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'Chinese Religion'

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'Chinese Religion' Competence Network DORISEA – Dynamics of Religion in Southeast Asia 1 DORISEA WORKING PAPER ISSUE 18, 2015, ISSN: 2196-6893 TSUDA KOJI SYSTEMATIZING ‘CHINESE RELIGION’ thE ChAllENgES Of ‘thREE-tEAChINg’ ORGANIZATIONS IN CONTEMPORARY INDONESIA 18 DORISEA Working Paper, ISSUE 18, 2015, ISSN: 2196-6893 DORISEA WORKING PAPER SERIES EDITORS Peter J. Bräunlein Michael Dickhardt Andrea Lauser BmBf Competence Network “Dynamics of Religion in Southeast Asia” (DORISEA) The research network “Dynamics of Religion in Southeast Asia” (DORISEA) is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) and coordinated by the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Georg-August-University of Göttingen. Scholars from the Universities of Göttingen, Hamburg, Münster, Heidelberg and Berlin (Humboldt University) are involved in several projects that investigate the relationship between religion and modernity in Southeast Asia. How to cite this paper: Tsuda Koji (2015): Systematizing ‘Chinese Religion’. The Challenges of ‘Three-teaching’ Organizations in Contemporary Indonesia. In: DORISEA Working Paper Series, No. 18. Research Network DORISEA Dynamics of Religion in Southeast Asia Project Ofice Georg-August-University Göttingen Institut für Ethnologie Berliner Str. 28 FUNDED BY D - 37073 Göttingen Germany +49 (0)551 39 20153 [email protected] www.dorisea.net Competence Network DORISEA – Dynamics of Religion in Southeast Asia 3 TSUDA KOJI SYSTEMATIZING ‘CHINESE RELIGION’. THE CHALLENGES OF ‘THREE-TEACHING’ ORGANIZATIONS IN CONTEMPORARY INDONESIA ABSTRACT Since the fall of the Soeharto regime in 1998, socio-political conditions for ethnic Chinese in Indonesia have drastically improved, while the governmental supervision of religious institutions has been weakening. This article focuses on the relatively inconspicuous Agama Tionghoa)’ in Post- Soeharto Indonesia. In the early 20th becomeyet significant localized on-going both in changesa cultural regarding sense and Chinese in terms Religion of descent) intellectuals in the Dutch century, Peranakan Chinese Samethnic Kauw Chinese)’ in their who effort had East )ndies discovered Confucianism and developed Three-teaching Tridharma’ in to seek for a spiritual pillar for Chinese. This move was stimulated by the Chinese nationalist Buddhism,movement, Confucianism and the Christianization and Taoism asof well ethnic as ancestral Chinese. worshipThree-teaching, and folk religious or practices in Chinese)ndonesian, temples. was Fromconceptualized the mid-1960s as undera holistic the Soeharto Chinese regime, traditional however, religion the organizations encompassing holding up Tridharma functioned merely as protectors of Chinese temples, and carried out few religious activities. )n the Post-Soeharto era, following the changes in the landscaperaison of d’etreChinese by Religionestablishing caused doctrines by, among and standardizing others, the re-acknowledgement ritual. In this article, of I offerConfucianism an overview as an ofofficially these historicalrecognized processes, religion, the before Tridharma reviewing organizations the recent havesubstantial started attemptsreasserting of theirreligious Majelis Agama Buddha Tridharma Indonesia Perhimpunan Tempat Ibadat Tri Dharma se- Indonesiasystematization), and themade latter’s by threebranch Tridharma in Central organizations;Java. Further, I analyzeone in Westthe sources Java of religious knowledge drawn on to support, one these in systematizingEast Java efforts. Keywords Chinese Chinese Religion, Tridharma Tri Dharma, post-Soeharto )ndonesia, the ethnic I. INTRODUCTION ing and affecting the ethnic Chinese included their area of belief as well. Chinese New Year became a In May 1998, when the New Order regime in Indo- national holiday and Confucianism regained its sta- nesia collapsed after more than thirty years under President Soeharto, a sweeping review of oppres- sive policies targeting residents of Chinese origin tus as the sixth religion officially recognized by Agthe- amastate. Tionghoa These changes)’1. are bringing about significant commenced. In the process, laws banning public ex- shifts in the landscape within Chinese Religion pressionsfrom here of cultureon referred originating to as inthe China ethnic were Chinese abol- 1 - ished. The tide of major political changes concern- )n this article, Chinese Religion refers to what are com DORISEA Working Paper, ISSUE 18,monly 2015, considered ISSN: 2196-6893 to be traditional religions of the ethnic Competence Network DORISEA – Dynamics of Religion in Southeast Asia 4 klen- er religious groups such as Balinese Hindus, who teng) had been prohibited from organizing activi- through a process of immense effort which