Arab Gulf visitors who travel  from Jakarta through the hinterland Puncak Pass, sight luxuriant forests and tea plantations, and are quick to describe the west Javanese countryside as a virtual jannah (Paradise) on earth. Allah has indeed blessed Indonesia with an unusual share of the earth’s resources with its exceptional mineral and petroleum wealth, and extensive areas of fertile soils. These originate from the decomposition of rocks that form from the periodically erupting volcanoes all along the archipelago’s Indian Ocean margin. The world’s largest gold deposit is mined in West Papua, and other world class deposits of tin, coal, oil and gas are present.

The lush greenness of Indonesia is a consequence of the high rainfalls and humidity prevalent over much of the archipelago, which ensure high yields of crops and a productive plantation sector. The Borneo jungles are still yielding enormous quantities of timber and rattan. Indonesia’s  large population (almost 220 million) is also a human resource that is increasingly being tapped in factories producing all manner of competitively priced quality goods that are penetrating world markets.

Indonesia, more than any other country, has the potential to become a veritable paradise on earth.  But the people must truly turn en masse to Islam and eradicate features of pre-Islamic beliefs and practices that permit king worship, polytheism, corruption, cronyism and the maintenance of a lower caste of poor labourers and peasants.

The purpose of publishing this article is to clarify to Indonesian Muslims and Muslims in general, aspects of the historical development of Islam in Java that have represented obstacles to the true adoption of Islam by many of the Javanese people.

There have been nine major problems faced by Indonesian Muslims in recent years. They should learn lessons from these and give up false practices and truly worship the One God.

1996  World’s greatest scam – the Bre-X gold mining scam exposed; Soeharto children challenge each other for shareholdings. Toronto mining stock exchange loses over C$3 billion share value in one day!

1997 Environmental crises – Drought and failure of the rice crop; smoke pollution extending from Darwin to Thailand

1997 Economic crisis – collapse of the economy and mass labour retrenchments

1998 Rampant corruption - Indonesia rated most corrupt country in the World     (Jakarta Post, 4/5/98)

1998 Inflation and high living costs causing malnutrition and starvation

1999   Epidemics – dengue fever in Jakarta and elsewhere

1998 Leadership crisis – dictatorship and the fall of Soeharto and Habibie

1999 Territorial crises – loss of East Timor; secession threat in Aceh and Irian

1999  Murder and destruction of Muslim communities in Halmahera, Ambon, and   Kalimantan; earthquakes in Sumatra and Java

Dear Muslims. Remember the nine ayaat (signs) that Allah sent to Pharaoh and his people (Qur’an 17: 101). In Surah Al A’raf (7:134-6), Allah says: Every time the penalty fell on them, they said ‘O Moses! On our behalf call on your Lord…: if you will remove the penalty from us, we shall truly believe in you…’ But every time We removed the Penalty from them according to a fixed term which they had to fulfil – Behold! They broke their word! So we gave a well-deserved  punishment to them: We drowned them in the sea, because they rejected Our signs, and failed to take warning from them.

And who does more wrong than one to whom are recited the Signs of his Lord and who then turns away therefrom?
(Sura As-Sajdah:22)

Muslims, take heed of these signs and worship Allah as he should be worshipped without partners.

            Do not set up any other deity side by side with Allah, lest you find yourself disgraced and forsaken: for your Sustainer has ordained that you shall worship none but Him.  
(Sura Isra’:22-25)

And hope that Allah will have mercy and withhold further punishment to those who turn truly to Him and worship Him in true tawheed! And know that,

            Allah does not change the condition of a people until they first change that which is within themselves. 
(Sura Ar-Ra’d:11)

The nature of the religious belief of the Javanese (people from central and eastern part of Java) is critical since the Javanese see themselves as the rightful rulers over the modern Indonesian state. The Javanese claim this right because they say the majority of Indonesians come from Java. Although there are many dedicated Javanese Muslims, unfortunately, a sizeable number appear to worship other deities besides Allah. This seems especially so of many of those connected with the traditional power centres (royal palaces or kratons) of Solo and Jogjakarta.

Officially, 87% of Indonesia’s population are Muslim.  However, a sizeable portion of the Javanese population are “identity card Muslims” who still hold to the pre-Islamic Hindu and animistic beliefs (ie. kejawen religion).

