The role of Islamic student activists in divergent movements for reform during Indonesia's transition from authoritarian rule, 1998--2001

This dissertation is an examination of some of the divergent forces influencing Islamic university student activists during a period of momentous societal transition. It is intended to provide a means for understanding the relationships between proponents of two overlapping social movements that have ardently vied for dominance on college campuses and in Indonesian society in general since the reform period began. The first of these movements has called for the establishment of a pluralistic democracy based generally on tolerance, social justice, and a strong civil society. The other movement has promoted Islam as a political ideology aiming for sectarian control of the state---a phenomenon referred to as Islamism.;I conducted a qualitative research study of the dynamics among various Islamic student groups engaged in divergent movements for reform in Indonesia between October 1998 and December 2001. Employing ethnographic techniques, I recorded the ideas, opinions, and activities of numerous student activists regarding democratization and the role of Islam in contemporary Indonesian society.;I argue that Islamic students faced two major challenges during the reform period. First, they were confronted with an aggressive Islamist movement calling for their involvement in various sectarian political campaigns. Second, as part of a moral movement that built its reputation on the promotion of nonviolent activism, they had to determine how to respond to Islamist militants who resorted to violence to promote their causes.;Even though the liberal democratic agenda of Indonesia's reform movement was supported by vast numbers of Islamic students and buttressed by members of Indonesia's progressive Islamic intellectual community, a counter movement promoting an Islamist political platform has effectively splintered the reform coalition into two competing campaigns. The divergence of the Islamist agenda from the mainstream reform movement represents, in part, conflict within Indonesian society over the control of the institutions central to the propagation of Islamic culture, the definition of morality, and the determination of justice.