A Muslim model: What Indonesia can teach the world

The Boston Globe

 
By Joshua Kurlantzick
Globe Correspondent / September 13, 2009  

At times this summer, much of the Muslim world seemed at war with itself. In Iran, protesters furious over what they viewed as a stolen election spilled into the streets and were met with a brutal security crackdown. In Pakistan, powerful Taliban-type militant groups battled the army. In neighboring Afghanistan, opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah and local tribal leaders accused President Hamid Karzai of stealing the national election.

Farther south, the world’s largest Muslim nation, Indonesia, received far less attention. Yet what happened there in July ultimately could prove far more important than the meltdowns in Afghanistan or Pakistan or Iran. Some 100 million Indonesians, spread across a vast archipelago, went to the polls, and in a free and fair vote, they reelected president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, leader of the secular Democrat Party. Hard-line Islamic parties fielded candidates as well, but they barely registered at the polls, gaining less of the vote than they had in the previous national election five years ago.

Yudhoyono’s reelection was only the capstone of a triumphant decade for Indonesia. Despite its vast size and remote terrain - it is the world’s fourth-largest nation by population, its 240 million people spread across thousands of islands between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific - Indonesia has become a rock of political stability in a turbulent region. After decades of military dictatorship, and the threat of Islamism in the late 1990s, Indonesia is today ruled by a coalition that mixes secular and moderate Islamic parties and protects minority rights. And at a time when countries from Japan to Singapore are struggling, Indonesia posted some of the strongest growth in Asia this year. The nation’s occasional terrorist attacks haven’t succeeded in destabilizing the government, which has steadily built a reputation for good governance and an effective battle against militant groups.

“If you want to know whether Islam, democracy, modernity and women’s rights can coexist, go to Indonesia,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on a trip to Southeast Asia earlier this year.

Though Indonesian leaders themselves are hesitant to lecture other countries, their model could offer lessons for nations from Pakistan to Morocco. It has managed to create a stable political system without using its military to guarantee secular rule, as does Turkey. The militant Islamic groups that once seemed to threaten the country’s future have been crushed or co-opted. And it has adopted modern anti-terrorism techniques that appear to be working. In its success, Indonesia also offers the United States, constantly seeking ways to help build stable societies in the Arab-Muslim world, a model for cooperation and moderation.

Just a decade ago, few would have seen Indonesia as a model of any kind. The country was an economic and political basket case, riddled with graft from the era of its longtime dictator Suharto. Its heavily export-dependent economy collapsed in the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, plunging the country into political chaos.Continued...

 

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Riots constantly blocked the streets of Jakarta, with many protests targeting the ethnic Chinese community. Warfare erupted in outlying provinces like Aceh, which long had wanted to secede. Hard-line Islamist groups preyed upon this unrest, promising cleaner government against the corruption of Indonesia’s traditional political parties. Islamic schools, known as pesantrens and similar to madrasas, expanded to fill the void left by underfunded public schools. Some of these became notorious for promoting militant Islam, according to an analysis by the International Crisis Group, developing into feeders for the terrorist organization Jemaah Islamiah.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, this and other expanding militant groups seemed on the verge of threatening the government’s control of parts of the country, a situation similar to Afghanistan or Yemen today. In 2002, Jemaah Islamiah masterminded a bombing in Bali that killed over 200 people, and then allegedly bombed the JW Marriott hotel and the Australian embassy in Jakarta, among other sites. Indonesia seemed on the verge of disintegrating, torn apart by separatist movements and inter-ethnic battles.

By the time of Yudhoyono’s reelection, this past summer, many of these fears had vanished. The economy had recovered, the archipelago no longer appeared on the verge of fragmenting politically, and terror groups had been prosecuted and weakened. The country had held three successive free elections.

How did Indonesia develop into a success, while countries such as Egypt, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia still struggle just to build the fundamentals of democracy? For one, Indonesia’s presidents have not allowed sharia law, the religiously derived legal system that prevails in numerous Muslim countries, to gain a foothold, except in a few isolated regions. Neighboring Malaysia, by contrast, allows several of its states to apply sharia to many issues of family law and other civil cases - a system that can alienate non-Muslim minorities, undermining the principle that democracy protects minority rights. (Recently, the Malaysian blogosphere has been fixated on the case of an Indian Hindu woman who, under sharia law, has been sentenced to caning for drinking beer.) In Indonesia, where an ethnic Chinese minority coexists warily with an ethnic Malay majority, the assurance of minority rights is critical to preventing the kind of internal violence that has racked other Muslim nations, from Pakistan (Shia vs. Sunni) to Yemen (northernerns vs. southerners). Assurance of minority rights boosts the economy, too, since the ethnic Chinese, though a minority, control an outsized percentage of powerful companies in Indonesia.

Unlike many other Muslim countries, Indonesia’s leaders have also resisted the temptation to use the national treasury to promote their preferred version of Islam. Yudhoyono and his two predecessors, Megawati Sukarnoputri and Abdurrahman Wahid, took pains to emphasize that there was no state-preferred mosque or spiritual leader. This strategy stands in sharp contrast to Saudi Arabia, where the government plays a major role in overseeing clerics - or even to Pakistan, where former president Mohammad Zia ul-Haq used the power and the purse of the state to institute laws consistent with sharia and pack the courts with Muslim scholars he considered allies.Continued...

