Zainut Tauhid embraced his Doctoral degree at SPs UIN Jakarta

SPs, UIN News Online – Indonesian Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Zainut Tauhid Sa’adi embraced his doctoral degree at the Graduate School (SPs) of UIN Jakarta. He successfully defended his doctoral dissertation entitled “Kontestasi Ideologi Politik Gerakan Islam Indonesia di Ruang Publik Digital” on Wednesday (08/05/2021).

The virtual open defence doctoral promotion session attracted the attention of various groups. It was witnessed by approximately 350 visitors who were broadcast via the Zoom platform. In fact, he also received congratulations from the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, Ma'ruf Amin.

Present in the event, the Indonesian Minister of Religious Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, Indonesian Minister of National Development Planning Suharso Monoarfa, and Head of the Pancasila Ideology Development Agency (BPIP) Yudian Wahyudi.

At the Doctoral Promotion Session, Zainut Tauhid achieve the Satisfactory predicate with a score of 3.72. In addition, the open defense was attended also by a testing team and assessment team, namely Asep Saepuddin Jahar (Director of SPs UIN Jakarta and the Professor of the Faculty of Sharia and Law) , Amany Lubis (Rector of UIN Jakarta and Professor of the Faculty of Sharia and Law, Zulkifli (Professor of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Didin Saepuddin (Professor of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities), Masykuri Abdillah (Professor of the Faculty of Sharia and Law), and M Suparta (Professor of the Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training).

In his dissertation, Zainut Tauhid said that the digital public space is considered to have provided the Islamist movement to produce and distribute alternative political ideological discourses outside the narrow boundaries of formal institutions and electoral politics.

However, the absence of formal institutional channels and access restrictions to electoral politics do not prevent Islamist groups from being political and influencing society and the state.

Although the government seeks to limit the structure of political opportunities for Islamist groups, this does not prevent them from influencing public perception and opinion in the digital space.

“Therefore, mainstream Islamic groups such as NU and Muhammadiyah play a major role in stemming the radical and anti-system narrative propagated by Islamist group while continuing to defend the Pancasila and NKRI as a result of mutual consensus,” said Zainut.

Furthermore, both the Islamist movement and mainstream Islamic organizations both use digital media creatively and productively in order to market the discourse of political ideology they believe in to Indonesian Muslim cyber community.

He also said that the Islamist movement believes that the downturn of Indonesian Muslims started from the implementation of Western secular ideology in the life of the nation and state. The solution to overcome these problems is the enforcement of Islamic ideology and the comprehensive application of Islamic sharia in the life of the nation and state.

“The framing of alternative political ideological discourses constructed by Islamist movements such as HTI and FPI shows that they use the identity frame as the main frame in formulating problems and solutions for Indonesian Muslims,” he said.

In order to propagate the discourse of alternative political ideology, he continued, the Islamist movement uses the internet and social media as media for bridging and expanding the frame. They produce ideological discourses in the form of texts, images, audio-visuals, memes, infographics and so on to influence public perception and encourage Muslims to participate in collective action.

He also revealed that the frame of collective action proffered by the Islamist movement had to deal with the counter action frame proffered by mainstream Islamic organizations, such as NU and Muhammadiyah.

These two Islamic organizations creatively and productively counters radical and anti-system narratives in the digital public while at the same time affirming their ideological position and commitment to Pancasila and the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) as the "State of Agreement" (Dar al-Mithaq) and the "State of the Covenant". and Testimony” (Dar al-'Ahd wa al-Shahadah).

He also explained that in recent years, the government has become more serious in stemming the influence of Islamist movements that promote alternative political ideologies in the life of the nation and state. This is reflected in the products of political, legal and institutional policies designed as instruments to limit the movement of Islamist groups.

The policies rolled out by the government are translated into at least five models. First, the establishment of laws and regulations, as reflected in the enactment of Law no. 5 of 2018, Law no. 16 of 2017 and Law no. 19 of 2016.

Second, the establishment of new government institutions/agencies, especially BPIP. Third, mainstreaming of religious moderation. Fourth, by blocking radically charged websites and social media. Fifth, the revocation of permits for radical mass organizations, as reflected in the disbandment of HTI and FPI.

“This policy was effective to stem the influence of the Islamist movement in recent years,” said Zainut. (usa/ns)