Published on 30th June, 2003

"Indonesia’s Endangered Religion and Species: 
Islam and the Muslims"

By S. Abidin

Editors Note: Aceh was decimated by a tsunami in December 2004 after this article was written. The province was under martial law at the time under the presidency of Susilo Bambang Yudhono.

"No rain without end, no war without end"  -Hasballah Saad.

The 13,000 or more islands that are now known as the Republic of Indonesia were once the home to hundreds of individual Islamic sultanates that governed their respective territories and people. Each sultanate had Islam, a royal line of successors, sophisticated trading, business and agriculture, a civilised social structure, successful sanitation and warfare methods and magnificent and unique Islamic architecture in their palaces and Mosques. The modern day provincial borders of the Republic of Indonesia can now only vaguely identify these territories and boundaries that existed up until just over 50 years ago.

The first Islamic Sultanate of the entire southern hemisphere was in Peurelak, Aceh around the year 173 AH (800 AD) where the Arab, Gujarati and Chinese Muslim traders frequented in the trade of mainly spices. Islam first came to Aceh, after which it spread to Malaysia, West Sumatra and Makkasar. Eventually, the island of Java syncretised Islam into their existing Hindu culture around 100 years ago.

This first old Sultanate in Aceh was Shia, whose Sultan was Alaidin Saijid Maulana Mahmud Syah, however it was challenged by a second Sultan of the Ahlus Sunnah in 918 AD whose name was Meurah Abdul Qadir Syah (El-Fatah, 2000) resulting in the Brothers War. Although the two Sultanates had clear differences, when faced with an invading common enemy – the Hindus and Buddhists from the southern islands – the two sultanates united to fight off the attack from the south. 

The Hindu Kingdom of Java had many times unsuccessfully attempted to take over the Sumatran Sultanates, including Minangkabau,West Sumatra. When the Hindu King from Java discovered the lands of West Sumatra, the home of the Minangkabau people, he sent his representative to threaten that if the people did not accept the rule of the Hindu King, then war would be declared on them. A wise man amongst the Minang people suggested a Buffalo match to decide the outcome, which was mutually agreed upon. The Javanese Hindu King then found the biggest buffalo in his kingdom to fight the Minangkabau buffalo, however as the Minang people did not know how they could find a stronger buffalo than their opponent, they decided on a strategic move instead. A wise man of the Minang said that he owned a young buffalo that had not yet been weened off its mother. The Minang people then did not feed or give drink to the young buffalo for three days and they cut its horns so that they were jagged edged and sharp. Upon seeing the baby buffalo the Javanese Hindus laughed and were sure of their win (DEC, 2003).

At the start of the fight, upon seeing the large strong buffalo, the baby thought it was its mother and immediately ran toward it searching for milk and ran its jagged horns against the side of the large beast, cutting into its flesh. The large buffalo did not want to fight the baby buffalo nor did it appreciate the baby chasing it and injuring it in search of milk. The large buffalo ran away fast and fell down dead. This is how the Minangkabau people take their name from – Menang meaning "winning" and  kerbau  meaning "buffalo". Their sultanate therefore, at that time, remained free.

The much talked about "territorial boundaries" surrounding Indonesia, were designed and drawn up by the then colonial rulers – the Dutch. The Dutch based their headquarters in Batavia (now Jakarta) from which they attempted to rule a vast archipelago. They had declared war on the Sultanate in Aceh on the western most point of the island of Sumatra, in order to complete their control of the entire archipelago because as yet the Hindu kingdom had not yet succeeded in doing so. For 25 years or more the Sultan of Aceh and people fought against Dutch colonial rule until finally the Sultan, Mohamad Daud surrendered in January 1903. 

The struggle continued by the Acehnese people however, as they fought Dutch occupation from the jungle until the Acehnese heroic leader, Tjoet Nyak Dien, was captured and taken to Java in 1908 (Ohorella & El-Fatah, 1999).

The nation of Aceh was lost in a signature. 1945 marked the year that Java had been waiting for in order to gain control over the Islamic sultanates. That one easy signature was all they needed from the Dutch to hand over control of the entire archipelago. 

The nation of Aceh had never agreed to become a part of the republic of Indonesia but Aceh, along with the Minangkabau and the rest of Indonesia, was signed over by the Dutch to the neo-colonial rulers who are the ethnic Javanese. In those days they were referred to as the "Black Dutchmen" and "Black Dutchwomen."

The first thing the communist leader late President Sukarno did to his newly acquired nation was to dismantle all of the Sultanates, with the exception of one Javanese Sultanate, and replacing them with a secular governmental system. He removed their power, their cultural hierarchies, their social systems and their role in their royal territories. The Sultans are still alive today, their families still carry the royal titles and their palaces still stand, but they work amongst the working class, they eat amongst the commoners and they do not have any recognition or respect from anyone except the immediate people around them who still address them by their titles such as Teuku or Teungku.

The Sultanates kept the moral standards high, kept the peoples sense of worth and dignity in tact, kept their faith strong, kept the societies cared for and clean, kept the people employed and enjoined all Islamic practices. Once these standards were removed at the introduction of the republic, the sultanates were turned into dirty cities, the people no longer had a local authority to respect or from whom to seek guidance, and the religion began to severely decline at the introduction of secularism.

The 58-year-old nation state is now being led by the late Sukarno’s daughter, Megawati Sukarnoputri, who declared martial law in Aceh on May 19th 2003 launching a military operation targeting Acehnese across the archipelago and internationally. As Megawati’s mother was Hindu and her father communist, she has found no difficulty in launching the brutal attacks against Indonesia’s now endangered species – the Muslims and on the endangered religion – Islam. She has become the signature-happy tool of the Indonesian Military [Tentara Nasional Indonesia]. Megawati has also recently formed very strong ties with their Southeast Asian neighbour, communist Vietnam. The Vietnamese are now so welcome in Indonesia that they don’t even need visas, unlike the rest of the world, and as both nations have one of the most brutal histories of torture tactics, beside Cambodia or Russia, there is no saying where these new diplomatic ties can lead. With uncertainty surrounding Indonesia’s current intentions in Aceh and the world, one is left wondering whether Indonesia will join forces with the communist nations of Vietnam, North Korea and China or if they are simply the foolish puppets of Israeli America?

Compounded with accusations of terrorism on the Island of Bali in October 2002, it still leaves the Indonesian Muslim an endangered species. It is not too difficult to visualise the day when there will only be memories of the peaceful Muslims who once walked the beautiful ranges of the Gayo, alongside the rushing waters of the great Alas River and the entire coastal plains of Aceh following the adhan that once filled the air.

• El-Fatah, Z. (2000) A Journey to Aceh, Chapter 7.

• Ohorella, B. & El-Fatah Z. (1999) Tjoet Njak Dien

• Distance Education Centre [DEC] (2003) Advanced Indonesian Cassette Readings, University of Southern Queensland, Queensland, Australia.