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Kawistara, Vol. 2, No. 2, 17 Agustus 2012: 121-139

INTRODUCTION In the Indonesian context, some would A mid-sixteenth century law text mindlessly say that “agama” refers to the from was labeled The agama. In their six “official” of , Catholicism, study, M.C. Hoadley and M.B. Hooker , , and refer to “agama” as “traditional learning and in the same breath (overgelevered leer) which could apply consider “agama” to be the equivalent in equally to any law book”, drawing particularly meaning to “” in general. Although upon Hindu law following J. C. G. Jonker’s we may be able to analyze “agama” in argument (Hoadley and Hooker, 1981: 57- terms of other concepts, such as or 58). In this regard, “agama” is generally communism, the use of “agama” implies understood as a body of prescriptions. The that all acknowledge and accept meaning of “agama” shifted and there was its official meaning, whether they belong to already a binary relationship between the these six formalized religions or not. Such a concepts of “agama” and “”: “agama” circumstance cries out for an explanation. here refers to a ‘unified’ Javanese Court legal In the past, to say that something was prescription as opposed to the diverse “adat” “agama” was not there simply to be found; of local peripheries. This reasonable first crack the word “agama” does not occur in all would soon give way to the triadic sphere ethnic societies in . There is barely of “agama”, “adat” and “kepercayaan” a vocabulary available in great numbers of discussed later. ethnic languages in Indonesia for translating An interesting point is thatmajority either “religion” or “agama” (Harahap, 2000; Kuper and Kuper, 2000: 914). These terms are of Indonesian Muslims do not associate foreign for some Indonesian ethnic groups. “agama” with the Islamic notion of “din” It will be useful to look at the origin or use the word. the word “din” refers and the developments of the word “agama.” to (1) custom or mores, (2) rules, (3) laws, “Agama” is a loan word from Sanskrit: it (4) oneness of , (5) obedience, (6) is a “post-Vedic scripture conveying redemption, (7) judgment, (8) Armageddon, knowledge that is considered to have been (9) advice, and (10) religion (‘Ulumul revealed by a personal divinity” (Merriam- Qur’an, 1992: 48-50). As the biggest Muslim Webster’ Encyclopedia of World Religions, country in the world, the Indonesian word 1999: 22). From a Srilankan context, “agama” for “religion” is a word from Sanskrit, not rendered composite meanings: that “agama” Arabic. Whether the explanation for this is concerned with lokottara (supermundane) partiality is cultural or ideological in nature, matters as opposed to laukoka (worldly) there is undoubtedly an element of each. matters (Southwold, 1978). Presenting Ideologically, the appeal of some Islamist “agama” in its historical conditions obliges groups to an Islamic state has persistently us to recognize its relativity against the incited the understanding of “din” al Islam deployment of “agama” in other societies, not merely as a religion but also a state. The such as in Indonesia.

122 Sita Hidayah -- The Politics of Religion The Invention of “Agama” in Indonesia principle of din wa dawlah creates a direct and MA means ‘the Sun’; Agama thus means opposition to the ‘secular’ state embodied the teaching of mystery, because God is by both former colonial administrators located in a mysterious place, a vacuum or and the Indonesian republic. One the other void …(c) Igama may reflect an abbreviation hand, cultural studies on how “agama” has from the Sanskrit I-GA-MA, where the been appropriated suggested that “agama” letter ‘I’ is ‘Iswara’, ‘GA’ is ‘body’ and MA has affinity to including political as well as is ‘Amartha’ (life); in this context, Igama socio-cultural competitions for authority and means the teaching of kebatinan, domination. (Hadikusumo, 1983: 16-17). “Agama”, at first glance, more easily is The problem here is not just a problem associated with an exclusivist understanding of transporting meanings from India to of modern “religion” as referred to by Indonesia. In fact, this paper discusses the Wilfred Cantwell Smith (1962) in The extent to which propositions about “agama” Meaning and End of Religion, made a prevalent as especially entailed in Indonesia’s system study of the reification of “religion” and its of government constitutes and is constituted logical consequence; modern understandings by the Indonesian religious reality. I will of “religion” are legitimated as an all- apply Foucault’s notions of “history of the encompassing concept and validated as present” to the innovative ‘imaginative’ final and inherent. The modern meanings of construction of the new system of production, “religion” are used: (1) to refer to personal distribution, circulation, and operation of piety, (2) as an ideal and (3) as an empirical the state-imposed “agama”. Through a phenomenon. These usages refer to a methodological practice of archeology, this public system. Within this understanding, paper explores the ‘condition of possibility” “religion” as a noun has the plural form and for the emergence of “agama”. the singular should use definite articles, and In this paper, I treat “agama” as the (4) as a total generic, ‘religion’ in general. central issue and follow what Foucault has He conveyed that “…in modern done: Indonesia agama, from the classical Sanskrit “…to account the fact that is spoken about, for ‘text’, has come to be used for the to discover who does the speaking, the Western notion of a religion” (Smith, 1962: positions and viewpoints from which they 58-59). According to Smith’s assessment, our speak, the institutions which prompt people to speak about it and which store and exposure to the “agama” by itself suffices to distribute the things that are said” (Foucault, explain the “transposition” of the concept of 1990: 16). “religion” to other parts of the world outside Here “agama” is considered not Greco-Roman Europe. Again, it is important merely as a concept, butas a priori idea to guard against a misunderstanding that and knowledge that historically situated this study would lead to a conclusion that and contingent. Discourse refers to very “agama” is the result of a form of ‘religious/ specific ways of thinking, a constant manner cultural imperialism’. of utterance considered acceptable by a From an Indonesian point of view, particular discourse community. What is Hadikusumo rationalizes the text and considered as “true” in this case “agama” is context of the definition of “agama” with produced and sustained by state apparatus its reference to Sanskrit. He states that “A and/or a regime of truth such as Indonesian means ‘not’ GAM means ‘go’. Suffix ‘a’ is Ulama Council (Majelis Ulama Indonesia) to emphasize the eternal. AGAMA is then (Love, 1989). The state apparatus and its commonly understood as an eternal way fellows play by the rules of exclusion in which of life.” (b) According to the ‘Sunarigama’, it draws the boundary of what is acceptable AGAMA was derived from A-GA-MA; A and what is not about “agama.” means empty or vacuum, GA means ‘place’

