The Perception of Indonesia’s History and Culture by Western Historians and Social Scientists (Summary and Review)
In 2013, I had a class on Indonesian Language and Culture. I studied in the international undergraduate program where exchange students from Europe were my classmates. Therefore, the materials presented in the class were targeting both domestic and international students. Every week we had to write a review of academic articles about Indonesia written by both local and Western academicians. I had the opportunity to review this paper and wrote commentaries of it. Below is my submitted review (edited). I apologise beforehand for my English.
This article explains about the perception of Indonesia’s history and culture by Western historians and social scientists with the particular topic of Indonesia’s cultural diversity in times of global change. In the introduction of this article, the author tells us about the general facts of Indonesia: population, population position, ethnic and cultural heterogeneity, language, and religion. The author explains a point where Indonesia is a country where it adopts external influences and makes it as its own- with a very rich and diverse result.
Even though Indonesia is one of the most pluralistic countries with the most diversity of languages in the world, it still has its very own national language (Bahasa Indonesia- a language derived from Malay) as a symbol of national unity and independence of Indonesia (also a symbol of rebellion towards the Dutch occupation). Moreover, Indonesia adopts all the major world religions: Islam, Hinduism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Christianity of all kinds, and a vast variety of tribal religions. By knowing this information, one wonders about the co-existence of so many different ethnic groups, religious communities, and social classes. It has always been this way: ethnic tensions and spiraling religious and ethnic conflicts. The difference between the eras is how much effort is put into covering it up.
The author mentioned the event of 1998 which proves that conflicts cannot be denied and ethnic and religious harmony can no longer be pretended. This article also argues the importance of Islamic growth, which are then digested and integrated into Indonesia’s local culture; proven by the Javanese cultural streams: priyayi, santri, and abangan.The development of democracy in Indonesia is the result of the colonial government of “Netherland Indies”, a movement between 1950 and 1960, and a democratic and pluralistic Islam.
The author explained about a biased European view of the past by using the example of the Padri War or Imam Bonjol war. The Islamic revival movement- influenced by Wahabitic ideas- reformed the Islamic faith and got acceptance for strict observance of the sharia. Then 1825, the Padris fought against the Bataks, scorching Batak villages and killing thousands of pigs. This is then exaggerated by Dutch administrators, civil servants, and scientists to use as justification for the conquest of Indonesia, known as “Pax Neerlandica”, when actually Islamic revival movement is the result of socio-economic change, especially by the rapid development of the coffee export which created new economic and political requirements.
The article also reported that a harmonious Arab minority exists in Indonesia, which plays an important role in commercial and religious activities, were ignored by the Dutch government for many years. They are called as Hadhramis: a population that emigrated large numbers to countries located around the Indian Ocean (Berg 1886) from Hadhramaut (South Yemen). There have been disagreements for whether or not they were responsible for the advent of Islam.
Peripheral minorities, “moving people”, or “isolated tribes” of Indonesia undergoes prejudices as backwards, barbaric, uncivilized, and crude. Instead of building a bridge between these minorities and the modern world, transmigration intensified ethnic imbalance. This issue deserves more attention because of its neglect.
Suharto’s centralization/unification policy effects are weakening, undermining, pushing back, or even abolishing adat institutions. Other than that, most of the government interventions/projects lack understanding in the culture of where they work.
I think this article provided good proofs of how the West views Indonesian history. The point of view which they use may provide us more knowledge about or own culture and history and what issues we have neglected these couple of years. The benefit for me, personally, is the fact that the realization of “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika” is still the Indonesian dream, but firstly we have to know every detail there is to know about Indonesia, even if it means reading “biased” perceptions from the West.