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Even more important, the Indonesian government has also set out to undercut the popular appeal of militancy. Rather than letting Islamic parties run on promises to improve the lives of the poor, Yudhoyono has overseen a massive national anti-poverty program, increasing direct cash transfers and rice subsidies to the poor. Besides winning hearts and votes, these handouts sparked consumer spending, critical at a time when exports to the West are lagging. They also reduced poor families’ dependence on Islamic boarding schools for a decent education, a point not grasped in, say, Pakistan, where politicians frequently vow to reform madrasas but spend little time investing in public education to give families other options.

Under Yudhoyono the Indonesian government also has allowed some of its power to devolve to provinces and cities throughout the archipelago, giving them greater shares of the national budget, more control over local natural resources and more money back from direct investment in their area. Devolution takes guts, especially in regions of the world accustomed to a strong, centralized government. But it also pays several rewards, reducing separatist tensions and giving average people more personal investment in the democratic process. Devolution also encourages provinces and cities to become more economically competitive.

Yudhoyono’s government has also denied the Islamists another of their biggest recruiting tools: public anger at corruption. The president has backed the national counter-corruption agency, and unlike his predecessors, has stayed out of the courts’ way. Last spring, just before the presidential election, a close relative and former governor of the Bank of Indonesia was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to jail time, shocking many Indonesians who were accustomed to seeing the powerful protect their relatives and inner circle.

Indonesia also has pursued a novel strategy against militant groups. The president has made a strong public case that terrorists threaten average Indonesians, not just the West. By pressing this theme, Yudhoyono has managed to turn opinion against militants while deflecting claims that he was just serving the interests of the United States. (In one poll of Indonesians by the organization Terror Free Tomorrow, 74 percent said that terrorist attacks are “never justified.”) The country also has a cutting-edge “deradicalization” policy to stem the growth of militancy. Former terrorists appear on national television to describe the brutality of their crimes and express remorse for killing fellow Indonesians; former militants also approach convicted terrorists in prison, using religious arguments, compassion, and other softer tactics to win them over.

Plenty of problems remain. Conflict still erupts among Indonesia’s many ethnic groups; in the province of West Papua, separatists attacked foreign workers over the summer. Despite Yudhoyono’s poverty programs, much of Indonesia’s population lives below the poverty line. And its military can still make trouble.Continued...

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Even where they have been successful, many Indonesian leaders are reluctant to be seen as an example to other nations, especially in the Middle East. Indonesia isn’t Arab, and many Arab leaders regard it as a kind of backwater in Islam, making them loath to take lessons from Jakarta. The archipelago also historically practiced a more moderate version of Islam, a religion brought by traders and mixed with local folk practices. The country’s major religious organizations, with tens of millions of members, have been run by leaders committed to the separation of mosque and state.

Still, other Muslim nations are beginning to look at what Indonesia has done right. Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, and other nations have adopted deradicalization programs of their own. Clerics from across the Muslim world have descended on Indonesia to study its religious organizations and their role in society.

Indonesia’s success offers lessons for the United States as well. Most importantly, it shows that Islam and democracy can mix easily, provided the government can separate mosque and state, and religious leaders are willing to go along. The resulting stability leaves far less room for militant groups, and reduces the need for the US to throw its weight behind iron-fisted military leaders like Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf just to keep militant Islam from expanding.

In addition, the example of Indonesia suggests that in many cases, America would be wise to intervene less. President Yudhoyono’s counterterrorism policy succeeds in part because local people perceive the policy as run by their president, not pushed on him by any foreign powers. The US, meanwhile, has pitched in by quietly helping fund and train Indonesia’s elite counterterrorism force, known as Detachment 88. But unlike in Pakistan or Yemen or the Philippines, American assistance isn’t prominently covered in the press, or a flashpoint for public anger. It doesn’t hurt that President Obama spent some of his childhood in the country, and today his administration is hugely popular in Indonesia. Almost as popular, that is, as Yudhoyono’s.

Joshua Kurlantzick is a fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations. Contact him at jkurlant1@hotmail.com.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/09/13/a_muslim_model_what_indonesia_can_teach_the_world/?page=4

Menengok Perkampungan Jamaah An Nadzir di Sulsel

Detik.com, Selasa, 09/09/2008 11:11 WIB

Muhammad Nur Abdurrahman - detikRamadan

 

Gowa - Pada tahun 1998, KH Syamsuri Abdul Majid ber-Tabligh Akbar di beberapa penjuru nusantara. Ia datang dari Banjarmasin dan sempat mendirikan pondok pesantren Rabiatul Al Adawiyah di Dumai, Kepulauan Riau. Saat melakukan tabligh akbar di beberapa tempat di Sulawesi Selatan, Kyai Syamsuri mendapat banyak simpati dan pengikut. Di antaranya adalah ustadz Lukman dan ustadz Rangka.

Kyai Syamsuri pun menetap di Sulsel dan mendirikan Majelis Jundullah. Namun tak lama berdiri, nama Majelis Jundullah dikomplain oleh Laskar Jundullah pimpinan Agus Dwikarna. Agus yang sekarang masih dipenjara pemerintah Filipina, merasa bahwa kata Jundullah sudah lama identik dengan nama laskarnya. Sebab itu, Kyai Syamsuri dan beberapa pengikutnya memilih mengubah nama Majelis Jundullah menjadi Jamaah An Nadzir.

Secara harfiah, menurut ustadz Lukman yang ditemui detikcom di perkampungan An Nadzir Kampung Mawang, kata An Nadzir dari bahasa Arab yang berarti pemberi peringatan. Lukman merincikan, obyek yang diberi peringatan secara langsung adalah pengikut jamaah An Nadzir yang tinggal di kampung Mawang. Sementara secara tidak langsung, memberi peringatan pada umat Islam pada umumnya.

