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8-2014 The orshiW p of : A Claim to "Jus Primordialis" Margaret CHAN Singapore Management University, [email protected]

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Citation CHAN, Margaret.(2014). The orW ship of Semar: A Claim to "Jus Primordialis". Asian Culture, 38, 1-17. Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1873

This Journal Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Social Sciences at Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Research Collection School of Social Sciences by an authorized administrator of Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University. For more information, please email [email protected]. ASIAN CULTURE 38  AUGUST 2014

The Worship of Semar, a Claim to “Jus Primordialis”

Margaret Chan*

Close to midnight, some 60 people had gathered in the hall of a church-like building1 in Srandil, Central Java2. Joss-sticks in hand, they waited in the dark before an altar set upon a raised platform. Light from flickering candles and a dim chandelier revealed the Semar statue ensconced within. Onto to this stage entered Sarwo Dadi Ngudiono.3 He sat upon a stool at the center. A haunting invocation to Semar was sung and the silence that followed was pregnant with possibilities; as with a dramatic pause in stage dialogue. Suddenly Sarwo erupted in laughter. Rocking his body, he spoke in a clarion voice, his speech emphasized with a thrusting left hand. The right was held behind his back (July, 25, 2010: Srandil).

This was the scene of the rawuhan (arrival) of Kaki (Grandfather) Semar on the eve of the eleventh anniversary of the founding of Paguyuban Cahya Buwana (PCB, the Fraternity of the Light of the Universe); a group dedicated to the worship of Semar, the primordial Javanese deity who came to live in ten thousand years before any person arrived on the island.4 Semar is a man, but possessing such large breasts, he looks like a woman. Semar is fat, and his behind so big, he appears to be sitting when he is standing. Semar is old, but has a jaunty forelock of hair, just like a young man’s (Sarwo, July, 26, 2012: Srandil). Punakawan (servant) to Hindu heroes in and (shadow puppet theater), Semar is the most powerful of gods, and even has to submit to him.5 Contradiction is the very essence of Semar, and what could be more emblematic of this opposing duality than for a Chinese to be the primordial Javanese? Over the past six years I have visited regularly to investigate spirit

1 possession practices; including a parade of spirit mediums in West Kalimantan6 and Nini Towong divination7 in Java. I know of Semar worshipped at two Chinese temples, and upon a private shrine, but always as one in a pantheon of many tutelary earth deities.8 But at PCB it was different. Sarwo Dadi Ngudiono, the charismatic founder of PCB was Chinese and a medium of Semar. This meant that when possessed by Semar, ritually Sarwo was Semar incarnate.9 Through their worship of the primordial Javanese deity, Chinese members of PCB partook of kejawen (Javanism), the original Javanese essence; an ethnicity that is culturally, not racially constituted. Javanism relies on religious beliefs and behavioral conventions to differentiate the Javanese from an outsider. The non-Javanese is distinguished less by social, biological, or territorial attributes, as by appropriate conduct. Being Javanese is to behave maturely, like an adult,10 so that immature children, even of Javanese parents are “not yet Javanese.”11 The Religions of the World encyclopedia (2010) defines Javanism as “a term for diverse spiritual practices of Javanese speakers who place their syncretic ancestral culture above specific religious affiliations… Javanists stress that their practices… predate even Indian influences.”12 Thus the PCB worship, involving a Chinese, the eternal Other, as Semar incarnate can be read as a claim of self-identity on behalf of the Chinese of PCB. This is the claim of what I have termed, jus primordialis. Jus primordialis is an assertion of originary, antecedent to the jus sanguinis of citizenship and nationality, and prior to jus soli, the indigene argument. The 1945 Indonesian Constitution recognized the jus soli of the indigene, against alien Chinese and Arabs who were permitted the jus sanguinis of warga negara. Later, the citizenship law (UU No. 12, 2006) reconciled jus soli and jus sanguinis when the status of “asli” (indigenous) was bestowed upon all citizens who had never assumed foreign citizenship by their own free will.13 Further, ethnic discrimination was prohibited under (UU No. 40, 2008). But my proposition of jus primordialis concerns ethnogenesis rather than constitutional claim. The PCB worship of Semar provides insight into performances of self-identity and the coping strategies of minority communities in the idealized multicultural nation-state that recalls Weber’s assertion that ethnic groups are not about blood relationship but a presumed shared identity primarily motivated by political drivers.14 I propose that jus primordialis is performed in PCB . Turner’s argues that “daily living is a kind of theatre” and should be examined as such.15 Geertz’s proposes that the very substance of the negara [state] of nineteenth-century was the splendid show of court rituals, “power served pomp, not pomp power.”16 In these terms the discipline, performance studies,17 offers a suitable analytical methodology. This essay relies largely on evidence obtained from participation-observation at the celebrations of the founding of PCB in 2010, and that year’s Suro (Javanese New Year), rituals. Embedded within the body of the essay are chronotopes; reports of events and interviews brought into the current space of the reader. I began studying Semar in 2009 and fieldwork led me to PCB the following year.

