Skip to main content
Disciplines
Automotive Business IT + Informatics Construction + Real Estate Electrical Engineering + Electronics Energy + Sustainability Insurance + Risk Finance + Banking Management + Leadership Marketing + Sales Mechanical Engineering + Materials
Events
DE
EN
Books
Journals
Topic Page
Marketing
Start single access now
Access for companies
EXTENDED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Contemporary Islam
Published in: Contemporary Islam 2/2014

01-05-2014

The Islamic Defenders Front: Demonization, Violence and the State in Indonesia

Authors: Mark Woodward, Mariani Yahya, Inayah Rohmaniyah, Diana Murtaugh Coleman, Chris Lundry, Ali Amin

Published in: Contemporary Islam | Issue 2/2014

Log in

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config
loading …

Excerpt

In this paper we explore the ways in which the Indonesian Front Pembela Islam (Islamic Defenders Front–FPI) uses hate speech and demonization to legitimize violent attacks on organizations and individuals it considers to be sinful or religiously deviant, and civil discourse to establish credibility and respectability.1 We argue that the use of a discursive frame established by fatwa (legal opinions) issued by the semi-official Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI–Indonesian Council of Muslim Scholars) and tacit support from powerful political factions enable FPI to conduct campaigns of demonization and violence with near impunity and to avoid being labeled as a terrorist organization. We elaborate on a distinction between what the Center for Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies (CRCS) at Gadjah Mada University calls the two faces of FPI (Bagir et al. 2010a). The CRCS report distinguishes between civil and uncivil modes of FPI discourse and praxis. The civil mode seeks to establish the organization’s credibility in the public sphere. It presents FPI as the ally of authorities in attempts to control deviance and assisting those in need, especially victims of natural disasters. The uncivil mode uses demonizing rhetoric to build and maintain a base for violently confronting, brutalizing and sometimes killing those it deems deviant.2 We show that FPI has not two, but three faces: one civil; a second that dehumanizes and demonizes enemies; and a third explicitly calling on members and supporters to attack and kill them. FPI discourse becomes increasingly violent as the audience they are engaging changes from the general public to in-group religious gatherings. While it demonizes nearly all of its opponents, FPI targets for physical violence only those who lack official status and protection. Factions within the government and police are reluctant to curb FPI violence for fear of appearing “un-Islamic,” or because they sympathize with the group’s goals despite their criminality. Collusion between elements of the security forces and FPI is a significant factor contributing to the seeming disconnect between official discourse that condemns violence and practices that accommodate or even facilitate it. …
previous article Hating the Ahmadiyya: the place of “heretics” in contemporary Indonesian Muslim society
next article Review Essay: Beyond the Crusades, Beyond Prejudice

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 102.000 Bücher
  • über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
  • Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Versicherung + Risiko




Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now
Footnotes
1
For general discussions of FPI see: Jahroni (2008), Rossadi (2008) and (Woodward et al. 2012).
 
2
We use the terms deviant and deviance in ways that reflect FPI and some other Indonesian usage, not in a normative sense.
 
3
On JI see: Barton (2005)
 
4
On Ahmadiyah history and teachings see: Friedman (1989), Glasse and Ahmadiyya (2008) and Lavan (1974).
 
5
On anti-homosexual violence, see, for example: Bernardi et al. (2012) and Boellstroff (2007). Boellstroff’s analysis of homosexuality and Islam is instructive, including a case of the MUI issuing a level 2 condemnation of a meeting of a gay group in Surabaya, and how it spurred the FPI and other groups to level 3 and 4 reactions.
 
6
On MUI prior to the 1998 democratic transition see: van Bruinessen (1996).
 
7
This extends to areas such as Ambon in eastern Indonesia, where the proportion of Christians is higher than in Java. Although there was a brief separatist insurgency—supported by both Christians and Muslims allied with the Dutch—there in 1950, there has been no serious threat to Indonesian sovereignty there in decades. Yet whenever interfaith tensions rise, Islamists portray Christians as separatists and crusaders, and as an existential threat to the state.
 