A major festival of the Javanese calendar, Satu Suro, involves asking for blessings from the goddess of the Southern Ocean, Nyai Roro Kidul. Dr Suradi, an official of the Indonesian Department of Culture explained that “according to Kejawen, Nyai Roro Kidul is the spiritual bride of the rulers of Solo and Jogjakarta…They acknowledge their attachment at the Javanese new year by presenting her with gifts” (Loveard 1993:39). In return, Nyai Kidul is supposed to guard the fortunes of her mortal husbands.

Loveard also wrote that “While Javanese may not be familiar with Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, the Hindu deities are represented in the palace of Surakarta” Here he interviewed one palace official, who said “I’m a Muslim, but only in name. I never pray. But my belief in the generosity of God is strong…” (Loveard 1993:44). On the contrary, many strong ahaadith of Prophet Muhammad (S) testify that a person who gives up salaat deliberately becomes a non-believer!

There are many good Muslims from central and eastern Java, however the power centres largely remain in the hands of those who follow traditional largely pre-Islamic Javanese religious (kejawen) beliefs and are less sympathetic to Islam.

How can this be, that in the traditional power centres of the most populous part of Indonesia, from where three of Indonesia’s four presidents have come from, that pre-Islamic religious beliefs remain so dominant?  How can this be when all major districts of Java are supposed to have embraced Islam by the end of the 18^th century?

One of the first Muslim sultanates in Indonesia was Ternate in Halmahera where Christian neighbours were recently busy during the last Ramadan and Christmas-New Year period exterminating whole Muslims communities! Islam generally however spread initially through the Archipelago from Aceh towards the east, and in Java from the northern coastal towns towards the south. The "east hook" of Java was the last to accept Islam in the late 18t^h century (de Graaf 1949).

Practising Hindus fled to Bali to escape the flood of Islam and preserve their faith.  Others preserved their ancient belief systems by accepting Islam only superficially, while keeping their Hindu-Buddhist beliefs hidden. This appears to have been a subterfuge to ensure they would retain their political powers during a period when Muslim power was dominant.

The threat to Muslims in their archipelago of imminent advance of the militaristic Christian Portuguese appears to have galvanised action for the spread of Islam which stretched the length of Java by the time of the arrival of the Dutch East Indies Company (the VOC).  Islam continued to consolidate during the early Dutch period when it seems to have had its period of major influence.

The traditional power centres of central Java were amongst the last to accept Islam – “The integration of Muslim concepts and institutions into the central Javanese court tradition seems to have occurred not until the second half of the 18^th century” (Koentjaraningrat 1980)

Evidence suggests however, that in central Java, the rulers in general, did not accept Islam with full sincerity.  Wertheim (1959) wrote “the nobility of central Java, though Moslem in name, had always maintained its attitude of reserve towards the stricter forms of the faith. In kraton (court) circles in Solo and Jogjakarta ‘javanism’ prevailed: it was a syncretic religion in which Hindu and pre-Hindu elements still played an important part.” Soebardi (1975: 45-53) made the point that the ideas of the poets such as Yasadipura I at the end of the 18^th century prepared the way for the basically dualistic view of Kejawen religion with respect to Islam. “Islam had to be accepted, but only in its outward manifestation; the content and essence had to remain Javanese.”

Many of the Central Javanese kings may have initially embraced Islam to safeguard their positions. It is probable this was generally done in a zahir (outward) manner, rather than truthfully. This duplicity of some of the former Sultans is suggested by (i) the continuation even to day of pre-Islamic kejawen beliefs and practices of palace servants in Jogjakarta and Surakarta, and by (ii) the mix of Hindu-Buddhist and Islamic beliefs of many Javanese today.

Given the high authority of the Javanese sultans, who carried a semi-divine role in the eyes of the populace, the blame for the lack of deep penetration of holistic Islam in the populace must to a large extent be laid at their feet.

To protect their status, it appears many of the Central Javanese sultans accepted Islam outwardly but undertook to retain certain of their pre-Islamic Hindu-animist beliefs intact. These include concepts of the “god-king”, and structural fixation of people in classes including a lower class of poor labourers.

It appears the Javanese sultans harnessed the growing power of Islam, at least superficially, but then returned to their pre-Islamic practices when the star of Islam began to wane. This theory is in keeping with the Javanese view that divinity lies close to the one in power.

Ricklefs (1979) surmised that Islam was a more powerful influence in the life of the court in the 17^th century than in the 18^th.  Since the arrival of Islam in the archipelago, Muslim power and its domination of the seas began to wane rapidly in the 17^th century with incursions of the Portuguese and then the Dutch. The Muslims held strong against the Portuguese settlement at Malacca, but were gradually subdued throughout the Archipelago over an extended period of 300 years by the Dutch.