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By focusing on “part of the ‘complex’ and “Citizenship...demonstrates affirmative and ‘restrictive’ exchange and communication in proactive rights of a pluralistic and inclusive a particular system or culture”, it provides political community which confirms and a way of exploring religious discourse as manages potential forms of ‘differences’ an element of ‘limitation’ and ‘exclusion’ among the people and communities to ensure equal rights for all, disregarding practices within a culture (Foucault in their background in religion, sex, ethnicity Lemert, 1993). Precisely in this regard, this or political affiliation” (An-Na’im, 2007: 69). study of the discourse of “agama” is relevant to the project of understanding and changing The discourse is clearly central to the the inequalities and suppression of religious state governance, because in many respects minorities in Indonesia. the state presence has been especially strong I use this framework for the examination in the field of “agama”. The convincing of religious legal provisions, ethnographic argument for this is that the state operation researches, and reports on practices of of “agama” becomes the key index of “agama” and its socio-political aspects, citizenship. A valid question for us may be: mostly from sources available only in Bahasa “what is the meaning of “agama” as informed Indonesia and never before scrutinized with by the state policies and how citizenship is a view to their relevance for understanding reinforced or subverted by this meaning?” contemporary religious discourse in This question was inspired by Ton Salman’s Indonesia. article (Salman, 2004: 30). Later I propose that the influence of Consider “agama” as something that the discourse of “agama” is significant we believe we already understand and in informing the concept of Indonesian that we actually know the word, then what citizenry and that the formation of “agama” surprising difficulty there is in endowing helped fashion a strategy of exclusion and “agama” with a contextualized definition. containment of Indonesian minorities. How This is made even more difficult because the the discourse is produced and sustained, as discursive domain of “agama” is politics. So, we will discuss later, is related to the politics the effort to put “agama” in perspective here of exclusion: some people are disqualified is to answer the Foucauldian questions: what from protection of Indonesian law based kind of assumptions, what kinds of familiar, on a view that these people have no claim unchallenged, unconscious modes of thought to sharing the rights those members of the are written into, and often hidden within, six “official” religions enjoy as “legitimate” “agama?” How has such discourse been able Indonesian citizens. to operate in Indonesia from independence The common understanding about until today? citizenship grants citizens legal status of Situating the discourse as a formalized political, social and cultural rights. It also way of thinking of what “agama” is and what sanctions citizens to participate in political can be said about it is different from situating institutions and processes, and it also the discourse of “agama” in action. Because supplies the source of identity (Kymlicka and politics situate the discourse in action, we Norman, 2000). The inclusion of citizenship will discuss the politics of religions as well in the discussion is to answer a philosophical as the problem that arises when “agama” is critic of Foucault’s framework that “translates appropriated in daily life. The discourse is antagonism into difference” and the fact that clearly central to state governance, because the framework abandons the existing serious in many respects the state presence has been unequal power relations among citizens with especially present in the field of “agama”. different (religious) identities, this paper The convincing argument for this is that the follows Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im who state operation of “agama” becomes the key formulated citizenship as: index of citizenship.

124 Sita Hidayah -- The Politics of Religion The Invention of “Agama” in Indonesia

DISCUSSION should have a prophet and a holy book, and “Agama” in the shadow of the State also be acknowledged internationally. Early in the beginning of the Indonesian In 1961, the Ministry of Religion (Menteri state, the moment Indonesian nationalists Agama) again proposed the perimeter of decided to declare Indonesian independence “agama” as indicating equal validity as the constitutional makers had to immediately gestured in the previous propositions. confront the issue of religion. The issue of “Agama” as authorized by the Indonesian the state’s foundation preceded the issue of state includes requirements that it (1) be democracy; whether or not the Indonesian an encompassing way of life with concrete state should be based on Islam and how the regulations, (2) a teaching about the oneness state should govern religious life trumped the of God; (3) include a holy book, which question of the structure of the state should it codifies a message sent down to prophet(s) be unitary or federal, and whether Indonesia through a holy spirit; and (4) be led by a should become a republic or a monarchy prophet. The state views all religions outside (Bolland, 1971). these limitations as ‘tribal’ beliefs, and The conflict over the issue of state therefore are ‘superstitious’ within the ideology was already brought before the working frameworks of this discourse. With meeting of the Badan Pemeriksa Usaha-usaha the Ministry of Home Affairs (Menteri Dalam Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia (Japanese, Negeri) decree No. 477/74054 on November Dokuritu Jiunbi Chosakai), a Japanese- 18th 1978, the government explicitly states that sponsored committee known as the the religions ‘acknowledged’ in Indonesia are Investigative Committee for the Preparation Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism of Independence in late May and June 1945 and Buddhism. (Mudzhar, 1993: 24). The main purpose of If we ask which reality obtained in these the meeting was actually to determine the state propositions, we can respond that all territorial boundaries to be claimed by an Indonesians’ religious beliefs and practices independent Indonesian state (Thoolen, are subject to them. It is important to observe 1987: 36). that not all Indonesians were committed to Indeed, the making of the Indonesian this ordering. Thus “agama” as a ‘field of constitution demonstrated a commitment to control’ has no parallel in pre-independence regulate the cultural and religious diversity Indonesia. Even though according to of Indonesian populations in mutual co- Regeeringsreglement article 119, (1854), the existence. The Indonesian state adopted Dutch ruler acknowledged the freedom Pancasila as the state ideology and foundation. of religions and pledged the government For many Indonesians, Pancasila reflects the to a neutral position regarding religions, ideals of tolerance under which the state Indonesians have never experienced a gives official recognition to religious groups ‘secular’ governing system (Saidi, 2004: 34- in Indonesia (Hidayah, 2009). But why did 48). The Dutch went so far as forbidding “agama” matter in the first place? Islamic instructions and providing incentives There are two ways to reconstruct the for Protestant (Noer, 1982). “condition of possibility” of “Agama”. The In the colonial era, regardless of the stated first is namely the People’s Assembly in Dutch policy of neutrality and freedom of which the discourse of “agama” was first religions, religious policy was principally an established in 1952. That year The Ministry Islamic policy, an Islam-centered policy of of Religions (formerly Kementerian Agama controlling religion (Steenbrink, 2006; Benda, which later became the Ministry of Religious 1958). Affairs) proposed a restricted definition of A restricted understanding of “agama”. The idea was this: to be legitimated “agama”that is devoid of a cultural and as an ‘official’ religion, a particular religion historical context has become the main

