Author: Alexander R Arifianto, RSIS

The 2024 Indonesian elections are fast approaching. Prospective presidential candidates are already on the campaign trail and holding ‘horse-trading’ negotiations to select their vice-presidential nominees. It is a good time to re-examine the potential role of a powerful interest group that increasingly has sway in the largest Muslim-majority nation — conservative Islamists.

‘New’ Islamists movements — including the Tarbiyah (religious nurturing) movement affiliated with the Prosperous Justice Party, Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) and multiple Salafi groups — are long known for their religious activism which sought to reform Indonesian Islam and encourage Muslims to return to the fundamental Islamic teachings of the Quran and the Hadith. These movements emerged as a powerful political force during the 2016–2017 Action to Defend Islam rallies against former Jakarta governor Basuki ‘Ahok’ Tjahaja Purnama.