Open AccessRepresentations and Discourse about Religion and Chinese Descendants in 2012 Jakarta’s Election
Author(s) -
Idhamsyah Eka Putra
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the qualitative report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2160-3715
DOI - 10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2518
Subject(s) - hatred , islam , sermon , nothing , denial , rhetorical question , sociology , muslim community , hostility , field (mathematics) , religious studies , gender studies , politics , literature , social psychology , law , political science , psychology , theology , epistemology , philosophy , psychoanalysis , art , mathematics , pure mathematics
The aim of this paper is to analyze rhetorical rejections from Muslims, a majority group, who refused a non-Muslim Chinese candidate in the 2012 Jakarta gubernatorial election. The study focuses to explore (1) the social representations of the Chinese and how it was used to attack the Chinese candidate and (2) a construction process of a “new” social representation on how a religious teaching was constructed to have nothing to do with negative sentiments or hatred. The field study focused on analyzing the sequential events related to the sermon of a prominent Islamic figure, his denial of the hate contents in his sermon, and the support he received from his Muslim supporters. The results showed that when the Chinese are negatively represented, a Chinese is considered unfit to lead Jakarta as he may disgrace the nation. Moreover, it is found that when a rhetorical rejection toward a non-Muslim is supported by a religious teaching, such rejection is considered not related to negative sentiments.