Social Sciences

Introduction Some may have argued that there has been a shared consensus and strong tendency among writers to complicate the relationship between Islamic religious sciences, like KalÉm, Philosophy, Fiqh etc, and their actual relevance to solving numbers of existential problems of the contemporary world. This complication, however debatable, usually stems from an assumption asserting that these sciences have only little, if not nothing, to do with the said existential problems of life. And this assumption is more apparent, if we look at the current situation where the development of sciences and technology amounted, on the one hand, to ease of life of modern men, and on the other, to rise of sophisticated problems closely related with humanity. Standing amid this reality, one may find it hard to dismantle a direct and viable notion, subsumed adequately on a particular topic on any of these sciences that discusses, for example, poverty, gender, pluralism, democracy and the likes. Developing these sciences, be it through adding a wider content and new methods, is therefore expected so as to get rid of the said complication and thus keeping them dynamic and relevant with all the times and spaces. This, in turn, reveals that the development of these sciences will not happen unless the necessary measure is put on work, which is; extrication or removal of anomalies inherently found on them like the outmoded theological-doctrinal method and axiological deficiency1. These sciences, which were once dealing only with system of belief, as of KalÉm, and formal patterns of worshipping and laws, as of Fiqh etc, are therefore determined considerably to get in touch with these contemporary problems of modern life which were undeniably absent during the old times. If KalÉm, for instance, was previously understood as a science that studies the being and attributes of God, the essential and the possible affirmations about Him, as well as the negations that are necessary to make relating to Him, the apostles and the authenticity of their message and treats of their essential and appropriate qualities and of what is incompatibly associated with them2, then, it has, during this time, to be set out in such a way that its orientation is not focused only to discussing the Ultimate Being or the Wholly Other and the Sacred but much importantly to wider perplexities of real life like liberation of society from colonialism, wealth distribution, freedom of expression, feminism etc. It is also culminated from this assumption that some scholars on Islamic studies, seek to initiate the study of Islam through applying methods of distinctively numerous social sciences like sociology, anthropology, psychology, history, phenomenology etc.3 To them, Islam is a wide and complex religion. Not only does Islam deal with theology or jurisprudence, but also concerns with technology, history, thought, economy, politic, education and the likes. This

Throughout Indonesia's independence history, discourse on secularization of politics arises constantly and draws a widespread appeal from many researchers. Conceptual issues pertaining to separation between Islam and state (secularism) and how it is realized, have been able to make the secularization of politics one of the most dynamic objects of research and directly reach the socio-political reality of the Indonesians. In the pluralistic society, quandaries emerge oftentimes as to make the religious and nationalist commitments converge. Even though inseparable, the government frequently designates Islam as opposing to nationalism. Islam has been charged with a symbol of exclusivism and anti-diversity. Islam has even been regarded as the second political enemy after communism and thus requires its elimination. This is hence the pretext for imposing the secularization. Islam is consequently separated from political concern and its adherents are discarded from any policy-making process. This article seeks to both elucidate the secularization and analyze its propagation in Indonesia spanning the time prior to its independence until the present time. In this section, the articles finds out that secularization in Indonesia proceeds as a top-down movement enforced by the ruling towards the ruled; the Muslim society. In the following section, the article also discloses deficiency in the secularization and exposes a groundwork for its impending failure. In reference to the secularization project in Turkey, the article reveals that separation of Islam and state in Indonesia falls short due to absence of support from the Muslim grass-root.

UMRAN | 03-1 (2016) pp. 28-36 | www.http://jurnalumran.utm.my/index.php/umran | Abstract This research aims at analyzing political secularism in Indonesia and most specifically dealing with the recurrent polemic upon the relationship between Islam and State. The research initially seeks to describe the political situation of the country where the formalistic and substantives debate, especially on their distinctive approach to stipulate the proper role of religion on the country's politic, could be witnessed. The description, however, will deal more on the latter political paradigm which is increasingly grasping an impressive preference from numbers of political individuals and institutions particularly when they come to discuss Islamic tenets and their application within the context of a pluralistic society like Indonesia. Using normative and socio-historical approaches, the paper argues that this political preference, despite its convincing successes in Islamizing the country's politic, still suffers from numbers of defects that finally raise our apprehension. These defects summarily provide proofs to the questioned commitment of the substantive to the Islamic political values as a whole; the one which reveals an agreed separation of the state and religion; the one of secularism.

Political secularism is an interesting ideology that deserves thorough academic attention. Set within the context of Indonesian politics where the Muslim community constitutes the majority of the population, this article seeks to critically analyze the secular elements of an Indonesian Islamic political party, namely the Partai Amanat Nasional (PAN). The party is renown, not only because it was established as a result of the processes of Reformasi, but also of its historical and cultural ties with the Muhammadiyah; the second largest Muslim organization in Indonesia. Employing both a political sociology approach and the theory of secularization advanced by Donald Eugene Smith, this qualitative research has identified the secular elements of the PAN. The party's prevailing alignment towards nationalism, at the expense of the fading away of Islam as both political identity and legitimacy of the party, serves to strengthen its secular elements.

Abstrak Sekularisme politik adalah salah satu bidang kajian yang cukup menarik untuk diteliti. Apatah lagi apabila ianya dikaitkan dengan konteks politik di Indonesia dimana majoriti penduduknya adalah ummat Islam. Berkait ini, kajian ini berupaya menganalisa unsur-unsur sekular dalam budaya politik partai Islam di Indonesia iaitu Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa. Selain dikenal sebagai partai yang terlahir daripada proses reformasi, Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa juga dikenal kerana ianya merupakan salah satu partai politik yang memiliki kedekatan sejarah dan kultural dengan Organisasi Massa Islam terbesar di Indonesia iaitu Nahdlatul Ulama. Dengan menggunakan pendekatan sosiologi politik, dan teori sekularisasi politik sebagaimana dikembangkan oleh Donald Eugene Smith, kajian kualitatif ini menemukan beberapa unsur sekular dalam partai dimaksud. Antara unsur tersebut adalah tergusurnya Islam sebagai identiti dan legitimasi politik partai kerana penghormatan yang lebih tinggi terhadap nilai-nilai kebangsaan.