There is no doubt that the influence of Islam on the political attitudes of some Muslims in Jombang has remained strong. It was understandable that parties other than PPP also used Islamic symbols to attract support from Muslims. Although PPP seemed to be the party which was eligible to use Islamic symbols because of its Islamic credentials, other parties also tried a more practical approach towards Muslims in an attempt to gain their support. Golkar had such an approach for a long time. Golkar, for example, established GUPPI, a joint effort in promoting pesantren education. Although GUPPI was supported by some ‘ulama, Golkar's intention in the formation of GUPPI was to use it as a means to encourage Muslims to give their support. A more recent institution established by Golkar for political purposes in Jombang is pengajian al-hidayah ^[40]. Al-hidayah is a more grounded pengajian activity in the sense that it has a wide audience, although not comparable to pengajian organised by PPP and NU. It has been established in all kecamatan, and in some villages. In contrast to other pengajian, al-hidayah is structurally under the management of the kecamatan office. PDI also tried to use Islamic symbols in its attempt to attract support from Muslim society, although in Jombang it did not have any method similar to Golkar to approach Muslims.

The influence of Islam on the electoral behaviour of Muslims in Jombang can be seen, for example, in the reasons given by Muslims for their support of PPP. In an interview, of 105 respondents who voted for PPP in the 1977 general election, 72.3 percent said that they did so because it was an Islamic party, and 21.0 percent said that they were affected by the lingkungan (social environment)^[41]. Only 1 respondent supported PPP because NU was a component of the party (see Table 6.6). In the following general elections, the same reasons held true for respondents. The data I obtained reveal that there was little variation in regard to respondents' voting behaviour in a number of elections.

(Source: questionnaire)

There was no difference in the situation before and after NU left PPP. The respondents seemed to decide which party to vote for long before the campaign was held. This applied especially to PPP supporters, who seemed to be more ideological and not influenced by the offers made by competing political parties. Despite the change in respondents' support for PPP from 105 respondents in the 1977 general election to 98 respondents in the 1982 general election, followed by another decrease in their number to 93 and to 92 respondents in 1987 and 1992 general election respectively (see Table 6.6 and 6.7), the percentage of respondents' reasons for voting for PPP varied slightly in these four general elections. PPP supporters who voted for this party because it was or was deemed to be an Islamic party accounted for 72.3 percent, 71.4 percent, 70.0 percent and 69.6 percent in the 1977, 1982, 1987 and 1992 general elections respectively.

n = 182

(Source: questionnaire)

It is interesting to note that the change in the respondents support for PPP was indicated by their support for Golkar. It was commonly held by some Muslim leaders in Jombang that former PPP supporters would support Golkar because Golkar was more acceptable to them than PDI. Golkar constitutes a mixed party of various groups, while PDI was a merger of nationalist and other religious parties, Catholic and Christian. Muslims feel uncomfortable supporting a party established by other religions. According to these leaders, there have been some Muslim figures in Golkar, such as those kiai from Pesantren Darul Ulum. However, the current political situation in Jombang is more complex. Some respondents whom I surveyed, for example, voted PDI in the 1992 general election although they previously voted PPP.

There were some factors which influenced few former PPP supporters to vote PDI in the 1987 and 1992 general elections. In the 1987 general election in Jombang, Muslims who were disappointed with the national PPP leadership under Naro changed their support to Golkar. These Golkar supporters who found no satisfaction with this party, but still disappointed with PPP, gave their support to PDI in the 1992 general election. The situation in Jombang indicated that this dissatisfaction spread among former PPP supporters. In Cukir, for example, a big poster to support PDI was hung at the market by a santri from Pesantren Tebuireng. It was also reported that a kiai from Brodot, western Jombang, supported PDI publicly.

The disappointment of PPP supporters actually followed the recent conflict between some kiai. To give an example, in Pesantren Tebuireng there were two opposing groups of Muslim supporters preceding the 1987 general election. The first tried to continue their support of PPP, while the others were inclined to support Golkar. The first was led by Kiai Syamsuri Badawi, who by that time taught in this pesantren, while the second group was led by Hajj Yusuf Hasyim, the leader of this pesantren. The action of the Pesantren Tebuireng santri who put up the poster in the 1992 general election not only reflected his disappointment but also a wider disappointment among the santri over the conflict between Islamic leaders in the previous election^[42].