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Sarwo Dadi Ngudiono, founder of PCB

Before his sudden death from a heart attack on January 8, 2013, Sarwo Dadi Ngudiono was the hub about which PCB turned18. Sarwo’s story concerns kebatinan, the belief that mystic power accrues from meditation and asceticism.19 Born in 1961, Sarwo joined a Catholic seminary in 1981. In 1988, just when he was about to be ordained, Sarwo became uncertain. Catholicism had not given him answers to the existential questions he asked, so he meditated 40 days, eating only a little and water, sleeping on the floor, not using artificial light to brighten his nights. On day thirty-nine, Sarwo saw a vision. Projected on one wall was the image of Semar; a short, fat person, with white hair and glowing chocolate-colored skin. Sarwo heard the deity’s gentle voice proclaim himself by fourteen names. Semar announced that he had come from Srandil (in Adipala) to help people. Then the vision rolled up, just as if it was picture, and was gone. Sarwo thought he had hallucinated, but from the air dropped a little . From that time on, Semar often came to whisper in Sarwo’s left ear and to possess Sarwo. In 1989, Aman, an old man, approached Sarwo seeking a cure for blindness. Sarwo gave Aman water that he had blessed with a Catholic prayer. Aman drank and washed his eyes and was healed. News of the miracle brought crowds to Sarwo. In 1990, Sarwo went to Gunung Srandil, a hill said to be the abode of Semar. There in a cave, Sarwo meditated, eating only a little fruit just once a day. One day, when gathering branches to make a fire, Sarwo received a visit from a strange man who told Sarwo that he would gather followers the way he gathered wood. An agate, the size of a pigeon egg fell from the sky, so Sarwo knew this to be an . One night, summoned by unseen forces, Semar went to the beach one kilometer from his cave. It was threatening to rain and the waves angrily pounded the shore. Suddenly all was calm. The sea was like a mirror, but where Sarwo stood, it began to rain furiously. Then he saw the apparition: A beautiful woman, dressed all in white her hands clasped in prayer, stood with horses, crocodiles, and other great beasts writhing about her. Thrice Sarwo saw this apparition he knew to be of Ratu Kidul, Queen of the Southern Ocean. In 1993, Sarwo set up a small prayer house in Srandil. The present PCB church was opened on November 28, 2001.20

PCB general membership

PCB members come largely from Central Java, some from further afield including Jakarta and . PCB group leaders, eager to claim a wider audience, introduced me, not a few

