REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHICAL EDUCATION ISSN: 2146-0353 ● © RIGEO ● 11(4), WINTER, 2021 www.rigeo.org Research Article Economic and Religious Factors: Social Mobility of Migrants Muslim from Central Java in Bengkulu Susiyanto1 Sinung Mufti Hangabei2 Universitas Muhammadiyah Bengkulu Universitas Muhammadiyah Bengkulu [email protected] Rasman4 Mukhlizar3 Universitas Muhammadiyah Bengkulu Universitas Muhammadiyah Bengkulu Abstract As a form of permanent population movement, migration research can be focused on two levels: the micro and the macro levels. Based on these levels, this study concentrated on the micro-level, emphasizing the psycho-social aspects of migration actors, with the research subjects of Muslim migrants from Central Java in Bengkulu City. Therefore, the determination lay in the centrifugal factor, namely the forces encouraging people to leave the area and the change in status in the destination area. Another essential meaning of this research was to find out the contribution of migration to socio-economic and cultural changes in migrant communities from Central Java, which is geographically differentiated on the coast and land. The analysis results in this study revealed that not all economic and religious factors contributed equally to the urge to migrate. In this research, job change was an economic sub-factor that contributed the most, while religious awareness was a religious sub-factor that could not be used to explain the impulse to migrate because its contribution was very small. Besides, centrifugal factors of a socio-cultural nature also contributed significantly to the urge to migrate migrants from Central Java. Meanwhile, the rapid development of Bengkulu City and the friendly socio-cultural system of its people were the determining factors in choosing Bengkulu City as a migration destination. With regard to this socio-cultural system, the phenomenon of migrants from Central Java in Bengkulu City underwent a significant change. Keywords economic; religious; migrant Muslim; social mobility. To cite this article: Susiyanto; Hangabei, S, M; Mukhlizar,; Rasman. (2021) Economic and Religious Factors: Social Mobility of Migrants Muslim from Central Java in Bengkulu. Review of International Geographical Education (RIGEO), 11(4), 661-671. doi: 10.48047/rigeo.11.04.60 Submitted: 09-04-2021 ● Revised: 18-04-2021 ● Accepted: 21-05-2021 © RIGEO ● Review of International Geographical Education 11(4), WINTER, 2021 Introduction From a macro perspective, migration from a demographic perspective is one of the fundamental factors influencing population growth, apart from mortality and fertility factors. In examining this issue, two crucial dimensions must be explored: the time and area dimensions. For the time dimension, there is no definite measure because it is difficult to determine how long it takes a person to move from one place to another to be considered a migrant. Moreover, migration is a form of population movement that results in a change in the address of the person who migrates. In other words, migration is a permanent movement of people. Other forms of population movement are commuting and circulation. It means that population movement, in general, contains the meaning of spatial, physical, or geographical motion. Various studies have provided insight into that migration is an essential and unique factor that affects population growth, giving the enormous contribution to population escalation in an area, aside from mortality and fertility. The migration’s uniqueness can be seen as an event that does not originate in biology and does not have identical processes. It differs from birth and death, which are biological processes that can be seen as actual events, indistinguishable, and have their characteristics; thus, it can be said that mortality and fertility are universal in society. It indicates that humans need reproduction to survive, and death is an unavoidable event. Meanwhile, migration has no limits, as in fertility and mortality, has no upper limit, and no lower limit because society may not have the characteristics of no migration. Employing the life history method in that study, a description of the immigrants’ lives from Java was described, including aspects of work ethic, kinship system, and socio-cultural system. When in other areas, the Javanese still showed a strong work ethic, kinship, and socio-cultural system. That study was conducted on the Javanese community in South Sulawesi, the colonialization result during the Dutch colonial period. Therefore, their displacement was not a spontaneous movement but a planned movement through the colonial program. Regarding this colonization program, after independence, it was changed to the name of the transmigration program, covering all areas outside Java. On the other hand, this study centered on permanent spontaneous displacement. It indicates that the emphasis was on Central Java residents, who moved on their initiative and permanently settled in the destination area. Meanwhile, the reason for selecting Bengkulu City as the research location is because, quantitatively, migrants from Java in Bengkulu City are relatively large in number. However, research on migrants from Java with various accompanying aspects in Bengkulu City is still very limited. This condition is interesting to study, either in terms of centrifugal aspects, social mobility, or changes in their culture after being in Bengkulu. In addition, a prominent feature of the presence of migrants from Central Java in Bengkulu City is that they demonstrate an active and strategic role in social life. Their strong determinations cause the social mobility shown to assimilate and adjust to the new environment is not a problem. It has become the Javanese’s nature and philosophy, who have the ability to social mobility wherever they are. Understanding social mobility is a changing process of individuals or groups from a social layer in the area of origin to a social layer in a new area and their ability to position themselves and adapt to these new conditions. To gain an understanding of the driving factors for migration, it is not limited to economic activities. Other activities outside the economic sector are also foremost and more dominant than the local population, especially the migrants’ social mobility from Central Java with different geographical cultures. Therefore, the method employed in this study was a combination of an explanatory survey as the primary method and descriptive-analytic as a complementary method. Considering that the problem being studied is a social phenomenon, aside from the quantitative approach, a qualitative approach was also used, with descriptive analytic methods as a complement. This approach was utilized to complete data that could not be quantified and give qualitative meaning to the quantitative data obtained to provide a more in-depth picture of social phenomena or specific aspects of life in the community being studied. Thus, the relationship between various social phenomena can be expressed lively, which cannot be achieved by explanatory survey research. 662 Susiyanto; Hangabei, S, M,; Mukhlizar,; Rasman. (2021) Economic And Religious Factors: Social ...… Muslims Migrant from Central Java The Javanese tradition is an early legacy of the Indonesian Islam or Islam Nusantara around the 15th century. It is the period of accommodation when Islam encountered previous great traditions in the archipelago (e.g., Hinduism, Buddhism). Therefore, the main character is a peaceful accommodative Islam. The dominance of the role of migrants in activities in all sectors of life is shown by their high loyalty to developments in Bengkulu City, regardless of whether they are immigrants. One vital sector that displays the dominance of migrants from Central Java is the religious sector, as seen in religious rituals and socio-religious activities, both individually and in groups (informal organizations and religious community organizations). Another example is the discovery of many religious leaders or ulama/ustadz in Bengkulu City, who are migrants from Central Java. It is rare to find religious leaders or ulama/ustadz who are native Bengkulu people. In addition, as demonstrated by migrants from Central Java in Bengkulu City, the pioneering culture is a reflection of their strong mobility. When they are in a new area, actually, it is just the location that makes the difference. Meanwhile, the personality that has been formed based on the culture of origin is still attached. Not only are they highly mobile when they are anywhere, concerning the process of moving to a new area, but they also view current life and kinship as something unique. Based on the socio- cultural background of Javanese ethnicity, they are essentially very strong in holding the concept of life “mangan ora mangan kumpul”. It signifies that the strength of kinship is the most substantial basis in the family in Java, so that the principle of not leaving the nuclear family under any circumstances is a logical consequence of the strength of the kinship relationship. Although this principle is very difficult to separate from the Javanese concept and way of life, this view has begun to shift due to various internal and external factors in its development. Related to this, the factors of cultuurstelsel during the Dutch occupation and the occurrence of agricultural involution in Java were the most basic causes of this shift. This condition is also shown by the rapid population mobility from villages