Women and Politics of Moral and Islamic Populism In West Sumatra: Exclusionism And Uniformity

The revitalization of local custom and decentralization are the entrances to the strengthening of populism. Decentralization has brought changes in social and political boundaries in West Sumatra. This paper uses a qualitative method by conducting in-depth interviews, observations and collecting the documentation. Decentralization provides opportunities for regions to implement regional regulations with sharia nuances. Meanwhile, conservative Islamic groups in West Sumatra encourage politicians to promote morality in the public sphere. Support from local politicians is a logical consequence of the strength of Islam in West Sumatra. In the end, decentralization became a stimulus for the strengthening of Islamic Populism in West Sumatra. From a populist perspective, moral politics is needed to distinguish between good and evil, and then in West Sumatra, exclusionism is carried out to exclude groups. Exclusionism is an attempt to differentiate and, at the same time, purify, which according to Taggart (2000), is an attempt to construct an identity as an awareness of who is not part of us rather than who we are. Through the Local Regulation nuanced Sharia in West Sumatra, Moral politics provides an opportunity to exclude groups considered morally different. It is not only women who are vulnerable to the excesses of exclusion but also minority groups such as LGBT and non-Muslims.