Nationalism, Islam, and Political Influence the Ethics of the Enterprises in Banten (Indonesia)
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Nationalism, Islam, and political influence The ethics of the enterprises in Banten (Indonesia) HAMID Abdul * Graduate School of Global Studies, Doshisha University, Kyoto, 602-8580 Japan FACAL Gabriel ** Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, IrAsia UMR 7306, 13003, Marseille, France INTRODUCTION Through this study, we will present a particular aspect of the global context of busi- ness in Banten and its tie to the question of ethics. Indeed, the economical sphere and the ethical discourse locally appears to be mainly promoted by a local category of leaders called the jawara. Through them, the business activity as well as other main social activities such as rituals, religion and politics, are supported by a moral discourse that is tied to local traditional conceptions and to Islam ideology in which activities of the jawara and their specific leadership positions express themselves. In this broad perspective, we must specify that, in Banten, another cultural leader also has great influence upon religious, political life and, in a lesser way, economical life: the kiai. The kiai refers to an expert of Islam who teaches the classical Islamic texts in his own Islamic boarding schools (pesantren). The Bantenese historian Tihami (1992: 200) shows that the jawara is historically linked to the kiai. According to * PhD student of political science at Graduate School of Global Studies, Doshisha University, Japan. ** Doctor of anthropology at Aix-Marseille Université, France. Moussons n° 21, 2013-1, 51-63 52 Abdul Hamid & Gabriel Facal Tihami, jawara are rural strongmen or semi urban embedded men of prowess who are skillful in the local traditional martial art of penca. Jawara are partly tied to clan- destine spheres and are often involved into criminal activities.1 Their link to the kiai is mainly due to the fact that they can get magical power from them, and that this power can be used to exert authority upon society, on both physical and spiritual ways and as representative leaders. A well-known jawara of Banten, Kasmiri Assabdu says that historically, mainly during the Dutch colonization era, jawara were kiai’s bodyguards, an idea which is largely spread into Bantenese society. Kiai and jawara have played key roles in the more important political events of Banten’s history, such as the 1888 peasant revolu- tion, the 1926 communist rebellion, and the 1945 Indonesian revolution. If the kiai used to be the local leader—following a historical process (Facal, 2012)—since the independence their positions evolved and inverted. In this article, we would like to explore jawara’s ethic entrepreneurship by compa- ring two prominent jawara of Banten who lead some of the most important businesses in the region and develop respective ethic references underlying their activities. The presentation establishes a comparison between the activities of H. Chasan Sochib, the main figure of thejawara , with H. Embay Mulya Syarif’s, a former Chasan’s right- hand, who later became one of Chasan’s main opponents. Chasan leads a construction company and he has extended his influence to most parts of Bantenese direction official institutions. Embay develops his business through the trans-regional transport (Lampung-Jakarta) of furniture and Islamic banking. Concerning the ethical dimension, the underground activities overstepping the mark of morality and secretly perpetrated—evoked above—drive us to question the nature of traditional authority, the link of economy to authority (traditional or not traditional), and the link between authority and politics. Indeed, with the politico- economic national recent changes (loss of power of the army, direct voting system, opening of the State markets2) that have been initiated with the decentralization process in 1998, there has been an increasing weight of private economic interests upon public political orientations. It is notably reflected in the way Banten has been elevated to the status of province in 2000 and has also benefited the birth of Serang city in 2007 and of South Tangerang city in 2008, which is mainly due to the social and political action of the local leaders of the province: the kiai and the jawara. Our analysis is that the strong wave of economical liberalism and the new rules of political leadership—tied to the democratic trends after the fall of Suharto’s regime —have been used by the jawara’s networks and ideology to increase their actions in business and politics. The concomitant question is to know what kind of political governance enables the intrusion of liberalism in a social context not dominated by a strong political or religious power. Moussons n° 21, 2013-1, 51-63 Nationalism, Islam, and Political Influence… 53 THE ECONOMICAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES OF THE JAWARA DURING THE NEW ORDER ERA In the early 1970’s, under the President Suharto’s regime, Bantenese kiai and jawara were co-opted into the political organisms of the governing party, the