A Genealogy of Moderate Islam: Governmentality and Discourses of Islam in Indonesia’s Foreign Policy

Ahmad Rizky Mardhatillah Umar

Abstract


This article analyses the political construction of ‘Moderate Islam Discourse’ in contemporary Indonesian Foreign Policy. Since 2004, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has campaigned for ‘Moderate Islam’ as the main image of Indonesian Islam. Within this discourse, Islam is conceived as ‘moderate’ and ‘tolerant’ as well as inherently compatible with democracy. However, in a more critical perspective, ‘Moderate Islam’’ also contains a political and discursive construction. By using a genealogical approach, I argue that the articulation Islam in Indonesia’s foreign policy is influenced by the ideological underpinnings of each political regime as well as the hegemonic discourse operating in international politics. Furthermore, I argue that there have been three discourses of Islam in Indonesia’s foreign policy, as articulated by different political regimes, namely (1) Islam as religious identity; (2) Moderate Islam from below; and (3) Moderate Islam as a part of the Global War on Terror project.

DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v23i3.3157


Keywords


Moderate Islam; Indonesian Foreign Policy; Governmentality; Discourse; Identity; Global War on Terror; Islam Moderat; Kebijakan Luar Negeri Indonesia; Governmentality; Wacana; Identitas; Perang Global Melawan Teror

Full Text:

PDF

References


Al-Bazzaz, ’Abd Ar-Rahman, and Sylvia G. Haim. 1954. “Islam and Arab Nationalism.” Die Welt des Islams 3(3/4): 201.

Alles, Delphine. 2015. Transnational Islamic Actors and Indonesia’s Foreign Policy: Transcending the State. Abingdon: Routledge.

Allison, Graham T. 1971. Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

Amir, Sulfikar. 2012. The Technological State in Indonesia: The Co-Constitution of High Technology and Authoritarian Politics. London; New York: Routledge.

Arifianto, Alexander R. 2012. “Faith, Moral Authority, and Politics: The Making of Progressive Islam in Indonesia.” Ph.D. Thesis. State University of New York.

ASEAN Secretariat. 2004. Chairman’s Statement of the 11th Meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum. Jakarta, 2 July 2004.

Ayoob, Mohammed. 2000. The Many Faces of Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Muslim World. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Bartelson, Jens. 1995. A Genealogy of Sovereignty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511586385.

Barton, Greg. 2002. Abdurrahman Wahid: Muslim Democrat, Indonesian President; A View from the Inside. Honolulu: Univ. of Hawaii Press.

Bayat, Asef. 2007. Making Islam Democratic: Social Movements and the Post-Islamist Turn. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Bruinessen, Martin van, ed. 2013. Contemporary Developments in Indonesian Islam: Explaining the “Conservative Turn.” Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

Burchill, Scott. 2005. Vol. 38 The National Interest in International Relations Theory. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Bush, George W. 2001a. “Address to Nation.” In Remarks by the President to Begin Strike to Afghanistan, 7 October.

———. 2001b. “Islam Is Peace.” In Remarks by the President at Islamic Center of Washington, Washington, D.C, 17 September.

———. 2001c. “President Declares War on Terrorism.” In Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People, Washington DC, 20 September.

———. 2001d. “President Shares Thanksgiving Meal with Troops.” In Remarks by the President to Troops and Families at Fort Campbell, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, 22 November.

Capie, David. 2004. “Between a Hegemon and a Hard Place: The ‘war on Terror’and Southeast Asian–Us Relations.” The Pacific Review 17(2): 223–248.

Chandler, Michael, and Rohan Gunaratna. 2007. Countering Terrorism: Can We Meet the Threat of Global Violence? London: Reaktion.

Cox, Robert W. 1981. “Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory.” Millennium 10(2): 126–55.

Dawisha, Adeed. 1983. “Islam in Foreign Policy: Some Methodological Issues.” In Islam in Foreign Policy, ed. Adeed Dawisha. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Doty, Roxanne. 1997. “Aporia: A Critical Exploration of the Agent-Structure Problematique in International Relations Theory.” European Journal of International Relations 3(3): 365–92.

Effendy, Bahtiar. 1998. Islam dan Negara: Transformasi Pemikiran dan Praktik Politik Islam di Indonesia. Jakarta: Paramadina.

Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia at Australia. 2004. “Jakarta Declaration: Upholoding Islam As Rahmatan Lil Alamin (Press Release).” http://www.kbri-canberra.org.au.

Fogg, Kevin William. 2012. “The Fate of Muslim Nationalism in Independent Indonesia.” Ph.D. Dissertation. Yale University.

———. 2015. “Islam in Indonesia’s Foreign Policy, 1945-1949.” Al-Jami’ah: Journal of Islamic Studies 53(2): 303.