Despite the decrease in the PPP share of the vote, some Muslims continued to support this party. There is an interesting point to highlight in regard to this continuing support for PPP. A majority of respondents supporting PPP in the 1992 general election still regarded this party as an Islamic party. This is because Muslims at the grassroots level either did not know that PPP had changed its Islamic base to Pancasila in 1985, or were unconcerned about it. Among its supporters, PPP was still regarded as representing the interests of Islamic society, regardless of whether it was still officially an Islamic party. This situation was sustained by some kiai in Jombang who continued to support PPP, despite the fact that NU had formally left the party.

Muslims' view of PPP seems to be enduring, a factor which accounts for society's continuing support for the party. This is because some Muslims did not know that PPP had changed its Islamic base to Pancasila^[43] in 1985. My findings in Jombang indicate that only 26.4 percent of the respondents mentioned that the present day PPP is different from the political organisation prior to 1985 (see Table 6.8). Among those who mentioned this difference, 18.7 percent attributed it to the change in the party's base; and 31.2 percent referred to the dissociation of NU from PPP. The majority of the respondents (68.1 percent), however, did not consider that there had been any great change in the nature of PPP. It is thus understandable that they continued to support the party. For the few people who knew of PPP's change in ideological basis, their continuing support for the party is due to religious reasons. In their opinion, PPP is the only party in which all the leaders are Muslims. Moreover, this perspective derives from a wasiat (lit. last will and testament) of a great kiai in Jombang, Adlan Ali, who called PPP ‘the house of Muslims’^[44]. This wasiat was supported by a fatwa of Kiai Syamsuri Badawi suggesting that “umat Islam wajib mendukung PPP” (Muslim society is obliged religiously to support PPP). Such a wasiat and fatwa ^[45] are socially important, since they were spoken of at a time when Muslim society in Jombang, especially NU members, were bewildered by the political situation marked by conflict between leading NU figures in the second half of the 1980s. These wasiat and fatwa have become symbols to reunify a large part of NU society in Jombang, especially the tarekat followers, and remind them of the moral necessity to return to their house (that is, to support PPP). 

n = 182

(Source: questionnaire)

Society's support for PPP as an Islamic political party is closely related to the ‘Islamic’ political ethos which had and still has a strong influence on the attitude of Javanese Muslims. This ethos has placed Islam as the dominant ideas which continuously remind Muslims to behave according to their values. It has become a driving force which engenders a feeling of discomfort among those who ignore it. Some examples can be found among those who continued to support PPP regardless of the pressure or even threats from other people. Although this ethos as a variable is not the sole factor, it greatly influenced Muslims' political behaviour. A young man of twenty told me that he felt that he had to support PPP because all his family and friends, as well as other people in his village, supported the party. Although he had no ideological reason to support PPP — he did not mention its relation with Islam and he did not come from a devout family — he felt ashamed to support another party. His attitude was manifested by his voting for PPP in the election^[46]. This case is one of few examples which indicate that the ‘Islamic’ political ethos continues to be strongly embedded and influences Muslims' political behaviour. Earlier supporting PPP was usually accompanied by a feeling of religious obligation, but in the 1987 and 1992 general elections it had no religious sanction, since NU allowed its members to vote for any political organisation (which meant there was no religious legitimacy behind the feeling of obligation). However, as the Islamic political ethos is embedded in the consciousness of devout Muslims, it still exerted moral pressure to remain in support of PPP. It was this Islamic ethos which propelled young Javanese to support PPP.

As the significance of Muslim's shared experience in Jombang has constantly been informed by Islamic values and norms, Islam has therefore predisposed its members to hold certain political attitudes. A respondent suggested, for example, that the religious necessity to support PPP, especially when it was an Islamic party, was explicitly expected of all Muslims. Not only did the Islamic political party clearly constitute the vehicle that could realise Islamic ideals, but support for the party also had religious consequences.

Nevertheless, looking at the performance of PPP during the general election under the New Order (see Figure 6.1), we actually see a continuous change in regard to its gains. The change is more significant when we compare its share of the vote with that of the Islamic parties in the 1955 election^[47], although a significant number of Muslims continued to support the party even after the party changed its ideology to Pancasila. There were some factors which contributed to the change in the PPP's share of the vote. The first was the continuous political pressure put upon devout Muslims in Jombang preceding the general election. The second was the extensive bureaucratisation by which an increasing number of Muslims were absorbed into the government offices, making them unable to refuse the government's encouragement to support Golkar. Finally there was the change in the PPP's ideological base from Islam to Pancasila, a situation which placed PPP in the same position as the other political parties.