Jumlah pengikut An Nadzir saat ini, menurut Lukman, yang tersebar se-Nusantara berjumlah sekitar 10 ribu anggota. Belum termasuk yang ada di Singapura dan Malaysia. Sedangkan yang ada di Kampung Mawang, Kec. Bontomarannu, Gowa-Sulsel, berjumlah sekitar 900 anggota atau sebanyak 140 kepala keluarga. Jamaah An Nadzir pun punya badan hukum berupa yayasan yang berpusat di Jakarta, yang diketuai oleh Ir Lazuardi.

Sepeninggal Kyai Syamsuri di tahun 2006, Ustadz Rangka berinisiatif membentuk perkampungan An Nadzir di Kampung Mawang. Dibandingkan jamaah An Nadzir yang ada di tempat lain, di kampung Mawang adalah format perkampungan yang paling lengkap se-Indonesia. Di perkampungan ini, mereka tinggal di rumah pondok yang terbuat dari bambu dan beratap rumbia. Sebagian besar pengikut An Nadzir menggantungkan hidup dengan bertani dan memelihara ikan mas, dengan luas lahan garapan mencapai 8 hektar. "Hasil pertanian dan perikanan kemudian dikumpulkan di Baitul Maal yang keuntungannya akan dibagikan pada setiap anggota jamaah," ungkap ustadz Lukman.

Mereka memilih membentuk perkampungan yang jauh dari keramaian kota tidak lain untuk lebih leluasa dan tenang melaksanakan perintah Allah dan menjadi ahlulbait Nabi Muhammad. Mereka meyakini tanda-tanda akhir zaman akan segera tiba. Di antara tanda akhir zaman yang disebut oleh Rasulullah, adalah dengan umatnya akan terasing dari umat manusia lainnya. "Dalam hadist nabi, dijelaskan kemunculan 313 orang yang memurnikan Islam dari belahan timur." tutur Lukman.

Yang khas dari kaum pria jamaah An Nadzir ini adalah kostum jubah sepaket sorban, dan rambut yang dipanjangkan serta diwarnai. Tak ketinggalan, mereka juga memakai celak. Sedang kaum muslimah An Nadzir menggunakan jilbab besar disertai kain cadar penutup muka. Ustadz Lukman menegaskan bahwa memanjangkan rambut dan diberi pewarna sesuai dengan beberapa referensi hadist Rasulullah. "Untuk menjadi ahlulbait Rasulullah harus mengikuti hidup rasulullah secara keseluruhan." tutur Lukman.

Selain itu, perbedaan yang mencolok adalah penetapan waktu shalat. Jamaah An Nadzir menggunakan alat pengukur bayangan matahari yang diberi waterpass untuk menentukan jadwal Shalat. "Jam hanya dipakai pada saat langit mendung atau musim hujan," pungkas Lukman. Mereka percaya, shalat lima waktu yang diterima oleh Allah adalah shalat Dzuhur di akhir waktu yakni sekitar pukul 15.00 WIB, Shalat Ashar pukul 15.30 WIB, Magrib saat senja tenggelam dan langit yang gelap. Sedangkan shalat Isya mereka juga laksanakan di akhir waktu, yakni pukul 04.00 WIB dini hari, menjelang shalat Subuh.

Pada masa awal berdirinya perkampungan An Nadzir, kelompok ini sempat diintai dan didatangi oleh anggota intelijen Polda Sulsel dan Kodam VII Wirabuana. Mereka dicurigai membentuk kamp pelatihan terorisme. Ternyata mereka tak satupun mendapatkan apa yang mereka kira.

Pernah pula mereka dicurigai sebagai ajaran Islam yang menyimpang. Setelah perwakilan staf Bimas Islam Dep. Agama, Baihaqim yang mewakili menteri agama mengklarifikasi anggapan jamaah An Nadzir menyebarkan kesesatan. Menurut kutipan ustadz Lukman, Baihaqim berkesimpulan tidak ada masalah dalam persoalan akidah. Sedangkan, perbedaan menjalankan syariat itu lumrah bagi pemeluk Islam.
( mna / tbs )

Fundamentalisms Narrated: Muhammadiyah, Sumarah, P...

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Performing Islam

Inside Indonesia, Tuesday, 22 November 2011 09:58, Sadiah Boonstra, Stories 

Ki Enthus Susmono’s hugely popular wayang santri challenges standards of authenticity

Sadiah Boonstra

It was around midnight when I arrived at an Islamic secondary school after a sweaty nine-hour bus drive from Yogyakarta to Tegal. A big event was taking place to celebrate the school’s thirty-second anniversary. Music got louder as I walked through a large gate and passed by mobile food stalls. A stage rose high above a large crowd watching a wayang golek performance, played with three dimensional wooden puppets.

As I had seen countless wayang performances, I expected to see a dalang (puppet master), a number of pesindhen (female singers) and a large gamelan orchestra of some thirty musicians all dressed in traditional Javanese costume. The dalang was there, but he was dressed in a non-traditional white outfit. Although he was wearing a blangkon (a traditional Javanese cap), it was white, not batik, and had the appearance of a turban, giving it a religious twist. There were only two pesindhen, also dressed in white instead of a kain and kebaya and wearing headscarfs. There were just ten musicians in the gamelan dressed in black and wearing kopiah (fez) instead of blangkon. The story was a local story about Muslim daily life and not derived from the wayang golek repertoire. 