Functional Groups (Golongan Karya, or Golkar). As a result, in 1971 most of the Islamic scholars (kiai and ulama) were affiliated to the organization founded by the Golkar: the Ulama Work Squad (Satuan Karya Ulama, or Satkar Ulama). The kiai and ulama who were considered as not enough supportive of Golkar were pressured by the New Order Regime and the military (Hamid & Masaaki 2008: 430). In 1972, through the same political movement of co-optation of the local political forces, the main jawara were unified into the Martial Artists Work Squad (Satuan Karya Jawara, Satkar Jawara). This group was subsequently renamed into the Indone- sian Union of Bantenese Masters of Martial Arts, Art and Culture (Persatuan Pendekar Persilatan Seni Budaya Banten Indonesia, PPPSBBI) (Hamid & Masaaki 2008: 117). Haji Chasan Sochib, the leader of PPPSBBI argued the reason of this renaming: The term Satkar Jawara in the unitary Republic of Indonesia is not suitable, because jawara is a colonial term of the past. So, it should be kept out. We avoid to use this rather pejorative word, because the term jawara in this area is sometimes considered negatively. Therefore, to highlight the quality of our members and the quality of our regeneration and militancy action we have to develop the language of moral booster and high moral.3 Thus, the use of the term pendekar had the goal to reduce the negative stigma atta- ched to the term jawara. But even so, the term jawara was so deeply entrenched that it remained irreplaceable for Bantenese citizens, while the term pendekar was only used by the members of the organization Pendekar Banten. PPPSBBI motto is “Self-defense, defend the nation, defend the country” (“Bela diri, bela bangsa, bela Negara”). The notion of self-defense has been translated not only as the ability of the members to physically defend themselves with martial arts, but also as a mission of security, social protection and economical development. It can be seen in the statutes and rules of PPPSBBI which state: “We are determined to fight poverty and to maintain security and order in our beloved Republic of Indonesia, as our motto is ‘Fight for independence in the past, Create prosperity now’”.4 Another statement in the statutes and rules is: [...] we need to develop the field of entrepreneurship and to use labor-force in accordance with their respective fields. Now, we must be able to eradicate poverty and ignorance through the action of PPPSBBI organization.5 The initial co-optation of the jawara by the Golkar successfully reached the political goals of the organization. Golkar gained mass support and developed locally in the villages through the networks of Pendekar Banten (PB). A consequence was the involvement of the PB into economical affairs of the region, as it was able to benefit from the government funded infrastructure projects. As it had been a motto for Suharto’s New Order expansion, development became one for PB. The organization soon dominated and controlled the other business poles of Banten and it distributed the projects among the members of the group. However, Moussons n° 21, 2013-1, 51-63 54 Abdul Hamid & Gabriel Facal the hegemony of the organization through economical affairs kept strongly determi- ned by the central position of its founder, Chasan. NETWORKS, HEGEMONY ON CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS, AND POLITICAL CONTROL BY H. CHASAN Haji Chasan Sochib was born in Serang in 1930. He attended a boarding school (pesantren) before joining a guerilla warfare unit during the revolutionary period. He started his career in business as a rice supplier between Banten and Lampung regions. He developed strong connections both into the underworld and the army and he was appointed in 1967 to become the main logistic supplier of a Siliwangi Military Division (West Java Province Military Regional Command). Two years after, he founded a construction company, CV Sinar Ciomas (later on renamed PT. Sinar Ciomas Raya), which frequently won government contracts, such as the building of the great Rau Market and roads in Bekasi and Karawang districts. He was also involved into various projects from the Krakatau Steel State Company, the largest steel company in Southeast Asia. Later, he developed his firm in tourism and real estate sectors. Further, he held key positions in decision-making associations, such as the Regional and Central Chamber of Trade and Industry (Kamar Dagang dan Industri, Kadin) and the Indonesian National Contractors Association (Gabun- gan Pengusaha Indonesia, Gapensi). Progressively, he appointed his men on these association’s executive committees at the local level, creating strong mechanisms of decision for his personal projects (Hamid & Masaaki 2008: 118). Besides, Chasan had many other activities. He was one of the founders of the Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa University, head of the Serang branch of the 45‘ Generation (Angkatan 45, a committee of former members of Indonesia’s Independence vete- rans), founder and head of the Koran Readers Association of Banten (Ikatan Qori- Qori’ah Banten) (Mansur 2000: 95).