Democratic Decline in Indonesia: The Role of Religious Authorities

The Council of Indonesian Islamic Scholars (MUI) has exerted increased political influence in Indonesian politics since the fall of Suharto. Constituted by representatives from various Muslim civil society organizations, the Council was originally intended by Suharto to serve as a political representative for Indonesia’s two largest civil society organizations, the Muhammadiyah and the Nahdlatul Ulama. This article argues that in addition to its own non-democratic structures and its fatwas opposing democratic values, the MUI has contributed to Indonesia’s democratic stagnation and decline in two ways: by undermining the authority of elected state representatives through its anti-pluralist stance and its epistocratic claims, and by imperiling the fragile but functioning balance of religion and the state through its undermining of the long-established religious civil society organizations.

主流化极端主义：印度尼西亚民主衰退中的宗教权威

關鍵詞： 伊斯蘭教，民主， 宗教權威， 印度尼西亞，威權主義化。

自苏哈托下台后，印度尼西亚伊斯兰学者委员会 （MUI）在印度尼西亚政治中发挥了越来越大的影响。 印度尼西亚伊斯兰学者委员会由各个穆斯林公民社会组织代表构成，最初由苏哈托发起，目的是为印度尼西亚最大的两个公民社会组织——穆哈玛蒂亚(Muhammadiyah) 以及伊斯兰教士联合会 (the Nahdlatul Ulama)提供政治代表。 本文提出，除了自身的非民主架构以及反对民主价值的教令之外，印度尼西亚伊斯兰学者委员会通过两种方式对印尼的民主停滞和民主衰退起到作用：  通过反多元主义的立场和知识精英主义 (epistocratic)的主张破坏当选的国家代表的权威，以及通过破坏长期建立的宗教公民社会组织来危害雖然脆弱但是還仍然在起作用的宗教与国家之间的平衡。

Translated from English by Li Guo