The Political Economy of Sharia and the Future Trajectory of Indonesian Democracy

INDONESIAN STUDIES PROGRAMME SEMINAR

About the Seminar

This presentation exposes the position of sharia economy in the future trajectory of Indonesian democracy. Sharia economy could become an important agenda for newly elected President Joko Widodo and Vice President Ma’ruf Amin. This was evident in the launching of the Indonesian Islamic Economic Master Plan. The concept, prepared by the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), is a five-year plan and strategy to promote the advancement of sharia economy. This presentation uncovers the early historical initiative of Indonesian Muslim intellectuals and activists in proposing sharia economy which was related to the spirit of Islamisation of sciences. The momentous era of sharia (or Islamic) economy with the onset of Ikatan Cendekiawan Muslim Indonesia (ICMI, Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals) will also be the focus of this talk. Since the ICMI establishment, proponents of Islamic economy in Indonesia can be divided into two groups; firstly, those who wanted to create a new paradigm of Islamic economy—the IIIT group—and secondly, those who wanted to establish the Islamic economy through the revitalization of fiqh al-muʿmalah (Islamic legal jurisprudence on social and economic relation that has now become the dominant school of sharia economy in Indonesia). Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI, the Council of Indonesian Ulama) is the leader of this second group. This presentation, therefore, also underlines two strong examples of sharia economy movement initiated by MUI; first, sharia-finance that includes sharia bank, insurance and others, and second, halal-based economy; how both sharia bank and halal economy could become effective vehicles of a more established sharia economy. Last but not least, this talk elaborates on whether the prevalent presence of populist Islamism like Aksi Bela Islam (ABI, Action to Defend Islam) in demanding economic justice creates a positive contribution for the development of the sharia economy.

About the Speaker

Syafiq Hasyim is Lecturer at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences of State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. He got his M.A. in Islamic Studies from Leiden University and Dr. Phil in Islamic Studies from Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies, Freie Universitaet, Berlin, Germany. From July 2018 to July 2019, he was visiting fellow at the Indonesian Programme of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Registration

For registration, please click here. Registration closes on 7 October 2019.