Indonesia

Islam in Indonesia: History

• First contact: Muslim merchants during the Age of Exploration (10th -12th c.)

• Religious majority at the time were Hindu/Buddhist

• 1211 Northern Sumatra, first evidence of a Muslim ruler

• Portuguese and Catholicism arrived in the 15th century

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/images/map-indonesia.png

Islam in Indonesia: History (cont.)

• ‘Clash of Civilizations’: Pringle claims that while it may be easy to see these conflicting religious forces at odds, Portuguese traders were interested mainly in profit, not conversion. (p.27)

• Conversion to Islam was ‘top down’– Ruling and trading elites came in contact with

Islam first, and therefore larger cities, especially on the coast, were affected long before rural communities

Islam in Indonesia: History (cont.)• Why convert?

– Islam offered new political and economic opportunities – Attracted to the mysticism of Sufi Islam, which fit in well with

Indonesia’s syncretic religious practices (especially with Hinduism)– Incorporated traditions of holy men, hermits and esoteric paths to

knowledge• Indonesian Sufis traveled to the Middle East to study and

live• Hamzah Fansuri: famous Sufi; one of the first known poets in

the Malay language• Sufism remained popular until the 19th Century

– Called Traditionalist

Colonization: 1629-1945• Portuguese unable to control the islands• British preoccupied w/ India & Straits Settlements• Dutch presence began with the spice trade–Dutch East India Company–Monopolized spice trade, and moved to cash

crops like coffee• Expansion brought the Dutch into direct conflict

with the native Indonesian population –Dutch response was to send military capacities to

the islands• 1800 became an official Dutch colony

Colonization (cont.)• Colonization aided Islam in several ways– Expansion of numbers of Hajj travelers due to safer

and faster international travel– Dutch agricultural policies led to growth of Islamic

culture – Formation of religious boarding schools “pesantran”– Pesantran schools were led by religious leaders and

became the economic and institutional basis for Traditionalist Islam on Java

– New prosperity of Indonesia drew Arab immigrants from the Middle East (Yemen)

Stirrings of Nationalism• First nationalistic stirrings in early 1900s: Sarekat Islam

(1911)• “Intellectual globalization”: eroded the moral and political

basis of colonial rule during the interwar period (Pringle 54)• Sukarno: leader of nationalist movement• Reformists: Reformers were influenced by Md Abdu (Egypt)– Muhammadiyah: reformist group founded in 1912– Wanted to reinterpret the Quran to provide new

requirements of the modernizing world– Muhammadiyah concentrated on education created

Muslim schools which created an educated middle class– Worked on discrediting the Traditionalists as well

Stirrings of Nationalism cont.• Traditionalist Response: Nahdlatul Ulama founded in 1926– Response to their portrayal as uneducated country people

who were not up to the challenges that modernity presented • Both Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama were

multifunctional organizations– Social and political aspects similar to MB

• Darul Islam: establishment of a ‘nation’ independent of any previous authority – used Sharia law

• World War II derailed independence plans• 1940: Germany invaded Holland• Japan moved in to take control of Indonesia (for 3 ½ years)• August 17, 1945, 2 days after the Japanese surrender, Indonesia

declared itself independent– Sukarno appointed President

Independent Indonesia (eventually)• April 1945 Committee for the Preparation of

Indonesia (BPUK) determined preamble to the Constitution– Pancasila: 5 moral principles of governance– Jakarta Charter: 1st Principle

• Dutch reemerged from German occupation eager to regain control of their former colony

• By 1946 Dutch regained control of most of Indonesia despite resistance– By this time world opinion had turned and colonialism

considered an embarrassment• By 1949 Dutch ceded sovereignty to Indonesians

Indonesia: Sukarno Era• 1955: Indonesia became a parliamentary

democracy and held elections– Elections were a stalemate between the four

major parties– Islamists won over 40%

• 1957: Sukarno ended parliamentary democracy and initiated “Guided Democracy”– Attempted to unite the islands and stir nationalist

feelings through external crises • Extended conflict with Dutch over Western New Guinea• Internal conflict: Outer Islands rebellion (1958)• Unsuccessful campaign to crush Malaysia (1963-1964)

Transition from Sukarno to Suharto (1966-1998)

• Attempted coup (1965-1966)– Military general, Suharto forced Sukarno out

• Established Military Government• Accomplishments:– Successfully facilitated Indonesia’s economic

development– Increased literacy rates (90%)– Instituted effective family planning program– Created Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI)– Allowed the banned reformists parties to

reconstitute into the Indonesian Muslim Party (1968)

Reactions of Reformist Islam under Suharto Radicalization

• New reformists became increasingly fundamentalist and anti-western

• Political transition to vigilantism and militia violence in 1960s against Suharto Example: Islamic Defenders Front

• Began in 1970s on university campuses– Example: Justice Party

• Indonesian Muslim Party renewed ties with Middle East• Radical Salafi schools founded in 1970s– Pesantran al-Mukmin at Ngruki

• New economic development and social change led to increase in the observance of Islam

Reactions of Reformist Islam under Suharto

• 1980s: Suharto oppression created a pool of recruits who went to fight in the jihad in Afghanistan

• 1987: creation of The Indonesian Committee for the Solidarity of the Muslim World (KISDI)– Imported radical conspiracy theories that blamed

the troubles of Islam and Indonesia on the Jews, Israel and foreigners

• 1990s: Jemaah Islamiyah dedicated to Islamic law via underground militancy. Still exists, but with a changed name

Reactions Reformist Islam under Suharto

Democracy• 1991 Islamic Banking: 1st sharia

compliant bank established• Young reformist politicians

formed alliances with traditionalists to oppose Suharto

• 1980s: Suharto attempted to appease the tide of resistance – Created Muslim Intellectuals

Association (ICMI)

• 1990s: Suharto lost control of the government

• March 1998: People’s consultative assembly appointed Suharto to an 8th 6 year term

• May 13-14 riots in Jakarta– Death toll 1300 people

• Suharto resigned • VP Habibie succeeded as interim

Pres.– Presided over democratic

transition

• June 1999: Parliamentary Elections elected Abdurrahman Wahid

Democratic IndonesiaSharia Law

• 2002-2006: Muslim activists worked to implement sharia law in regional governments– Aceh

• Party of Liberation, and Indonesia Council of Jihad Fighters: “save” Indonesia from its moral and political decline

• After Suharto’s resignation: Jemaah Islamiyah began bombing Christian Churches

• 2003 School Amendment

Democracy• 2002 Indonesian

parliament voted down amendment that would require state enforcement of sharia

• May 2006 revised the laws of religious courts and extended jurisdiction to Islamic banking

• “Compilation of Islamic laws in Indonesia”

Hefner’s Conclusions• 2007 survey conducted that asked Indonesians

whether they would support a “Pancasila” state or a state based on another ideal– 90% of respondents indicated they would prefer

Pancasilla– Because according to Hefner, Indonesians

understand a Pancasila state to be a multiconfessional rather than sharia.

• Hefner’s interviews expressed 72.2% of Indonesians would support the establishment of state based sharia, but fewer than 30% indicated they had actually voted for a political party with those main platforms

Hefner’s Conclusions (cont.)

Why?1. Indonesia is not ready2. The regard for the law is the most

important not the formal letter of law3. Sharia values needed to be implemented

in a way that made “a positive difference in our lives rather than causing social discord” (306)

Bibliography

• Hefner, Robert W. “Indonesia”. Shariʻa Politics: Islamic Law and Society in the Modern World. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2011. Print.

• Pringle, Robert. Understanding Islam in Indonesia: Politics and Diversity. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2010. Print.