The impact of Islamization of regional laws in the post-Suharto democratization era

This paper would like to answer the question of the ways in which post-Suharto legal Islamization has shaped or caused increasing religious intolerance, disrupted Indonesia’s current democratic institutions and threatened its pluralistic society. This paper will argue that, at a minimum, the post-Suharto Islamization of regional laws affects four areas, namely (1) creating a competition of authority and influence between local governments and Islamic jurists (ʿulamāʾ); (2) sending a wrong message to certain radical groups who in those laws found an excuse to conduct violent acts and discriminate against religious minorities; (3) a shift in public space from a free and heterogeneous area to a restricted and homogenous atmosphere; and (4) the creation of unaccountable local governments through their management of revenues derived from Islamic taxation.