Nationalist-Religious
Komaruddin Hidayat
Is Indonesia a religious nation? This is a question that is not easy to answer. The motto of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity) implicitly shows the reality that Indonesian society consists of a group of tribes with a wide variety of languages, cultures and religions, not a single, homogeneous nation called Indonesia.
Unity in the form of tribal mosaics is then gathered in the Indonesian home so that what is called the Indonesian nation is to a certain extent an ideal that is still in a dynamic process of "becoming" an "Indonesian nation" without any pretence to eradicate diversity.
Here loyalty to civic values is more dominant than to the ties of ethnicity and religion. Therefore, a nationalist person is also a pluralist person.
As a country, Indonesia was born from the womb of a society whose process of pregnancy and birth involved bleeding, did not suddenly exist as a gift from a colonial state, but rather was the fruit of a long struggle. Among the collective memories that still persist to this day, Muslims always feel the biggest shareholders of politics by referring to the list of the highest number of freedom fighters and heroes so that their perception and identification as a majority is frequently capitalized ahead of every election.
Lately, religious identity is a social capital that is always captured and utilized and brought by political elites to attract the masses. The relations of the people, political parties and the state between the pre-independence era and the situation today have experienced enormous changes and shifts. In the past, the ethnicities and religions that had grown up in the archipelago were united into a powerful movement and a powerful wave against the invaders for the sake of the birth of a giant child named the Republic of Indonesia.
The desire to have a sovereign and dignified nation-state was able to reduce horizontal differences and conflicts. The fighters and builders of the nation observantly, intelligently and bravely utilized the critical moment of the fall of Japan at the hands of the Allies to declare Indonesian independence on 17 August 1945 so that Indonesia did not fall into the arms of the Allies who saw Indonesia as a territory for war reparations.
Identity contestation
If in the pre-independence era the main focus of society was to fight for the birth of a sovereign state, now the relationship between the state and society has been fragmented with aspirations. Under the sky of democracy people gather in various mass organizations, political parties, professional organizations and many other institutions with different roles.
There are those who are productive and constructive in thinking about and advancing the country, in partnership with the existing government. There are political parties and mass organizations whose lives are expecting the love of the state, but there are others that are deliberately creating social
Religious identity and militancy used to be a revolutionary force for the birth of the nation and state, but now there those who are taking an attitude hostile to the state.
organizations so that they can take state funds. The power of the people used to be the motor and pillars of the state, but now some of them have even become burdens and parasites of the state. Religious identity and militancy used to be a revolutionary force for the birth of the nation and state, but now there those who are taking an attitude hostile to the state.
There are even those that forbid national symbols, such as the red-and-white flag and the national anthem.
When in the pre-independence era the socio-political condition was a fight against, now it should shift to a fight for. The first emphasizes physical and military resistance; the second is the struggle to build, which requires scientific concepts, modern state insight, mastery of high technology and technocratic skills. In the era of the fight for, natural selection occurs and fewer qualify, while the majority of the people then become a burden on the state because they have not received the right education that is able to turn them into productive assets.
However, when liberal democracy is implemented, the number of votes and ethnic-religious identity of the people suddenly turns into a very expensive political commodity, which in its turn could determine the election of national and regional leaders based solely on winning the greatest number of votes, rather than winning in ideas and integrity.
Religiosity and spirituality
There are those who differentiate religiosity and spirituality. The second is usually positioned to be more inclusive, open and universal, beyond religious boundaries. Meanwhile religiosity, the essence of religion, has a communal identity like religion so that one\'s religiosity remains tied to the teachings, doctrines and religious traditions being adopted. Nationality and religiosity both have a meeting point that reinforces each other, both of which assume an open attitude, accepting and respecting diversity.
This attitude was owned by the freedom fighters who have handed over and mandated this nation and state for all of us to protect.
Considering that so-called religion is always plural, that on Earth there are a variety of religions, while in the Indonesian home there is also diversity, religious Indonesian citizens are also those who have the awareness and commitment to maintain the diversity. This attitude was owned by the freedom fighters who have handed over and mandated this nation and state for all of us to protect.
The word religiosity or diversity refers to the quality of diversity, while religion is more prominent as a group identity. Therefore, those who are eager to voice the identity of their religious group do not necessarily have a personal religion. In general elections or regional elections, religion as a group identity is so strong – and this happens in various parts of the world – but this identity is not necessarily accompanied by religious attitudes and religious piety.
In Indonesia because the majority of its citizens have an Islamic identity, political populism will develop more easily if it synergizes with Islamic emotions and identity, regardless of whether their life is religious and with spirituality or not. Religiosity and spirituality lead to the vision, quality and meaning of transcendent life, passing beyond the targets of position, wealth and popularity.
Strength of the state
The tremendous change that the public did not imagine is how the state would have enormous power once it was proclaimed and gained world recognition. Community leaders who initially joined in the struggle for independence and those who became informal leaders were taken over by the state.
On behalf of the state, a regime can control the assets of the nation, can make regulations to control its citizens and even has the right to force or imprison someone if he is considered to be against and threatening the state. The figure of the state is abstract, but its power and strength are very real, represented by the presence of the regime in power.
Theoretically, democracy is a process and procedure for selecting government regimes to advance the nation and state and protect and improve the welfare of its citizens. In popular terms, democracy is government from the people, by the people, for the people, but in practice, political parties that should be the link between the people and the state then play to their own agendas that have the potential to betray the country and its people.
On the one hand, political parties can take advantage of the country\'s authority through its representatives who sit in government and people\'s representative institutions, on the other hand political parties can mobilize the masses to expand their political shares.
Religious houses are imagined to provide a warm and comfortable place, even though there is an element of escape from the hustle and bustle and challenges of a globalism that is full of disruption.
One of the more effective ways is to promote religious populist jargon because in the era of digital culture and the presence of a global community that has broken down ethnic barriers, for the state and bureaucracy what has become the easiest and most sensitive aspects to touch are religious identities. Religious houses are imagined to provide a warm and comfortable place, even though there is an element of escape from the hustle and bustle and challenges of a globalism that is full of disruption.
The greatness of the Indonesian state, which stands on the encouragement of humanitarian ideals that are very visionary and noble, coupled with natural wealth and population, can become dwarfed if it is managed by a government that is not visionary and professional, where the current government becomes the biological child of the political parties, rather than the biological child of the community that gave birth to the country.
When the state has been present and entered the global association and competition, the existing government must further strengthen the nationalist-religious quality accompanied by technocratic competence. Above all, it is a matter of the creation of harmony and togetherness that places the interests of the nation and the people above the interests of the groups.
Komaruddin Hidayat, Rector of Indonesian International Islamic University