As the power and influence of first the VOC and subsequently the Dutch government extended in the 18^th century, it appears that the Islamic spirit receded in the royal courts of Solo and Jogjakarta. This can partly be explained by the Javanese belief that the seat of power lies with those who are close to God. The rising power of the Dutch would therefore have eroded the influence of Islam in the kratons.

The weakening of Islamic influence in Java was further enhanced by deliberate policies of the Dutch government implemented in the late 19^th century.

Over an extended period, outspoken Indonesian ulama and Muslim leaders and activists, suffered at the hands of the Dutch Colonial Government, who expelled and incarcerated many of them in the Dutch settlement of Cape Town in south Africa.

It is not surprising that by the time of Indonesian Independence in 1945, the sultanates in those parts of Indonesia where Islam had flourished had suffered their demise, whereas those in Java where unislamic beliefs and practices were strong, remained intact.

A major role in turning back the political growth of Islam that so threatened the Dutch stranglehold over its precious possession of the East Indies, was played by the Dutch munafiq, Snouck Hurgronje. He had purportedly embraced Islam. A ten-year “sojourn in disguise” had provided him a unique insight into the Indonesian community in Mecca.  As a Dutch Arabist and Islamologist, he in fact studied Islam and Muslims for the purpose of developing strategies for the Colonial government to weaken Islam, the major foe of Dutch power in the archipelago.

In 1889, he was appointed as Government Adviser on Arabian and Native Affairs and formulated his Islamic policy recommendations. Snouck made two important observations that (i) the Indonesian officials in charge of administering Islamic worship and religious justice were traditionally the subordinates, rather than the superiors of native rulers, and (ii) while Islamic shariah had gained acceptance in the realm of family law, in almost all other legal matters the Indonesian adat or pre-Islamic customary law prevailed. Thus, however great the authority exercised by  Islamic judges and teachers in community affairs, Indonesians continued to be guided by adat and to obey the traditional adat bearers of political authority. According to Snouck, “The enemy, then, was not Islam as a religion but Islam as a political doctrine.” (Benda 1985: 63)

Snouck’s recommendations for an Islamic containment policy thus followed logically to divide Islam into two parts, one “religious”, the other “political”.  Towards the former (ie. Islamic ritual practices), Snouck counselled in favour of toleration: a policy of neutrality. An opposite approach was applied for “political Islam”:

“while the government should respect the religious life of its Muslim subjects, it must not ‘platonically envisage all those trends that bear or tend to bear, a political character.’ Any sign of incitement must, therefore, be resolutely met by force, and all interference in matters Islamic from abroad must be nipped in the bud” (Benda 1985:65)

As a result of the absorption of Dutch influence, some Indonesian Muslims even today, will justify the rejection of certain key aspects of Islam (such as Jihad and Shariah in government) by saying “we are Muslims but we have a different adat”.

The determined application of the twin policies of tolerance and vigilance should, according to Hurgronje, go finally hand in hand with Dutch support for and encouragement of those social elements least under the sway of Islamic influence - the adat chiefs and rulers of the Outer Islands and the traditional aristocracy on Java (Hurgronje 1899 vide Benda). As stated by Benda (1985:64) “adat institutions formed the traditionally most powerful barrier against Islam”. The promotion of Hindu-Buddhist-animist adat became a deliberate stratagem by the colonial government.

A further policy to counteract Islamic influence and take over the role of the antiquated adat, was stated to be “westernisation”. In this policy as stated by Benda (1985:65), “It was only natural that Snouck Hurgronje should focus his attention upon the Javanese aristocracy as the first and most obvious social class to be drawn into the orbit of Westernisation.  The aristocracy’s higher cultural level, its proximity to western influences brought about by contact with the European administration, and finally, its traditional aloofness from Islam [emphasis added], made it the logical beneficiary of Snouck’s assimilationist schemes.”

The results of the policy are described by Benda (1985: 65-66): “In competition with the attractions of Western education and cultural association, Islam could not but be the loser. Indeed, its decline was already observable.  Whereas in 1890 Snouck had noted an increase in the number of Islamic theological training centres, 20 years later he triumphantly observed that western schools were starting to win the race against their Muslim counterparts.” And further “In Aceh vigorous military action against fanatical ulama, combined with Dutch support for adat chiefs, at long last brought about the termination of the war.”        

