Wary of Politicizing Religion in the Year of Politics
By: Ricky Renaldi) *
Political movements have the potential to emerge if there is a mass movement, not only in the movement of healthy roads or dangdut hokya-hokya, even religious movements with nuanced nuances can also appear in places of worship such as mosques.
Of course Muslims are strongly recommended to perform prayer in congregation in mosque. Until the shubuh movement emerged in congregation in the mosque, but unfortunately this movement was also allegedly a means of politicization which was to herald public opinion to succeed one of the prospective leaders
The prayer prayer movement is truly a symbol of the unity of the Ummah, but this movement must also be sincere and not politicized by any group, because the politicization efforts in places of worship can divide the ummah, this is because worshipers in mosques certainly have different political views.
The indication of the politicization of the prayer prayer movement can be seen from the contents of his lecture, both cult and sermon which lead public opinion to certain political interests. It could be that this was delivered loudly and explicitly. This is certainly worrying, because if left unchecked, the mosque will lose its identity as a place of worship and communicate with God.
Worship activities such as prayer in congregation are not merely “acts of worship”, but can also be referred to as “political movements” if carried out with certain political motives and goals.
The impact of the politicization movement of prayer in the congregation, the nature of prayer also cannot be seen as a pure movement of worship. The existence of the appendages of the martial arts movement, of course makes this movement worthy of being called a politicization movement of worship.
It must be admitted that the movement to politicize places of worship is a surefire way to increase electability coffers. Usually pilgrims will obey anything instructed by the relevant clerics. In terms of campaign strategy, of course mosque worshipers are one segment of voters who are easy targets for politicians.
Places of worship such as mosques are potentials that are glimpsed by politicians who are crazy about office. They take advantage of the arrival of pilgrims who come simply, so that the amount of mass gathered in mosques can be used as a political object to satisfy their power desires.
Minister of Communication and Information Rudiantara said in his statement, that places of worship such as mosques are not allowed to be used as a place to convey messages aimed at practical political interests.
Regulations related to the prohibition of campaigns in places or houses of worship have actually been stated in Law No. 32 of 2004 concerning regional governments wherein the regulation says “campaigns are prohibited from using places of worship and education”.
This certainly should be realized by various political activists who are still crazy about getting votes, because after all there are still many ways of elegant campaigns that do not violate the rules that have been set.
In addition to the mosque, efforts to politicize religion also occurred in Reunion 212, although at first this movement was aimed at defending Islam, but the reunion titled Tabligh Akbar 212 Alumni Participants in Solo turned out to have tarnished the essence of the 212 movement, which was originally purely recitation and alumni consolidation 212.
But the fact has said something else, where there was a session of the participants throwing a number 2 sentence, with the tauhid flag they araked. This kind of activity is in fact not an activity like a peaceful action in general, but rather it is referred to as a political movement, this is due to a number of figures making innuendo to the Jokowi government.
There were also those who loudly shouted “there are those who are afraid to be replaced”, and one of the action participants also asked “Who is the flag?” Then all the participants of the mass action shouted the name “Prabowo”. From this story, it certainly strengthens the assumption that the great PA 212 meeting held in Solo is a political movement that rides religious activities.
The Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) of the city of Solo also anticipates election violations during the tabligh akbar PA 212. The party did not get bored – bored to continue to convey appeals verbally and in writing so that the event did not put up campaign attributes.
It seems difficult to judge that the 212 reunion activities in Solo were a movement to commemorate the 212 action in December 2016. If the event was purely a reunion, it would certainly be known after the event ended. Whereas the event, which took place like a grand tabligh in Solo, actually seemed to be seen as a movement that led the public to direct the masses to the number 2 candidate.
Violations committed by PA 212 in Solo certainly provide a very dangerous early warning. The movement has shown that there are groups who dare to disobey state regulations, this certainly has the potential to disrupt the stability of state security.
In this case the community certainly must be able to choose, which activities are purely religious activities, not activities that are wrapped in political aromas for the benefit of certain groups.
As religious people, of course we have to have wisdom so that the messages of Religion that are conveyed are not actually used as tools for their pragmatic political interests.
Using religion as a practical political tool will certainly threaten the unity of pluralistic religious communities in Indonesia. And certainly violates the essence of religion that unites and humanizes humans.
Groups or individuals who have just spoken of religion when there are moments of politics are pragmatic groups who deliberately use religion for political purposes.
However religion and politics cannot be separated, because politics is an integrative part of the teachings of Islam. Nevertheless, Islam clearly does not justify the politicization of religion
) * The author is a Political Observer