Analysis and Criticism of the Liberal Islam Network (JIL) in Indonesia

A number of liberal Muslim intellectuals and activists founded the Liberal Islam Network (JIL) in Indonesia following the fall of Suharto as a result of the Asian economic crisis of 1997-1998, followed by political openness and ethnoreligious conflict. JIL was both a continuation and a new version of the current of liberal Islam, a facilitator of the government's secularist tendencies, and an opponent of recent Islamic currents and discourses that JIL described as "extreme, fundamentalist, and radical." Based on liberal values JIL provided a modern interpretation of Islam that was consistent with issues such as the separation of religion from politics, religious pluralism, freedom in the interpretation of religion, and gender equality and then promoted it in Indonesia and gradually became one of the influential intellectual and cultural currents in Indonesia. The present study aims to analyze and critique the intellectual and practical experience of JIL using a descriptive-analytical methodology and library research. This study focuses first on the social context of JIL's emergence and its concerns. Then, the Network's views and method of understanding Islam, its activities, and reactions are considered, and it is stated that, firstly, JIL's views cannot be accepted due to theoretical weaknesses in the method and content as well as unfavorable practical consequences, and secondly, although JIL had a significant impact on the intellectual climate of Indonesia at the time of its founding, this growth did not continue as a result of its extreme attitude toward the Indonesian government. Currently, JIL has little influence on Indonesian society.