The Rise of the Liberal Islam Network (JIL) in Contemporary Indonesia

Abstract

This paper seeks to shed some light on liberal Islamic movements in Indonesia, with specific reference to the Liberal Islam Network (Jaringan Islam Liberal [JIL]). It examines the network’s political, organizational, and intellectual origins, and also addresses an important alternative topic at a time when most scholarly research on contemporary Islam is focused on the phenomenon of Islamic fundamentalism.1 The article’s importance lies in its examination of the network’s rise in light of oversimplified views regarding contemporary Islam’s supposed homogeneity. JIL can be regarded as a social movement that is primarily intellectual in origin and orientation, but one that also has to face continued dialogues with political, social, and cultural circumstances. This paper will argue that JIL’s rise is a product of dynamic local, national, and international circumstances that lead to intellectual dynamism among the younger generation of Indonesian Muslims.