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problem here. Hundreds of indigenous most powerful force in forming the concept beliefs and practices, as well as many schools of “citizenship” in Indonesia. Essentially, of interpretation within world religions Indonesian citizenship is given iussanguinis (for example: Ahmadiah, Baha’i, Jehovah (either from an Indonesian father or mother, Witnesses) are not “legitimate” because these or both) and a partial ius soli (Indonesian groups fall outside boundaries established Law No.26/2006). Arguing religion as the within the discourse. Adding to this serious key index of citizenship, “religion” sets problem is that the New Order regime the boundaries of citizenship: only those establishes the triadic discourse of “agama”, professing ‘legitimate’ religions are to be “adat” and “kepercayaan”. considered as citizens. This complication has to do with the Here I propose that the discourse of claim that addressing “agama” does not “agama” is the key aspect in the constitution automatically exclude either “adat” or of the citizen subject. Within this operating “kepercayaan” addressing them as the framework, the state attempts to construct absolute others. Many religious beliefs and citizenry through the categorization and practices may not be clearly categorized registration of citizen religious affiliation. as such. “Agama” reaffirms “adat” and To give an empirical grounding to this “kepercayaan” while they also coexist in inquiry, I will use secondary reports and antagonism. For that reason, the rhetoric of, testimonials that extend the discussion on for example, Aluk ta Dolo, Amatoa, Parmalim legal and bureaucratic procedures of civil or Susila Budi that they are not “agama” is administration in regards to “adat” and never culturally convincing. “kepercayaan”. From the perspective of the binaries of “agama”/“adat” and Negara Mawa Tata, Desa Mawa Cara: agama”/“kepercayaan”, “agama” gives The state (city or court) has its rule, almost no indication as to what Indonesians the villages their ways. believe or practice. Instead, “agama” is In a country where over 85% of its situated within two other spheres: the population is Muslim, Muslim citizens politics of adatcommunities that transcends sought to establish the idea that religions cultural diversities and the hegemony of other than Islam should be accorded monotheistic purity that averts Indonesian legitimacyby the majority. Thiscan be syncretistic cosmology. traced back to the persistent efforts by Following that reasoning, can we speak Muslim factions to ‘define’ what “agama” of “kepercayaan” if there is no “agama” in is a position disregarding the constitutional mind? Would it also be absurd if we speak prescription that “the national parliament of indigenous beliefs without knowingly does not privilege any particular religious adding “agama” in front of “adat” (to form community”. Muh.Dimyati, a member of the phrase “agama adat”)? Without the state’s the national parliament, pushed for a ban on interference, would it be possible, in a way, aliran kepercayaan. for “agama”, “adat” and/ or “kepercayaan” The distinction between “agama” and to exchange places? “kepercayaan” was formulated according to At a political level, professing a religion the Ministry of Religion Decree No. 9/ 1952/ is a political decision in Indonesia and Article VI as ”A current of … a dogmatic a ‘legitimate’ religion may well identify opinion, which is closely connected to the citizenship. Focusing on the binary of living tradition of several tribes, especially of “agama” and “kepercayaan”, the subsequent those tribes that are still backward. The core paragraphs will discuss the political effect of their belief is everything which has become of religious discourse in Indonesia. Here I the customary way of life of their ancestors will argue that the politics of religion is the over time” (Supartha, 2004: 9). Accordingly, in

126 Sita Hidayah -- The Politics of Religion The Invention of “Agama” in Indonesia

1953, the government acknowledged seventy Protestantism and Catholicism seen as two two (72) aliran kepercayaan; these ‘alirans’, distinct religions in Indonesia is a legacy according to the Minister of Religions K. from the colonial period, especially from the H. Masjkur, “in essence do not meet the ‘pillarization’ (verzuiling) of Dutch society at prerequisite of “agama” (Driyarkara, 2007; the end of the nineteenth century. Pillarization Majalah Praba, 1953). “ensured that Catholics received equal The effort to ‘define’ agama was so political rights and representation in public profound that a yearlater the Ministry of life as well as within the Dutch Bureaucracy” Religion reported that there were 360 ‘new (Ramstedt, 2004: 29). agamas’ in Indonesia. It was in 1954 that This does not mean that other religions the Ministry of Religion set up Pengawas such as Judaism, , Shintoism, Aliran Kepercayaan Masyarakat (PAKEM), , etc, are prohibited in Indonesia. So a watchdog for the Ministry of Religion, to long as their adherents do not need identity monitor and control aliran kepercayaan in cards, marriage licenses, birth certificates, Indonesia. Finally, in 1959, the parliament or passports—things that are impossible finally demanded a definition of “agama”. to do without in a modern state. But this A committee under the Minister of succeeded in abolishing all aliran kepercayaan Religion, Ahmad Wahid Wahab, specified from posing as “religions”. The response of prerequisites for the definition of “agama”: this state of affairs, beginning with the failed A holy scripture, a prophet, a belief in the attempted coup in 1965 andextending until absolute all-powerfulness of God and a 1969, was that the army was busy eradicating system of law for its believers. aliran kepercayaan groups accused of being In 1960 PAKEM was placed under infiltrated by Communism, and religious the authority of the Attorney General differentiation within the terms of Indonesian (Kejaksaan Agung). Tap MPR No 2, 1960 citizenship was introduced (Hefner, 2001: sanctified the definition of 1952 (God, 35). holy book, and world acknowledgment). A compromise was reached for aliran Again in 1961 the Minister of Religion kepercayaan to accommodate theirclaim restated the prerequisites for the definition to the status of “agama” in 1973 when of “agama” to exclude alirankepercayaan, parliament allowed various aliran and at this very moment the authority kepercayaan, kebatinan and indigenous was given to the national military forces religious groups to function under the to ensure that the statute would be well separate but equal status of kepercayaan enforced. In the State Police Primary Law kepada Tuhan Yang Maha Esa (the belief (Undang-undang Pokok Kepolisian Negara) in the divine omnipotence) under the No. 13/ 1961, the Police are authorized to ministry of Education and Culture. State impose preventive and repressive acts to recognition of “kepercayaan” was articulated control aliran kepercayaan considered a threat in Tap MPR RI No IV/MPR/1973 March, 22 to Indonesian populations. 1973. All those defining debates brought It was an absurd compromise; according to the surface valid tensions around to the State, agama is defined as the belief what “agama” is. The pressure resulted in the divine omnipotence kepercayaan in President [Soekarno]’s Decree No. 1/ kepada Tuhan yang Maha Esa. According to the decision to relegate it to the status of a 1965 naming the six legitimate Indonesian non-religion, an aliran kepercayaan can not religions Hinduism, Buddhism, even be queried as to whether it satisfies Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism and the prerequisites for “agama”. This, one Confucianism. According to Ramstedt, may argue, is not a compromise at all. The

