The Populism of Islamist Preachers in Indonesia's 2019 Presidential Election.

The literature on populism in Asian countries over the past two decades has generally featured charismatic and often autocratic leaders, as notably demonstrated elsewhere by the rise (and fall) of Thaksin Shinawatra due to his vehement rhetoric that antagonized political elites in Bangkok, Rodrigo Duterte's brutal and lawless war on drugs, and the continuous electoral success of Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government, which propagates a divisive rhetoric that alienates Muslim minorities. As neither candidate directly represented Islamic ideological interests, incumbent President Jokowi accommodated Java-based Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) as the country's largest Islamic organization, whereas Prabowo was backed by the burgeoning Islamist forces. With the burgeoning presence of Abdul Somad as a populist preacher in the Muslim community, Islamist figures coalesced around him and the GNPF-MUI reached an agreement in July 2018, which recommended that Prabowo appoint Abdul Somad as his candidate for vice-president. According to him, unlike the two countries, Indonesia's Islamic populism did not have significant power because they failed to dominate either state institutions or civil society. [Extracted from the article]