Islam against the West that is not related to the main theme of the book’s title.Indeed, New Zealand is not even mentioned once in the concluding chapter,which gave this reviewer the impression that the book was finished in a rush, andnot in a considered manner.

The lacuna of knowledge on New Zealand’s Muslims and Islamic dimensionsof multiculturalism means that, despite the book’s analytical deficiencies, it islikely to remain a vital primary source on Islam and Muslims in New Zealand forIslamic Studies, Cultural Studies and New Zealand Studies scholars into theforeseeable future. The book will also be of great value to general readersinterested in the nature of Islam and Muslims in the contemporary world.

Scott FlowerUniversity of MelbourneE-mail: scott.flower@unimelb.edu.audoi:10.1093/jis/etu068

Published online 1 October 2014

Contemporary Developments in Indonesian Islam: Explaining the‘Conservative Turn’

Edited by Martin van Bruinessen (Singapore: Institute ofSoutheast Asian Studies, 2013), xxxivþ240 pp. Price $29.90. EAN978–9814414579.

One of the puzzles of Islamic studies in Indonesia in the last fifteen years has beenthe juxtaposition of political liberalization after the fall of Suharto in 1998 and aso-called ‘Conservative Turn’ in religious life from around the same time. Despitea very open-minded Muslim leader rising to the presidency in 1999 in the personof Abdurrahman Wahid, Indonesia has seen the growth of conservative Islamicgroups and the growth of conservatism within existing Islamic groups, even therise of religiously-motivated violence, causing concern among both internationaland domestic observers.

This edited volume on the ‘Conservative Turn’ is neither alarmist nordismissive of the new trend. Instead, Martin van Bruinessen, an emeritusprofessor of Utrecht University and a leading light of Indonesian Islamic studies,and his four Indonesian contributors evaluate the nature of Indonesia’s newfoundconservatism and its path so far. The level of detail presented is tremendous, theselection of topics and identification of trends astute. This book definitely movesthe conversation in Indonesian Islamic studies forward.

It begins with an overview by van Bruinessen of what has constituted the‘Conservative Turn’ and where its roots lie. In an analysis driven by the idea thatthis trend is made up of ‘temporary responses to the tremors of the politicallandscape rather than indications of a pervasive change of attitude of Indonesia’sMuslim majority’ (p. 2), organizations come to the forefront of the story ofreligious change. That focus on organizations also drives the whole volume.

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In the second chapter, van Bruinessen maps out the major Islamic organizationsin Indonesia today: social, political, theological, activist, quietist, national, local,old and new. This chapter should be required reading for any student justbeginning to study religion in Indonesia. Although more regional organizationscould be added (like Darul Dakwah wal Irsyad, mentioned by a later contributor,and Nahdlatul Wathan), it is immensely useful for both its breadth and itstypology of organizations.

Chapters 3 and 4 are excellent analyses of major Islamic organizations, withacute insight into the implications of the ‘Conservative Turn’. Moch Nur Ichwan,a lecturer at the Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University in Yogyakarta, unpacksthe Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI), a quasi-state-sponsored board that issuesfatwas, certifies products as Aal:l, and advocates for conservative causes in thenational political sphere. The chapter first chronicles the relationship betweenMUI and the various Indonesian governments since 1998, and then examines inturn the subjects of Aal:l certification, Islamic banking, public moralitycampaigns, religious education, religious minority groups, and theologicalpurity. Ichwan demonstrates how MUI has become more conservative (hedescribes it as a ‘puritanical moderate Islamic organization’) and simultaneouslymore activist, that is, more eager to voice an opinion on all kinds of issues andmore willing to work with other groups to put those opinions into practice. In thefollowing chapter, Ahmad Najib Burhani, a researcher at the Indonesian Instituteof Sciences and a young activist in the mass Islamic organizationMuhammadiyah, turns his attention to the contest between conservatives andprogressives in that organization. Burhani argues that while Muhammadiyah hasdefinitely become more conservative since its 2005 national congress, this waslargely in response to perceived threats from external, more conservative groups,like Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS, at the timeIndonesia’s leading Islamic party). Already since 2010, there are some signalsthat Muhammadiyah’s hard line is softening.

