Arsekal Salim

Arsekal Salim is a Lecturer at the Faculty of Shari`a and Law, the State Islamic University (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, Indonesia. His research interests are Islamic legal studies, political Islam and Indonesian Islam. Some of his recent publications are "Sharia from Below in Aceh", Indonesia and Malay World, 32 (March 2004) and Shari`a and Politics in Modern Indonesia, Singapore: ISEAS, 2003. He was a postgraduate visiting student of interdisciplinary studies at McGill University, Canada (1999-2000).

Currently, he is completing his PhD thesis at the Law School, the University of Melbourne, Australia. His research project is "Islamisation of Laws in Pluralistic Society: Shari`a in Indonesia (1945-2005)".

The Future of the Unitary State (Negara Persatuan) of Indonesia

In the early times of the nation-state formation of Indonesia, the Unitary State (Negara Persatuan) was unanimously accepted as a state ideal. For the founding fathers of Indonesia, this kind of state would neither fuse itself with the largest group nor allies with the strongest group of Indonesian population. Instead, it recognises and respects the rights of every group or individual in the sense that they should be conscious that they are an organic part of the state and feel obliged to strengthen the unity and harmony among those parts. The National Unitary State, however, was soon shadowed by the rising propensities of the Fragmentary State. The Fragmentary State not only has developed a particular legal system that differentiates citizens based on their religions, but also has built a religious block that might endanger the unity and harmony among the citizens.

This paper discusses the future of the Unitary State of Indonesia in light of the increasing effort to unilaterally confine the national identity. The equality between citizens and plurality in some aspects of life are politically at the stake here. In fact, one has observed that there might be a threat to the diversity as well as the wholeness of Indonesia as a nation. This paper is seeking to offer a solution by looking at several possible compromises that may lead to the creation of a consensus among Indonesian people.