Public sphere contestation: configuration of political Islam in contemporary Indonesia
<p>Argument in this paper draws upon Habermasian understanding of the distinction<br />between private and public sphere. Public sphere is understood as open<br />space that various social and cultural forces seek to define and occupy by ways of<br />rational interests and public reason. Such attempts take place on daily basis and<br />taken by groups of different backgrounds and interests. Private sphere, in contrast,<br />is conceived of as having domestic or individual characteristics and, more<br />or less, non-political. It is within this framework that the continuing presence of<br />multiple variants of political Islam in Indonesia has been a manifestation of contestation<br />over public sphere. Diverse variants of Indonesian political Islam reveal<br />the difference between actors and issues in the dynamics of their contention.<br />However, evidence makes clear that variants of both political and popular Islam<br />have been more dominant than other Islamic variants such progressive and neotraditionalist<br />Islam. This study argues that mode of Islamic articulations in Indonesia<br />is now more diverse as the it has developed not only in the articulatory<br />forms of modernist, revivalist and traditionalist but also progressive, neo-traditionalist<br />and popular Islam.</p><p>Tulisan ini didasarkan pada kerangka ruang publik Jurgen Hubermas yang<br />membedakan ruang privat dan ruang politik (publik). Ruang publik merupakan<br />ruang yang terbuka untuk diperebutkan oleh siapa pun dan kapan pun. Sementara<br />ruang privat merupakan ruang yang bersifat domestic (individual) tidak berdimensi<br />politik secara dominan. Dalam persepktif semacam itu, hadirnya varian-varian<br />Islam Indonesia merupakan bentuk kontestasi atas ruang publik yang terbuka<br />untuk siapapun. Dari varian-varian Islam Indonesia, ada perbedaan aktor dan<br />isu yang dikembangkan dalam kontestasi publik. Hanya saja kontestasi varian<br />Islam politik dan popular mendapatkan ruang lebih dominan ketimbang varian<br />Islam lain seperti progresif atau neo-tradisionalisme. Kajian ini menunjukkan<br />bahwa Islam Indonesia tengah mengalami perkembangan format artikulasi yang<br />sangat beragam. Islam Indonesia tidak hanya berkembang dalam format<br />modernis, revivalis, tradisionalisme, tetapi sekaligus progresif, neo-tradisionalis<br />dan popular Islam.</p><p> </p>