Fundamentalism and religious dissent: the LPPI's mission to eradicate the Ahmadiyya in Indonesia

Abstract

The most active anti-heretical organisation in Indonesia, the Lembaga Penelitian dan Pengkajian Islam (LPPI – Institute for Islamic Study and Research), has benefitted from the process of democratisation after the downfall of the Suharto regime in 1998. It has taken exclusionary stances towards what it considers to be heretical religious groups, particularly the Ahmadiyya. Established in the 1980s, the LPPI was marginalised and suppressed by the Suharto regime, and its leader, Amin Djamaluddin, was arrested several times for placing himself at loggerheads with the regime. LPPI, however, survived this repression and even found its momentum after 1998. Since then, it has been able to propagate its mission to root out and eradicate heretical beliefs and even gain support from the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI – Council of Indonesian Ulama) and the government. This article studies the political and religious roles of the LPPI in promoting a strict and standardised Islam before and after 1998 by answering the following questions: What theological and political positions were adopted by this organisation in relation to the Ahmadiyya? How have the Persatuan Islam (Persis – Muslim Union) and the Dewan Dakwah Islamiyah Indonesia (DDII – Indonesian Council for Islamic Propagation) influenced the LPPI in opposing nonconformist religious groups? Why did they disseminate anti-Ahmadiyya discourse, provoke people to oppose the Ahmadiyya, and lobby the government to ban this religious community? Did strategies to dismantle ‘deviant religious groups’ differ between the Suharto era and the post-Suharto era?