1 - Introduction

Summary

Shortly after Independence in 1945, Indonesian Muslims demanded that the Constitution guarantee an Islamic state in Indonesia. Reference was made to the draft of the preamble of the Indonesian Constitution (known as the Jakarta Charter), which contained the following religious principle: “Belief in one Supreme God with the obligation for adherents of Islam to perform shari'a (Islamic law).” However, the last seven words (dengan kewajiban menjalankan syariat Islam bagi pemeluknya) [with the obligation to carry out Islamic shari'a for its adherents] were removed on 18 August 1945 after protests were made by some Christian Indonesians. They argued that this clause amounted to discrimination against other religions. Therefore, the first principle of the Indonesian state ideology became “Belief in one Supreme God”, without the mention of Islamic shari'a.

It should be noted that many Muslims expressed disappointment at the omission of this seven-word clause, and since then the desire to have an Islamic state in place and to remove Pancasila, the five principles of the Indonesian state ideology, continues to resurface from time to time. In 1985, President Soeharto succeeded in enforcing the adoption of Pancasila as the sole foundation (asas tunggal) of all political parties and social and religious organizations in Indonesia. Any aspiration to restore the Jakarta Charter was seen as an attack on the ideological foundation of the state. Many Muslim activists were jailed because of their ideas on the Islamic state.

By the end of the 1980s, the Soeharto government was trying to get closer to the Islamic community. The President signed Law No. 7 of 1989 on Islamic Courts which allowed the formation of ICMI (Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals), headed by Professor B. J. Habibie. The President then went to Mecca for a pilgrimage. The effect was that many government officials adopted Islamic attributes, and the government involved itself in some Islamic issues in a much more positive way. For example, Muslim women were allowed to wear the jilbab (veil) at schools and at government offices, the government supported the building of new mosques and prayer houses, and many Ministers attended Friday services in mosques and celebrated the Ramadan rituals. However, Pancasila remained the ideology of the state.