3 times, to someone from West . PCB claims a membership of 2000, but the membership card, “hot off the press” at 9pm on the night of July 25, 2010 was numbered 603. I was told that there was a backlog of printing but this detail and the size of the crowd that evening seemed to suggest that a membership of 2000 was an optimistic count. PCB membership comprises Chinese and Javanese, with Javanese in the majority but Chinese dominant in elite roles. In 2010, sixteen of the eighteen manggala yudha, (knights of the inner circle) were Chinese. Two were Javanese. One informant estimated that Chinese only accounted for 40 percent of PCB general membership, but 80 percent of PCB “graduates” (staunch members), are Chinese. Chineseness is proclaimed by a one meter tall picture of Guanyin in the PCB church. Statues of Maitreya Buddha are clustered around the main Semar statue on the altar. However, other than the lighting of oil lamps to Guanyin, PCB rituals celebrate Semar and Ratu Kidul. Guanyin and Maitreya seemed to serve only as familiar figures for PCB Chinese members new to Javanism. A Chinese language teacher, Doris,21 told me that seeing Guanyin, she drew close to PCB. Another member, who insisted on speaking Mandarin to me, said that Chinese immigrants come from Nanhai (the Southern Seas), so they should worship Guanyin of the Southern Seas.

When I first came here, Kaki Semar (in Sarwo) right away knew that I liked to sing, so I always sing at rituals. I never miss a gathering. Doris, 50, Chinese language teacher, July 26, 2010: Srandil. I am not drawn to Semar, but I like the teaching that there is no difference between rich and poor. When I pray it is to the Christian God. Yenny, 55, beauty salon owner, December 6, 2010: Srandil. This is gotong royong (mutual help). Eighty percent of the leadership is Chinese because only the successful need to donate. Seventy percent of those who carry the kio (palanquin), are Javanese farmers who are used to hard work. Woro, 57, businessman, December 7, 2010: Srandil.

The indigene majority was apparent at the 2010 PCB celebrations. There was a hierarchical aspect to the distribution of participants. Physically close to Sarwo and prominent in leadership roles, were the Chinese. The indigenes comprised the masses having a good time in the canteen and camping in two common halls; one in the main church that accommodated 500, and another almost as large, in an adjacent building. There are also thirty spartan, but private, apartments ranged on two sides of the church. Chinese women cooked and served rice with vegetables, fried noodles and krupuk (fried crackers) at the canteen.

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Yenny, 55, a smartly-dressed Chinese woman, was in charge of the kitchen on the night of December 7, 2010. This was the second year she was performing this service. On the night before she had cooked for 1000, although there were only 300 on the register. On December 7, she cooked for 2,000. Food was served all day so no one rushed and there were no long queues. Yenny told me that local farmers had contributed rice and vegetables, but funds for the food largely came from PCB coffers to which everybody had contributed 2000 rupiah (20 American cents at December 2010 rates) each. This represented only token payment for two to three days of board, lodging and entertainment. For Suro 2010, the total collection was 1,358,000 rupiah (accounting records I viewed were attested to by two signatories), which translates to 679 registrants. Some people ate quickly and left and did not stay to smoke or chat. I suspect that they might not have contributed towards the , but no one accosted them, so perhaps the PCB claim to 2000 participants at major rituals and around 1000 at regular Jumaat Kliwon22 gatherings were believable. Elite PCB members have become priyayi (aristocrats). The program for the 2010 Suro celebrations lists 60 members who had received noble titles from the court.23 Whereas the Jogjakarta court only recognises blue blood, Surakarta awards titles to leaders in arts and culture, business and science — who pay a fee. The requirements of success and payment preclude most of the peasant folk in the pursuit of nobility. In this way, the social structure of PCB membership emulated wayang roles. For formal rituals, PCB elites dress in full Javanese costumes. The men carry tucked into belts clearly perform the role of satryā against whom the indigene members behaved in the manner that Keeler describes of the punakawans and Javanese youth. At the bottom of the social hierarchy, they only needed to know their place and respect their masters otherwise, free of responsibilities; they could sing and dance with abandon.24 Javanese society is hierarchical, and the moral code of conduct is based on obedience to social roles. For example, the satryā (warrior) who becomes a good artisan is a bad satryā; the villainous satryā, who goes bravely into battle, knowing he is destined to die, is raised as hero.25

I puasa (fast) only because everyone in my village does. Semar is the dewa (god) who looks after the world, even Singapore and . Poniman, 58, retail kiosk operator, July 26, 2010: Srandil. No need to pray five times a day, just once at midnight. No need to face in any particular direction; at the front-of-the-house, in a room, it is all right. Minah, 56, wife of Poniman, July 26, 2010: Srandil. I have worshipped Semar since 1953. There is no conflict with my being Muslim. We are Javanese and should not forget our . Haji Aryo, 70, July 26, 2010: Srandil. My friends told me I must come here, because my business is bad. Lukman , 41, carpenter, July 26, 2010: Srandil. I have come here every Jumaat Kliwon since 2000, but I still cannot get a steady job. Saro, 50, itinerant laborer, December 6, 2010: Srandil.

