Despite Huntington's view of the failure of the democratic experiment in Islamic countries, Indonesia proved to be the contradiction that successfully proved the compatibility of Islam with democracy. After the fall of Suharto, moderate Muslims contributed significantly to the progress of democratic consolidation over the past decade through the rise of cultural Islam. Furthermore, having failed to obtain a majority of votes in three periods of fair elections in Indonesia (i.e. the 1999, 2004 and 2009 elections), it has become clear that there is had a decrease in preference for political Islam and increased support for a secular state. Thus, in order to explain the compatibility between Indonesian Islam and democratization, this article will analyze the levels of democratic consolidation in Indonesia influenced by Islam, the rise of cultural Islam in response to the restrictive nature of political Islam and finally, the regression of political Islam leading to the seizure of power by moderate Muslims and the formation of a democratic model. However, before democracy could become compatible with Islam in Indonesia, it was necessary for democratic consolidation, or the process by which democracy matures, to take place. According to Juan Linz and Alfred Stefan, five interdependent areas enable this process: civil society, political society, the rule of law, the state apparatus and economic society. Without one, the others would fail. This is how these arenas began to form in Indonesia with the demise of the New Order in 1998. It is now clear that democratic consolidation was underway. Using classroom-assessed Freedom House data as the primary source for assessing a state's level of democracy, it is clear that middle of paper...... political divides have resulted in a multi-party system, weakening thus effectively the power of political Islam and handing power over to moderate Muslims. Combined with a unique colonial history, the development of cultural Islam and strong political divides have allowed Indonesia to effectively form a democracy compatible with Islam. Liberty House. Np, and Web. March 22, 2014. Linz, Juan J. and Alfred Stepan. “Towards consolidated democracies”. Muse.jhu.edu. Journal of Democracy, 1996. Web. March 23, 2014. .Mietzner, Marcus. Military policy, Islam and the state in Indonesia: from turbulent transition to democratic consolidation. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2009. Print.