8
See, for example: Fealy (2004); Daniels (2007).
 
9
This video can be viewed at: http://​www.​youtube.​com/​watch?​v=​ynunOMEtUmg (accessed 20 March 2013).
 
Literature
Bagir, Z., Cholil, S., Sapurto, E., Asyahari, B., & Rahayu, M. (2010a). Laporan Tahunnan Kehidupan Beragama di Indonesia 2010. Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies.
Bagir, Z., Cholil S., Sapurto, E., Asyahari, B, Rahayu, M, (2010b) Annual Report on Religious Life in Indonesia, Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies http://​www.​crcs.​ugm.​ac.​id/​ (accessed 28 July 2012).
Barton, G. (2005). Jemaah Islamiyah: Radical Islamism in Indonesia. Singapore: National University of Singapore Press.
Bernard, V., Ottenberg, P., & Redl, F. (2002). Dehumanization: A Composite Psychological Defense in Relation to Modern War. In M. Schwebel (Ed.), Behavior Science and Human Survival (pp. 64–82). Lincoln: iUniverse.
Bernardi, D., Cheong P., Lundry, C. & Ruston, S. (2012). Narrative Landmines: Rumors, Islamist Extremist, and the Struggle for Strategic Influence. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
Boellstorff, T. (2007). A Coincidence of Desires: Anthropology, Queer Studies, Indonesia. Durham: Duke University Press.CrossRef
Crouch, M. (2009). Indonesia, Militant Islam and Ahmadiyah: Origins and Implications. Melbourne: Melbourne University School of Law Islam, Syari’ah and Governance Background Paper Series.
Daniels, T. (2007) Liberals, Moderates and Jihadists: Protesting the Danish Cartoons in Indonesia.Contemporary Islam 1, 231–246.
Eck, D. (2007). Prospects for Pluralism: Voice and Vision in the Study of Religion. Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 75(4), 743–776.CrossRef
Elson, R. (2009). Another Look at the Jakarta Charter Controversy of 1945. Indonesia, 88, 105–130.
Fealy, G. (2004) Islamic Radicalism in Indonesia: The Faltering Revival? Southeast Asian Affairs, 104-21.
Friedman, Y. (1989). Prophecy Continuous; Aspects of Ahmadi Religious Thought and its Medieval Background. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Gates, H. (1994). Speaking of Race, Speaking of Sex: Hate Speech, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties. New York: New York University Press.
Gillespie, P. (2007). Current Issues in Indonesian Islam: Analyzing the 2005 Council of Indonesian Ulama Fatwa No. 7 Opposing Pluralism, Liberalism and Secularism. Journal of Islamic Studies, 18(2), 202–240.CrossRef
Glasse, C., & Ahmadiyya. (2008). The New Encyclopedia of Islam (pp. 363–393). New York: Rowman and Littlefield.
Gunning, J. (2007). A Case for Critical Terrorism Studies? Government and Opposition, 42(3), 363–393.CrossRef
Habermas, J. (1989). The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Harvey, B. (2009). Permesta: Half a Rebellion. Sheffield: Equinox.
Herman, J. (1997). Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. New York: Basic Books.
Hosen, N. (2004). Behind the Scenes: Fatwas of Majelis Ulama Indonesia (1975–1998). Journal of Islamic Studies, 15(2), 147–179.CrossRef
Jahroni, J. (2008). Defending the Majesty of Islam. Indonesia’s Front Pembela Islam, 1998-2003. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books.
Juergensmeyer, M. (2003). Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence (pp. 148–166). Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Lavan, S. (1974). The Ahmadiyah Movement. Delhi: Manohar Book Service.
Liddle, W. (1996). Media Dakwah Scripturalism. One Form of Political Thought and Action in New Order Indonesia. In M. Woodward (Ed.), Toward A New Paradigm: Recent Developments in Indonesian Islamic Thought. Tempe: Program for Southeast Asian Studies Monograph Series, Arizona State University.
Lukens-Bull, R. and Woodward, M. (2010) Goliath and David in Gaza: Indonesian Myth-building and Conflict as a Cultural System, Contemporary Islam, pp. 1–17.
Majelis Ulama Indonesia. (2005). Keputusan Fatwa Majelis Ulama Indonesia Nomor : 7/Munas VII/MUI/11/2005 Tentang Pluralisme, Liberalisme, dan Sekulerisme Agama. Jakarta: Majelis Ulama Indonesia.
Majelis Ulama Indonesia (2013). Mengenal dan Mewaspadai Penyimpangan Syi’ah di Indonesia. Jakarta: Majelis Ulama Indonesia.
Menchick, J. (2007) Illiberal but not Intolerant: Understanding the Indonesian Council of Ulamas, Inside Indonesia 90.
Millie, J. (2012) One Year After the Cikeusik Tragedy, Inside Indonesia, 2012.
Richardson, J. (2011). Minority Religions and the Context of Violence. In J. Lewis (Ed.), Violence and New Religious Movements (p. 33). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rossadi, A. (2008). Hitam Putih FPI [Front Pembela Islam]: Mengungkap Rahasia-rahasia Mencenankan Ormas Keagamaan Paling Kontroversial. Jakarta: Nun.
Shihab, R. (2011). Hancurkan Liberalisme. Tegakkan Syariat Islam. Jakarta: Suara Islam.
Tambiah, S. (1998). Leveling Crowds: Ethnonationalist Conflicts and Collective Violence in South Asia (pp. 332–334). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Temby, Q. (2010). Imagining and Islamic State in Indonesia: From Darul Islam to Jemaah Islamiyah. Indonesia, 89, 24–36.
US Army (2001) US Army Field Manual No. FM 3-0.
van Bruinessen, M. (1996). Islamic State or State Islam? Fifty years of State-Islam Relations in Indonesia. In I. Wessel (Ed.), Indonesien am Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts (pp. 19–34). Hamburg: Abera.
Woodward, M., Rohmaniyah, I., Amin, A., Ma’arif, S., Murtaugh-Coleman, D., & Umar, M. (2012). Ordering What is Right, Forbidding What is Wrong: Two Faces of Hadhrami Dakwah in Contemporary Indonesia. Review of Indonesian and Malaysian Affairs, 26(2), 105–146.
Metadata
Title
The Islamic Defenders Front: Demonization, Violence and the State in Indonesia
Authors
Mark Woodward
Mariani Yahya
Inayah Rohmaniyah
Diana Murtaugh Coleman
Chris Lundry
Ali Amin
Publication date
01-05-2014
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
Contemporary Islam / Issue 2/2014
Print ISSN: 1872-0218
Electronic ISSN: 1872-0226
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-013-0288-1

Other articles of this Issue 2/2014

Contemporary Islam 2/2014 Go to the issue

OriginalPaper

Prophecy after the Prophet, albeit lesser prophets? The Ahmadiyya Jama’at in Pakistan

BookReview

Review of Karin van Nieuwkerk, editor, Muslim Rap, Halal Soaps, and Revolutionary Theater: Artistic Developments in the Muslim World

ReviewPaper

Review Essay: Beyond the Crusades, Beyond Prejudice

ReviewPaper

Review of L. Ali Khan and Hisham M. Ramadan, Contemporary Ijtihad: Limits and Controversies.

OriginalPaper

Approaching conflict the Ahmadiyya way

ReviewPaper

Review of Terje Østebø, Localising Salafism: Religious Change among Oromo Muslims in Bale, Ethiopia