Hijacking Jihad’s Narratives in Indonesia’s Politics: A Perspective for the formulation of the Election Law

There is a noble purpose in holding a simultaneous election in Indonesia. It aims to achieve efficiency, effectiveness, equality, and continuation of political choices at two different levels: regional and central. It is expected that the simultaneous election will bring solid national leadership and strong community supports. Nevertheless, it is quite unexpected that many parties regretted the holding of this election model. One of reasons is that it turned to strengthen identity politics in Indonesia, as examplified by the accelerated use of the term jihad, such as “jihad against religious blashemy”; “jihad against cheating election”; and ‘jihad against anti-Islamic leaders.” This research attempts to examine the politicization of the word jihad in Indonesia’s politics. Wrong narratives in elucidating the meaning of jihad in the campaigns, lack of legal protection in the text of the Election Law No. 7/2017, and the ideal rule according to Islamic law will be the focus of this research. The result found that the term jihad has been hijacked to bind religious powers in Indonesia. The presence of strict rules is needed in order that the election contestants no longer use religious narratives to win the hearts of people in Indonesia’s politics.