Piety and Politics

KOMPAS/LASTI KURNIA

Azyumardi Azra

What is the relationship between piety and politics? Despite the lack of strict rules regarding the relationship of the two in Indonesia’s legal and political orders, the issue of religious piety often emerges in political contests. This is especially so in the contention between presidential candidates Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Prabowo Subianto, ahead of the election on April 17. Uniquely, VP candidates Ma’ruf Amin and Sandiaga Uno are relatively shielded from the scrutiny.

In this context, we commonly find open discussions, sometimes sprinkled with hoaxes, on the “religious piety” of either of the presidential candidates: whether or not they join Friday prayers and, if yes, where; how they do ablution before prayers, whether or not it is in line with the fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence); whether or not they can lead others in prayers and recite the required phrases in these prayers; and whether or not they can read the Qur’an properly.

General Elections Commission (KPU) Regulation No. 22/2019 on presidential election candidacy includes “religious piety and belief in the one God” in the list of 24 requirements for presidential and VP candidates. This stipulation means that the candidates are required to adhere to a certain religion and that atheists will never have any chance to be president. Furthermore, being a religious adherent alone will not be enough. Candidates will have to be pious.

The problem is that there is no exact measurement of piety in the context of Indonesian nationalism and citizenship with the country’s religious diversity. We can assume that, on the basis of religious diversity, the definition and measurement of piety in Islam (or takwa, derived from the Arabic term taqwa) will differ in certain aspects from how other official religions (Christianity, Catholicism, Hindu, Buddhism and Confucianism) defines and measures it.

The use of the term takwa and its plethora of derivatives (such as bertakwa or ketakwaan, meaning pious” and piety respectively) is an inevitable consequence of Indonesia’s demographic reality. The fact that a majority of Indonesians are Muslims leads to the adoption of many Arabic concepts, nomenclatures and terms, many of which are also Islamic.

Regardless of demographic semantics, in international academic discourses, kesalehan or ketakwaan is often translated as “piety”. Therefore, studies and discourses on the relationship between religious “piety” and politics often falls under “piety and politics” or “religio-political piety”, which carries different connotations.

However, once again, experts may have different parameters in measuring levels of piety in Islamic politics or among Muslim politicians. Such differences in measurement and assessment are common among Muslims of different political orientation or affiliation, both among clerics and laypeople.

Piety parameters become even more complicated because of differences in religious understandings and practices between politicians and religious adherents. Different political interests lead to different political alliances and different parameters.

However, academically, to borrow the framework of certain scholars, such as Jamal Amaney and Mark Tessler, piety is defined as personal adherence in praying and the regularity of going to mosque. The framework emphasizes one of the five pillars in Islam, namely adherence in prayers. Under the framework, politicians are considered pious Muslims if they pray, especially at the mosque. In reality in Indonesia, such a parameter is often seen as inadequate.

This was the case for Lindsay J Benstead. For Benstead, piety also includes support for sharia implementation and even for an Islamic state. Benstead’s framework was understandably rejected by mainstream Muslims in Indonesia, although it may be applicable in other Muslim-majority nations.

Pepinsky, Liddle and Mujani provided a set of more comprehensive and inclusive parameters in “Piety and Public Opinion: Understanding Islam”. According to them, Islamic piety comprises ritual, orientation and behavior. Ritual relates to adherence to Islam’s five pillars; orientation relates to individual’s belief on his or her relations with the Islamic faith; and behavior relates to practices without certain theological weight but may reflect one’s faith.

On their more detailed explanations of this tripartite conceptualization, the three political experts give an example: an individual who regularly joins Friday prayers and believes that religion is an important part of life is more pious than someone who regularly joins Friday prayers but does not think much about religion as a part of life.

Another example: a Muslim who regularly recites the Quran but does not regularly fast is less pious than someone who regularly recites the Quran and fasts.

The issue of religious piety is becoming increasingly prominent in politics, especially in presidential elections. For the born-again faithful people, parameters of piety have become increasingly important.

However, it must be noted that these born-again Muslims with newfound religious spirit are not homogenous in Indonesia. They are divided and fragmented – at least into two camps, each with its own preferred presidential candidate and each claiming to support the more pious candidate.

Nevertheless, increasing religious piety in the Reform Era does not have any significant effects on politics. From past experiences in the presidential elections in 2004, 2009 and 2014, piety was never relevant in determining voters’ political behavior. Therefore it seems that this is nothing more than political, social and religious noise that will die down in time, just like it always has before.  (AZYUMARDI AZRA, Culture and humanities professor, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University)