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so-called ‘compromise’ was to put an end to nature of daily practices ‘out there’. There are the question of whether “kepercayaan” was multiple articulations of , religion. not only the diversity of so called (world) A Minister of Home Affairs Decision religions, but also the contesting different (Keputusan Menteri Dalam Negeri) in ideologies, traditions, and understandings November 1978 No. 477/74054, written in within a given religion. In order to fully reference to the procedure for filling the understand how “agama” functions in an “agama” section on the Citizens Identity Indonesian context, we had better extend Card, named only five recognized religions. the discussion to the practice of governing Confucianism was thus excluded from citizens in various local communities. the state’s recognition. This decision was The issue of identity is interesting here. annulled on March 21st 2000 by President Whereas Indonesians’ indigenous religions Abdurahman Wahid, allowing Indonesians are predisposed to facilitate narrow identities to include Confucianism as their religion based on primordial allegiances, (world) on their identity cards. In 2006 the House religions endorse a broader identity based on of Representatives passed the Citizenship a shared unitary state-imposed . Administration Law guarantee that This is one reason why the politics of identity every citizen, including those professing is so complex in Indonesia; a member of an kepercayaan, “agama adat” or kebatinan, can adat community must comply with often claim their civil rights for the registration of conflicting regulations in ministries such notable occurrences such as marriage, death, as the Ministry of Forestry, Home Affairs, and birth events. Human Resources and Transmigration, as The law UU No. 23, 2006 grants well as the Ministry of Religious Affairs. acknowledged universal civil rights as stated The ‘identity’ problem does not always refer in the verse 64, article 1 and 2 in which each solely to the administrative mechanism of Indonesian should register her/himself citizenship. For example, for more than and for those whose religions are not yet thirty years, some Indonesians and especially acknowledged as “agama” or affiliated to adat communities have been labeled as alirans may leave the religious affiliation Communists (Webb and Farram, 2005). slot blank and their civil registration will be When the Communist Party was recorded. outlawed in 1966 so were people who The dispute over “agama” was had been ‘granted’ labels as Communists. broadened to include almost all aspects of The ‘communist’ label was constructed as citizens’ administration in Indonesia: marital synonymous with ‘atheist’ in order to create registration, birth certificates, identity popular acceptance of the judgment that cards, in public school, communists were not only a threat to the censorship and so on. And larger problems liberal state, but were also the latent enemy lurk over how to regard certain beliefs of conservative religious people in Indonesia. and ritual practices that fall outside the The issue of communism involved the state prerequisite of “agama” in Indonesia (Kipp through the army, for instance, forcefully and Rogers, 1987: 21). monitoring the self-identity of members of Examinations of the state politics of the adat communities. The communist purge identity and of programs of the Ministry was not just a ‘struggle for power to govern’ as of Religious affairs are some of these goes the jargon within political frameworks, considerations. The politics of defining but was also a systemic ‘genocide’ of many “religion” is one thing and the social reality religious communities in Indonesia. is another. There can be no sense to the idea There are probably no institutions that “kepercayaan” and “agama” are in a capable of exercising stronger social control clear distinction constraining the syncretic than world religions andstate apparatus.

128 Sita Hidayah -- The Politics of Religion The Invention of “Agama” in Indonesia

Religious elites and the State apparatus elites (social consent through hegemony) rather in Indonesia, according to Daniel Dhakidae than mere legal regulation. (2003), are involved in a ‘fellowship of Until recently, gaining religious discourse’. Within the fellowship of discourse citizenship from positive legal documents the state elites and thoseof world religions, was a problematical undertaking. Civil especially of Islam, are capable of exercising courts may grant citizenship status, but the politics of exclusion in at least two ways. only after extensive deliberation from the First, the State’s recognition only of Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Ministry (world) religions is an intentional exclusion of Home Affairs and local administration of hundreds of native religious belief systems offices. Practically, even the effort to name in Indonesia. a “religion” on an Identity Card presents an Secondly, in connection with the state’s uncanny predicament. It has been a common recognition, religion in one way or another situation that when citizens apply for an creates an entry barrier so as to encourage Identity Card, by entering “Confucianism” or discourage other claimants to the status of in the space specifying “Religion” on the “religion”. Entry barriers for religions other application form, it would usually appear on than the six recognized religions are manifest the card itself as “Buddhism” (Yang, 2005). in the state’s limiting financial support and So it has been for the Baha’is, whose card labeling tribal religions as “animist” in official would mysteriously list “Hinduism”. And documents, including in the constitution and for the latest electronic ID card, those who the decisions of the national parliament. profess “kepercayaan” should leave empty An example is the Presidential Decree No. the “Religion” space. The Identity card begs 14 (1967) of the Prohibition of the Public the question concerning our discussion of Practice of Chinese Religions and Customs religious discourse in Indonesia. In 1951, which says that this decree was introduced to the Soekarno government introduced the protect Indonesian citizens from “unnatural Identity Card. After the government defined influence on the psychology, mentality, and a citizen’s identity, Indonesians had to have a morality” of Chinese religions, beliefs and fixed, i.e. unchangeable, identity. customs (Suryadinata, 1998). From the experience of Javanese, Because religion is so important in who constitute more than forty percent of national affairs, there are many different Indonesians, a ‘fixed’ religious affiliation was agencies involved with it, and each one relatively rare as was a ‘fixed’ name. Javanese has its own hierarchy of bureaucrats who have a ‘childhood name’ and a ‘mature’ together constitute formidable entry barriers. name. Some have a completely different In cooperation with the Ministry of Home name or just add ‘religious name’ after Affairs, the Ministry of Religious Affairs is reaching a certain stage of maturity, usually responsible for the recognition of religions marked by marriage. Changing names is also in Indonesia. The army and the Attorney a usual occurrence when the original name is General with its PAKEM constitute yet other considered ‘bad’; that is, when the name does entry barriers (Dhakidae, 2003: 554-560). not suit someone’s personality or is perceived The issue of citizenship has become the to bring misfortune. Religious affiliation was currency of the Indonesian state. Citizenship a matter of ‘natural changes’. We can turn to is sometimes conflated with one’s given Andrew Beatty on his study of Slametan ritual ‘nationality’, an abstract notion narrowly to give an Eastern Javanese context. grasped by Indonesians, especially those “The very adaptability of the slametan has who live in remote adat communities areas. made conversion from Islam to Hinduism The new subjection inscribed in the politics and sometimes back again less troublesome of religions creates and legitimates a new than one might imagine. As a ritual frame adaptable to diverse and ideologies, it subject not as a carrier of rights, but of norms