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Semar is a bridge to Gusti Ingkang Murbeng Dumadi (He who Rules Creation), that is Allah, so where is the conflict with Islam? Sutarto, 53, farmer, December 6, 2010: Srandil. Kejawen is Islam putih (white or true Islam). Semar is a wali (Muslim saint). Mario, 34, chauffer, December 6, 2010: Srandil. This and Islam are the same. “Even if you have food at home, you can prefer eating out” [a local saying.] If you want anything, it is useless if you do not call the spirit to help you, “If something gets into your eye, you need someone else to blow it out.” Surya, 50, a scholar, December 7, 2010: Srandil.

Kepercayaan Terhadap Tuhan Yang Maha Esa

PCB is one among 240 kepercayaan groups in Indonesia.26 Kepercayaan Terhadap Tuhan Yang Maha Esa (The Belief in God Almighty) is a blanket category used by the state to cover the congeries of indigenous religious practices, notwithstanding the fact that the kepercayaan practices are largely polytheistic. 27 The monotheistic cast accords with Article 29 of the 1945 Constitution where citizens are defined as believers in the One Supreme God. This law was introduced in order to appease orthodox Islamic parties leery of heterodoxical practices. In January 1965, issued a Presidential decree recognizing only six official religions; Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, , Buddhism and Confucianism. In 1969, under Suharto, this decree was made law (UU No. 5, 1969). Reformasi brought a widening of positions on religion. In 2006, the Civil Registration Act (UU No. 23), allowed kepercayaan believers to opt for a blank in the column “agama” on their identity cards (KTP, Kartu Tanda Penduduk).28 However kepercayaan is still not recognized as a religion, and is administered under the Arts and Film Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.29

PCB members had been quick to respond to UU No. 23. In July and December 2010, several showed me their KTPs with agama left blank or with the entry kepercayaan. Yusuf, a Javanese, had gone straight away to make a new KTP card. “I threatened the guy that if he was slow to make the change, I would complain against him, and, under the act, he would be fined ten million rupiah,” said Yusuf. He explained that he officiates at kepercayaan weddings in Solo and Magelang and needed to be truthful before these couples. Sarwo’s KTP, and that of his wife, Florentina Widuri, has kepercayaan on it. “Kepercayaan is better than blank,” he said, “it states a position.” (July, 26 and 27; December, 6, 7 and 8, 2010: Srandil).

The primodial deity, Semar

In his discourse on religion and indigeneity, Setyawan asserts that the traditional religion practices had been ever since there was the awareness that there existed an Indonesian people. 30 Setyawan points to the fifteenth century Candi relief, which shows the image of Semar in a scene from the wayang drama Sudamala, as proof of the existence of an indigenous Indonesia