There were two synthesizers used to play electric guitar and other non-gamelan instruments, and the songs being sung were Qasidah, religious chants in Arabic sung to the rhythm of a stringed, plucked instrument of Arabic origin.

This is the newest wayang creation of the popular and controversial dalang Ki Enthus Susmono, in the genre he calls wayang santri. Enthus Susmono is one of just a few superstar dalangs in Indonesia whose work attracts a real mass audience. His extreme innovations – the incorporation of Islam is just one manifestation – combined with rude language and harsh social and political criticism, make him wildly popular with his fans, but prompt critics to refer to him as a ‘destroyer’ of wayang.

Wayang santri

Enthus Susmono is always searching for ways to reach new audiences. His concern is that people do not relate to wayang anymore. He tries to address this by making wayang an interesting spectacle and by relating his performances to people’s everyday life so that the philosophical values in religious and moral lessons can be easily understood. To these ends Enthus Susmono innovates in the field of puppets, music, language, theme, genre and performance style. For example, when his children did not stop talking about Harry Potter he realised that the younger generations are more familiar with international fiction and cartoon characters than with wayang characters such as Kresna, Arjuna or Gatutkaca. To relate to the world of his children and their peers, he created characters such as Batman, Superman, Doraemon and Ninja Boy to use in his shows.

But it is Enthus Susmono’s newest creation, wayang santri, that is one of the most popular shows around. Enthus Susmono, his crew, sponsors and audience regard wayang santri as an opportunity to make wayang available to a larger audience. A wayang santri performance involves a relatively small number of singers and musicians, and has a considerably shorter duration of two to four hours compared to six to eight hours for a regular wayang show. The costs are therefore much lower: around 10 to 15 million rupiah, whereas a regular wayang kulit show costs 40 to 100 million rupiah depending on the location of the performance. The group passes on these savings to the audience, which means that many more people can afford this form of wayang.

It is hardly a surprise that wayang santri quickly became wildly popular. In the four months following the first performances in August 2010, Enthus Susmono performed his new wayang show 173 times – some 17 times more than the ten performances per month of his regular shows. Clearly, it’s not only its accessibility and affordability that has made the show a hit; its form and content speak to the audience’s imagination.

When I arrived at the wayang santri show in Tegal, the clown scene (a kind of intermezzo when the dalang can joke freely) was in full swing. At first it appeared like a regular wayang golek performance, as Enthus Susmono pulled out his full repertoire of funny characters. On the stage was Limbuk, a black female puppet that constantly showed her enormous, bare behind. There was also a puppet whose head was not fastened to its body and therefore could kiss his own genitals. And then there was Enthus Susmono’s famous drunken puppet. This puppet peed in his bottle of grog, then promptly forgot that he had done so and took another sip. The crowd screamed with laughter, took pictures and recorded the action on their phones. But then, the dalang closed the lively show with a prayer.

I was struck to see Enthus Susmono perform his usual crude – to some perhaps vulgar – jokes in a most obviously Islamic wayang show. The alternation of these jokes with Islamic songs appeared contradictory, but nobody in the audience seemed to care. The crowd couldn’t get enough of the spectacle. Indeed, Enthus Susmono’s wayang santri might be extremely popular not despite, but because of this apparent contradiction.

‘Authentic’ wayang and Islam

But not everyone approves of this new form of wayang. Some people think that Islam should not be incorporated in wayang at all because – in their view – religion and wayang belong in separate and incompatible spheres. Some in this camp are actively involved in the preservation of wayang, including policy makers in the field of heritage management. Others regard wayang and Islam as incompatible for other reasons. In October 2010 Muslim hardliners attacked several small wayang shows in Central Java without clearly-stated motives. Performances by famous dalangs have not been targeted, but Enthus Susmono and other dalangs have strongly condemned the attacks.

As far as the general audience is concerned, though, wayang and Islam are inextricably linked. It is popularly thought that the Wali Songo, the legendary nine saints believed to have brought Islam to Java, adapted the wayang form to Islam as far back as the fifteenth century and used it to propagate the new faith. Although Islamic elements in classical wayang are scarce, pseudo-historical Islamic story cycles such as Wayang Menak portray propagation and victory of Islam. The recent emergence of dalang ustad – puppeteers-cum-Islamic teachers – like Enthus Susmono is nevertheless an entirely new trend.

Like his audience, Enthus Susmono is fully convinced of the compatibility of Islam and wayang. In his performances he strives to reflect on current social life, of which Islam is a prominent part. For him, religion in any form, be it Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or Christianity, is about the ‘human philosophy’ of how to live a good life. He tells people how to live a good life by incorporating Islamic messages in his shows. When not performing, he also gives Islamic lessons in Tegal and surroundings. He claims that people invite him to do this because they understand him better than the regular Islamic scholars, and is skilled in conveying stories and messages in ways that are interesting and comprehensible to a wide audience.

Authenticity in innovation

With almost unrestrained creativity, Enthus Susmono emphatically tries to interest a wide audience to wayang by relating to their daily lives and realities. His creation of wayang santri is just one manifestation of this. In search of new audiences, Enthus Susmono is not afraid to stretch his innovations to the limit and search for the boundaries of what is commonly regarded as the wayang tradition. In this, he is as creatively adventurous as economically minded.

