Politicisized Religion

by Nina Mariani Noor
Leo Suryadinata is successful in catching the main point of Soeharto’s political will. I do agree with him that Soeharto’s policies both at home and at international affairs were not based on religion matter, in this case Islam, but on Soeharto’s interests. It seems to me that Soeharto’s policies were intended to maintain his reign and also his popularity in international context. Since he was intended to be the leader of Non Aligned Movement, he tried to avoid policies that related to religious’ matters. I also assume that those foreign policies were also influenced by his supporters in government and army who were more secular.
However, when it came to the interest of getting support from Indonesian people in general election, Soeharto tended to bit change the reason of his foreign policy to religious matter, like in the case of Bosnia and PLO. Furthermore, the trend that happened in Indonesia at that time in which many Muslims, particularly middle class, were more religious also influenced his policy. In my opinion, religion was not a big deal for Soeharto, but he saw it as a tool for maintaining his power.
Abdurrahman points out that the trend in Hajj tours among Muslims, particularly middle class, was influenced by capitalism. I completely agree with his way of comparing Hajj conduct between lowers class and middle class. It opens our eyes about the reality of Hajj ritual. In my opinion, today, Hajj is not merely a ritual as part of rukun Islam, but it has already moved to economical and social status. Muslims go to hajj are not only intending of completing his obligations as Muslims but also fulfilling their desire of getting higher social status in their community. In this way, hajj ritual brings a lot of advantages and profit for private Hajj agencies and also government.
Relating to Hajj ritual organized by government, I see that government through Ministry of Religious Affairs, really takes advantages from that. It seems to me that, Muslims’ enthusiasm of doing Hajj is utilized by government to get a lot of money that sometimes is corrupted or misused by government officers. And I think these all are rooted from Soeharto’s era and unfortunately, are continued by SBY’s government which declare to be a clean government.

Readings : 1. Moeslim Abdurrahman, “Ritual Divided: Hajj Tours in Capitalist Era Indonesia” in Mark Woodward,ed. Toward a New Paradigm
2. Leo Suryadinata, “Islam and Suharto’s Foreign Policy : Indonesia, the Middle East, and Bosnia”, Asian Survey, Vol. 35No. 3, (Mar., 1995), pp.291-303.