Reflection #3

This week our group reflected on the intersection of politics, minority religions and society in Indonesia's early years.

Reflection #3

The story of Amir Sjarifoeddin, a member of Indonesia’s first cabinet, and Indonesia’s second Prime Minister, is a complicated one.  He was born into a wealthy Muslim Batak family in 1907, and was educated in the Netherlands.  While in the Netherlands he studied with the Theosophical Society, which advocates the oneness of humanity and the comparative study of diverse philosophical and faith traditions.  Amir received a law degree from the Rechtshoogeschool in Batavia (now Jakarta), where he was active in secular nationalist endeavors.  On the occasion of Amir’s conversion to Christianity at age 24, his Mother committed suicide.  Later, Amir courted a Muslim woman, Djaenah Harahap, in violation of cultural taboos on interreligious dating and marriage.  Djaenah was subsequently baptized prior to her marriage to Amir.   Together they had six children, of which three daughters survived to adulthood.

Amir continued his political activism while practicing law and working in the civil service.  Over the years, he belonged to various socialist parties and the communist party.  He was distantly affiliated with a Protestant party at one point in time.  Amir was imprisoned by the Dutch colonizers when he was 26 for nationalist activities.  He also was imprisoned and tortured by the Japanese for his politics during World War II.  Always, Amir based his political work on Christian notions of radical inclusiveness and the biblical Shalom—being attuned to the well being of all.  Amir was “primarily interested in symbols that can bring about a new solidarity (191).”  The source of his idealism, he told activists, was his Christianity (191).   “Amir raised issues of Indonesian-ness asking why that should not include the non-indigenous Chinese, Arabs, or Indo-Europeans (Sjarifoeddin 1939b) (131).”  He was committed to education (134).  “The deepest meaning of Indonesia’s democracy movement, Amir wrote, was to create national cohesion through political participation (138).”  He advocated for feminism and women’s political participation (140).

But building consensus under the rubric of  national unity is a tricky process.  Old religious and ethnic hatreds came into play.  Some Muslims distrusted Amir as a Christian.  Certain Christians distrusted Amir’s communism.  And then, some Communists did not understand his Christianity.  As Prime Minister, Amir was unable to build a consensus to consolidate control of the armed forces and quell continued social unrest.  He resigned as Prime Minister in January 1948.   Amir was executed at age 41 in December 1948, after the communist party with which he affiliated attempted a local coup.

Amir’s detractors sought to reduce him to a sound-bite—to a simple concept that could then be used to demonize him.  The groups to which he belonged were viewed in false ahistorical and homogenous terms.  Fear and hatred were used to consolidate power.  Today, we continue to use these same tactics worldwide to marginalize “the other.”  Perhaps it’s time to let go of our reductionist gestures, and let the world unfold in a complex and marvelous unity of interdependence.

Pesantren Pandanaran

Today I visited Pesantran Pandanaran.  Often “Pesantran” is translated as “Islamic Boarding School.”  The teachers at Pesantran Pandanaran suggest a different translation based on the Sanskrit origins of the word.  “Sandri” is someone who learns the holy books.  A Pesantran is thus a place for those who learn the holy books.

In addition to teaching “the holy books,” Pesantran Pandanaran teaches typical primary and secondary school courses—math, chemistry, English.  The teachers hope to instill values (love, generosity, kindness, justice, equality, the divinity of all) that will allow their students to well negotiate modernity, globalization and the rising fundamentalisms.  They see themselves not as Muslims in Indonesia, but as Indonesian Muslims whose understanding of Islam is informed by the Javanese cultural precepts of balance and harmony.  Pesantran Pandanaran incorporates the mystical practices of Islamic Sufism to engage the heart, as it engages the mind! The school also maintains an inter-religious dialogue with Christians, Hindus and Buddhists.

The Pesantran teachers, Jazilus Sakhok (huge generous), Rustiyadi (guidance) and Noorhabib (light love), hope that some of their students will go on to create new pesantrans tied to this one in lineage.  Education at a good pesantran is one way to address burgeoning Islamic fundamentalism in Indonesia.  We have yet to see how Indonesia will go . . . * 

    
*Indonesia is similar in size and population to the U.S.  It continues to bring the diverse cultures of its many islands together under the umbrella of "Indonesia." 

Reflection #2

We are reflecting on  Indonesia Accuses:  Soekarno's Defence Oration in the Political Trial of 1930.  

Reflection #2

“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Jer 8:20

Soekarno, a leader of the Partai Nasional Indonesia (PNI) which advocated independence for Indonesia, was arrested in 1930 and tried by the Dutch colonial authorities.  He was 23 years old.  In his defense at trial, Soekarno spoke about the Indonesian experience of imperialism and colonialism.  Soekarno distinguished between “new” and “old” imperialism.  New imperialism is ‘the child of modern capitalism,’ he said.  Relying on the Dutch leader Pieter Jelies Troelstra’s writings, Soekarno defined imperialism as the phenomenon that occurs “when big-capital, in a country largely controlled by banks, utilizes the foreign policy of that country to further its own interests” (7).  Soekarno used the work of British author, H. N. Brailsforth, to add that imperialism consists of hunting for concessions and exploiting natural resources in weaker states.  Imperialism is thus, the political manifestation of capital accumulation presenting as the exportation of capital in order to secure new investments and markets (8-9).  Like new imperialism, old imperialism is based on a system of domination that arises in the context of avarice and greed (11).

