Before discussing my findings concerning the relationship between Islam and politics in Jombang, I would like to describe briefly the characteristics of Jombang society in general which relate to the political attitudes of its members. First, the population of Jombang has long been supported by a strong Islamic environment. One of the factors contributing to this is the existence of pesantren. Although not all kecamatan (district) have had a pesantren for a long time, the development of education generally in Jombang has made it possible for numerous pesantren and madrasa to be established in various kecamatan since the second half of this century. Secondly, the influence of the kiai on this society is sufficiently strong to ensure that the kiai are socially followed by Muslims at the grassroots level. As the kiai always try to apply Islamic concepts in their socio-political life, the Islamic environment has flourished in the life of Jombang society affecting Muslims' political behaviour in various ways. Thirdly, tarekat practice is embedded strongly in the life of many Jombang Muslims. As the tarekat focuses on exercising people's religiosity, the religious attachment resulting from this exercise influences the political attitude of its members. The wider practice of tarekat by Muslims in Jombang has enabled their actions to be inspired and influenced by Islamic values and norms.

Nevertheless, the question of the extent to which Islamic tenets and ideas influence the socio-political behaviour of the society can still be posed. I will begin to answer this question by referring to what is understood of politics by Muslims in Jombang. As commonly stated by Islamic leaders, Islam should play a comprehensive role in all aspects of human life. Thus politics is inseparable from Islam itself (cf. Samson, 1978), and Muslim society needs to establish a political system which is grounded on an Islamic framework^[4]. In the kiai's view, Islam and politics are like two sides of the same coin: Islam is the ideal and politics is the means to implement or realise that ideal in the life of the society.

In Jombang, the political orientation of society is expressed clearly through the people's affiliation with Islamic political parties. From the composition of the seats in the local parliament in 1957, it is evident that NU as an Islamic party was dominant in comparison to the other parties in Jombang. NU had won 14 out of 35 seats (Ward, 1974:167) in the local parliament. If we combine the number of seats obtained by NU and Masjumi^[5], using Geertz's (1965) and Feith's (1974) frameworks that relate society's religiosity to their (relative) political support, we can surmise that around half of Jombang voters were Muslims devoted enough to commit themselves to Islamic parties.

Despite variation between all the kecamatan in Jombang in terms of people's attachment to Islam, the greater share of the vote for Islamic parties in that election is understandable since Islam in Jombang was supported by the existence of so many pesantren. The kiai played a significant role in getting support from the Muslim society since a kiai has generally been a charismatic figure whose authority is greatly acknowledged (cf. Dhofier, 1982). Through his own charisma, a kiai could induce political action since the power of his charisma was imbued with religious legitimacy. The kiai in Jombang were members of NU at that time, so that it was NU (as a political party) that obtained higher votes in the 1955 election in Jombang.

The crushing of the PKI in late 1966 could have contributed to increased support for NU and other Islamic parties in the following elections. As most people involved in the crushing in Jombang were Muslims, it seemed to those supporters of the former Communist party, whose Muslimness was nominally acknowledged, that to join Muslim groups, especially NU, was a necessity, since Islam could be a safe haven^[6]. In addition, some kiai offered a protection for those communist members who wanted to reassert their Islam. The kiai could guarantee the safety of these people against their ‘pengganyang’ (lit. destroyers). In Ngepeh village, for example, all communist members were saved from death, because they were helped by a kiai who protected them from violence. However, the unavoidable killing of so many PKI members in Jombang has led them to support parties other than the Islamic one. A feeling of enmity among those people whose parents were killed has been kept alive. I was told by an informant that a number of children of former PKI members in Mojowarno converted to Catholicism. It is therefore understandable that many former PKI members and sympathisers did not support the Islamic parties in the elections during the New Order government.

The emergence of Golkar in the 1971 general election has changed the Islamic parties' vote shares. This election was marked by a decrease in the Islamic vote generally. This decrease not only initiated this tendency but also indicated a change in support of former Islamic party voters. In this election, the NU political party only obtained 13 seats in Jombang, while another Islamic party, Parmusi^[7], obtained only 1 seat. The decrease in NU's vote was in line with its decrease at the national level. In the 1971 general election, the government party, Golkar, had to compete with NU as the biggest Islamic political party. Furthermore the politics of non-cooperation launched by one of NU's leaders, Subchan Z.E, resulted in government pressure on NU^[8]. The kiai in villages^[9], for example, were often subjected to psychological pressures. Very often NU members could not hold any pengajian (religious gathering), unless they received approval from the local police office, which was usually hard to obtain. The kiai were usually approached by village officers who asked them to support Golkar. This political pressure resulted in a situation where many people did not dare to express their support for NU and other Islamic parties.

In the following years, Islamic political parties in Jombang experienced a continuous decline. After the four Islamic parties, that is NU, Parmusi, SI and Perti, merged to form PPP in 1973, PPP never regained the vote which NU attained in the 1955 general election in Jombang. The decline in the PPP vote was even more evident when some kiai supported the political manoeuvre of ‘penggembosan’ (lit. to deflate as in deflating a tyre; to weaken) during the 1987 general election campaign. The local PPP in Jombang, which received 13 seats (40 percent of the 32 seats) in the 1977 and 1982 general elections^[10], also experienced a significant decline in the 1987 election by getting only 9 (25 percent) of the 36 seats available in the local parliament. Although in the 1992 election, this party increased its share to 11 seats (30 percent), it was not comparable to NU's performance in the 1955 general election.

