Page 106 - Demo

Islam, Democracy and Human Rights in Contemporary Indonesia89Qur%u2019an merely provided general guidance for Muslims aboutthe requirements of building a state. Among the contents ofthis guidance are the necessity of uplifting equality, responsibility and trusteeship, upholding the law fairly, developingeconomic and social prosperity, and taking the side of the weakin society. These general guidelines were %u201dhudud%u201d (boundaries)that had been determined by God.Within his polemics with Soekarno, Natsir also expressedhis opinions about democracy. He believed that in manyrespects, Islam concurred with democracy, because ittaught shura (deliberation). Nonetheless, this did not mean thatall problems had to be decided in terms of majority votes. Thiswas because particular social practices had been explicitlybanned by religion. Within this context, deliberation wasintended to prevent these forbidden practices. Thus, Islam wasneither %u201c100% democracy nor 100% autocracy%u201d. Islam wasIslam; it had its own %u201cbegrip%u201d (outlook) on statehood.Natsir%u2019s concept of democracy only became apparent whenhe made a speech in the Majlis Konstituante (the ConstituentAssembly) in 1957. Once again, he said that Islam was in linewith democratic principles. However, there were limitations, i.e.political ethics and certain boundaries that had been decidedby God himself. Therefore, Natsir preferred to name his concept%u201ctheistic democracy,%u201d i.e. a religiously based democracy.In his polemics with Soekarno in 1940, Natsir insisted thatthere was no preferential structure for a state in Islam. On thismatter, he differed from twentieth-century Muslim protagonists,such as Sayyid Abul Ala Mawdudi of Pakistan. Mawdudithought that the Caliphate System, which was inherited by thecompanions of the Prophet, was the ideal model for an Islamic