6 religion. 31 Mulyono proposes that the Sudamala drama introduces Semar as the Almighty (thus fitting Semar into the cast of the One Supreme God), exceeding even (Shiva). Semar, according to Mulyono, represents a new concept of the deity as one concerned with the welfare of mankind. 32 Mangkunagoro VII of Surakarta writes, “wayang is not merely entertainment; it is a reflection of the mental and spiritual life of a whole people.”33 In other words, the wayang legends of Semar are not to be taken as just fairytales, but are regarded as sacred histories. The subject wayang has been extensively studied, so for this essay, I will confine myself to narratives of Semar that deal with ideas of power and legitimacy.34 A popular telling of the origin of Semar concerns a cosmic egg that broke apart. The skin became Togog, the white, Semar, and the yolk Manikmaya. When they grew up, the three fought over the right to succeed to the throne of the kingdom of the sky. They agreed to settle the matter with a test. Who could swallow and regurgitate Mount Meru would become ruler. Togog went first, but he could not get the mountain past his mouth despite stretching it large and ugly. Togog had to descend to the earth to take charge of giants and evil spirits. Semar swallowed the mountain but could not vomit it out. The mountain swelled up the belly of the hitherto handsome Semar, and was pushed downwards to shape a large behind. Semar farted and blew the top off the Mount Meru causing the mountains and islands of Nusantara to rise from the sea. With the mountain stubbornly lodged within Semar’s guts, the test was suspended. Manikmaya became by default, king of the gods, and Semar went down to Java as guardian to humans and good spirits of the mortal realm. Thus in wayang, Semar is the defeated Javanese god, servant to alien Hindu gods. As if to render the humiliation total, Semar is made ridiculous in wayang,35 “all the ugliest features that can possibly be found on the human anatomy may be seen in Semar.”36 Reconciliation for this ignominy lies in readings of power in contradiction. As guardian deity, Semar is not subservient. In wayang, the puppet Semar is painted with a white face signifying a wise teacher, and a black body. The color black suggests “inner maturity, adulthood, virtue, and calm.”37 Semar always features at the start of the second act of wayang which is portentous of the gara-gara (chaos) that is to come in act three.38 The clown enters at the witching hour of midnight to provide an intermission of laughter, but primarily as mystical intervention that enables the coming of the rightful king. This promise is proclaimed by the “1610” motif emblazoned on the main sign, on walls, in books, even on scarves in PCB. The numbers, pronounced “Ho To Lo” resemble the word “(n)adil” referring thus to the , the “Just King” of the twelfth century Prophesies. The narrative of kingship informs the PCB name. “Cahya,” “light”, recalls the star that shone on Senapati, the founder of the Mataram dynasty marking him as rightful king. It is light, shining on a ruler and beaming from his face that signifies royal legitimacy.39 “Buwana” “the Universe” features in the names of contemporary Javanese kings; Paku Buwana (Nail of the Universe) of Surakarta; Hamengku Buwana (Sustainer of the Universe) of Jogjakarta.40 Javanese kingship is emblematized at PCB by a ceramic crown symbolizing Brawijaya Pamungkas (reign 1468–1478), the last Hindu king of . The juxtaposition of Semar with Brawijaya must refer to Semar in his guise as Sabdapalon, punakawan to Brawijaya. Majapahit was destroyed by Raden Patah, son of Brawijaya. Raden Patah established Demak, the first Muslim sultanate, and Brawijaya in defeat converted to Islam, whereupon his servant, Sabdapalon revealed himself to be Semar. Sabdapalon cursed Brawijaya for shaming him before

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Heaven and Earth. Sabdapalon vanished promising to return in 500 years to restore Java (Indonesia) to its rightful traditions. 41 This legend is the subject of Serat Dermagandul, a book (of uncertain origin) that “breathes rejection of Islam as being a religion foreign to Java.”42

Pusaka (heirlooms)

Anderson describes Javanese social structure as centered upon the king whose legitimacy was the concern of Javanese court chronicles and wayang. The source of kingly power was in mysticism, less about military strength and more about possessing pusaka, albinos and dwarves.43 Ricklefs notes that the, “courtly ideas of the were not suspended in some metaphysical ether, but were embedded in the hard world of Realpolitik.”44 Accordingly, PCB’s legitimacy is founded upon the possession of pusakas.

“See,” said Sarwo, “the very image of Semar.” But I could not decipher Semar in the seven stones Sarwo had set before me. The largest, named Guci Sol, was black and had been discovered in Tegal. Another, Karang Kobar (my notes say “crystalline, white”) was from Jogjakarta. One had concrete on it and was picked up at a building site. I did better with Jumprit, a piece of metal that looked like a spearhead. I could discern a profile of Semar. The pièce de résistance was to be the kris that had dropped from the air when Semar first came to Sarwo, but the treasure appeared to be a tourist trinket (December 6, 2010: Srandil).

