin
Indonesia), which constituted the ‘legalistic-formalistic’ Muslim groups, who had been
sceptical of the government’s commitments to Western-oriented principles of constitutional
government and separation of powers (Hefner, 1997b, p. 81). This group was committed to
Islamist political ideals. As a matter of fact, after the defeat of political Islam, the senior
supporters of Masyumi were called to concentrate their effort on dakwah to pave the way to
revive the people’s mental and spiritual development. This led to the establishment of the
Dewan Dakwah Islam Indonesia (DDII) under the leadership of the former leader of Masyumi,
M. Natsir, in 1967 (Hefner, 2000). In fact, there were several dakwah organisations that sought
to revive the people’s awareness about Islam such as Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Muhammadiyah,
Islamic Union (Persis- Persatuan Islam) and many others that preceded the DDII (Federspiel,
1970).

Despite the fact that the DDII was newly-established, Indonesian Muslims felt its influences
and missionary effects. Unlike other dakwah organisations, the DDII has been attributed with
two significant characteristics. First, it has a belief in the superiority of democracy over the
neo-patrimonial forms of rule adopted by the first two presidents, Sukarno and Suharto, and an
almost paranoid obsession with Christian missionary effort as being a threat to Islam. Second,
it has been very strongly-orientated towards the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia
(Bruinessen, 2002, p. 123). As such, the DDII has been viewed as not purely spiritual but also
political in its struggle (Crouch, 1978, pp. 167-171). According to Samson, as highlighted by
Hefner, DDII leaders felt that the movement could bring about the cultural change required to
restore political Islam to its proper place (Hefner, 1997b; Samson, 1973). The DDII was
established five years after the establishment of the Islamic World League (Rabitah al-‘Alam

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