Chapters 5 and 6, although they also reference organizational life in theirtitles, actually function as regional case studies. Mujiburrahman, a lecturer at theState Institute for Islamic Studies in Banjarmasin known for his work onChristian–Muslim relations, contributes a chapter on the organizations pushingfor the implementation of Islamic law in South Sulawesi, currently Indonesia’smost politically dynamic province outside of Java. By chronicling the shiftingalliances that gave rise to the Committee for the Preparation of theImplementation of Islamic Law (KPPSI), the opposition to the KPPSI, andsome of the examples of local Islamic regulations, Mujiburrahman shows themethods and the limits of Indonesia’s recent Shar;6a drive. In the final contentchapter, Muhammad Wildan of the Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic Universitywrites about the paradox of Solo, a Central Javanese town known for its violentIslamist radicals but numerically dominated by non-pious Muslims. This storyincludes the famous centre of religiously-motivated terrorism in Indonesia,the Ngruki pesantren, but the network connected to that school is just one groupamong many. Wildan also usefully highlights local groups pushing a conservative

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orthodoxy (short of violent extremism), showing the importance of local trends

that are often isolated from national groups—or even able to flourish because ofthe absence of national groups. Both of these chapters tend towards description,

rather than analysis, with more historical backstory than is necessary. A deeper

look at the local, national, and theoretical implications of the movementsdescribed would help to flesh out the grassroots level of the ‘Conservative Turn’

commensurate with the clear thinking of the book as a whole.To conclude, van Bruinessen contributes a short postscript on ‘The Survival of

Liberal and Progressive Muslim Thought in Indonesia’. He notes how non-

conservative groups, and even groups far to the left of Indonesia’s norm like theLiberal Islam Network (JIL), continue as active organizations but without

dominating the national discourse as they did in the 1980s and 1990s.It is great to have an institutional perspective on Indonesian Islam, including

issues like conservatism and Islamic law that are so often framed non-

institutionally. Whereas popular articles in the press, and sometimes even

pronouncements from Indonesian officials or organizational leaders themselves,generally portray Indonesia’s Islamic organizations as the bulwark against

creeping extremism, articles in this volume demonstrate how those very

organizations are actually subject to exactly the same ebb and flow ofconservative and liberal values as the wider Muslim society.

The book also points to, but does not unpack directly, the question of whetherthe field of Indonesian Islamic studies needs to shake up its ideas about

institutional dominance by a few long-established groups. For several decades,

discussion of Islam in Indonesia has been fed by studies of the Nahdlatul Ulama(a Sh:fi6;-school mass organization, often reported as the largest Islamic

organization in the world) and Muhammadiyah (a post-madh:hib mass

organization with a modernist identity). The outline of organizational life in

Indonesian Islam presented by van Bruinessen in ch. 2 demonstrates how manyother groups are flourishing in society; Burhani shows in ch. 4 just how much

new groups (especially the so-called ‘Tarbiyah’ activists pushing a revival of

political Islam since the 1980s) have challenged the Muhammadiyah; and theregional profiles in chs. 5 and 6 are clear case studies where the national mass

organizations are not the main players locally. This book, then, is a model for

balancing the study of long-standing, national organizations with the newer,vibrant organizations—be they conservative, liberal, or theologically diverse.

There are plenty of other topics to study in relation to Indonesia’s‘Conservative Turn’, some of which are already being undertaken by other

scholars. We should hope that as the scholarly community pursues those topics, it

will follow the model of this excellent volume.

Kevin W. FoggOxford Centre for Islamic StudiesEmail: kevin.fogg@history.ox.ac.ukdoi:10.1093/jis/etu061

Published online 12 August 2014

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