contin- tiesDuring in public the under Soeharto the era,rationale Chinese that temples klenteng fell tata budaya asing - ued more than five decades, worked to reconcile- into the categorykepribadian of alienIndonesia cultural)’2 systems otheistictheir faith God, with a theprophet, states a modelscripture, of religion.and a house That 389-390). Today unsuitablehowever, some for Chinese)ndonesias temples indi is, to be officially recognized as a religion, a mon areviduality even conducting regular Mandarin Tsuda Chinese b, lan- 2004). These changes accelerated under the Soe- guage classes on their premises. This is part of a hartoof worship regime, were during critical which requirements the state philosophy Ramstedt wider transformation that has become noticeable Pancasila was absolutized as an ideology oppos- in local communities in many parts of the country, ing communism. Moreover, the Soeharto regime - nese temples that had been gravely impaired during thewith Soeharto a shift toward era, that re-assigning of working asa function cultural tohubs Chi added a series of policies to makehal-hal things berbau Chinese for their respective ethnic Chinese communities Cinaanything’) invisible relating in public to China places, or which the itethnic legitimized Chinese; if asdescribed in the interestsnegatively of insecurity. )ndonesian, The invisiblization Another function provided by Chinese temples, Tsuda b, -. to mobilize the economic strength of the ethnic Chi- a place for worship. On temple premises, people neseprocess while was carefully intensified avoiding when inviting the regime the jealousylater tried areperhaps raising traditionally incense sticks, more holding significant, palms is togeth-that of er in prayer, and burning joss paper to worship This severely oppressive framework came to an end well-known deities in the Chinese pantheon. At of indigenous people Tsuda , -; b. Chinese’ started to become not only politically but alsoat the socially turn of increasingly the twenty-first accepted. century, In whenaddition, things the generationfirst glance, to thesegeneration ordinary among sights Chinese evoke people, a sense - transcendingof tradition, theof boundariesritual practices of time passed and geogra-down fromligions’ under centralized control4 . phy. However, this realm, though commonly un- stateWith has thesebecome changes, increasingly people unwilling are today to freerkeep reto publicly express views associated with ethnicity or religion. Accompanying this, spearheaded by derstood as the religion of the ethnic Chinese, has by no means maintained a traditional existence.- tableRather, change adapting occurred to social at the andturn politicalof the twentieth conditions, establishthe religious doctrines organizations and standardize in the ritualsrealm ofwhich Chinese centuryit has undergone under the significantcolonial structure changes. of Thethe Dutchmost nohaveReligion, hitherto a sudden governed rise and of protected movements Chinese are tem-aiming to East Indies, when Peranakan Chinese intellectuals ples. In previous articles I have described the situ- sought and quite consciously advocated the concept ation at Chinese temples across Java today, as well as a set of issues individual temples are facing in 3 . of aAnother distinct distinctChinese tide Religion of change as a developed spiritual pillarwhen instead focus on religious organizations5 and pro- thefor thethen modernization new nation-state of Chinese promoted people the concept videlocal acontexts concrete Tsuda description b. of the)n systematizationthis article, ) will agama)’ which was modeled on mon- otheistic Islam and Christianity. This change was promptedof religion by the same factors experienced by oth- of Chinese Religion as it is currently developing— in their attempts to establish both correct doctrinal socio-politicalinterpretation changes.orthodoxy and correct ritualistic Chinese’. As conveyed in this article, this term in no way im- practice orthopraxy—within the context of these plies a traditionality in the sense of a religion of an older time having been preserved in its original form. 2 See the instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs issued Instruksi Menteri Dalam Negeri Nomor: 455.2-360 4 This of course does not mean religious activities are com- tahun 1988 tentang Penataan Klenteng) that stipulated the pletely devoid of surveillance; strict action continues to be Chinesein elements observed in Chinese temples had to be kepribadian Indonesia)’. taken against any activity which presents a risk to security rejected3 In this process,as being they unsuitable rethink andfor reshape)ndonesias the natureindividuality and strugglingand order. to Further, obtain building events suchpermits, as attacksdemonstrate against an aerup- group
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