- Authors: Saefur Rochmat
- From: Faculty of Social Sciences, Yogyakarta State University
Abstract:
Post-Soeharto authoritarian regime has given a more room for political power contestation amongst different socio-political groups with their different knowledge systems. It is not easy for them to reach a stable agreement as some of them tend to develop an ideological approach to the knowledge. They believe that knowledge is identical to the truth, implying political power. They tend to develop normative approach based on the texts and ignore the existence of the truth of other groups. In this regard, I like to criticize the radical Muslims who are not consistent with the nature of knowledge, requiring an objective understanding of the reality, namely the pure reason of the truth. Opposing to the people?s rationality, they tend to develop negative stereotypes of other groups to win the support of the Muslim majority. They also try to mobilize the Muslim masses which are quite often accompanied by violence. Unfortunately, the government often fail to establish public order because of its short-term political expediency. Accordingly, at this Reformasi era the constructive dialogues amongst different socio-political groups have not developed fruitfully in public life. In line with this, these radical Muslims blame democratic system as well as the national ideology of Pancasila and they offer Syari’ah (legal formal Islamic law) as the solution for Indonesia. Following Fiqh paradigm, Abdurrahman Wahid accepts the national ideology of Pancasila with its democratic political system. Furthermore, he develops democracy into his core of religious political thought that the arrangement of society constitutes two components that are how to arrange living and how to manage power.
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