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remains at the heart of Javanese religion. As practice of rule (or divide and rule), foreign an example of religious , it shows religions, and the political affiliations that how and with what inventive grace people ordered the population of the Malay region can come to terms with their differences” along religious and ethnic lines.” The native (Beatty, 1999). populations were segregated between those On a different level of analysis, the who were adat subjects, Muslims, Christians, religious discourse into “agama” and “adat” oriental descendant subjects, etc all subjects offers a different level of binary pairs based who were not to interact with each other. This on the fundamental principle that “adat” is reasoning is important; as a result the Dutch not ‘religious’, and that “adat” is the ultimate constructed “adat” and “agama” (Islam) as expression of culture. The State imposes antagonistic opposites. the demarcation of “adat” from “religion” Indonesian governments, especially as a control mechanism. Considered as during the Soeharto regime, established hindering nationalistic and progressive a firm visionthat the Republic is an ideals, “adat” is preserved as an object of ‘indigenous’ state all Indonesians are equally nostalgia and tourism. Next I will extend the indigenous (asli) (Li, 2000). Populations inquiry into consequences of the discourse of living in the former Netherland East Indies “agama” in Indonesia. It presents a religious territory were automatically Indonesian narrative drawn from ethnographies of adat citizens. Except those who had no rights of communities in Indonesia. The purpose being citizenship or had double citizenship because is to provide a sociological translation of the of the different Indonesian nationality laws appropriation of “agama” in the modern that are entirely based on ius soli (similar to Indonesian state. the Netherlands) while other states apply the ius sanguinis principle, such as the People’s The State has It’s Rule, Villages their Republic of China, Japan, and India, which Ways have been the State of origin of many The Indonesian government has Indonesian ‘foreign descendants’. This idea deliberately placed “adat” within the epitomizes the Soeharto government’s (and cultural sphere, distinguishing it as separate other presidencies) policy of not officially from other elements of adat communities’ employing ethnicity (and race) in government cosmology, especially those involving belief discourses. Ethnicity is not marked on the systems. In so doing, the government imposes citizens identity card, no official body exists “adat” as “a gloss for allegedly immutable for dealing with ethnic groups or race (which cultural forms that are held to distinguish exist in Malaysia, Vietnam or United States), one collectivity, such as a village or ethnic and there are no separate laws affecting group, from another” (Spyer, 1996: 28). The various different ethnic groups. However, assumption that “adat” is immutable has there are multiple departments and rulings always been the grounds for discouraging dealing with remote tribal communities and adat communities from participating in the religious affairs. processes of Indonesian politics, economics, Thomas A. Reuter has put the point education, and other compartmentalized vividly in his study of Aga, in Custodians “modern progress”. of the Sacred Mountain. practices The government’s stance toward “adat” its own form of Hinduism within Hindu Bali. also reflects the institutionalized concept of In the broader context of religious discourse, the colonial Dutch administrators. Patricia Reuter cites the most recent and invasive Spyer (1996: 28) examines the genealogy of intervention of the state as having created “adat” and comes to the deduction that “adat” serious ruptures in the Bali Aga community. is “clearly developed within the historical Reuter agrees that the politics of “agama” context of a complex interaction between and “adat” facilitate state interference in Dutch hegemonic ambitions, colonial

130 Sita Hidayah -- The Politics of Religion The Invention of “Agama” in Indonesia almost all adat communities in Indonesia. Hefner elucidated the tradition with The state policy in Bali Aga is manifested “adat” as a starting point. Hefner stated in state institutions such as Badan Pelaksana that “adat” is often posed in opposition to Pembina Lembaga Adat (the Executive Body “agama” and that the distinctive characteristic of Adat Institutions Administration) and of “adat” which, at least according to him, Parisada Hindu Dharma Indonesia (Indonesian comes from an orthodox Muslim point of Hindu Dharma Council). (Reuter, 2005: 423). view is limited by an understanding that “the These executive bodies have the prerogative belief and practices to which it refers are not to impose changes on adat organizations all divinely inspired” (Hefner, 1985: 37). In this over Bali: in the case of Bali Aga this body discussion, Hefner does not conclude that forced the klianadat, anormative assembly for adat is “secular” in opposition to “agama,” the the Balinese mainstream, to replace uluapad, religious. Rather, he argues that because of the a distinctive adat assembly of eight ‘pairs of variation of adat from region to region, adatis elders’ in the Bali Aga community. quite different from agama. Further Hefner The greatest antagonism from Bali Aga argues that “the complex history of adat toward ‘national’ religious policy can be makes it difficult to hypostatize the cultural seen in their refusal of meru and padmasana. content of adat throughout Indonesia” and Meruis a tall pura with an ascended roof, that the substance of adat is not an assortment and padmasana is a stone throne for Sang of a-historic and immutable “traditional HyangWidhi, the highest Hindu god according customs” (Hefner, 1985: 38). Elaboration on to the Parisada Hindu Dharma Indonesia, the differences between adat and religion are responding to the state requirement that best articulated in Hefner’s words: “…it is only monotheist faiths can be recognized as difficult to argue that any one set of traditions “agama” (Reuter, 2005: 98). The mandatory is inherently superior to another except when requirement that all ritual should be led by one is talking about what is best for one’s own Brahmana priests is a tremendous problem community” (Hefner, 1985: 38). Relativistic for the Bali Aga community, which has not in but grounded legitimatizations are things the past attached much importance to a caste “agama” could not provide in a plural world system. Reuter implicitly argues that for the of diverse tradition and cultural differences Bali Aga community, “agama” cannot be in Indonesia. separated from “adat” in the way that such As in the case of Bali Aga, the Tengger separation is expected by the state as in the community is in “the politically awkward case of ‘the pairs of elders’ that symbolize the position of professing a not recognized unity of the secular and the religious (Reuter, as legitimate” by the state (Hefner, 1985: 2005: 327-336). 41). Even though the, partly state-initiated, A similar case has been made for the movement for Tengger affiliation with Tengger community of East Java. Robert had already begun in W. Hefner had a similar point of departure the 1950’s, Tengger’s self-proclamation of in studying the Tengger of East Java: their Javanese Hinduism (sometimes the case ritual. Hefner refuted the arguments that is more confused with the native words of the Tengger community is an ethnic enclave “Buda Tengger”) has made affiliation with separate from the larger Javanese ethnic- Balinese Hinduism very thorny to this day. group. However, the distinctive characteristic The State’s policy that every citizen of Tengger ritual was that it was always should profess one of the six recognized conducted in a formal performed by a religions has resulted in Tengger self- specific kind of village priest. The survival of identification as Hindu increasing the Tengger priesthood, found nowhere else significantly, from eight to sixteen villages in modern Java, emphasized the uniqueness (Hefner, 1985: 239). Interestingly, Hefner of Tengger tradition (Hefner, 1985: 8). argues that the driving force for Hindu