Foucault, Michel. 1978. “Nietzsche, Genealogy, History.” Semiotexte 3(1): 78–94.

———. 1991. “Governmentality.” In Anthropology of The State: A Reader, eds. Aradhana Sharma and Akhil Gupta. New York: Blackwell.

Hadiz, Vedi R. 2006a. “Indonesia: Order and Terror in a Time of Empire.” In Empire and Neoliberalism, ed. Vedi R. Hadiz. London: Routledge.

———. 2006b. “Introduction.” In Empire and Neoliberalism, ed. Vedi R. Hadiz. London: Routledge.

Halliday, Fred. 2003. Islam and the Myth of Confrontation: Religion and Politics in the Middle East. London and New York: I.B. Tauris.

Hashemi, Nader. 2009. Islam, Secularism, and Liberal Democracy: Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Hatta, Mohammad. 1947. “Mendajung Di Antara Dua Karang.” Presented at the Rapat Badan Pekerdja Komite Nasional Indonesia Pusat (KNIP), Yogyakarta.

———. 1953. “Indonesia’s Foreign Policy.” Foreign Affairs 31(3): 441–52.

Hayashi, Takeshi. 1964. “On Arab Socialism.” The Developing Economies 2(1): 78–90.

Haynes, Jeffrey. 2008. “Religion and Foreign Policy Making in the USA, India and Iran: Towards a Research Agenda.” Third World Quarterly 29(1): 143–65.

He, Kai. 2008. “Indonesia’s Foreign Policy after Soeharto: International Pressure, Democratization, and Policy Change.” International Relations of the Asia-Pacific 8(1): 47–72.

Hefner, Robert W. 2000. Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia. Princeton, NJ; Oxford: Princeton University Press.

Hill, Christopher. 2003. The Changing Politics of Foreign Policy. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.

Hobson, John M. 2000. The State and International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hoesterey, James B. 2014. “Soft Islam: Indonesia’s Interfaith Mission for Peace in the Middle East.” Middle East Institute. http://www.mei.edu/content/map/soft-islam-indonesia%E2%80%99s-interfaith-mission-peace-middle-east (November 12, 2014).

———. 2016. “Rebranding Islam: Public Diplomacy, Soft Power, and the Making of ‘Moderate Islam.’” Contending Modernities. https://blogs.nd.edu/contendingmodernities/2016/04/20/aci-indonesia-rebranding-islam-public-diplomacy-soft-power-and-the-making-of-moderate-islam/ (April 20, 2016).

Joseph, Jonathan. 2010. The Social in the Global: Social Theory, Governmentality, and Global Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kaarbo, Juliet. 2003. “Foreign Policy Analysis in the Twenty-First Century: Back to Comparison, Forward to Identity and Ideas.” International Studies Review 5(1): 156–63.

Kiersey, Nicholas J. 2009. “Scale, Security, and Political Economy: Debating the Biopolitics of the Global War on Terror 1.” New Political Science 31(1): 27–47.

Kiersey, Nicholas J, and Doug Stokes. 2011. Foucault and International Relations: New Critical Engagements. London: Routledge.

Korany, Bahgat. 1984. “Foreign Policy in the Third World: An Introduction.” International Political Science Review 5(1): 7–20.

Laclau, Ernesto, and Chantal Mouffe. 1985. Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical and Democratic Politics. London: Verso.

Larner, Wendy, and William Walters. 2004. “Introduction: Global Governmentality: Governing International Spaces.” In Global Governmentality: Governing International Spaces, eds. Wendy Larner and William Walters. London: Routledge.

Leifer, Michael. 1983. “The Islamic Factor in Indonesia’s Foreign Policy: A Case of Functional Ambiguity.” In Islam in Foreign Policy, ed. Adeed I Dawisha. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Madinier, Rémy. 2015. Islam and Politics in Indonesia: The Masyumi Party between Democracy and Integralism. Singapore: NUS Press.

Mamdani, Mahmood. 2002. “Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: A Political Perspective on Culture and Terrorism.” American Anthropologist 104(3): 766–75.

Menchik, Jeremy. 2016. Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance without Liberalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Mueller, John, ed. 2014. Terrorism Since 9/11: The American Cases. Ohio: The Educational Publisher.

Neumann, Iver B, and Ole Jacob Sending. 2010. Governing the Global Polity: Practice, Mentality, Rationality. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Nugraha, Aryanta. 2012. “Moderate Islam as New Identity in Indonesian Foreign Policy: Between Global Role Aspiration and Co-Religious Solidarity.” Journal of Islamic Civilization in Southeast Asia 1(1): 12–34.

