Legitimation of Religious Symbols in Politics: Descriptive Analysis of The Narration of Indonesian Election Campaign 2019

Abstract

The presence of religious symbols in the narrative and campaign for the 2019 general election in Indonesia concludes that religion can be a political tool for directing political choices. Religion and symbols are used as vehicles and a way to mobilize the masses to get the votes of voters. As a result, Indonesians are permissive to the phenomenon and are involved in the polarization of identity politics. Democracy, which should be the stage for fighting for ideas, turns into religious legitimacy against political interests. From the private sphere, religion turns into a political strategy in the public sphere. This article discusses and conducts a descriptive analysis of the use of religious narratives and symbols by Indonesian political actors seen from four approaches, namely religiosity, ritual expression, Religion and Public Role and Politics of Identity and Pop Culture. The findings through descriptive literature analysis show that the use of religious symbols is not related to the religious attitude of the Indonesian people and is not part of religious rituals. This attitude arises as an effort to build and carry out identity politics, to gain political interests and not for the interests of religion and religious people.