Yon Machmudi

Yon Machmudi received his Ph.D from the Faculty of Asian Studies, The Australian National University (ANU) Canberra in 2007, specializing in Islam in Southeast Asia. He then joined as a researcher the Transliteration Project at the Department of History, National University of Singapore (2005-2006) and the contemporary Islam in Southeast Asia Project at ANU (2006). He conducted a research on the Spiritual Journey Project in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA (2008-2009). His current research is on the Perceptions of Indonesia in the Middle East (2010-2011) and the Decline of Kyais’ Authority in Pesantren (2011-2012). He is now a lecturer at the Arabic Studies Program, Faculty of Humanities, University of Indonesia and the head of the research and training department at the Central for Middle East and Islamic Studies, University of Indonesia. His recent publications are “The emergence of New Santri in Indonesia, Journal of Indonesian Islam, vol. 02, number 01, June 2008, “Influences of Tasawwuf toward Ikhwanul Muslimin Movement (1928-1949),” Journal of Arabia, vol. 11 no. 22 October 2008-March 2009, Islamising Indonesia: the Rise of Jemaah Tarbiyah and the Prosperous Justice Party, Anu E-press 2008 and “Intellectuals or Housemaids: the Perception of Indonesia in Saudi Arabia” Journal of Arabia, vol. 12 no. 22 March 2009-October 2009.

Islamising Indonesia »

The Rise of Jemaah Tarbiyah and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS)

Authored by: Yon Machmudi

Publication date: November 2008

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) is the most interesting phenomenon in contemporary Indonesian politics. Not only is it growing rapidly in membership and electoral support, it is also bringing a new and markedly different approach to Islamic politics, one which has no precedent in Indonesian history. Understanding PKS and analysing its political behaviour presents challenges to scholars and observers. This is partly due to the fact that the party represents a new trend within Indonesian Islam which has few parallels with preceding movements. Yon Machmudi has rendered us a valuable service. In this book, he provides a thoughtful and authoritative context for viewing PKS. He critiques the existing categorisations for Indonesian Islam and points to their inadequacy when describing the PKS and the campus-based Tarbiyah movement from which it sprang. He reworks the santri typology, dividing it into convergent, radical and global substreams. This offers new possibilities for explaining the PKS phenomenon and assists in differentiating between various types of Islamic revivalism in contemporary Indonesia. It also allows a more understanding of the accommodatory stance which PKS has towards the state and other political forces. Yon’s text provides a good overview of the development of PKS from its Tarbiyah movement origins to its impressive success at the 2004 general elections. It considers the party’s attitude towards the issues of sharia implementation and community welfare and closes by examining the future challenges facing PKS. It is a well written and authoritative account from a scholar who has done wideranging research on the party.

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