ULAMA AND POLITICS: A Study of Ulama and Santri’s Participation in 2019 General Election in Aceh

Abstract

Abstract: The existence of ulama and dayah in political dynamics in Aceh has occurred for a long time, simultaneously with the development of Islam in Aceh. Ulama in Aceh has been playing as the main actors behind the successful political indicator in many phases, namely; empire phase, independence phase, new order (orde baru) phase until the phase of reformation. The doctrines played by ulama through religious languages have received great support from people in Aceh. This study employs the qualitative research approach with three main techniques of data collection, namely interview, observation and documentation. The result showed that there has been the participation from ulama and santri dayah in Aceh during 2019 General Election (GE). Such participation was reflected from the full support from ulama by calling up the political machine from santri dayah during 2019 GE, and deciding a political attitude by taking side on one of the candidates by holding a fundamental belief that Islam does not forbid ulama to participate in the political practice. Abstrak: Eksistensi ulama dan dayah dalam dinamika perpolitikan di Aceh telah berlangsung sejak lama, seiring berkembangnya Islam di Aceh. Dari berbagai fae perkembangan perpolitikan di Aceh, dari fase kerajaan, fase kemerdekaan, fase orde baru hingga fase reformasi telah ditemukan pula indikator suksesnya politik di Aceh akibat permainan aktor utama yaitu ulama. Ulama melalui doktrin-doktrin yang disebarkan melalui bahasa-bahasa agama, sehingga mendapat dukungan penuh dari kalangan masyarakat di Aceh. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dengan teknik pengumpulan data tiga macam cara yaitu wawancara, observasi dan dokumentasi. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa terdapat partisipasi ulama dan santri dayah di Aceh pada Pemilu 2019. Partisipasi tersebut tampak terhadap dukungan penuh ulama dengan mengerahkan “mesin politik” yaitu santri dayah terhadap Pemilu 2019, dan mengambil sikap politik berpihak kepada salah satu calon dalam Pemilu 2019 dengan landasan utama berpijak bahwa Islam tidak melarang ulama berpolitik. Keywords: ulama, santri, dayah, politics, general election, Aceh