The fall of Suharto's New Order should be considered as the starting point of the sublime journey of the political identity which often implicates religions and ethnicity under the democracy practices. Religious identity is a sleeping giant, which has awakened in the past and which will awake in the future again. Plenty of fundamentalist groups are formed and hide within the concept of freedom and democracy. Those organizations are using democracy to destroy its fundamental principles. Indonesia regularly has experienced large-scale violence. Namely, Jakarta, Sambas, Sampit, Aceh, Poso, Moluccas, West Papua, these were areas which strongly associated with violence and it often implicated religion, ethnicity, and race as the roots of violence. Some of the past violence occurred during a democratic transition between 1998-2004, it started to decline after the local autonomy being implemented, and it is currently back on the rise. This article examines the role of political identity in democratic practices, and it also discusses the possibility of the awakening the religious and ethnicity sentiment under Joko Widodo (Jokowi) administration. How the fundamentalist portrayed and framed themselves under democracy practices and why it is back on the rise. The nation is currently split into two sides: nationalist ideology vs. religious ideology, the construction image of us versus them provoke the disruptive of social and political processes, it also challenges the peace and harmony in the nation.
