Beyond faith and identity: mobilizing Islamic youth in a democratic Indonesia

Abstract

There is a prevailing assumption amongst scholars and observers of Indonesian politics that there is a close link between religious identity and political identity. How valid is this socio-cultural identity model in explaining the party affiliation and political allegiance of increasingly pious Muslim youth to a political organization in the context of democratic consolidation? In particular, how valid is this assumption with consideration to contemporary Indonesian politics? This article engages this debate through a careful analysis of the member recruitment and mobilization of the most successful religious-based Islamist organization in post-authoritarian Indonesia, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). The article combines two strands of social movement theory, resource mobilization and opportunity structures, to argue that the PKS's relative success in recruiting committed Muslim youth is explained by two interrelated factors: (1) merit-based cadre recruitment and promotion, which offers young, ambitious and religiously conscious Muslim youth fair and institutionalized political career opportunities and thus incentives to commit themselves to the party's collective interests; and (2) the timing of organizational expansion that coincided with a rapid increase of state office – both executive and legislative – at the sub-national levels as a result of localized democratic elections.

Keywords:

• political Islam
• democratization
• Indonesia
• religion and politics, PKS
• religious parties
• social movement

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Eva Bellin, Bill Liddle and other participants of the panel for their first-rate comments and Peni Hanggarini for her kind assistance in the final stage of revision. John T. Sidel, Dirk Tomsa and reviewers for The Pacific Review also provided valuable feedback. All errors and shortcomings are my own.

Kikue Hamayotsu is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Northern Illinois University. The original version of this article was first presented at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting in Toronto, 3–9 September 2009.

Notes

1. The author is grateful to Yon Machmudi, himself an early nominee as the mayoral candidate of Depok, West Java, for his inside information about the selection process (Depok, 25 June 2009).

2. Author observation at the PKS National Congress, Makassar, South Sulawesi, 21–23 July 2008.

3. Author attendance at the congress, Makassar, South Sulawesi, 21–23 July 2008.

4. Hidayat unsuccessfully ran for the 2009 elections from Golkar, while Rais led the formation of the PMB.

5. Najib hails from the Muhammadiyah family and is associated with the HMI.