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ISLAMIC POLITICAL PARTIES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: THE ORIGIN AND POLITICAL PROBLEMS

Purpose: The objective of the study was to describe factors that influenced the establishment of the Islamic political parties and its political problems in South East Asia. Methodology: The research methodology used in the present research study is a literature study method with qualitative analysis. The data obtained from documents and books which were studied by online and offline. The gathered data analysed by using political theories. One of them was the analysis of the emergence of Islamic political parties. Main Findings: The study had two main findings. First, there were six factors which influenced the establishment of Islamic political parties, that is the demography, political system, political ideology, contagion, international political economy, and political competition. Secondly, there were four problems faced by Islamic political parties in winning the political contest, especially in the general election. The first problem was the division of local cultural identity, followed by the unfavorable situation for Islamic political parties, political ideology, and the quality of Islamic political parties themselves. Implications: It had a theoretical implication on the harmony between Islam and democracy, the emergence of Islamic political parties, and the problems. It revealed that there was no problem between the existence of Islamic political parties and democracy. Novelty: When the secular political party lost public trust, the voters did not automatically shift their political votes to the Islamic political parties.


INTRODUCTION
Why are Islamic Political Parties not as successful as secular parties? This is the principal question concerning their existence. Islamic political parties have emerged since the Indonesian independence era. In the first general election in 1955, they obtained a lot of the number of votes. Fadillah Putra points out that the voters for Islamic political parties at that time were split into two big parties -Nahdlatul Ulama (18.41%) and Masyumi (20.92%). Some voters voted for a nationalist party. PNI (Indonesian National Party) obtained 22.32% of votes (Putra, 2003, p. 11).
Bima Arya Sugiarto points out that the number of votes of Islamic political parties was getting decreased from time to time. In the first general election of 1955, the total number of votes gained by Islamic parties was 42%. In the second general election of 1971, the total number of votes gotten by Islamic parties (NU, Parmusi, PSII, &Perti) decreased in half to 23.9% (Sugiarto, 2010, p. 32). In the New Order era, the number of votes gotten by Islamic parties (PPP) increased to 29.29%, although it began to decrease in the 1998 general election. The lowest voting coverage of PPP was 14.59% in 1992 (Khoiri, 2012). The number of votes gotten by Islamic political parties did not change significantly in the 1999 and the 2004 general elections. In the 1999 general election, PPP, PK, PBB, has gained a total of 17 percent of the votes. Likewise, in the 2014 elections, PPP and PKS won a total of 17 percent of the vote. Sugiarto points out that NU and PAN were not included as Islamic political parties because they claimed that they were inclusive parties (Sugiarto, 2010, p. 32). The number of votes gotten by PAS in the general election from 1999 until 2018 did not change much. The average number of seats won by PAS was still below 50%. The highest coverage of seats was 14.99% or 27 seats. According to the Based on the background of the number of votes gotten by Islamic political parties in the general election, this study would answer two questions; first, why do Islamic political parties emerge? Secondly, what are some of the obstacles faced by Islamic political parties concerning the efforts to win the competition in the general election? There are three reasons why this study was interesting to be analyzed. First, Islamic political parties had the number of potential voters: the high number of Moslems, especially in Indonesia and in Malaysia. Secondly, Islamic political parties have existed since a long time ago; they even had existed since the first-time general election was held. They participated both in Indonesia and in Malaysia in 1955. Thirdly, even though political reformation has been done and general elections become more transparent, it seems that Islamic political parties still could not compete with the other parties. The third reason can be seen in the cases in Indonesia. Since the general elections held in 1999,2004,2009, and 2014, the number of votes gotten by Islamic political parties was still below the votes obtained by nationalist parties.

LITERATURE REVIEW
The study of Islamic political parties is an interesting focus for researchers. This party is a unique element of democracy due to democracy in Muslim countries throughout the world. Michel Buffer's (Buehler, 2009, pp. 51-63) article shows that his analysis of the relationship between Islam and democracy in Indonesia has led to analyzing Islamic political parties. Likewise, Jan Woischnik and Philipp Müller, in their article, mentioned Indonesia as the largest Muslim country in the world (Woischnik, 2013, pp. 59-79).
Analysis of the emergence of Islamic political parties was done by Lili Romli (Romli, 2006, pp. 243-244). There are four enabling factors of the rise of Islamic political parties in the Reformation era. First, the sociological factor in which Islamic political parties became the channel of political aspiration for Moslems; secondly, historical factor in which Islamic political parties emerged because they had previously been Islamic political parties; thirdly, theological factor in which Islamic political ideology teaches that Islam and politics are inseparable. So Islamic political parties are the implementation of this doctrine, fourthly, reformation factor in which there is an opportunity to establish Islamic political parties (Romli, 2004, pp. 29-48).