The idea of magic of stones is widespread in Indonesia. In 2009, I worked with a (spiritual master) near Jogjakarta and two spirit-mediums in Singkawang, West Kalimantan. All showed me agate stones that were the sources of their mystic power. At PCB, Semar (in Sarwo) produces agate stones and crystals from the air.

Semar (in Sarwo) spoke to a manggala yudha members who called out, “bachelor, not so young, with one eye.” A man stood up, and bent almost double (an act of etiquette when

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walking in front of others), he went forward to kneel behind Sarwo. Semar advised: “Why do you worry? Search your heart for the answer.” “A seamstress with 11 children who sells toufu,” “Do not believe those who tell you that dry leaves can turn into money.” “Woman from out of Java with three daughters.” “Your husband is a good man. Sometimes he is a little hard, but be patient.” Semar asked for flowers, a plate was proffered. Semar picked a few blossoms, chewed on them, and then spat. There was a clattering. A manggala yudha picked something from the floor and handed it to the woman. Others called in the course of the evening included; “an old scholar,” “an unfortunate man with two children, one schooling, the other not,” “an electrician with a new shop,” “a soto (noodles in broth) seller,” “a meat seller.” Some received magic stones. “A scholar from abroad.” I received meaningful looks and so went to kneel behind Sarwo. “You have an enemy among your colleagues. He is younger than you and wears spectacles.” I heard “tik, tik, tik, tik, tik.” A manggala yudha picked something up and handed it to me. It was a crystal, under one centimeter wide, turquoise blue. Later, Doris showed me many such gems of different colors. She wore one as a pendant. There was a ring, and a bracelet set with five magic stones. A man showed me both his hands. Every finger bore a ring set with agate. He wore an agate pendant, and had a large agate on his belt buckle, and had an agate on a keychain, all were gifts from Semar. (July 25, 2010: Srandil).

Pranoto records that up to press time; 3,627 magic stones had been given to 1,164 people as pusakas. The stones afford protection, and can be made into jewelry but should not be worn during sexual intercourse. If this happened unwittingly, then the pusaka has to be ritually cleansed by soaking it for a day in a flower bath.45 Other pusakas include the checkered poleng , “a sign of magical powers older than Islam in Java,”46 that Semar is depicted as wearing in images in print and statuary, and sacred water. The place of lustral water in kerpercayaan is enshrined in the wayang play Bima Goes to Find the Water of Life, an episode from the Mahabharata. Directly behind the main PCB altar is Sumur Kawak, a well that apparently dates back to Majapahit times. To the water in the well, has been added contributions collected from 211 holy sites. It is also said that water touched by Semar will fertilize fields.47 On the evening of December 6, 2010, Semar in Sarwo came to bless the water in a pond the size of a children’s wading pool in the PCB compound. After the ceremony, perhaps a hundred people rushed forward to scoop water into bottles, jars and gallon-sized containers to take away. The most powerful PCB pusaka is Semar himself. In the wayang Semar Boyong, the punakawan is presented as the divine right to rule embodied, so heroes and villains fight to kidnap Semar. Past Javanese kings maintained a retinue of dwarves and albinos. These palawija, as Others, radiate spirit-power so that it was lèse majesté for others to keep such servants.48 Semar’s deformities and androgyny mark him as the ultimate source of kingly power.

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Ratu Kidul

The legitimacy of PCB’s claim to Javanism is also supported by the group’s worship of Ratu Kidul, known in PCB as Kanjeng Ibu Ratu Kidul Sekaring Jagad (Her Majesty Queen of the South and the Flower of the Universe). Ratu Kidul is described in PCB literature, as a ray of the light that is God. She rules all spirits in the mortal realm. 49 There is extensive scholarship on Ratu Kidul 50 but I make special reference to rituals by present-day kings of Surakarta and Jogjakarta. Mythology and Realpolitik connect here for since her embrace of Senapati, founder of the Mataram dynasty, the legitimacy of Javanese kings depends on their mystic marriage with Ratu Kidul.51 PCB marks Suro with a larungan (offering) to Ratu Kidul.

