ISLAM AND STATE: A STUDY OF THE LIBERAL ISLAMIC NETWORK IN INDONESIA, 1999-2004

Indonesia is rich with many brands of Islam, ranging from radical to liberal. In the global fight against terrorism, it has become a matter of some urgency to study how Islamic fringe groups are making their presence felt. These groups have yet to be the focus of Western media in the same way that radical Islam is. Liberal or moderate Islam’s contribution to the political discourse has been inadequately explored. 2 This paper examines the significance of Jaringan Islam Liberal (JIL) or the Liberal Islamic Network movement during the period 1999-2004. This study will analyze the role and contribution of JIL in terms of its impact on the discourse of Islam and state relations in Indonesia during this period. It analyses the social involvement of JIL within the context of the post-Soeharto era. My main concern will be to address how the JIL responded to the Islam-state relationship in light of the interpretability of Islam during the period in which Islamic political groups (both moderate and radical) appeared in Indonesia following the fall of Soeharto in 1998. The key question