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affiliation was not “the collapse of traditional community (Nurkhoiron and Waluyo, 2005). beliefs as to the nature of the , Such differing categorizations of so basic an but the problem of self-definition and element of identity were not unique to these legitimatization posed by increased two communities. involvement in an Indonesian society in Look at the case of Tobaku studied by which Islam is the dominant religious Lorraine V. Aragon. The Field of the Lord is a idiom.” This is an interesting account since study of a Christian mission and its influence many descriptions tend to conclude that on the modern Tobaku community. Aragon Tengger affiliation with Hinduism is a thus argues that the picture of the mission romanticized sentiment, as it is absent of and its project of modernization “has been “authentic Tenggerness” (Nuruddin and a government policy of economic expansion Deden F, 2003; Nurkhoiron and Waluyo, and enforced nationalism as much as a policy 2005). of selective religious intervention” (Aragon, Hefner discussed the religious life of 2000: 24). According to her account, the state the Tengger in the context of Islamization has a different rhetoric for realizing its goals. and the penetration of modernist Hinduism Not of “agama” and “kepercayaan”, but of (Parisada Hindu Dharma version) in the “agama” vs. “adat”. region (Bruinessen, 1999: xxxii). Hefner This argument is intimately familiar implied that Tengger Parisada is better through the writing of Ann Schiller. In viewed as a guardian of priestly ritual Schiller’s analysis of the , she tradition rather than as a reformer, compared portrayed the southern peoples in the to its Balinese counterpart. We may assume past as professing a “private ecstatic religious that Hefner’s statement is true only if we practice in an array of kin group-centered ignore the movement after 1962, .” It was only after the state’s intrusion when some village leaders (kepala desa) into religious policy, in the mid 1950’s, that the invited government superiors to witness a indigenous belief system and practices were formal declaration identifying the Tengger given a name (Schiller, 1996: 412). as a Hindu society (Hefner, 1985: 250). After In the former times, within this 1962, Parisada sent Balinese-trained Hindu indigenous belief system, the high god was teachers to Tengger. The most notable change perceived as not actively participating in in Tengger was the erection of Balinese- human affairs. Most rituals and were inspired Hindu Pura (temple) in the Poten directed at ‘middle’ supernatural beings area, a place where the village priest had including ancestors and guardian spirits. normally led the Tengger’s traditional ritual Schiller’s statements resonate with Rita S. prior to 1996. Kipp and Susan Rodger’s assessment that While Hefner refutes the ‘repression “local rituals in many ethnic homelands may hypothesis,’ there were two contradictory not have been conceptualized as components decisions from Parisada Hindu Dharma of a distinctive and systemic domain (Kipp Indonesia (PHDI) relevant here. The first was and Rodgers, 1987: 3). letter No. 00/SK/PHDI-Jatim/ 1973 on the The ‘high god’ aspect has often been establishment of PHDI in ProbolinggoDisrict, emphasized in the ‘monotheistic’ discourses which included the Tengger. Another letter, of Indonesians. Quoting Schärer’s study No. 00/PHDI-Jatim/Kept/73, on March 6th, via Joseph Weinstock (Kipp and Rodgers, 1973 categorized the Tengger community 1987: 78) on Kaharingan, the Ngaju version of as Buddha . In yet another Kaharingan acknowledges the spirit multitude account prior to 1973, in 1968 a handful of and notes that the high God does not play a ‘researchers’ visited the Tengger, and in a major part in the life of the Ngaju peoples, yet short visit, those ‘researchers’ decided that the Weinstock ignores the relative insignificance Tengger community was basically a Hindu of the monotheistic aspect of Kaharingan. The

132 Sita Hidayah -- The Politics of Religion The Invention of “Agama” in Indonesia issue of is a pervasive issue This racial separation was separated since the belief in an all-embracing God is the from legal pluralism, since the courts were sine qua non of Indonesian ideology. appointed according to this racial division. The rhetoric of “agama” has also been The native Indonesians were submitted to internalized successfully in public Ngaju nineteen adat law jurisdictions, adat recht, consciousness. The religious body of the whose jurisdictions were, according to Union of Kaharingan Dayaks of Indonesia legal experts, limited to the native pribumi. initiated codification of Kaharingan belief This was when adat became a binding legal and practice approximating the doctrine and system; adat law ceased as a mechanism for creeds of world religions, especially Islam maintaining the harmony and balance of the and : sermons were modeled on society and universe. Adat sanction was then the Bible, recitation of the ‘five pillars of faith’ used as positive law, to punish criminals resembles those of Islamic “imans”, ritual and violations of civil order and to segregate modeled the posture adopted by Balinese different ethnic groups (Aragon, 2000). Since and, of course, the prominence of the then, the commands of the ancestors became notion of a supreme (Schiller, 1996: 414). prescriptive and isolative laws. Examination of adat in the colonial Bowen assessed that the changed context by John R. Bowen in Law, Equality ‘function’ of adat was a creation of colonial and Islam in Indonesia (2003) provides a few authorities. The colonial authorities created brilliant insights. The Dutch stance on adat by native adat ‘institutions’ to effectively and large was motivated, he insisted, by fear govern the native population. In brief, Dutch of the potentially unifying force of Islam in administrators, (and some anthropologists in the Dutch East Indies (Aragon, 2000: 160). this regard), “developed a science of Indies In the course of the nineteenth century, adatrecht…to systemize administration, to the colonial system was based on, according produce laws for the natives, to study local to Bowen, legal pluralism. Europeans in the culture, and to keep Islamic law at bay” Dutch East Indies abided by the civil and (Bowen, 2003: 46). criminal code as it was in the Netherlands, but Bowen elucidated the relation of adat the native populations had separate courts. law, Islamic jurisdiction and colonial legal Perhaps well to consider is how different law in his chapter of “Remapping Adat”. courts were related to racial separation in the Important to note here is “that colonial Dutch East Indies. Religion did matter for adat law was intended to be not just a set of racial separation; prior to regeeringsreglement administrable rules” (Bowen, 2003: 48). but article 119, the Dutch East Indies natives also a charge against the idea of a ‘public professing Christianity could be included as role of Islam’. Within Hurgronje’s famous European according to Algeemene Bepaling systematization, law was seen as the very van Wetgeving (Ketetapan Umum Perundang- aspect in which Islam was perceived ‘to have undangan). lost touch with the real world’: “Islam was Since the division was provocative for not located anywhere, and thus could be native Muslims, the colonial administrator said to have no social or cultural existence” later changed the category to be based on (Bowen, 2003: 51). racial characteristics: European, Chinese Here Bowen makes clear how and Eastern Asia descendants, Arabs and the discourse around adat was used to Southern Asia descendants, and in the undermine Islam. The polarization of “adat” bottom of the hierarchy were the native Indies and “agama” which was really a polarization pribumi. Based on racial separation, the Dutch of “adat” and “Islam” was established. The colonial established Kantoor voor Inlandsche fundamental political consideration for the Zaken (the Office of Natives’ Affairs) (Saidi, colonial administrator was how to preserve 2004: 34-35). political distinctions among groups of

