Religious fundamentalism and democratic transitions : the case of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia

Abstract

This thesis intends to analyze how Indonesia’s political reforms after the fall of the New Order inadvertently enabled the empowerment of the Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), a movement opposed to the democratic pluralism pursued at the start of the Reformasi era. The increase of liberalization in political participation created new opportunities for a wide range of groups, including those with anti-pluralist agendas. Utilizing the Political Opportunity Theory, the research studied how these reforms provided the HTI with the legal space to advocate for the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate, directly challenging Pancasila’s pluralist ideals. This study highlights the dilemma that while Reformasi aimed to deepen democratic values, it also opened the political arena to actors who reject those very principles. This is a common phenomenon in newly democratized states for the past couple of decades. It also argues that pluralism under the New Order was largely a topdown project, not a deeply rooted societal value, making it vulnerable to contestation in the more open post-authoritarian era. The transition from Suharto’s authoritarian New Order regime to the more open political environment of Reformasi created political opportunities that enabled Hizbut Tahrir’s rise by reducing state repression of Islamist activism.