RECONNECTING WITH THE MUSLIM GRASSROOTS Compared to the FPI, the mainstream Muslim organisations NU and Muhammadiyah had seemed relatively out of touch with the Islamic political agenda of the Muslim grassroots (umma). [...] For example, FPI had cast the arrest of Rizieq Shihab and other Muslim figures as examples of the Jokowi government’s criminalisation of and legal discrimination against ulama who expressed dissenting views about the government.1 The FPI also tapped into longstanding Muslim grassroots unhappiness over the perceived injustices of Jokowi’s government in managing the economy. [...] The first was over the exclusion of the word “religion” in the vision statement of the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Roadmap of Indonesia’s Education 2020-2035). [...] 11 Eventually, the Education Minister Nadiem Makarim acceded and included the word in the vision statement.12 The other policy which saw the Jokowi government reverse its position was over the proposal by the Ministry of Religious Affairs (under its former minister Fachrul Razi) to implement Islamic preacher certification to strengthen the moderation of Islam. [...] The MUI published a Maklumat (Announcement) stating that MUI as an ulama organisation rejected the initiative by the Ministry of Religious Affairs to implement the programme.15 Due to the strong opposition from these organisations, the Ministry discontinued the programme.
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- 7
- Published in
- Singapore