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people as contained in varieties of adat law “adat” is, in Geertz’s view, the reductive (Bowen, 2003: 50). To undermine Islam, interpretation of adat to habit a kind of according to Bowen, colonial administrators routine where it is reduced to practice found were informed that the nature of adat codes in everyday life. As a consequence, “adat” were equally descriptive and prescriptive, by definition was understood wrongly as ‘a colonial administrators were conditioned to set of traditional rules traditionally applied see adat as ‘eminently subject to empirical to traditional problems’. Here the mischief is verification’; “the prescriptive had no source exaggerated by the State’s aggressive policy other than practice or habit, and thus relied on of promoting modernization. In the New their descriptive accuracy.” Thus, “under the Order legacy, adat was no longer relevant conception of adat, a rule loses its normative in modern times, neither culturally or force and its legal standing” including rules religiously. from of Islamic law. In the same light, consider Jane Monnig In Bowen’s analyses, Dutch adat law is Atkinson. Atkinson noted that “agama” the root of and the model for New Order non- actually covers a somewhat narrower legal representations of Indonesian ‘unity in range than it does in the English translation diversity’. In the reign of the Soeharto regime, “religion” (Kipp and Rodgers, 1987: 21). adat was seen as the ‘highest point of material In the Indonesian state context, religion’s culture’ (puncak-puncak tertinggi kebudayaan meaning very much overlaps with “adat”, nasional): marriage customs, dances, clothes, yet at the same time “religion” in a narrower house styles, etc, one of each province, is best definition claims opposition against “adat”. illustrated in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah. The rigid dichotomy of “agama” and “adat” The New Order adat-as-culture and the Dutch is repeatedly differentiated by the level legacy of adat-as-law are a duality within of abstractness. Many traditional societies which adat was both uprooted from the socio- provide good support that there were initially cultural context of particular societies and cohesive systems of life. For this reason, “the detached from its religious aspect. perceptual dichotomy of adat and agama The New Order government contains while not necessarily distinct in the minds religious discourse only within the six or lives of the people is very real and critical recognized religions. Thus, accommodating to the functioning of the State” (Kipp and most recognized world religions requires Rodgers, 1987: 74). radical changes in the meaning and function An exceptionally brief account from R. of elements of local adat, in both religious Schifold on the and Sven and material aspects. The New Order policy Cedderoth on the Sasak community will in this discussion is best illustrated by the illustrate governmental policies regarding 1985 Cultural Policy that “care is taken that the religions of adat communities: destructive superstitions are not tolerated “Adat community hardly corresponds to the in these local beliefs. All local groups must image of national Indonesian personality, have a belief in God (Soebadio, 1985: 13-14). and everything was undertaken to adapt Due to the strength and endurance of this them to it as soon as possible. In 1954 a decree was promulgated prohibiting their perceived contradiction between traditional traditional religion, which was said to be ‘superstitions’ and religion, many local heathen; all the inhabitants were given three [material] cultures often no longer possess months to decide whether they wanted their original religious function. to [sic!] Christianity or to Islam. Anyone To be clear, Geertz assessed adat in an who did not choose within this period understanding that “adat” means “something was threatened with punishment by the half-way between ‘social concensus’ and police or by mission teachers, and his ritual ‘moral style’…” (Geertz, 1983). One problem equipment was burned. Coupled with this which bedevils a sensible discussion of were governmental measures to turn the longhouses that lay at irregular intervals

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along the rivers into tidy, surveyable villages potential violence of which it was capable. A with a church and a school. At the same promising line of arguments was proposed time, external features such as glass-beaded by Koentjaraningrat (1993: 9), the one who jewelry, the long hair of the men, loin cloths, established Indonesian anthropology, that tattoos, and the custom of chiseling the the politics of tribal religions in Indonesia incisors to a point were forbidden as marks of un-Indonesian primitiveness” (Schifold, sustains several purposes. 1998). First, it segregated the two most Sven Cedderoth affirmed a similar case important governments in Indonesia. from Lombok. On May 2, 1967, two years after Soekarno recognized the value of Marxism for the 1965 coup de etat attempt, one village of the Indonesia, while Soeharto strongly opposed Sasak community received an announcement Communism and regarded Communists as that the government had decided the five Atheists and later labeled Communism the officially recognized religions (Islam, worst ideology in Indonesia. Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism and Second, this policy shifted the Hinduism) and that everyone had to belong confrontation field among major religions to one of these religions. They were urged in Indonesia. The hostilities between Islam to choose one of these official recognized and Christianity about “conversion” and religions within three months. The women the construction of places of were were not asked to register their choice. Three- then projected to target ‘non-religious’ quarters chose Buddhism, others Islam. The Indonesians. The dispersed attentions Ministry of Religions apparatus assigned directed to potential memberships are Parisada Hindu Dharma (the Council of Hindu designed to maintain the harmony of the Dharma Indonesia) to set an inauguration. majority. The signed lists were given to civil, military Third, the Soeharto government endorsed and police authorities. Fifty out of 500 who the missionary projects in the masyarakat had listed themselves as Buddhists attended adat areas with the assumption that the the inauguration, and many of them “felt that government indirectly was also ‘contributing’ they had by way of a detour been made Hindus to the ‘progress’ of the ‘uncivilized’. rather than Buddhists” (Cedderoth, 1996). Fourth, Soeharto’s government believed In Cedderoth’s account, the ‘politics of that hundreds of the religions of masyarakat religion’ in Lombok included the burning adat threatened the government’s political of the syncretic watutelu mosque; the sovereignty, especially those religions with destruction of the sacred sanctuary including messianistic and populistic projects. lingam-yoni; and the addition of religious Understanding the function of “agama” education classes; the publication of a book as a means of containment, the New Order about watutelu as aliran kepercayaan, as well succeeded in inhibiting ‘Islamic-political’ as various missionary works from Muslim groups and pinning down their political organizations such as Nahdlatul Wathan and influence. The “sole-ideological-foundation (Bartholomew, 2002) and (Pancasila sebagai Asas Tunggal)” policy Wali Umat Buddha Indonesia (the Councils imposed by New Order in Indonesia (1984) of Indonesian Buddhists). forced many Islamic parties and associations Buddhist sere also sent during this to change or to dissolve their organizations. period (Avonius, 2004; Cedderoth, 1996). Many political struggles motivated by By having members of the Sasak Islamic sentiments have been suppressed community choose a religion from the menu in the name of ‘national security’. The of five acceptable faiths, the putative citizen’s Christians have been contained in the form ‘rights’ were ‘granted’. The destruction of of a capitulation under the ‘joint decision’ a mosque and sanctuary underlined the between the Minister of Religious Affairs, the State’s ability to enforce this policy and the Minister of Education, and/or the Minister

