You are cordially invited to a special seminar on local politics in contemporary Indonesia.

Title: From Jihad to Local Politics: The Narrative of Political Jihadists

Speaker: Muhammad Najib Azca, S.Sos, MA., Ph.D.

Date: March 17 (Monday), 13.00-14.30

Venue: Tonan-tei (Room 201), Inamori Foundation Memorial Building, Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS), Kyoto University

Abstract:
In this talk, I will present the life story narratives of the post-jihadists who come from Islamic political activism background. The term jihad here means participation in religious communal conflict in eastern Indonesia, namely in Maluku and Poso, Central Sulawesi (1999-2002). Thus, post-jihadists mean Islamic activists who used to participate in religious-communal conflict in the area.

Adapting the categorization of different types of Islamism proposed by International Crisis Group (ICG, 2005), I define Islamic political activism as Islamist movements with some of the following characteristics: involvement in political process, either directly or indirectly, and generally accepting the nation-state and working within its constitutional framework; articulating a reformist rather revolutionary vision and referring to democratic norms; its characteristic actors being paramilitary and political party activists.

I will focus on three post-jihadists who come from different Islamic movement network: Awod Umar (in Solo, Central Java), Abu Ayyash (in Pekalongan, Central Java), and Surahman (from Jakarta, presently lives in Ambon, Maluku). Two of them joined jihad through KOMPAK (a humanitarian group affiliated with DDII, the Indonesian Council for Islamic Propagation) and another one through PKPU (a humanitarian group affiliated with Tarbiyah movement). They later engaged in local politics through Islamic parties, namely Partai Bulan dan Bintang (PBB, the Masyumi predecessor) and Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS, Prosperous and Justice Party), and Islamic paramilitary group, Front Pembela Islam (FPI, Islamic Defender Front).

About the speaker:
Muhammad Najib Azca, S. Sos, M.A., Ph.D. is senior lecturer at the Department of Sociology; Vice Dean for Research, Cooperation, Community Services and Alumni Affairs; Director of Youth Studies Centre (YouSure), Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University Gadjah Mada (UGM), Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Moderator: Jafar Suryomenggolo (CSEAS)

Program Overview