Two days before Suro, the crowds had already gathered at PCB. Banners announcing the celebration had been strung across the roads leading to the church. These thoroughfares were lined with stalls selling clothes, toys, music CDs, and wayang puppets. On the afternoon of December 7, 2010, women gathered in the main PCB prayer hall where two boats with naga (dragon) heads had been set up. Gunungans — rattan cones, each about a meter tall — had been built on the boats, and the women covered one with all kinds of vegetables, the other with packets of biscuits, sweets, coffee and tea. A large stage under cover had been set up in the compound. Arrayed before it were instruments of a large orchestra. There was going to be a feast that night, and there would be performances of wayang and kethoprak (comedy) up to 3 am. PCB celebrations were going to resemble the garebeg ritual processions of the royal courts52. (December 6 and 7, 2010: Srandil).

I was amazed how precisely everything as set out in the booklet on the practice of PCB rituals53 had been realized. The roles of participants are specified, and their places in the parade marked as smiley icons in a diagram. At the head of the PCB procession were two girls dressed in Javanese costume carrying basins of flowers. Others followed, playing angklung ( percussive instruments). The manggala yudha knights, dressed in

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Javanese costume complete with turban and kris, marched in a phalanx. Then came people bearing raw fish, a raw plucked white chicken, a plucked black chicken, quails, a duck, two trays each bearing the head, skin and legs of two sacrificed goats, six tumpeng (ceremonial rice cones), colored red, yellow, green, white, brown and blue, and many more gifts, including a pair of decorated slippers and cosmetics. All were borne in a parade of two and three abreast interspersed by people carrying flags and banners and ceremonial umbrellas. After those bearing offerings came Sarwo, and then people dressed in Javanese costume, then people wearing pakaian biasa (ordinary clothes). In the rear were actors with painted faces, some carrying two-dimensional hobby horses. Sarwo insisted, without ever needing to raise his voice to command, that the line-up had to be as set out in the booklet. At PCB that morning Sarwo’s leadership, and Javanese obedience, was on show. (December 8, 2010, Srandil).

The procession set off just after 6 am. We headed first to Gunung Srandil where the goat remains were buried near the central bodhi tree. Then we headed for Semar’s cave, one of six pilgrimage sites dotted around the circumference of Gunung Srandil. There was a rawuhan, after which we moved to the beach. Sarwo and the manggala yudha sat in a semi-circle facing the sea, and, perhaps, 1000 people, gathered around them. The offerings were placed on the sand before Sarwo, and the naga boats were set closer to the sea. There was a second trance session. Then the naga boats were launched. The naga boats were carried 500 meters by strong waves that then broke up the boats as if they were made of tissue paper. People plunged into the sea to grab what they could. The surging tide brought bits of vegetables and packets of food to the shore and these were quickly picked off. One woman triumphantly held up a giant cabbage, but others were just as happy with handfuls of string beans. Begor, a 60-year-old boatman, had gotten a blue-colored tumpeng. He was going to take it home, he told me, but not to eat. He planned to dry the rice cone in the sun and place it in a display cabinet as a pusaka (December 8,

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2010: Srandil).