Relying on Dietrich Shaeffer, Soekarno defined colonialism as the exploitation of a land, its natural resources, and its people for the benefit of the colonizing country.  He used Professor Anton Menger to note a religious dimension to colonialism.  Menger wrote that during religious times the exploitation of people is concealed under the demand to bring Christianity to the natives (14).  Professor Kielstra found that Muslims and “heathens” in Indonesia were considered inferior and misguided in the view of the colonizing Christian Dutch (20).    Indonesians experienced imperialism and colonialism in countless cruelties—mass starvation, forced labor, quota systems, canings and whippings.  Soekarno reminds us that these experiences are not soon forgotten.  “Injustice is long remembered by those who suffer it” (quoting Sanders) 23.

Imperialism and neo-colonialism continue today in different guises—Global War on Terror (GWOT), The World Trade Organization (WTO), The World Bank, The International Monetary Fund (IMF).  Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) are mandated by The World Bank and the IMF for poor borrowing nations.  These SAPs require the privatization of industry, open markets and the cessation of social welfare programs, all of which serve to transfer wealth and resources to developed countries.  Native populations continue to suffer as they are exploited for the benefit of the few.  We even hear religious echoes in the imperial rhetoric.  President George W. Bush identifies the GWOT as a “crusade,” and frames it as something God asked him to do.  The prosecution of this Global War is largely undertaken by Christian and secular nations, and its effects are primarily directed at Muslim majority nations.   

Imperialism and colonialism are enacted within the binary logic of either/or positionings—us/them, good/bad, developed/undeveloped, mind/body, human/nature, right/wrong.  Only when we fundamentally rethink what it means to be human will the suffering caused by domination cease.  If we recognize ourselves as human becommings—beings becoming who we are in relation with all earth—we will understand that self-interest is not confined to an insular, unrelated individual; but rather, expansively includes the well being of all.   

Passed 200!

Yah!  211 page views . . .100 of them probably from my Mother!

Kayen

I am staying at Rumah Kayen in the Kayen village area in north Yogyakarta.  Life away from the hustle and bustle of the City moves at a different pace.  The people live simply, but fully.  Their rhythm, cursive and slow, calls me from head to foot, from mind to heart, welcomes me to the gentle soul of earth.

   

It is a school day—children in Indonesia attend school six days each week—and the sounds of children laughing on the school playground echo throughout the small village. 

A young man on a motorcycle turns the corner with his infant son held in a sling close to his heart.   He glances at me briefly, smiles and returns his gaze to his son.  His obvious and palatable love brings tears to my eyes.

 A tailor rides his bike with a portable sewing machine, stopping to complete needed work.

An extended family gathers on the front porch with their newest member, a baby girl. 

The farmers in the fields wave flags and sound tin cans to keep the birds away.

A woman washes clothes in a small irrigation ditch that brings water to the fields.

Everywhere, a smile and a “halo,” yield joy and appreciation.  I sink into other, into myself, into the holy.

Of course, life in the village is not simply idyllic.  People live on very limited resources.  Government corruption is rampant, and the effects of imperialism and colonialism (the subject of my weekly reflection) linger.

Oh, and I haven't mentioned the occasional bat because . . . there's Batman, and remember from post two, I'm over icky things . . . at least until the time when alligators slither from the fields. Then, it's back to the past, full throttle!

Sweet Songs

Tonight

the birds and the Imam

  singing together

sweet songs.

Calling us

to prayer, to wonder, to celebration.

Green grass spiraling tree,

water fish essence of me.

  dance, sing, rejoice,

  Love.  Come Home.

Reflection # 1

I am reflecting with a group of doctoral students, university lecturers and professors, on social theory and religion.  Most recently, we have been thinking about Marx . . .

Reflection #1

I often lament a perceived inability of current religious leaders to advance a coherent critical and libratory response to the increasing impoverishment and imprisonment of ordinary Americans.  The top 1% of the population is immune to application of the law, takes in one quarter of the nation’s income and controls 40% of its wealth.  Rather than addressing this disparity and the attendant issues of injustice, the public voice of many of America’s clergy remains focused on women and the control of their bodies, issues of sexual orientation, and yearning for an idyllic past which never existed.  This focus arises at the intersection of biblical literalism, and notions of natural law and eternal life.

Gregory Baum’s reading of Marx in Religion and Alienation: A Theological Reading of Sociology underscores my point.  For Marx, religion is the product of human self-alienation. “The discrepancies in the social institutions inflict burdens on people, diminish their humanity, distort their self-understanding as human beings, and eventually create false consciousness in them.” (24)  With this distorted awareness, the present social order becomes reality.  People then generate ideals that normalize and solidify the false social order.  Religion is such an ideal, directing notions of happiness away from the present world to a divine world beyond.  The material world remains unjust, and religion serves to maintain the status quo (24).

Yet, I am mindful that religion also has been used to support challenges to unjust social structures.  Writing from the Birmingham jail, Martin Luther King interrogated the idea espoused by certain Alabama clergy that the quest for racial equality should proceed only through the courts, not the streets.  King wrote:  “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” King staked his position in the tradition of the Apostle Paul and the prophets who “left their little villages and carried their ‘thus saith the Lord’ far beyond the boundaries of their hometowns . . .”  

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Today, Chris Hedges, a journalist and graduate of Harvard Divinity School, and  Cornell West, a Professor of African American Studies and Religion, lend support to the Occupy Wall Street protest which seeks, among other things, to bring attention to the disparities between the rich and the poor.  The basis of their support lies in religious understandings of justice.  Hedges writes:  “Either you obstruct . . . the criminal class on Wall Street and the accelerated destruction of the ecosystem . . . or you become a passive enabler of a monstrous evil.”  West says that “[t]o be human you must bear witness to justice.  Justice is what love looks like in public . . .”

Perhaps religion freed from rules and absolute dogmas, and focused instead on love, here and now, can disrupt systems of hatred and injustice.  Then, religion can be used to imagine and create a love-filled world.