Asep Iqbal

Asep Iqbal obtained his BA in Islamic Studies from Universitas Islam Negeri Jakarta, his MA in Islamic Studies from Leiden University, the Netherlands, and another MA in Sociology from Flinders University of South Australia. His research interests include mainly the areas of new media and social movements, religious pluralism, and globalization. He is currently engaged in a study of online ideological framing of the Indonesian salafi community for his PhD thesis at Murdoch University as a part of his larger research project on the internet and the salafi movement in contemporary Indonesia. The study, under the title “Framing religious authority: the internet and the salafi movement in Indonesia”, focuses on the potential impact of the internet on salafism (salafiyyah) as a social movement within Indonesian context. It aims to explain the ideological framing processes and strategies developed by the salafis in their attempts to assert their religious authority and credibility as expressed in their online presence on the internet.

Scholarships, grants and fellowships:
• Murdoch International PhD Scholarship (2009-2013)
• Australian Development Scholarships (2006-2008)
• Indonesian-Netherlands Cooperation in Islamic Studies (INIS), the Netherlands (2001-2003)
• Asian Muslim Action Network- Asia Research Foundation, Bangkok, Thailand (2009)
• Database of interfaith groups and organizations, Australia-Indonesia Institute (2005)

Publications, conference papers presented and media contributions:

• Salafism and the Internet in Indonesia (in Indonesian), Bandung: Global House Publications, forthcoming.
• Jews and Christians on the Qur’an: interreligious relations in the Qur’anic Commentary of Syeikh Nawawi Banten (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Teraju (Mizan Group), 2004
• Educational Background of Imams among Indonesian Muslim in the Netherlands’, Jurnal Studi Agama dan Masyarakat, Vol. 1. No.1, Juni 2004
• Islam Unveiled: disturbing questions about the world’s fastest growing faith, Robert Spencer, Encounter Books, 2002 (Indonesian edition), Book Review, Jurnal Studi Agama dan Masyarakat, Vol. 2. No.2, pp. 115-121.
• Ahl al-Kitab: the Qur'anic perspective on religious pluralism’ (in Indonesian), Himmah, Vol. 2, No. 3/Januari-April 2001.
• Understanding the hajj: a sufistic perspective (in Indonesian)’, Republika, 4 January
  The role of ulama (in Indonesian), Republika, 17 January
• Christmas and New Year (in Indonesian), Kalteng Pos, 30 December
• Social Justice in Islam’ (in Indonesian), Kalimantan Post, 26 December
• Mother: a sufistic perspective (in Indonesian), Kalteng Pos, 22 December
  

Postgraduate Researcher, Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University, South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150. Fax: 9360 6381, Email: A.Iqbal@murdoch.edu.au