By: Nurlina Maharani) *
Indonesia is a country with diverse ethnicities, diversity is an ideology that was lived by the Indonesian founding father since a long time ago, but this time the era seems to change, the political world is increasingly seriously injured, the political elite justifies any means to gain the throne and power.
The politicization of religion is indeed poisonous in democracy, but this cannot be denied that this political model is considered effective in winning a candidate.
The use of places of worship in the campaign proved to be cheap and efficient. This is because the voice caster does not need to lead the masses to a place.
Of course we still remember the prayer movement of the congregation that was intensely encouraged in various cities in Indonesia, at a glance this movement deserves to be appreciated, because prayer in congregation in the mosque is a highly recommended worship, but the problem is if after prayer, where the preacher or the cult giver gives destructive lectures or directs the pilgrims to choose one candidate candidate.
Surely there is a difference between prayer and prayer in a pure congregation with a prayer movement in a political element, the difference lies in the motives and purpose of prayer, in fact the political movement of prayer congregation has a strong political motive, where the political motives are closely related to the actions at the monas.
Worship activities such as prayer are not merely acts of worship, but can also be referred to as “political action” if carried out with certain political motives and goals, for example campaigning for a party or election candidate.
The impact that arises due to the prayer movement of the congregation certainly has reduced the purity of the worship movement itself. The existence of the appendage of martial arts movements to anti-non-Muslim leaders, making this movement worthy of being called a political movement.
Prayer in congregation in the mosque is certainly good teaching, for Muslims, of course, this brings goodness, not harm. So the problem, in this case, is not in the prayer service, but the activities outside the prayer are problematic if it is not in accordance with the purpose of the congregational prayer itself.
But if the movement to gather worshipers in a place of worship is wrapped up in political elements, it will be very vulnerable to various interests which can eliminate the purity of the purpose of the worship itself, this certainly requires a more thorough review.
The Head of the Equivalent Institute of Hendardi also commented that the politicization of religion for certain powers could also lead to religious nuances. The politicization of religion can take the form of intolerance, persecution, and discrimination. He also considered that the movement of politicization of religion which is rampant is a serious threat to diversity.
The cause of the issue of religious politicians is a reflection that religion is increasingly being dragged away to choices and to determine leaders on the basis of certain religious groups. Horizontal conflicts often occur in several regions. The irony is that the decision to decide and to make a choice leads to background.
We certainly can reflect on the experience of the DKI Jakarta Pilgub, at which time several Islamic groups took advantage of the issue to corner the incumbent governor at the time, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama alias Ahok, who had ethnic Chinese and Non-Muslim blood.
The Chairperson of the DKI Jakarta Bawaslu at the time of the election, Mimah Sumanti, admitted that she indeed found this tendency even though it did not refer to certain candidates.
The sentiment of displeasure finally led to religious sentiments, where at that time one of the candidate pairs was considered to be blasphemy, which led to the movement of 212 in Monas.
This is certainly more dangerous than money because issues related to religion are very quickly spread with the help of media flows such as the internet. The thumbs up of smartphone users been able to burn out tolerance
The consequences of the politicization of religion in the DKI Jakarta exceeded tolerance, where banners were banned from sending the bodies of supporters of non-Muslim leaders, of course, people easily judged others, including whether to enter heaven or not, only from different political views. different.
This can continue to be repeated, even to a harder level. Because, some of those who used the issue of religion felt that the unethical way he had done succeeded in reducing other political forces, even defeating him in the elections.
Both covertly and openly, even before the presidential election – religious arguments are often politicized to attack political opponents. Of this is very contrary to the rules of law.
Certainly identity politics that highlight issues relating to ethnicity, religion, race and intergroup (SARA) are expected to return to symptoms, especially in the 2019 presidential election. Anticipation measures must be optimized, including by improving regulations related to the use of SARA issues.
It is the political elite who often stirs up the emotions of the voters through the politicization of the voters through the politicization of religion. Regulations with strict definitions of the politicization of religion are important to make deterrent to the immoral elite.
The politicization of SARA for the politicization of religion can also make the community sidetracked from those who should see the quality and program of candidates becoming merely a primordial identity inherent in the candidate.
Even though there is no guarantee that candidates belonging to a particular religion or ethnic origin must be great and credible leaders.
Indonesia is known as a country that upholds diversity. Certainly politicians must interpret diversity that reminds us all not to use religious sentiments in campaigning, because the impact of the movement is the breaking up of social cohesion.
) * The author is a Social Observer