Lili Romli (Romli, 2006, pp. 243-244) points out that theological factor is one of the causes of the emergence of Islamic political parties even though it cannot explain why the emergence of Islamic political parties is merely a label. Eep Saifullah points out that there are Islamic political parties that use the label of Islam, but they have no Islamic principle in them (Romli, 2006, p. 13). In other words, there is a theological factor in the process of establishing some of the Islamic political parties. However, it is only applicable in certain cases because this kind of party cannot be categorized as an Islamic political party, especially toward Islamic political parties which merely use Islamic labels or symbols.
Another opinion comes from Husain and Hillel Fradkin (Haqqani &Fradkin, 2008), which states that there are some records concerning the emergence of Islamic political parties which are referred to like the cases in the Middle-East countries and Turkey. First, the establishment of Islamic political parties brings about controversies in the context of Islamic political thought regarding the relationship between Islam and politics. Secondly, an Islamic political party is a result of evolution from the Islamic movement. Thirdly, a political movement which becomes an Islamic political party does not seriously want to be modern when it becomes a political party; it is indicated by the absence of the change toward pluralist.
The opinion of Husain Haqqani and Hillel Fradkin reminds us about the theory of Samuel P. Huntington, which states that Islam and democracy are like "water and oil" (extremely contradictory). According to Huntington, no Islamic country has sustained a fully democratic political system for any length of time (Huntington, 1991, p. 41).
Islamic values have so many limitations; on the other hand, liberal values provide room to maneuver for socio-politics as broad as possible. That is why democracy cannot survive in the countries with the majority of Moslems. According to Ratnawati, in the case of Indonesia, the number of votes of Islamic political parties has decreased over time (Ratnawati, 2008, p. 13 The objective of the study is to describe factors that influenced the establishment of the Islamic political parties in South East Asia, especially in two countries: Malaysia and Indonesia. This study also describes the political problems of Islamic political parties. The central hypothesis of this study is that the political and non-political factors are affecting the existence of Islamic political parties in Southeast Asia.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research used a literature study method with qualitative analysis. The data were obtained from documents and books which were studied by online and offline. The gathered data were analyzed by using political analyses or theories. One of them was the analysis of the emergence of Islamic political parties. This analysis was useful to answer the research problems: why did Islamic political parties emerge? What problems faced by Islamic political parties in winning the general election?

THE ORIGIN OF ISLAMIC POLITICAL PARTIES
The existence of Islamic political parties cannot be separated from the citizens' religious identity of a certain country, which is related to ideology. The assumption of establishing an Islamic political party is that ideological channel is needed in politics, and this perspective appears in a democratic country. However, in a non-democratic country, there is also an assumption that Islamic political parties need to be established. Therefore, it is simply said that an Islamic political party is a medium for consolidating all Moslems in a political atmosphere.
The enabling factor of the emergence of Islamic political parties in many countries is closely related to demographic factors. The number of populations is vital because the principal capital for establishing a party is the availability of mass or populace as the constituents or as the ideology which wants to be united. In some Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines it is evidence that the emergence of an Islamic political party is the consequence of the existence of a significant number of Moslems which number is excellent and they are solid. The number of Muslims in Indonesia is 85%, also 61.3% in Malaysia, 10% in the Philippines, and 16% in Singapore (Table 2).
On the other hand, in countries such as Cambodia, Timor Leste, and Laos, it is complicated to establish an Islamic political party since there is only a small number of Moslems in these countries.
The data from muslimpopulation.com indicate that there is only 1% of Moslems in these countries, and there is only 1% of Moslems in Vietnam (See: Table 2). There is a vertical conflict in some of the regions of South Thailand, and Laos is a socialcommunism country (Kamm, 1995). Another example was the internal conflict in PKB (National Awakening Party), which brought about the emergence of PKNU (Nahdlatul Ulama Awakening Party). The internal disputes at the PBB (Crescent Party and Star) led to the rise of PAS and PII(Indonesian Islamic Party) (Ghafur&Arif, 2017, pp. 580-581). It is interesting to note about the factors which influence the establishment of Islamic parties are that these factors do not stand by themselves; sometimes, they are the combination of the existing elements.