Critics claim he crosses the line, but the instant success of Enthus Susmono’s wayang santri demonstrates that the boundaries of wayang are fluid. Enthus Susmono’s audience appreciates his shows for their comprehensibility, his openness, creativity and humour. This mix is appealing especially to young people and makes crude jokes and Islam wholly compatible. Innovations, both in content and form, appear to be indispensable to maintain wayang in the present. Perhaps innovation is the truly ‘authentic’ trait of tradition. In this light, the extreme innovator Enthus Susmono does not ‘destroy’ the tradition, but rather perpetuates it through innovations like wayang santri.

Sadiah Boonstra (sn.boonstra@let.vu.nl) is a PhD Candidate at VU University in Amsterdam. Her research examines dynamics of heritage formation in contemporary Indonesia using the wayang puppet theatre as a case study.

Retrieved from: http://www.insideindonesia.org/stories/performing-islam-21111497?utm_source=All+Subscribers&utm_campaign=5f89026f11-Weekly_22_Nov_2011&utm_medium=email

Bertemunya Agama dengan Adat

NU.or.id, 10/05/2011 15:21

Dalam praktek keagamaan, oleh kelompok puritan, adat disingkirkan. Adat dinilai sebagai tidak pantas berdampingan agama. Adat manusia, agama Tuhan. Adat relatif, agama mutlak. Adat lokal, agama universal, dan seterusnya.

Bagaimana orang Bugis menerima agama? Bagaimana mereka mempraktekkan adat. Dan bagaimana pula mereka menjalani keduanya?

Hamzah Sahal dari NU Online telah mewawancarai Prof. Dr. Nurhayati Rahman beberapa waktu lalu di kantornya, Universitas Hasanudin, Makassar, Sulawesi Selatan.

Sampai hari ini, Nurhayati adalah orang Bugis yang konsisten menyelami budayanya sendiri dengan cara akademik. Dari menulis skripsi, tesis, hingga disertasi, aktivis Muslimat NU Sulawesi Selatan ini menulis tentang La Galigo.

Empat ratus tahun lalu Islam sudah mendarat di sulawesi selatan. Artinya Islam juga sudah lama bergumul dengan Sulawesi Selatan lengkap dengan seluk-beluk keyakinan, kebudayaannya. Apakah Anda bisa memberi ilustrasi bagaimana keduanya bergerak?

Di sini ada sebuah sejarah lisan yang sangat terkenal dan popular di kalangan masyarakat pedesaan. Ada dialog antara Nabi Muhammad dan Sawere Gading (tokoh utama dalam agama tradisonal orang Bugis yang terdapat dalam karya sastra La Galigo, red). Diceritakan Nabi Muhammad bertemu dengan Sawere Gading. Keduanya berdebat dan beradu kesaktian.

Di sana diceritakan nabi Muhammad adalah seorang yang pandai berargumentasi dan juga sakti secara fisik. Nabi bisa berjalan di atas lautan tanpa alat bantu, dan mukjizat-mukjizat lain yang tidak dimiliki Sawere Gading. Karena Nabi Muhammad demikian sakti dan sempurna, akhirnya Sawere Gading menyerah kalah. Karena kalah, Sawere Gading menyerahkan semuanya kepada Muhammad. "Saya pergi saja. Saya akan kembali ke asalku. Dunia beserta isinya kuserahkan kepadamu, Muhammad. Terserah Engkau mau diapakan." Begitu kira-kira ungkapan penyerahan Sawere Gading kepada Muhammad.

Apa makna cerita itu?

Yang penting dari cerita ini adalah bukan sahih atau tidak, tapi struktur berpikir orang yang bercerita, orang yang menciptakan cerita itu. Yang paling penting di sini adalah bagaiamana ulama dulu menjelaskan  Islam masuk lewat pintu-pintu peradaban, lewat gerakan kultural, bukan kekuasaan, bukan Perda, apalagi kekerasan. Yang demikian ini, jauh lebih efektif. Jangan lupa, Perda juga bentuk interpretasi, hasil tafsiran seseorang. Jadi klaim bahwa Perda itu murni Al-Qur'an merupakan kebohongan luar biasa. Kita tahu Islam itu ada NU, Muhammadiyah, PERSIS, Ahmadiyah, Syi'ah, dan lain sebagainya.

Kalau faktanya demikian, aliran dan tafsir mana yang mau diperdakan, mana yang mau diformalkan? Oleh karena itulah sekarang kita melihat ada orang yang tidak setuju dengan Perda-perda Syari'at Islam. Kalau Islam diperdakan akan menjadi tunggal, yang akhirnya memihak kelompok tertentu. Pasti kan ada resistensi dari bawah, yaitu mereka yang merasa tafsir Islamnya tidak terakomodir. Ini salah satu problem penerapan Syari'at Islam.

Tadi disebutkan ada "Paradigma Lama" dan ada "Paradigma Baru". Bisa dijelaskan lebih jauh?

Yang dimaksud 'paradigma lama' adalah kepercayaan tradisional orang Bugis. Kitab sucinya bernama La Galigo, nabinya Sawere Gading. Itulah tadi yang berdebat dengan Nabi Muhammad di puncak gunung. Sedangkan 'paradigma baru' itu agama Islam yang kita kenal sekarang ini, berkitab Al-Qur'an dan nabinya, Muhammad bin Abdullah.

Sejarah agama dan adat di Indonesia ini dipenuhi konflik panjang dan terjadi di mana-mana. Perang Padri adalah salah satu bukti nyata dari konflik antara adat dengan agama. bisakan Anda menjelaskan dalam konteks Sulawesi Selatan?