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of Home Affairs in religious education, the marginalization, a way of scaling down construction of place of worship, etc. the political rights of “Others” (Peterson With special reference to the deployment and Wolf, 2002: 7). The constitution makers of “agama”, we are now to get a different eliminated the diverse and multifaceted picture of the politics of religions in Indonesia; forms of religious life in Indonesia to regulate, the transnational religious movements. standardize and operate the nationalistic and Faced with the hardened relationship even patriotic religious practice and belief between the globalized groups and the the agama. The divisive aspect of a state- ‘mainstream’ religious groups, the whole sponsored definition of “agama” further discourse of “agama” again tends to appear becomes the strategy of political control. as the dominant paradigm of government. The state definition of “agama” segregates Policy regarding the Ahmadiyah, the “kepercayaan” and “adat” from what is Jehovah Witnesses, Wahabi, Syiah, Sai Baba, regarded as customary and labels it as Hare Krishna, Baha’i still is still derived superstitious or tribal in order to underplay from the working operation of “agama.” their meanings in social and political life. An examination of who appropriates “Agama” is also the best measure to the “agama” reveals a division clear in ‘contain’ the ‘un-nationalist’ minority the principle, but hazier in fact; that “agama” Chinese, the ‘separatists’, the ‘communists’, is a ‘field of power’ in Bourdieuan sense, a the ‘fundamentalists’. Once again, religion multidimensional space of possible positions is the sphere where the Confucians, the for the state and citizens. Ahmadis, the Baha’is, the Budi Luhur members are fully controlled by the CONCLUSION government. All citizen documentation The underlying, simple conclusion of specifies religion, except the passport. These this paper is that the definition of “agama” is minorities not only have to struggle over their not only used to categorize phenomena and rights to believe and practice their religion, objects, but it also creates the things defined but also their citizenship. (Lambek, 2000). The Indonesian state defines These are obviously examples of a flawed agama in a restricted manner that it (1) be administration of religious affairs. The state an encompassing way of life with concrete appropriation of “agama” has been the main regulations, (2) a teaching about the oneness tool to control its citizens. The Indonesian of God; (3) include a holy book, which state creates and recreates the discourse of codifies a message sent down to prophet(s) “agama” as the main method to demonstrate through a holy spirit. state power “agama” is derived from the very The matter of concern here is that the ‘construction’ of the state: the state presents in accepted statements about “agama” limit the the society through the creation, distribution, boundary of what can be said about “agama” and operation of the discourse of “agama”. and what cannot. The discursive domain Disciplinary regulations and categorization of this construction is politics, in which the of citizens’ religious affiliation are examples dominant subjects are the state apparatus. of the state “identifying” citizens. As Foucault rightly stated, the discourse is The constitutional writing processes produced by the power/knowledge regime and state religious policy-making gave or regime of truth which follows the rule of illustrations of how Abrahamic faiths and exclusion that determines what discourse is institutions are both “agama” and above allowed, and the mechanism and procedures “agama”. (especially to produce and maintain the discourse and to Islam) are the condition for “agama”, yet, decide who has the right to speak. “Abrahamic” religions are above agama The discourse of “agama” has because state-sponsored definitions about been repeatedly used as a strategy of “agama” are relevant only for those

136 Sita Hidayah -- The Politics of Religion The Invention of “Agama” in Indonesia considered as ‘inferior’ in beliefs and a controlling knowledge that generates a practices. Defining “agama” is a naming powerful state? Do we, as citizens, in reality practice, to give a name to the others. lack vocabularies, hence resulting in the The problem here does not depend on perpetual eminence of the triadic “agama” there actually being citizens that have been “adat”, and “kepercayaan” fascism? able to come to terms with the discourse Having thus established a general of “agama”. But the establishment of the understanding of how “agama” has been hegemonic discourse and practices, by appropriated in Indonesia, I have been means of the state control over the ‘sacred’, arguing that we have been given no good of legal statutes and rulings, the discourse argument for believing that the discourse of “agama” allows the discrimination and of “agama” may generate equality for erasure of religious citizens’ identity, who Indonesian citizens. Quite the opposite: we for some reason cannot be integrated into the have seen that the discourse of “agama” is Indonesian political system. Since then, the undemocratic. appropriation of “agama” has become one of the essential practices of governing citizens BIBLIOGRAPHY of the Indonesian state. Aragon, L. V, 2000, Fields of the Lord: We should be able to learn from , Christian Minorities, and the more democratic states in governing State Development in Indonesia, religions. We can turn to SlavojZizek. On a Honolulu: University of Hawai’i rare occasion, Zizek wrote “How China Got Press. Religion”, making comments on China’s State ____, 2003, “Mission and Omission of Administration of Religious Affairs Order the Supernatural: Indigenous No. 5 concerning the institutionalization Cosmologies and the of management for the reincarnation of Legitimatization of ‘religion’ in living Buddhas in , which Indonesia” in Anthropological Forum, basically “prohibits Buddhists monks from Vol. 13, No.2. returning from the dead without government permission (Zizek, 2007: 27). In an interesting Avonius, L, 2004, Performing Watu Telu, statement, Zizek argues that this law mirrors Helsinki: Yliopistopaino. the same type of paradox Westerners Beatty, Andrew, 2002, “Changing Places: encounter in the liberal West: that religious Relatives and Relativism in Java” in belief, the individual’s innermost matter, is Royal Anthropological Institute, 8. regulated by a secular government. Religion, Benda, Harry J, 1958, The Crescent and The all in all, has been usually contained to the Rising Sun, The Hague: W. van private sphere; where it infringes on the Hoeve, Ltd. public sphere religion should be ruled and policed. Bolland, B. J, 1982 (1971), Struggle of Islam in How do the state and Indonesians make Modern Indonesia, Leiden: The Hague sense of the idea of religious citizenship, in Martinus Nijhoff. the demarcated spaces of “agama”, “adat”, Bowen, J. R, 1993, Muslims Through and “kepercayaan”? The question in these Discourse, New Jersey: Princeton concluding pages can be formulated as: can University Press. the discourse of “agama” be disassociated _____, 2003, Islam, Law, and Equality in from the state when the most favorable Indonesia, Cambridge: Cambridge language employed to generate power University Press. and authority and a source of legitimacy is the language of the sacred? Is it true Cederroth, S. 1996, “From Ancestor that the discourse of “agama” has created Worship to Monotheism; Politics of Religion in Lombok” in Temenos, 32.

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