It is interesting to note that general elections in Jombang have been marked by competition between the Islamic party and Golkar since 1971. Campaigners for both parties strived to increase their party's share of the votes. Similar to PPP, Golkar in Jombang oscillated in its vote attainment. On the other hand, the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), a amalgam of five nationalist and other religious parties, obtained a significant increase from 1 seat in the 1977 election to 2, 4 and 8 seats in the 1982, 1987 and 1992 elections respectively. 

Table 6.1 shows that Golkar's decrease in the 1982 general election was balanced by an increase in PDI's vote share to 6.2 percent, while the PPP's decrease in the 1987 election was balanced by the increase in Golkar's and PDI's vote shares to 62.8 percent and 11.4 percent respectively. Although Golkar received a majority of the votes in the 1987 general election, it experienced a significant decrease in the 1992 general election. The decrease not only marked the return of some former PPP voters, who had supported Golkar in the 1987 general election to support PPP, but also marked a general loss of Golkar supporters (compare with its vote attainment in the 1977 and 1982 general elections). Thus PDI's increase in the 1992 general election was matched by a decrease in Golkar's votes.

(Source: Partai Persatuan Pembangunan, 1982 and 1982a)

(Source: Dewan Pimpinan Cabang PPP, 1982)

These figures therefore indicate that while the competing Islamic party and Golkar oscillated and both sustained a decline in their share of votes, PDI, a minor party, as expressed by its share of votes in the 1971 general election, experienced a very impressive increase during general elections under the New Order government in Jombang. The factors which contributed to PPP's decrease were the change in its ideological base and the penggembosan by NU activists, while the factor which contributed to Golkar's decrease was the emergence of dissatisfaction among its supporters. An analysis by a political activist in Jombang reveals that these dissatisfied supporters, such as the Chinese^[12], changed their support to PDI, especially in the 1992 general election. They were unlikely to change their support to PPP because they had historically never given their support to this party. PDI in the 1992 general election also received support from former PPP supporters who had voted Golkar in the 1987 general election, although traditionally this was less likely since former PPP supporters, who were largely devout Muslims, felt uncomfortable supporting PDI, a party with Catholic and other religious background. The fact that PPP did not regain all its lost supporters in the 1992 general election indicated that some of its supporters who had voted Golkar in the 1987 general election might have given their support to PDI in the 1992 general election^[13].

While the pattern of electoral behaviour of Muslims in Jombang indicates a continuous but slight change on the part of the former Islamic party, PPP, with the exception of the 1987 general election results^[14], the pattern of voting in each kecamatan remained the same. The general change in electoral pattern in terms of attachment to Islamic and non-Islamic parties showed little regional variation. The strength of the Islamic party shown in certain kecamatan since the 1971 general election has remained, while the strength of non-Islamic parties has remained in other kecamatan. The continuous slight decrease in PPP's vote share occured evenly in all kecamatan, a situation which made its relative strength between regions constant.

In the 1971, 1977 and 1982 general elections, the Islamic parties obtained more than 40 percent of the votes in nine kecamatan. These kecamatan were Diwek, Perak, Tembelang, Mojoagung, Sumobito, Kesamben, Peterongan, Ngoro and Mojowarno (see Table 6.3). In five of these kecamatan the Islamic parties received the majority of votes, that is more than 50 percent. On the other hand, the Islamic parties received fewest votes (30 percent and less) in seven kecamatan. These kecamatan were Gudo, Ploso, Plandaan, Kabuh, Kudu, Bareng and Wonosalam. I have labelled the former group kecamatan hijau (green kecamatan) and the latter kecamatan merah (red kecamatan)^[15]. The term kecamatan hijau indicates that the Islamic party in these areas received strong support. Green (hijau) is often used as a symbol of Islam. On the other hand, kecamatan merah are areas where the Islamic party did not receive significant support. Although red generally represents PDI, I use the term here to simply indicate all kecamatan in which the Islamic party lacked support. Furthermore I have given no colour designation to Kecamatan Jombang to indicate that here the support for Islamic party was in balance with that for the non-Islamic parties (see Figure 6.2).   

The figures in Table 6.3 indicate that all kecamatan in the northern region of Jombang could be categorised as kecamatan merah (see Figure 6.2). These regions, which are located on the northern side of the Brantas river, are less developed economically compared to those in the southern region. Kabuh, for example, is well known as “daerah minus” (a deficient area). Although economic conditions might not determine the support for a political party, it is interesting that PPP received the highest support in economically well developed regions. In Wonosalam, also known as ‘daerah minus’ although it is located in the southern region of Jombang, PPP also did not receive large support; while in Diwek and Ngoro, which are well developed kecamatan, its support from Muslims was greater. In addition, the highest Islamic parties vote share in the 1971 general election occurred in the kecamatan where pesantren had been established for a long time. It is interesting that almost all kecamatan hijau have pesantren which were established before 1960. Only Kecamatan Kesamben does not have a pesantren. Some of these kecamatan have two to three pesantren, which were established long before Indonesian independence.