Saya ingin mengungkapkan bahwa kerajaan yang ada di sini begitu istimewa. Seorang raja bertahta bukan karena dia anak sebagaimana terjadi di Yogyakarta, Inggris, Jepang, Maroko, Arab Saudi, dan lain-lain, melainkan dipilih oleh Dewan Adat. Dewan ini berfungsi mirip dengan DPR. Selain Dewan Adat, agamawan juga terlibat dalam proses bernegara. Keduanya tidak ada yang diunggulkan di mata sang raja, keduanya berposisi sama, sederajat.

Apa yang ingin Anda tunjukkan?

Saya ingin mengatakan bahwa kehidupan yang rukun antara agama dengan adat pada waktu itu merupakan peran ulama atau imam yang cerdas membaca situasi lokal. Mereka cerdas dan kreatif dalam berdialog, bahkan sampai pada tingkat kehidupan sehari-hari yang sangat detail. Misalnya, sampai hari ini kita masih menjumpai pembacaan Al-Qur'an dan Barzanji bersamaan dengan pembacaan La Galigo pada upacara pernikahan, khitanan, ataupun kelahiran.

Atau misalkan lagi bagaimana ulama mengganti tradisi memberi makanan ke laut, disebut Mappano, karena mereka menganggap ada nenek moyang di sana, diganti dengan membawa ke masjid. Sedangkan membawa sesajen ke gunung, disebut Mappaenre, diganti dengan membawa makanan ke imam. Jadi, setelah masuk Islam Mappano berarti membawa makanan ke masjid, sedangkan Mappaenre ke rumah imam, tidak lagi ke laut atau ke gunung.

Tapi buktinya sekarang ada ketegangan antara kaum adat dengan agamawan?

Pengamatan saya, yang membuat adat dan agama tegang adalah kelompok Islam yang datang belakangan. Mereka menghukumi ritual yang saya sebut tadi syirik dan berbau bid'ah. Inilah yang membuat kisruh kehidupan beragama dan beradat rusak. Setelah masa kemerdekan, kehidupan masyarakat adat, yang di dalamnya juga masyarakat Islam, menjadi semakin runcing karena kebijakan politik yang tidak paham situasi masyarakat bawah.

Kesimpulannya, pengembangan Islam secara kultural jauh lebih cair dan nyaman bagi siapa saja. Beda halnya dengan cara-cara kekuasaan, Perda dan segala macamnya. Ada satu kreativitas lagi yang membuat saya kagum dengan ulama dulu. Dalam fiqih, orang zina muhshan kan harus dirajam. Tapi ulama dulu di sini tidak melakukan itu. Ulama di sini menghukum orang berzina dengan Malawong, di-lawoni, diberi kain kafan. Pezina dimandikan, dikafani, dibacakan talqin, lalu dibuang ke laut. Maaf, bukan berarti saya membetulkan cara-cara seperti ini, tapi yang saya suka mereka telah berkreasi, tidak menjiplak mentah-mentah, meskipun datang dari ajaran agama.

Contoh lagi, soal pembagian waris. Dalam kewarisan, orang Bugis itu menganut persamaan hak antara laki-laki dengan perempuan. Saya tidak membayangkan seperti apa resistennya mereka jika dikatakan bahwa dalam Islam, bagiannya perempuan hanya setengah dari laki-laki. Karena nilai waris di Bugis begitu kuat, ulama tidak mengatakan mentah-mentah aturan Al-Qur'an. Ulama bugis lalu mengatakan malempa orane, ma'junjung makunrae. Maksudnya laki-laki memikul (dapat dua), sementara wanita membawa barang di kepalanya cuma satu.. masih banyak contoh-contoh bagaimana ulama memperkenalkan islam di tanah bugis. Mereka memperkenalkan syari'at lewat jendela kultur, tidak dengan kekerasan, tidak dengan perang, tidak juga dengan pemaksaan dari atas. Memang islamisasi di sulawesi selatan ini lewat istilah jihad, tapi sudah dimaknai lain, yaitu siri, penegakan harga diri, martabat, dan rasa malu. Jadi islam ditegakkan melalui siri.

Apakah maksudnya jihad itu berarti bukan al-qital?

Ada juga yang berarti al-qital. Tapi imajinasi perang dalm jihad tidak sekuat makna lain.

Apa bisa disimpulkan bahwa Islam menerima adat?

Saya ingat. Ayah saya bergaul dengan para Bissu, pendeta dalam agama tradisonal. Kalau kita pergi ke kampung-kampung di acara perkawinan, yang mendandani kan para Bissu. Satu-satunya suku di dunia ini yang menghargai trans gender ya Sulawesi Selatan. Di sini multikultur sejak dulu. Coba Anda bayangkan, seseorang yang kelaminnya "tidak lazim", bahkan di banyak komunitas dipinggirkan, justru dihargai. Bissu jadi tokoh agama. Para Bissu adalah orang yang status sosialnya sangat tinggi. Kenapa demikian? Karena mereka dinilai adil, tidak memihak. Mereka dianggap bisa menjadi perantara kaum laki-laki dan kaum perempuan kepada Tuhan.

Apakah orang Islam menerima tradisi Bissu?

Orang Islam di sini membiarkan praktek seperti itu. Mereka bergaul tanpa ada prasangka apapun. Kecuali pada massa DI/TII. Pada masa itu para Bissu dihabisi. Juga pada masa Orde baru. Rezim menggelar "operasi tobat". Orde Baru menganggap mereka menyimpang.

