Muslim Localizing Democracy

Abstract

The political dynamic of village in Indonesian New Order has two faces. On one hand, it is conditioned by the feudalism of village’s leader which is monopolized from one generation to other generations. On the other hand, religion can be an alternative to challenge this feudalism. I explore this condition through an examination of the role of kalebun (the village’s leader) and kiai in a non-pesantren village in Madura, Indonesia. In Madura society, kiai and its pesantren take important role in the process of Islamic institutionalization. Yet, in this case, the absence of pesantren enforces the kiai to be counter-balance of the feudalism of the kalebun. And, the kiai claims that this counter-balance is on behalf of democracy. This article concludes with a discussion of the requirement of democracy in “Islamic” local politics as well as in search of good local governance in post Indonesian New Order.