FRIENDS OR FOE? The Dynamics Between the Pancasila State and Islam in Indonesia

Abstract

This essay provides a concise picture of the relation between Islam and politics in Indonesia from historical point of view, especially in contemporary setting of post-Suharto era where the Islamist voices isgetting stronger. Pancasila as the offi cial foundation of the State is not asstrong as it used to be. From the other point of view, Pancasila has lost its sacredness. The ambivalent relationship between Pancasila and Islam is hard to understand if one does not look to the origin how Pancasila became the State’s ideology. Furthermore, to strengthen the analysis, the essay usesone recent example of contemporary politics, i.e., the election of Governor of Jakarta in 2012, in order to grasp how the dynamics between Islam and Pancasila is really happened in reality.