The will to establish an independent nation-state based on Islam and democracy had resonated since pre-independence times. As we have seen in Chapter 2, the idea of “nation-state” was broadly accepted by Indonesian Muslims as an ideal political system, despite the fact that they were under non-Muslim colonial rulers on the one hand, and under the influence of the pan-Islamic movement in the Middle East on the other. During the first quarter of the twentieth century the idea of independence had already been stated by many nationalist leaders. Various social and political movements which emerged during this time were aiming primarily at gaining independence from the Dutch. Two approaches were taken by those nationalist movements: the cooperative basis and the non-cooperative one. While the former sought for independence through diplomatic methods, by appealing to the Dutch government from within (represented by their participation in Volksraad), the latter pursued it from without by fighting the colonialist domination and seeking international support. Indonesian Muslim leaders were confident that they would obtain an independent nation-state, sooner or later.

However, after the mid-1930s, the struggle for independence on the non-cooperative basis had already reached its demise. The Dutch colonial government arrested all radical political activists who opposed cooperation. In 1933, Soekarno (1901–70) was arrested and exiled to Flores. In the same year, two non-cooperative Muslim leaders, Muchtar Luthfi (1900–50) and Iljas Jacub (b. 1903), were also arrested and expelled to Boven Digul. The only way to realize Indonesian independence was through cooperation, which the Greater Indonesian Party (Parindra, Partai Indonesia Raya) aspired to achieve. But the leaders of this party were mostly secularists and some of them were, in fact, anti-Islam. Muslim leaders were consequently not interested in joining this party. Nevertheless, in 1936, Agus Salim (1884–1954) began to set up a cooperative faction called the Awareness Front (Barisan Penyadar) within the non-cooperative PSII (Partai Sarikat Islam Indonesia, or Islamic Political Association of Indonesia). However, his efforts were soon proven to have failed as he was ousted from the party a year later.