Democratic Citizenship

AZYUMARDI AZRA

· 5 minutes read

Citizenship in the democratic state of Indonesia is equal. With equal citizenship, it is irrelevant to group citizens based on religious composition or categories such as "majority people" and "minority people" or "believers" and "infidels".

Democratic countries guarantee democratic citizenship, where all citizens enjoy religious freedom. The state must not discriminate against citizens on the basis of differences in religion and beliefs.

As a Muslim-majority country, it is rather strange that the citizenship issue is almost completely absent in the discourse of Indonesian Islamic thought. Indonesian independence thinkers and activists in the first half of the 20th century missed a relatively comprehensive discussion of citizenship not only in relation to the Indonesian nation-state, which later became independent on August 17, 1945, but also with religions.

The issue of citizenship in the context of different religious categorizations, for example between "believers" and "infidels", has only got attention when the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) through the National Conference in Banjar, West Java (February 27 to March 1, 2019) recommended to the public -- especially Muslims -- to leave the mentioning of "infidels" for non-Muslims. There were Muslims who expressed objection to the NU recommendations and even withdrew the recommendation to a domain which is far away from what is intended.

The NU recommendation clearly applies only in the context of muamalah nationality or the relationship of Indonesian citizenship (muwathanah); not in the context of akidah (faith). Therefore, this recommendation does not mean eliminating the religious categorization which is often referred to in the verses of the Qur\'an.

The discussion and recommendation of Bahtsul Masa\'il of NU on the subject of muwathanah (citizenship) in the context of the modern nation-state and Indonesian democracy can be regarded as an important breakthrough in thinking. It is difficult to find any Islamic thinking about this subject that is developed by thinkers or groups of thinkers or Islamic organizations, both in Indonesia and in other regions of the Muslim world.

The subject of the muwathanah in a modern Muslim-majority country – a part of which adopts democracy in the post-World War II era -- is entirely new in the discourse of Islamic political thought. Facing the phenomenon of the emergence of modern countries that develop into democracy, such as Indonesia, Islamic political thought develops in two dichotomous directions.

First, those who accept the concept and practice of modern countries, including democracy. The thought and practice of modern politics that they receive have frequently been contextualized with the concepts of Islamic politics since the classical and medieval times.

In the context of citizenship, this first party accepted the concept of modern citizenship just the way it was, tacit or taken for granted or without questioning it. There was no serious effort to develop the concept of citizenship in an Islamic perspective based on an equal citizenship framework of the democratic Indonesia.

On the contrary, the second party actually wants to return to what they call the concept and praxis of Islamic politics in the past which they see as having accompanied Muslims into progress. They reject the modern political

concept and praxis. For them, democracy that emphasizes democratic equality is an anathema because those who have beliefs have special virtues over other communities of citizens.

For this party, the ideal political system is khilafah or daulah Islamiyah based on classical political thought and praxis. With regard to citizenship, in the khilafah or daulah Islamiyah system citizens are divided into two: Muslims who have certain privileges and ahmah dzimmah, non-Muslims who have different obligations, such as having to pay jizyah, tax per head as the cost of protection they receive from Muslim rulers.

Indonesia in its long political history, from the 13th century sultanate in various regions of the archipelago did not follow the concept and praxis of classical Islamic politics. During the sultanate era the concept of citizenship was not known; the only thing was the categorization of groups of people based on religions.

In the political tradition of the sultanate in the archipelago there was also no division between the domains of dar al-Islam controlled by Muslims and dar al-kufr or dar al-harb inhabited by non-Muslims. There was also no division of citizens between Mukmin-Muslim and ahl al-dzimmah, who could be said to be "second class" citizens.

In contrast to the inequalities between citizens in the Islamic system and political entities in the past, democratic citizenship prevailing in the Indonesian nation-state actually guarantees the equality of the citizens. This paradigm has become a common political practice since Indonesia\'s independence. In the midst of various political changes that have occurred since the independence period until now, equal citizenship has persisted.

However, democratic citizenship is more than just political practice. Citizenship is also a legal status and administrative category, related to civil rights and obligations. With legal and administrative status of the citizenship, citizens have the right and should have access not only to political, but also to economic, social, cultural lives, and others.

Recent dynamics of global, regional, national and local politics, which is marked by the rise of identity politics, is frequently not conducive to democratic citizenship. Therefore, democratic citizenship in the country with all of its aspects must always be strengthened.

AZYUMARDI AZRA,

Culture and humanities professor, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University.

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