Sadly, even with Indonesian “Independence” the Soekarno and Soeharto governments have imitated and applied the same principles of the Dutch colonial government in controlling the Islamic movement in Indonesia. This is not surprising since both Soekarno and Soeharto grew up in kejawen family environments. Soekarno’s mother was a Hindu while Soeharto’s influential wife Tien, now deceased, had a kraton background. Furthermore, because of the Indonesian army’s historical role in the 1950s of combating Islamic uprisings, it has also tended to be a reactionary adat force and tool that has been used in a similar manner as the Dutch East Indies colonial army to control Islamic political movements.

In the 1980s, the Soeharto government carried out a deliberate policy to weaken the spirit of Indonesian Muslims and gave strong support to the objective of international and national Christian groups of making Indonesia a Christian country within 25 years. The strong support for the Christian community and Christian missionary activity throughout Indonesia, has been another policy of the former Dutch colonial government that was resurrected and reinforced by the Soeharto government. The role of Christian missionary groups is still ever powerful in Indonesia today. However, that is another story to be told.

This is an important message for Muslims worldwide that they must maintain and enhance their political roles in society, and also be aware of those Muslim organizations that educate Muslims to stay out of “politics”. The surrender of Islam’s political role is against Qur’anic and sunnah teachings, but is the keen desire of the opponents of Islam to make it a toothless tiger.

The failure to adopt and follow Islamic principles in the political leadership of Indonesia is a direct cause of Indonesia’s troubles today. This is a “wakeup call” to Indonesian Muslims that their country is at the “crossroads” and that wrong decisions at this stage can have drastic consequences.

However, if they adopt Islam as the basis of their personal and community life, then Allah’s help will be due and they can resume their journey towards establishing a veritable Paradise on earth that is in waiting for the True Believers.

“Allah has promised to those among you who believe and work righteous deeds, that he will, of a surety, grant them in the land, inheritance (of power), as He granted it to those before them; that He will establish in authority their religion – the one which He has chosen for them; and that He will change (their state), after the fear in which they (lived), to one of security and peace: “They will worship Me (alone) and not associate anything with Me.’ If any do reject faith after this, they are rebellious and wicked.”

"So establish regular prayer and give regular Charity; and obey the Messenger; that ye may receive mercy. 
Never think that the Unbelievers are going to frustrate (Allah’s Plan) on earth…” 
(Qur’an S.24 v.55-57).

Author’s Note: Although this paper is critical of the historical role of the Javanese sultans and the associated kejawen culture, it should not be construed as an attack against all Javanese or their culture. The author acknowledges the major role played by Javanese Muslim leaders in leading the current “reformation” movement with its call to a return to Islamic values as a basis for good government. I have been involved with many Javanese active in Islamic work and I am indebted to the excellent hospitality shown to me while travelling through Java. No doubt there are also many good aspects of Javanese culture that can be retained, while unislamic practices and beliefs that are still followed by some Indonesian Muslims must be discarded in favour of what Allah and His Prophet (S) have taught.        Abd’ Allah  

Benda HJ 1985. Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje and the Foundations of Dutch Islamic Policy in Indonesia. The Journal of Modern History, 30 (1958): 338-347. University of Chicago Press. [Reprinted In: Readings on Islam in Southeast Asia, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (1985), Pp 61-69.]

De Graaf  HJ 1949.  Geschiedenis van Indonesie‘s-Gravenshage, Pp 272-275.

Koentjaraningrat 1985 Javanese Terms for God and Supernatural Beings and the Idea of Power. In: Man, Meaning and History. Essays in Honour of HG Schulte Nordholt. Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 89 (1980): 127-139. Martinius Nijhoff, The Hague. [Reprinted In: Readings on Islam in Southeast Asia, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (1985), Pp 286-301]

Loveard Keith 1993. Journey Through Magic. Asiaweek, June 9: 36-45.

Ricklefs MC 1985. Six Centuries of Islamization in Java. In: Conversion to Islam (Ed. Nehemia Levtzion) (1979). Holmes & Meier Publishers, New York [Reprinted as Islamization in Java: Fourteenth to Eighteenth Centuries. In: Readings on Islam in Southeast Asia, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (1985), Pp 36-43]

Soebardi S 1975. The Book of Cabolek: A Critical Edition with Introduction, Translation and Notes. Biblioteca Indonesia 10. The Hague, Martinius Nijhoff.

Wertheim WF 1959. Indonesian Society in Transition, A Study of Social Change, 2nd Edition. W van Hoeve, The Hague. [Reprinted as Bourgeois Currents in Religion. In: Readings on Islam in Southeast Asia, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Pp 110-116]

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