The Utopia of Religious Democracy

One important note from the 2024 election event is the weak ethical and moral legitimacy. Apart from that, the practice of money politics is the worst black hole in our democracy.

From a religious perspective, the 2024 election is one of the most pragmatic, capitalistic and "secular" democratic events. Why not! With various phenomena of deprivation and political anomalies being openly demonstrated by many parties, it is difficult for us to justify which aspects of the implementation of elections represent the application of the religious values ​​that this nation adheres to.

Also read: Chameleon Politics, There Are No Eternal Enemies

As a nation that often claims itself to be the most religious in the world, it is difficult to draw a connection between the normative aspects of religious teachings and the elections we hold. Of course, the religiosity of a political event cannot be assessed solely from a symbolic perspective.

There are many aspects of religious teachings that can be substantively attributed to examining and assessing the representation of religious values (such as accountability, integrity, and governance) in a nation's political event.

Waiting for Godot

At the beginning of the millennium, we were actually captivated by a fairly prospective theoretical prediction about the emergence of (religion-based) democracy. Vali Nasr, a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in the US, made a startling statement that what he called "Muslim Democracy" was happening.

Through his quite evocative article, "The Rise of Muslim Democracy" published in a prestigious journal, Journal of Democracy (2005), he emphasized that the entity of Muslim Democracy will be born not from the womb of Muslim intellectuals, but rather from Muslim politicians, such as Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Turkey), Nawaz Sharif (Pakistan), and Anwar Ibrahim and Mahatir Mohamad (Malaysia).

In this article, Nasr also specifically highlights the development of Muslim Democracy in Indonesia. According to him, the Muslim Democratic entity in this country does not work on an established political platform. It is more of a dialectical space when a number of political parties struggle to win a balance between secular politics and Muslim values ​​(Ibid, 17).

Furthermore, electoral competitions that are held regularly will pressure religious-based political parties towards pragmatism and encourage non-religious political parties to represent the interests of Muslims. The effect of this kind of electoral contestation is how each political party wins the middle electoral niche or median voter (Ibid, 19).

However, since it was launched almost two decades ago, what Vali Nasr predicted has never arrived.

One important note from the 2024 election event is the weak ethical and moral legitimacy.

The third wave of democracy and the phenomenon of the "Arab Spring" that swept through the majority of Muslim countries did not show any signs of creating Muslim Democracy. On the contrary, there has been a recession, regression, and deconsolidation of democracy, not only in Muslim countries but also globally. This condition has been affirmed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), stating that democracy is at its lowest point since 2006 (The State of Global Democracy, 2022).

The gloomy picture of global democracy has become the focus of attention of many scholars. Rizal Sukma has reviewed it very clearly ("The Setback of Democracy", Kompas, 12/22/2023). On a regional scale, the phenomenon of democratic deconsolidation in three Southeast Asian countries (Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand) has also become the focus of Marcus Mietzner's observations (Democratic Deconsolidation in Southeast Asia, 2021).

According to him, the emergence of deconsolidation in the three countries is similar in terms of the strengthening of clientelistic politics (patron-client politics), populism and political oligarchy, unequal economic prosperity, and an ambitious middle class that tends to choose a non-democratic path. to secure the grip of his material interests.

In almost the same period, civil society movements that are expected to accelerate the process of democratic consolidation tend to be engulfed in cartel political style and the grip of oligarchic politics that is rampant. Civil society movements (especially those based on religious platforms) do not show a more progressive commitment than Muslim politicians in strengthening democratic values.

As a result, waiting for the realization of Muslim Democracy as predicted by Vali Nasr is like waiting for Godot: it will never come true!

Observing the trend of democracy deconsolidation in all aspects, it is clear that this nation is more interested in the economic-political dimensions of democracy as a contest to gain resources.

There is no room left for experimentation and internalization of religious teachings' normativity in strengthening the substantial basis of democracy, such as accountability, integrity, governance, and the like. Strangely enough, the economic-political logic of democracy has succeeded in belittling the actualization of these values in democratic life. In this kind of situation, to whom else can this nation rely on to accelerate democracy consolidation?

Also read: The Decline of Democracy

Value infrastructure

Ten years ago, when preparing to run for president alongside M Jusuf Kalla (in 2014), President Joko Widodo actually stirred the nation's political awareness through his legendary campaign slogan: the Mental Revolution movement. Whether acknowledged or not, this idea successfully won the hearts and minds of the people, leading them to be elected to lead for the 2014-2019 period.

Even, Jokowi was re-elected as the President of Indonesia for the next period, 2019-2024. Shortly after the inauguration, all ministries and institutions were busy translating the Mental Revolution movement into more operational, structured, and systemic work programs.

If what is intended as a Mental Revolution movement is the mainstreaming of religious values ​​such as good and clean governance, accountability and political integrity, of course this movement is very much in line with the concept of (based) democracy. religion as Nasr predicted above.

Unfortunately, the intended Mental Revolution movement is overshadowed by the domination of physical infrastructure development (and power infrastructure!). As a result, our democracy is held captive by the pragmatism and industrialism of economic-political reasoning.

The most fundamental problem in implementing democracy in this country, according to Edward Aspinall and Ward Berenschot (Democracy For Sale, 2019), is the country's inability to disentangle structural issues in politics, such as corruption, money politics, quality of service. low public, social inequality, and unequal distribution of development.

On the other hand, the normativity of religious teachings only stops at the level of oral and written expressions. Once it is to be objectified into actual actions, the elites immediately face the vast wall of economic-political rationality of democracy. It is too difficult for us to avoid the political attacks of double standards in the application of (religion-based) democracy.

To prevent deconsolidation and democratic regression, strengthening the infrastructure for democratic values ​​is an urgent need for this nation. The development of physical infrastructure over the last decade must be balanced with the development of value infrastructure.

It is time for political parties and national political elites, referred to as the "midwives" of religion-based democracy, to be supported by all elements of the nation - academics, civil society activists, and religious figures - in formulating a roadmap for building the infrastructure of the intended values into more concrete and measurable operational steps.

If steps like this are carried out simultaneously, it is not impossible that the birth of a "baby" democracy (based on) religion is not just a utopia!

Masdar Hilmy, Professor, Director of Postgraduate Studies at UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, ISNU East Java Advisory Board