Bisa dijelaskan lebih jauh siapa itu Bissu?

Bissu adalah pendeta agama tradisional di kalangan masyarakat Bugis. Mereka ada yang Islam dan ada yang tidak. Yang tidak Islam ada di suku Tolotang di Sidrap dan Singka, serta agama Patungtung di Kajang, Bulukumba. Tak ada yang berubah meskipun mereka Islam. Islam dan kepercayaan lama melekat jadi satu. Mereka naik haji, tapi juga melaksanakan ajaran nenek moyangnya. Kalau orang Bugis merantau, orang tuanya pasti akan menasehati, "Nak, ingat yang diajarkan leluhur kita." Bukan mengatakan, "Nak, ingat pesan Nabi." Perilaku-perilaki mereka biasa disebut mapadua. Inilah satu bukti bahwa Islam di Sulawesi Selatan  begitu kuat menyatu dengan adat, dengan ajaran sebelumnya.

Apakah pernah terjadi ketegangan antara Islam dengan adat?

Pernah. Dan sampai sekarang masih ada. Muhammadiyah menggusur praktek-praktek keagamaan mereka. Tapi NU tidak. Orang NU suka sekali dengan kaum adat. Ada cerita bahwa di satu desa orangnya tidak mau masuk Islam, tidak mau mengikuti ajaran Muhammad, kecuali mereka mendengar burung-burung di gunung bersaut-sautan di pagi hari. Ini pesan para orang tua mereka. Ayah saya yang NU membuat suasana seperti yang mereka imajinasikan. Akhirnya mereka masuk Islam. Tapi Muhammadiyah tidak melakukannya, karena dianggap tidak islami. Itulah sebabnya, Islam di sini berkembang, karena Islam di sini menerima ajaran nenek moyang mereka. Professor Cristian Peldrof membuat analogi menarik untuk orang Islam di Bugis. Dia bilang, "Orang Bugis itu di tangan kirinya sejarah masa lalu, sementara di tangan kanannya pembaharuan."

Apa maksudnya?

Maksudnya adalah bahwa orang Bugis mau menerima nilai-nilai baru, asalkan nilai-nilai lamanya juga tetap berjalan. Orang Bugis terbuka menerima ajaran dari luar selagi ajaran nenek moyangnya bisa dipraktekkan.

Mana yang lebih unggul di antara "tangan kanan" dan "tangan kiri"?

Jangan salah. Di antara kedunya tak ada yang lebih unggul. Keduanya adalah harmoni. Harmoni di antara langit dan bumi, siang dan malam, kanan dan kiri. Ibu yang disebut Cristian Peldrof sebagai harmonisasi di antara dua yang berlawanan.

Apakah bisa disimpulkan agamawan yang selama ini garang dengan kaum adat adalah sikap a historis dengan dengan sejarah Islam Bugis di Sulawesi Selatan?

Kurang lebih begitu. Saya melihat orang-orang yang tidak ramah dengan adat di sini itu orang Islam yang Arab, bukan orang Islam yang Bugis. Ketidakramahan itu semakin menjadi-jadi ketika Orde Baru hanya mengakui lima agama saja. Orde Baru mendatangkan guru agama Hindu di sekolah, anak-anak ya tidak paham, mereka tidak menerima. Yang membuat kisruh itu mereka, Orde Baru dan Islam Arab. Kita di sini baik-baik saja. Contoh, orang Tolotang yang Islam dan yang tidak berbaur tanpa ada prasangka apapun. Identitasnya juga sama. Kalau Anda datang ke sekolah, Anda tidak bisa membedakan mana yang Islam dan mana yang bukan. Baju dan kerudung mereka sama. Mereka berbaur dalam upacara perkawinan, kematian, dan lain-lain. Yang membedakan mereka hanya rumahnya. Kalau tiang rumahnya bulat itu Tolotang, sementara yang Islam segi empat. Itu saja.
***

Apa yang melatarbelakangi Anda menulis skripsi, tesis dan disertasi tentang La Galigo?

Begini. Ibu saya seorang bangsawan Bugis. Ia hadir di tengah-tengah keluarga dengan segenap kebugisannya. Sementara ayah saya datang dari tradisi santri yang kental. Keduanya menyatu dan mempengaruhi kehidupan kami. Umpamanya, sewaktu kecil saya sering mendengar nenek saya mengaji kitab "Hikayat Nabi Bercukur". Kitab itu dinyanyikan selepas shalat. Nada nyanyian itu persis seperti pembacaan La Galigo di rumah-rumah tiap malam Jumat. Saya jadi bertanya-tanya, kenapa orang Bugis sulit melepas tradisinya, padahal tradisi baru (Islam, red.) sudah datang?

Kalau orang Bugis diperdengarkan kitab La Galigo, mereka bisa senyum-senyum, bisa menangis. Dan mereka kuat sampai tiga malam. Selebihnya ya karena saya ingin tahu secara mendalam La Galigo. Belum ada orang Bugis yang menuliskan sejarahnya sendiri.

Apa yang diajarkan La Galigo?

Kalau maksud pertanyaan Anda apakah La Galigo islami atau tidak. Jawabnya ada yang islami, ada yang tidak. Konsep ketuhanannya mungkin tidak islami. Mereka mempunyai dua dewa, dewa yang bermukin di atas langit dan dewa yang menempati bawah laut. Tapi konsep kejujuran, satunya kata dengan perbuatan, keadilan, sangat islami.