(Source: Partai Persatuan Pembangunan, 1982 and 1982a)^[16]

In the kecamatan merah, only two have pesantren, that is Ploso and Bareng. These pesantren are relatively recent, since they were built in 1974 and 1985 respectively. However, the presence of a pesantren in a certain kecamatan was not the sole factor which contributed to support for the Islamic parties. Kecamatan Jombang, for example, had two great pesantren established long before Indonesian independence. In this region, however, the Islamic parties only received 36.3 percent of the votes in the 1971 general election. This kecamatan is the most urbanised of all kecamatan ^[17], so that although its pesantren have been established for a long time, other factors contributed to people's electoral behaviour there.

It is interesting to note that the 1977 general election showed an increase in the national vote share of PPP as the Islamic party. Despite general NU disappointment, the merger of four Islamic political parties in 1973 unified Muslim politics and was successful in increasing the vote share of the Islamic political party, so that some regarded the merger as a “blessing in disguise”. However, the Islamic party's vote share in various kecamatan in Jombang showed a decrease in the 1977 general election. In this election, the Islamic party in Jombang only succeeded in increasing its votes in two kecamatan, Mojoagung and Sumobito. It seemed that this situation was affected by NU disappointment with the merger. Nevertheless, in all kecamatan in which it received more than 40 percent of votes in 1977, PPP succeeded in increasing its votes share in the 1982 general election with the exception of Peterongan and Kesamben. In both these kecamatan PPP continued to decline until the 1987 general election. It is not easy to explain this exception. The only obvious thing is that in Peterongan a great ‘ulama, Kiai Musta‘in (the head of Pesantren Darul Ulum), joined Golkar prior to the 1977 general election. Because of his large influence, his defection might have contributed to the decrease in the Islamic party's votes in the following general elections in his kecamatan.

The same pattern held true for PPP in the 1977 general election in kecamatan merah. It experienced a decrease in all kecamatan. Similar to its experience in kecamatan hijau, in the 1982 general election PPP succeeded in regaining some of the votes it lost in the 1977 general election in all kecamatan merah, with the exception of Ploso and Plandaan. Despite being merah in social environment, Muslims in Ploso have actually had an influencial kiai, Kiai Muchtar Mu‘thi, who established a pesantren in 1974 and has been the murshid of Tarekat Shiddiqiyah. Since he has been close to Golkar for a long time, his political lead might not only have hindered PPP from increasing its vote share in this region but may have caused a decrease in its vote share, since some Muslims might follow his political lead.

In the 1987 general election, PPP in all kecamatan in Jombang received a smaller share of the vote compared to its vote attainment in the 1982 general election. The average decrease in PPP's vote share in kecamatan hijau was 34 percent. The highest decrease in these kecamatan occurred in Perak (58.9 percent), followed by Kesamben and Peterongan, with falls of 53.1 and 42.9 percent respectively (see Table 6.4). On the other hand, the average decrease in PPP vote share in kecamatan merah in the 1987 general election was about 49 percent. As the decrease in PPP's vote in this election related to NU's policy of ‘back to khittah’ and to the politics of deflating PPP (penggembosan) carried out by NU activists who were supported by a few kiai, the higher average level of decrease in kecamatan merah compared to kecamatan hijau reflected the lower conflict among NU kiai here. People support for PPP here was not so strong. Thus when some NU activists encouraged Muslims here to leave PPP, these PPP supporters could easily follow such encouragement, since there was no kiai who consistently prevented these people from leaving the party.

(Source: Panitia Pemilihan Daerah Tingkat II Jombang, 1977, 1987 and 1992).

In 1992, PPP in Jombang succeeded in increasing its vote share to 31.4 percent, an increase of about 22.2 percent from its vote attainment in the 1987 general election (see Table 6.1). This increase occurred in all kecamatan, both hijau and merah. Several factors contributed to this situation. The first was the absence of penggembosan. The few kiai who were pengembosan supporters not only let Muslims support PPP but also gave tacit support to this party. A tacit understanding between PPP and NU leaders also occurred^[18]. This was not only because they came from the same roots, that is NU, but also because the politics of penggembosan aimed mainly to show MI politicians that PPP would be powerless without NU's support. Nevertheless, this does not mean that PPP position in Jombang was similar to that in 1977. PPP was no longer formally an Islamic party, and NU members in Jombang did not feel uncomfortable supporting parties other than PPP. Some Muslims in Jombang began to view PPP differently, a situation which made it difficult for PPP to regain a position comparable to that gained by the Islamic parties in the 1971 general election.

Nevertheless, PPP remained an important means for Muslims to articulate their political interests. Many PPP supporters in villages in Jombang continued to maintain their earlier view of PPP. I would like to examine this situation in the last section of this chapter when I discuss Muslim motivations in supporting PPP and how they saw this party after it changed its Islamic base with Pancasila.