POLITICAL PROBLEMS OF ISLAMIC POLITICAL PARTIES
Islamic political parties have some problems in their attempt to win the political competition, especially the political contest in general election and the existence of the Islamic political parties themselves. The first problem is concerning the split in local cultural identity. The political anthropological approach is a fundamental approach to analyze this kind of problem. This approach views that the local cultural identity of the Indonesian people is varied. This variety has an impact on the emergence of certain specifications in Indonesian society; in consequence, there is a need for recognition. Certain people's identity becomes the element that strengthens cultural interest from the political point of view. In other words, there is cultural competition behind the political contest.
Local identity has become its challenge for Islamic political parties in political practice, especially in general elections. The status of "Islam" which theoretically becomes a unifying force actually has a classification, either from ethnicity, ethnic structure, and geographical location. The term, Islam, in Java and outside Java is one of the factual splitting forms in the national politics in Indonesia. There is a classification concerning social structure based on ethnicity. According to Clifford Geertz, the Javanese who are Moslems, are divided into social class, which is known as priyai (upper-class man), santri (pious person), and abangan (nominal Moslem) (Geertz, 1989). Burhan D. Magenda, cited from Geertz, in his writing entitled, Community Change and Sustainability in the Division of Indonesian Society (Magenda, 1990) points out that the classification of the Moslems is usually used to explain the fewer number of votes gotten by Islamic political parties than that reached by the other political parties. It implies that the majority of Moslems do not guarantee that Islamic political parties will get a large number of votes in a general election.
In Malaysia, Malay as an ethnic identity and Islam as a religious identity are not completely united in a social and political space. Many people believe that ethnic identity is more important than religious identity. As a country of pluralism, Malaysia identifies a specific case on the communalism (ethnic) of Malay and Islam. The Malay as an ethnic identity and Islam as religion are two dialectical tendencies, willing or not, are not complementary to each other in the situation of power stability (Mutalib, 1995 Table 3 describes the votes of PPP and PBB, which decrease compared with those in the general election of 1999. The number of votes gotten by PKS increased in 2004, but it became stagnant in the percentage of 6% in 2014. Meanwhile, the number of votes gained by nationalist parties was significant, even a nationalist party which began to participate in the general election (National Democratic Party or Nasdem) obtained 6.72% of votes in the general election of 2014. Since the Reformation era in 1998, Indonesia has had some political parties which do have a theological motivation to take an active part in politics. This was due to the suitability of the existence of Islamic political parties and democracy, which had been worried about, and this was the main problem and dilemma. For PKS (Prosperous Justice Party) it became a challenge that had to be solved. Anis Matta (the Secretary-General of the Central Executive Committee of PKS) revealed that..." in the level of ideological perspective, PKS has to prove the compatibility between Islam and Democracy" (Muhtadi, 2012, p. xxii). Table 4 describes that the vote of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) is the highest among the Islamic political parties in Indonesia. However, it has declined in the 2014 elections (see: Table 3).   (Haqqani &Fradkin, 2008) that a political movement that becomes an Islamic political party will not automatically change to pluralist. An Islamic political party that changes its political ideology will take the risk for internal conflict as what has occurred to PKS in Indonesia. On the other hand, this phenomenon can be seen as the fact which strengthens the viewpoint of Samuel P. Huntington (Huntington, 1991) on the conflict between Islam and democracy. In reality, however, the conflict occurs among the ruling elites of the Islamic political parties themselves.
The fourth problem is the quality of the Islamic political parties themselves. In the reformation era, Islamic political parties in Indonesia did not show their competence (Amir, 2003). In the general election of 1999, secular nationalist parties won a clear victory. When the votes were accumulated, the total number of votes gotten by the nationalist parties would be more than 50%. In the general election of 2004, Islamic political parties had to accept the victory of Golkar (Functional Work Group Party), which got 21.58% of votes and PDIP (Indonesian Struggle Democratic Party) which reached 18.53% of votes, both of them were nationalist parties (Table 3).
Meanwhile, the Islamic political party, which ranked the fourth was PPP (United Development Party), which got 8.15% of votes, PKS (Prosperous Justice Party) ranked the fifth with 7.34% of votes, and Democrat Party (secular nationalist) ranked the sixth. The specific characteristic of the elections was that there was inequality in the number of voters in each area, which became the voting region. As a comparison, see the number of votes gotten by Islamic political parties in the general election of 1999 in Table 3.
From the case in Indonesia, it is unclearly seen any difference from the phenomena of Islamic political parties in Malaysia, which can exist only in certain regions. Nationally, PAS could not compete with UMNO, but in certain areas such as Terengganu, Kelantan, and Kedah, the popularity of PAS was promising, especially in the first general election in 1955. Zainah Anwar used the phrase, "Compete for the Most Pious" to describe the condition of the general election at that time (Abdalla, 2002, pp. 79-104).
