In the world’s most populous Muslim nation – where most of the 270.6 million people are moderate when it comes to matters of faith – the religious affairs minister is seen by analysts as vital in balancing Indonesia’s social and religious complexities to maintain peace and harmony.

In an interview with This Week In Asia, Yaqut, 46, warned that intolerance and extremist teachings “are particularly targeting the young generation” through digital channels.

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Indonesia’s State Intelligence Agency last week said 85 per cent of millennials in the country had been exposed to radicalism, which it described as a threat to national security. Local portal Kompas.com quoted agency spokesman Wawan Hari Purwanto as saying that young people were at particular risk of being radicalised by social media, which he described as an incubator for extremism.

Muh Taufiqurrohman, a senior researcher at the Jakarta-based Centre for Radicalism and Deradicalisation Studies (PAKAR), said moderate religious leaders had “lost out” to extremists who had a far larger and more active presence on social media platforms such as Facebook, Telegram and WhatsApp.

He said moderate clerics from the likes of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) – Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisation, which has 90 million followers and is known for its moderate views – were stuck in traditional ways of preaching and until recently had very little interest in preaching on social media, adding that millennials “love fiery preachers”.

“That’s why extremist preachers gained popularity among the young. This is also one of the … reasons why moderate preachers have lost the battle on social media,” Taufiqurrohman said.

Yaqut admitted NU, of which he is a member, was “a bit late” in adapting to and utilising social media, though the organisation had made continuous efforts to improve its presentation and now uses social media to broadcast sermons and religious studies.

“I also see that currently there are several excellent NU websites and social media channels … in Indonesia’s digital world,” he said.

Taufiqurrohman said given its millions of followers, NU should have “a trained cyber army” to counter online radicalisation – especially as fringe groups and individuals outnumbered the group of young NU activists and other people looking to counter extremism online.

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‘ISLAM IS NOT LIKE THAT’

Among them is Syafik Alielha who set up NU Online and Islami[dot]co for just this reason. He and his friends fund the work out of their own pockets.

“I was upset to discover websites spreading hatred and provocation encouraging people to wage war, destroying friendships, always sounding angry,” Syafik said. “Islam is not like that and I wanted to counter such narratives.”

Taufiqurrohman said these efforts should be funded by the government as well as the business community, because “the end result of online radicalisation is terrorist attacks that eventually affect businesses”.

“Tourists and investors will think twice before coming to Indonesia because of these attacks. We should learn from the impact of the 2002 Bali bombings that disrupted the economy, particularly the tourism industry,” he said.

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At least 20 injured in Palm Sunday suicide bombing at Indonesian Catholic cathedral

At least 20 injured in Palm Sunday suicide bombing at Indonesian Catholic cathedral

The suspect was a graduate from one of the country’s top, secular universities in Jakarta – a revelation that created a buzz, but comes as no surprise.

A 2018 survey by the Jakarta-based Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University’s Center for the Study of Islam and Society showed nearly 60 per cent of Muslim teachers at regular and Islamic schools across Indonesia were intolerant of other religions, while about 46 per cent had radical leanings. Around 27 per cent of teachers surveyed expressed a desire to encourage others to join the fight to establish a caliphate.

The Jakarta-based Alvara Research Center and Mata Air Foundation, in a 2017 survey, found that nearly 20 per cent of Indonesian high school and university students supported the establishment of a caliphate over the current secular government.

Religious affairs minister Yaqut said his ministry was currently focusing on strengthening moderate religious views, while the curriculum for religious education was being reviewed.

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These included initiatives such as the establishment of a Religious Moderation House (RMB) in every university campus across the country, which was completed a year ago.

Yaqut said the RMB at the State Islamic Religious College would become a centre for education and training on religious and national issues, and would host seminars and workshops on religious moderation.

The rise in religious conservatism in Indonesia is also making its presence felt in the traditionally secular world of business. Reuters on Monday reported that these sentiments were drawing talent away from what some viewed as un-Islamic jobs in banking due to concerns over Islamic law barring exploitative interest payments, known as riba.

One interviewee said finding online articles labelling riba as “tens of times more sinful than committing adultery with your own mother” was enough to persuade him to quit his conventional bank job and move to an Islamic lender.

‘MUCH-NEEDED LEADERSHIP’

Analysts are quick to point out that as religious affairs minister, Yaqut is in a good position to face the current challenges.

The son of prominent NU cleric Mohammad Cholil Bisri, Yaqut headed the organisation’s youth wing, Ansor, from 2015 to last year.

Ansor was noted for sending members to guard churches from attacks by radical terrorists each Christmas and Easter since the 2002 Bali bombings, said Alex Arifianto, who researches Indonesian politics and political Islam at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS).

He describes Yaqut as “the most pluralistic religious affairs minister Indonesia has ever had”.

“He made it clear in his inaugural address that he intends to become a minister for all faiths in Indonesia, not just for Muslims,” Arifianto said, adding that the minister over the past six months had visited churches, Hindu and Buddhist temples, and participated in multiple interfaith prayer events.

Said Professor Greg Barton, chair of Global Islamic Politics at Australia’s Deakin University: “The progressive, humanitarian stance of the new minister, Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, defending the human and citizenship rights of minority groups and pointing to the tolerant and enlightened insights of Indonesian Islam, means that he is well placed to provide much-needed leadership at this time.”

In February, two months after his appointment, Yaqut, education minister Nadiem Makarim and home affairs minister Tito Karnavian issued a joint decree banning public schools from making religious attire compulsory after the story of a Christian student being pressured to wear a headscarf in class went viral.

According to the decree, teachers, students, and school staff had the right to choose their attire, with or without religious attributes.

Arifianto from RSIS said the joint ministerial decree was “a major milestone to push back against decades-long issuances of Islamic regulations”, known as perda shari’a, which have been laid out by almost every Indonesian province, regency, and city.

However, Indonesia’s Supreme Court struck down the decree in May, saying it contradicted several laws, including a guarantee of the right to religious education.

“The aim of the joint ministerial decree was to strengthen the values of national unity, tolerance, and moderation in religious life in the framework of diversity in Indonesia,” Yaqut said, adding that he respected the court’s decision.

Yaqut said the three ministries were currently studying the next legal step to be taken. “On principle, we view that there is a need for clear and firm guidelines on the use of uniform and [religious] attributes for students, educators … where the spirit is to protect the rights and freedom to carry out each respective faith and belief,” he said.

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Arifianto said the Supreme Court’s decision to declare the decree unconstitutional set up a dangerous precedent that, if not reversed, would further legitimise local regulations sponsored by Islamists and endanger the rights of women and religious minorities in Indonesia. “Over the past decade, our court system has accepted religious rulings like fatwa as a legal precedence, legitimising fatwa issued by a religious authority even though they are intended to discriminate and cause harm against certain citizens from religious minorities,” he said.

Deakin University’s Barton said the ruling was a “sign that conservative elements in Indonesia’s courts system are strong and that they are flexing their muscles when given the opportunity”.

Indonesian Muslim activist Alissa Wahid – daughter of the late president Abdurrahman Wahid, who headed NU for 15 years before stepping down to assume the presidency in 1999 – also expressed concerns over the nullification of the decree.

“The issue of [religious garments such as] jilbab is an issue of interpretation. There are many interpretations on this issue,” Wahid said, adding that the wives of several prominent Muslim clerics did not wear such clothing.