This paper describes the political contestation in the election of leaders that has
occurred in the last five years in Indonesia. Since the reformation era, conservative
Islamic movements have gained wide freedom to spread Islamic political ideology
such as the idea of upholding Islamic law. This was clearly seen in the 2017 Jakarta
Gubernatorial Election and 2019 Presidential Election, where the conservative
Islamic movement voiced practical political aspirations by involving the role of
religion. The case that happened to Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) who was
suspected of committing blasphemy at the end of 2016, turned into a protest movement
that held “Aksi Bela Islam I, II, III” (Action for Defending Islam I, II, III) which was
able to mobilize all elements of religious organizations in Indonesia. This movement is
also supported by the role of social media which adds to the massive Islamic populism
movement to promote the enforcement of Islamic law through the political stage. This
is a qualitative research that prioritizes bibliographic sources. The results of this
study indicate that the voices of Muslims who are involved in the “Action to Defend
Islam” add to the success of the conservatism process which has a dichotomy of
political interests to realize religious authoritarianism by using the Qur’anic verses.
However, this study also explains the characteristics of the attitudes of leaders in the
history of Islamic civilization who uphold egalitarianism that does not conflict with
the democratic system because the responsibility of a leader is to create prosperity
and justice for all mankind