Apakah konsep ketuhanan juga dibaca oleh orang Islam? Apakah dipila-pilah?

Tidak. Tapi kalau orang Islam mendengarnya bisa tertegun. Entah itu artinya apa. La Galigo dibaca sesuai acaranya. Perkwainan beda dengan kematian, panen padi beda dengan pembacaan mengiringi orang mau merantau. Masing-masing ada babnya tersendiri.

Begini, orang Islam itu kalau dibawa ke nuansa Islam, maka seluruh dunianya Islam semua. Sikap yang sama juga ketika mereka masuk ke dunia adat, maka seluruhnya akan berubah, mereka masuk ke dunia adat dengan segala pernak-perniknya. Sikap seperti ini tidak hanya dilakukan orang Islam, juga mereka yang menganut Kristen.

Di antara ribuan baris yang ada di La Galigo, apa yang paling membuat Anda terkesan?

Tentu ada. Yang paling terkesan adalah soal bagaimana sikap orang ketika ada rintangan yang menghalang. Kira-kira isinya begini. "Apabila Engkau bertemu dengan kesulitan, bisa musuh atau apa saja yang menghadang perahu di tengah laut, belokkanlah perahumu tujuh kali. Kalau itu pun tak diberi jalan, maka hadapkanlah perahumu tujuh kali ke kiri. Kalau keduanya tidak diberi jalan, barulah engkau tempuh jalan kesulitan itu."

Ini pesannya La Pananrang kepada anaknya, To Pananrang ketika mau berlayar ke China. Pesan ini yang sering saya kutip untuk menasehati anak muda. Janganlah Anda bertindak emosional kalau belum berpikir tujuh kali ke kanan dan tujuh kali ke kiri. Jadi empat belas kali. Coba Anda bayangkan, dalam dan bijaksana sekali nasihat itu. Saya yakin kalau kita melakukan nasihat itu, tidak ada kebrutalan apapun di sekitar kita. []


Retrieved from: http://nu.or.id/page/id/dinamic_detil/5/32129/Halaqoh/Bertemunya_Agama_dengan_Adat.htm

The Makings of Indonesian Islam: Orientalism and the Narration of a Sufi Past

Laffan, Michael Francis. 2011. The makings of Indonesian Islam: orientalism and the narration of a Sufi past. Princeton [N.J.]: Princeton University Press.

Indonesian Islam is often portrayed as being intrinsically moderate by virtue of the role that mystical Sufism played in shaping its traditions. According to Western observers--from Dutch colonial administrators and orientalist scholars to modern anthropologists such as the late Clifford Geertz--Indonesia's peaceful interpretation of Islam has been perpetually under threat from outside by more violent, intolerant Islamic traditions that were originally imposed by conquering Arab armies.

The Makings of Indonesian Islam challenges this widely accepted narrative, offering a more balanced assessment of the intellectual and cultural history of the most populous Muslim nation on Earth. Michael Laffan traces how the popular image of Indonesian Islam was shaped by encounters between colonial Dutch scholars and reformist Islamic thinkers. He shows how Dutch religious preoccupations sometimes echoed Muslim concerns about the relationship between faith and the state, and how Dutch-Islamic discourse throughout the long centuries of European colonialism helped give rise to Indonesia's distinctive national and religious culture.

The Makings of Indonesian Islam presents Islamic and colonial history as an integrated whole, revealing the ways our understanding of Indonesian Islam, both past and present, came to be.

Michael Laffan is professor of history at Princeton University. He is the author of Islamic Nationhood and Colonial Indonesia: The Umma Below the Winds.

Endorsements:
"This book is a major contribution to our understanding of Indonesian Islam. Laffan's methodical and exhaustive research provides us with a well of information and insights that will be mined by scholars and students for years to come. The Makings of Indonesian Islam establishes a new benchmark for scholarship on the subject."--Barbara Watson Andaya, coauthor of A History of Malaysia

"The Makings of Indonesian Islam is the best available overview of Islam in the Netherlands East Indies. Laffan offers an original and exciting way of studying the subject."--Nico Kaptein, coeditor of Transcending Borders: Arabs, Politics, Trade, and Islam in Southeast Asia

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xv
Abbreviations and Archival Referents xvii

Part One: Inspiration, Rememoration, Reform 1
Chapter One: Remembering Islamization, 1300-1750 3
Chapter Two: Embracing a New Curriculum, 1750-1800 25
Chapter Three: Reform and the Widening Muslim Sphere, 1800-1890 40

Part Two: Power in Quest of Knowledge 65
Chapter Four: Foundational Visions of Indies Islam, 1600-1800 67
Chapter Five: New Regimes of Knowledge, 1800-1865 85
Chapter Six: Seeking the Counterweight Church, 1837-1889 101

Part Three: Orientalism Engaged 123
Chapter Seven: Distant Musings on a Crucial Colony, 1882-1888 125
Chapter Eight: Collaborative Encounters, 1889-1892 147
Chapter Nine: Shadow Muftis, Christian Modern, 1892-1906 162

Part Four: Sufi Pasts, Modern Futures 175
Chapter Ten: From Sufism to Salafism, 1905-1911 177
Chapter Eleven: Advisors to Indonesie, 1906-1919 190
Chapter Twelve: Hardenings and Partings, 1919-1942 209

Conclusion 233
Glossary 237
Notes 243
Index 287

Retrieved from: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9571.html