Political Knowledge and Political Behavior among Highly Educated Muslims in Indonesia

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to describe the influence of political knowledge on the political behavior of highly educated Muslim society in addressing political issues. This research used cohort-based quantitative method through data collection, interviews, and documentation. To collect information from respondents, this research used questionnaire to reveal their political knowledge levels and behaviors. Interviews towards respondents were also conducted to directly confirm the information in the questionnaire. This paper presents information that highly educated Muslims cannot always be invited to dialogue-based solely on political knowledge in understanding and responding to political issues but must be invited to understand through thinking channels outside of knowledge. There is another dimension that shapes the political attitudes of highly educated Muslims in Indonesia, in this case, the religious doctrine which is more dominant than knowledge. Thus, knowledge is not the main factor in controlling people's actions and attitudes, but only a small part of the accumulation of factors.