16th March, 2011

BRUCE C. WEARNE

Understanding Islam in Indonesia: Politics and Diversity

Robert Pringle

Editions Didier Millet, Singapore, 2010
ISBN-13 9789814260091

"This is an extremely readable and helpful account, explaining how and why Islam, the predominant religion in this highly diverse "emergent nation", makes a diverse, if not ambiguous, impact that has for centuries been happy to accommodate ancient pre-Islamic animism and Buddhist-Hindu mysticism in the interests of commerce, political power and prestige."

On reading Pringle's book, I spent a few minutes on Wikipedia looking at all the countries in our South West Pacific region. I thought a rough calculation of the population of our country in relation to our region would provide a rule of thumb for how, at least in terms of population, Australia compares with our region and with Indonesia (and Malaysia) to the north.

Interestingly, Malaysia, with 13 states and three federal territories has a population not much larger than Australia with 27.5 million people. But Indonesia is a much larger federal polity, with 240 million, and 33 provinces over 17,508 islands! Papua and West Papua, which since 2003 have been administered in two separate Indonesian provinces, have a combined population of 3.25 million. So, if I include them with East Timor as part of (historic) Melanesia - and thus as part of the (historic) South West Pacific region - then we can say that Australia with 22 million accounts for 56 per cent of the 40 million in this region.

Indonesia has a population of about 240 million people. The South Pacific Region has but one-sixth of Indonesia's population while Australia has less than one-tenth. As a social theorist I am not prone to say that facts speak for themselves; but these figures do suggest that understanding Indonesia should be an integral part of every Australian Christian's continuing education. Christian citizens in this country have every good reason to become better acquainted with the religious fabric of this diverse, complex and volatile polity next door and of the various streams of Islam that predominate throughout its myriad islands..

The first four chapters of Understanding Islam in Indonesia, outline Islam's historical role in Indonesian society, culture and politics. This is an extremely readable and helpful account, explaining how and why Islam, the predominant religion in this highly diverse "emergent nation", makes a diverse, if not ambiguous, impact that has for centuries been happy to accommodate ancient pre-Islamic animism and Buddhist-Hindu mysticism in the interests of commerce, political power and prestige.

Pringle also gives a cogent description of how various streams of militant Islam compete with each other to shape the nation's life and that is what the second half of the book concentrates upon. It is designed to help those outside the country to better understand, in his words, "the causes of recent violent extremism and the possibility that the country may be drifting toward Islamic authoritarianism or even state failure due to political intimidation exercised by a radical minority". And so, Pringle perceptively identifies the way current political decision-making has been shaped by decades of ongoing Islamic education, even if this education has brought deep differences to expression between alternative Muslim world-views. Pringle is adept at pointing to eclectic and opportunistic elements among Islam's variant streams and how political leaders (Sukarno, Suharto and Gus Dur) have adopted what may well seem like mix 'n match strategies to gain favour with popular movements and thus hold onto power.

The two main umbrella organizations that continue to give shape to Islamic thought and practice in contemporary Indonesian political life are the Nahdlatul Ulama (traditionalists) with a membership of 30 million, and the Muhammadiyah (reformists) with 25 million. He writes: "Together they operate hundreds of universities and other post-secondary schools, myriad educational programs, thousands of high schools, numerous medical facilities from hospitals to family planning clinics, and major affiliates for youth and women". And thus through their ongoing work, Islam in Indonesia is organised.

This is a good book because it acquaints us with the complex religious fabric of our very large northern neighbour. Pringle has contextualised Indonesian political life by reference to the ongoing political education of the world's fourth largest country. Islam, always a factor in the political management of this archipelago, has now risen to decisive significance because of decades-long patient cultivation of a way of life that relates Islam relates to the great diversity and complexity of Indonesia's life. Can any parallel educative developments be discerned within Australia's polity to form a Christian political consciousness? Melanesia is indeed still a Christian archipelago but perhaps the persistent apathy of Australian Christians to take political responsibility is a powerful spiritual factor in the secularisation of public life for our South Pacific neighbours.

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