Persaud, Randolph B. 2001. Counter-Hegemony and Foreign Policy: The Dialectics of Marginalized and Global Forces in Jamaica. New York: SUNY Press.

Perwita, Anak Agung Banyu. 2007. Indonesia and The Muslim World: Islam and Secularism in the Foreign Policy of Soeharto and Beyond. Copenhagen: Nordisk Institute for Asian Studies.

Petito, Fabio. 2007. “The Global Discourse of Dialogue Among Civilizations: Mohammad Khatami and Vaclav Havel.” Global Change, Peace, and Security 19(2): 103–26.

Rabasa, Angel. 2007. Building Moderate Muslim Networks. Santa Monica: RAND Corporation.

Republika. 1999. “16 Dubes Arab Ingatkan MPR Soal Israel.” http://www.oocities.org/injusticedpeople/16DubesArabIngatkanMPRsoalIsrael.htm (September 25, 2016).

Rojas, Cristina. 2004. “Governing through the Social: Representations of Poverty and Global Governmentality.” In Global Governmentality: Governing International Spaces, eds. Wendy Larner and William Walters. London: Routledge.

Rumadi. 2015. Islamic Post-Traditionalism in Indonesia. Singapore: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

Sayyid, Bobby S. 1997. A Fundamental Fear: Eurocentrism and Emergence of Islamism. London: Zed Books.

Sherlock, Stephen. 2002. The Bali Bombing: What It Means for Indonesia. Canberra: Department of the Parliamentary Library.

Shihab, Alwi, and Abdurrahman Wahid. 1999. “Controversy over Indonesia-Israel Relations.” The Jakarta Post.

Smith, Anthony L. 2000. “Indonesia’s Foreign Policy under Abdurrahman Wahid: Radical or Status Quo State?” Contemporary Southeast Asia 22(3): 498–526.

Steger, Manfred B. 2008. The Rise of Global Imaginaries: Political Ideologies from the French Revolution to the Global War on Terror. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Sukma, Rizal. 1995. “The Evolution of Indonesia’s Foreign Policy: An Indonesian View.” Asian Survey 35(3): 304–15.

———. 2003. Islam in Indonesian Foreign Policy: Domestic Weakness Dilemma of Dual Identity. London: Routledge.

———. 2004. “War on Terror, Islam and the Imperative of Democracy.” Asia Europe Journal 2(1): 85–93.

———. 2011. In Public Diplomacy and Soft Power in East Asia, eds. Suk-chong Yi and Jan Melissen. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

———. 2012. “Domestic Politics and International Postures: Constraints and Possibilities.” In Indonesia Rising: The Repositioning of Asia’s Third Giant, ed. Anthony Reid. Singapore: ISEAS.

Suryadinata, Leo. 1995. “Islam and Suharto’s Foreign Policy: Indonesia, the Middle East, and Bosnia.” Asian Survey 3(3): 291–303.

Umar, Ahmad Rizky M. 2011. “A Critical Reading of Natalegawa Doctrine.” The Jakarta Post.

US Department of State. 2001. “Joint Statement between the United States of America and the Republic of Indonesia as Leaders of the World’s Second and Third Largest Democracies (Press Release).”

Wahid, Abdurrahman. 2002. “Foreign Correspondent: Interview with ABC.”

Walt, Stephen M. 1987. The Origins of Alliances. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Weatherbee, Donald E. 2013. Indonesia in ASEAN: Vision and Reality. Singapore: ISEAS.

Weinstein, Franklin B. 1976. Indonesian Foreign Policy and the Dilemma of Dependence: From Sukarno to Soeharto. Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur: Equinox Publishing.

Wendt, Alexander E. 1987. “The Agent-Structure Problem in International Relations Theory.” International Organization 41(3): 335–70.

Wicaksana, I Gede Wahyu. 2013. “Islam and Sukarno’s Foreign Policy, with Reference to Indonesia-Pakistan Relations 1960-1965.” International Journal of Indonesian Studies 1(1): 58–78.

Wight, Colin. 2006. Agent, Structures, and International Relations: Politics as Ontology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

———. 2009. “Theorising Terrorism: The State, Structure, and History.” International Relations 23(1): 99–106.

Wirajuda, Muhammad. 2014. “The Impact of Democratisation on Indonesia’s Foreign Policy: Regional Cooperation, Promotion of Political Values, and Conflict Management.” Ph.D. Thesis. The London School of Economics and Political Science.

Yudhoyono, Susilo Bambang. 2011. “Talk Asia: Interview with CNN.”




DOI: https://doi.org/10.15408/sdi.v23i3.3157 Abstract - 0 PDF - 0

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
All publication by Studia Islamika are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Studia Islamika, ISSN: 0215-0492, e-ISSN: 2355-6145

View My Stats