The analysis of the phenomena of the acquisition of votes can be seen from the quality of political parties. There are many ways to be able to become a qualified party. It can be done by improving the leadership model, by making into cadres, or by developing constituents. This method can even be indicated by the absence of party cadres who are punished because of committing the criminal corruption act. Therefore, political competition does not only create and maintain public trust.
The quality of an Islamic political party is also related to the questions about the general election. Are Islamic political parties actively involved in designing and preparing more equitable political systems and electoral systems? Do they have an institution that studies and evaluates every general election? Do they have the capability of seeing the implications of political policy on the general election and party on vote acquisition and victory in the next general election? Have they prepared for anticipation measures, identified their defeats and any political tricks toward the current condition, and known the way to solve them? These questions explain how far Islamic political parties plan to participate in general elections. Of course, these questions need more profound study.
Probably it is slightly different from Islamic political parties in Malaysia, which historically have a strong relationship between party performance and party competition. In a certain period, the powerful political party has done his tasks. Issues on development in the political issue become uninteresting to be considered by the Moslems in Malaysia in a general election unless UMNO fails to do the development, or it is attacked by an issue which makes people disappointed such the issue of corruption. However, the question is directed to PAS: Is PAS as the Islamic Political Party able to be better than UMNO in handling the problem of development?
It seems that PAS, which tends to talk about religious morals in attracting the sympathy of its voters, becomes one of the issues which confirm that it is challenged to be ready for the concept of development from the perspective of morals and religion. The problem is whether this concept of development can be accepted by Muslim voters who did not vote for it previously. Only can the study on the program of Islamic political parties or a survey on the behavior of Muslim voters answer this problem. It is interesting to note the uniqueness of the cases in Malaysia. When UMNO lost public trust, the voters did not automatically shift their political votes to the other Islamic political parties. The fact was that they changed their votes to the coalition of new parties, which were not the coalition of Islamic political parties.
All the problems that exist in Islamic political parties in Indonesia and Malaysia ultimately have a direct impact on the decline in votes. KikueHamayotsu (Hamayotsu, 2011) has explained that the failure of political parties in strengthening institutions will affect their ability to compete in elections. Election data in Indonesia (Table 3) has illustrated the condition that Islamic political parties have decreased votes. Islamic political parties must adapt to technological developments. For example, in the digital age, Islamic political parties need to innovate to strengthen organizations, programs, and strategies.
From a democratic perspective, every political party has a goal to win the election. As participants in the general election, Islamic political parties also have the same purpose. The challenge for Islamic political parties is to improve the quality of political parties because this can be done internally. Problems that are influenced by external factors require several conditions to be solved. For example, handling the issue of the political situation will depend on the ability of political parties to lobby the existing political forces.
Regarding ideological issues, Islamic political parties in Indonesia experienced a stagnation of votes when they proposed Islamism during the general election. In other words, the existence of Islamic political parties in Indonesia and Malaysia has tested the issue of Islamism in elections with negative results. But what will happen when there is a reverse condition? Of course, in-depth research is needed to answer this problem. The fact is that the existence and participation of Islamic political parties in general elections in Indonesia and Malaysia has become a critical channel for political participation in every election, especially for Muslim voters.

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION
It was a study on Islamic political parties in Southeast Asia. Even though the scope was Southeast Asia, this study was done in two countries: Malaysia and Indonesia, considering that the Islamic political parties in other Southeast Asia, such as Singapore and the Philippines were insignificant. The questions in this study were as follows: first, why did Islamic political parties emerge? Secondly, what problems were faced by Islamic political parties concerning their existence in general elections? It was found that the emergence of Islamic political parties was influenced by six main factors: the factors of demography such as the population of Moslems, political system, political ideology, contagion, international political economy, and political competition. Some parts of this finding confirmed the viewpoint of Lili Romli on the emergence of Islamic political parties such as political and ideological systems.
This study also had some findings on the problems faced by Islamic political parties in winning the general election. First, it was the problem of splitting identity of local culture; secondly, it was the problem of the unfavourable political situation for Islamic political parties; thirdly, it was the problem of political ideology; and fourthly, it was the problem of the quality of Islamic political parties. These findings confirmed the viewpoint of Husain Haqqani and Hillel Fradkin about the issue of Islamism, which adhered to Islamic political parties. However, the challenge of Islamism is not applicable in all Islamic political parties, especially in the Islamic political parties in Indonesia.
This study also had a theoretical implication on the harmony between Islam and democracy. It revealed that there was no problem between the existence of Islamic political parties and democracy. The result of the study showed that it was