Mapping the religious and secular parties in South Sulawesi and Tanah Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia

• Main Author: Farish A. Noor
• Other Authors: S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
• Format: Working Paper
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/104090; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/6526
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The aim of this paper is to map out the presence and activities of the mainstream as well as minor political parties across South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Its focus shall be on a number of key questions: 1. Which are the dominant political parties in Sulawesi today? 2. Why and how have these parties maintained their respective dominant positions? 3. What is the fate of the smaller political parties in Sulawesi? 4. Do the parties in Sulawesi strive for popularity and support by appealing to national political aspirations and agenda, or do they cater to local communitarian and sectarian demands instead? The paper begins with an overview of the history of political Islam in Sulawesi and proceeds to look at how Islam (and religion in general) has or has not been a factor in the province’s internal politics. It ends with some cursory observations about the present state of politics in Sulawesi, with a special emphasis on the state of party politics in South Sulawesi, and how the local government has been addressing the issue of sectarian religious and ethnic politics in that part of the province.