Athanasia Safitri
Politics in the Netherlands and Indonesia share something in common as their recent elections have made two populists win; Geert Wilders in November 2023 and Prabowo Subianto in February 2024. Polarisation has increased inevitably since various social media platforms get massive attention and play a major role in political campaigns and debates. Despite the success of the freedom of speech and expression, as well as the full practice of democracy, divisions have developed between elites at the grassroots level in several areas, including religions.
An open dialogue to address this issue was held by the Netherlands-Indonesia Consortium for Muslim-Christian Relations (NICMCR) in collaboration with Universitas Nahdlatul Ulama (UNU) Yogyakarta on November 2, 2024. Dr. Martijn de Koning (Radboud University Nijmegen), Rev. Em. Aart Verburg (Protestant Church in the Netherlands), and Dr. Suhadi Cholil (UNU Yogyakarta) shared their profound thoughts on the matter, with Prof. Frans Wijsen (ICRS UGM) as the moderator of the forum.
Populism in politics
Koning starts by stating that populism is a political style used by the right and left wings with a specific socio-political context. He quotes Cas Muddle, saying that it is an ideology that can be a battle between pure people and corrupt elites and that politics is an expression of the general will of the people. The will of the people is considered to be the central claim of the populist party and they use it to oppose the elites. In performing populism, the leader is seen as the savior elite who shows strength, defiance, and heroism. Koning adds that as the representative of the people voicing their will, populists conduct strategies to mobilize people and gain power.
In the Netherlands in 2001 in the era of Pim Fortuyn as a populist leader, Christianity was used to construct a nostalgic authentic past against the ‘Islamic invasions’. By normalizing the perspective of cultural heritage, tradition, and identity, political parties focus on the struggle against threats from outsiders. Toward its development, Koning argues that populism has become a euphemism for racists and a threat to democracy since it is softened into centrist politics.
The service of narratives
Rev. Verburg recalls the situation where people in the Netherlands objected to the presence of migrants and the presence of Muslim asylum seekers. They chose the right-wing government, in favor of the immigration crisis and Islamic phobia. The populist political party eventually won the election and raised power. He states that populism is a narrative and people need to understand the power of the narrative of religion and how it should be told today.
Every political direction needs a narrative but it does not need to be logical or coherent to convince and attract people. People tend to match the narrative with their experience, find it relatable, and thus trust that it is true. Rev. Verburg continues that given such narratives that offer solutions in reality, people rely on the memory of the past and long for nostalgic nationalism. The only power to reduce populism and polarizing narratives is the alternative counter-narratives.
In relation to the recent election in the Netherlands, Rev. Verburg finds that people lost trust in government authority and churches and they voted for a populist party. The power of the narrative of religion is suggested to balance the relationship of the state, religious community, and cultural groups in open dialogues. Through individual relationships, religious narratives contribute to change in reflection in personal life and relation with God, and later interreligious encounters with other people.
Religious political narratives and the challenges
In the dynamics of political Islam, Suhadi claims that Indonesia has become more open to the Islamic movements of the right-wing Indonesian populists. He mentions Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), Islamic Defenders Front (Front Pembela Islam – FPI), and Party of Prosperous Justice (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera – PKS) of which the latter show support to the government and displays ambiguity with a merger with other political parties.
In response to religious extremism and terrorism, the Minister of Religious Affairs launched a religious moderation project in 2019. Suhadi continues that in the political concern in religion there is a strong shift toward the decreasing polarization. State intervention in religion may become insignificant therefore it should lead to inclusivity.
The threat to democracy in the Netherlands may begin from fake nationalism, while in Indonesia it is triggered mainly by religious extremism with challenges on religious moderation, fueled by massive social media usage. With fewer and fewer young people becoming interested in politics in both countries, discussion on political implications is needed for the younger generations. It can be accompanied by a religious perspective or education with the individual approach. It should be a topic of ongoing dialogue, as suggested by Rev. Verburg, to be a further reconciliation between one person and another after a dispute, as in human salvation toward the brothers and sisters.