Conclusion

Damami stresses that Javanese ethnicity is about ethics not blood.54 Sutarto writes of being Javanese as a matter of behaving properly. A person of another ethnicity can become a true Javanese, whereas a Javanese who misbehaves is not Javanese: “The active bearers of Javanese culture generally have two main aims in life, to try to make themselves real or true Javanese, and to try to make others Javanese.”55 Against this criterion, Sarwo and his Chinese PCB members are true Javanese. Javanese have learnt from court chronicles and wayang that one always kept to one’s place in society.56 From Majapahit times, the Chinese have been involved in court intrigues, but never have they been accepted at the center. Closer to contemporary times, there is Jusuf Wanandi, who as a staunch supporter of Suharto, had pushed for assimilation. But Suharto did not keep his promises of access for the Chinese to tertiary education, jobs in the civil service, the military, and political positions. Wanandi writes, “We were treated as minor wives, enjoyed but not recognised.”57 Reformasi is opening a new era for the Chinese-Indonesians who have come forward. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, popularly called Ahok, will become the governor of Jakarta when Joko Widodo (Jokowi), the present governor of Jakarta and President-elect resigns this position.58 Two post-Reformasi government ministers; Kwik Kian Gie and Mari Elka Pangestu were Chinese-Indonesians. Even the late President Abdurrahman Wahid had said that he had Chinese blood in him. Always the servant, never the ruler, the Chinese-Indonesians play the parts of punakawans. However, according to Javanese wayang, power paradoxically lies in subservience. Pausacker writes that Suharto portrayed himself as a Semar figure, Habibie was Gareng, and Abdurrahman Wahid was Bagong. 59 Keeler writes of alihan, the act of dissimulation of identity; Semar is at the bottom of the social hierarchy but very potent.60 What did the indigenous kepercayaan groups of Cilacap think of the PCB alihan, with a Chinese presenting himself as the primordial Javanese deity? PCB does not appear on the BKOK register, but Basuki Rahardjo, Secretary of BKOK in Cilacap (note 27) said PCB members are accepted as Semar believers “wearing different clothes.” Purist believers found the use of statues “berat” (heavy), explained Rahardjo, as Kaki should not be shown in images, but it was all right for the Chinese to worship Semar, with hio (joss-sticks). He said he was grateful to PCB for promoting kejawen (December 9, 2010: Srandil). Kyai Maja Suwangsa, one of twelve hereditary heads of the largest kepercayaan group in Cilacap, 61 received me dressed in Javanese costume in a large building of traditional architecture with a magnificent thatched roof. He said that while his people did not worship Semar, they acknowledge Semar as kaki (grandfather) and PCB as teaching kejawen (December 9, 2010: Srandil). Javanese Budi Hardono Nagora, who heads the second largest kepercayaan group in Cilacap62 is also a medium for Semar. There are Semar images in his modest church, however he emphasized that these were not gods to be worshipped, but mere aids to contemplation. Budi is highly supportive of PCB. He said that a Chinese worship to Semar was acceptable because

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Semar originated from Tibet, and Confucius was one of his avatars, and Semar’s wife Roro Kuning, was Chinese (9 December 2010, Srandil). Yusuf, of the blank KTP, spoke of the Chinese with a clear taunt in his eyes. “Did not Jayabaya prophesize that the yellow-skinned would rule Indonesia?” In Yusuf and the others there appears to be acceptance, albeit grudgingly, of PCB as kejawen. But their endorsement may be unnecessary since in Reformasi the claim to authenticity is no longer the privilege of the indigene. But citizenship is less relevant in the globalized world. What I am proposing concerns the landscapes of the mind, along the lines of Anderson’s imagined communities.63 Postmodern theories of theater argue that there is no ultimate performance; rather theater is made in the minds of individual spectators using personal frames of reference.64 Semar is a polysemant sign. Derrida argues that meaning is articulated in webs of signification. One idea leads to another, endlessly. 65 Derrida refuses a “transcendental signified,” 66 for to hold that there is an irreducible originary would be to confuse ontology with theology.67 But people do seek to know themselves; often looking to religion or traditions for answers. Culture and ethnicity define a primordial essence of being against which people understand themselves. Jus primordialis, as performed by PCB, makes Chinese ethnicity a “happen-to-be,” and kejawen constitutive — “Being Javanese” displaces, but not replaces “being Chinese”. The Chinese remains still there, but set a little aside so that kejawen can take center stage. Jus primordialis is a coping strategy by which minority groups can assert a self-identity (at least to themselves), that permits some claim of priority over the majority culture. It is useful for it allows imagined communities to be transnational.

* The author, Margaret Chan, is Associate Professor of Theatre/Performance Studies, School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University.

Acknowledgements: I thank the Singapore Management University for their grant C242/MSS10S001, which funded this research project. This article could not have been written without the patience and kindness of Drs Sarwo Dadi Ngudiono (RIP). I thank the members of PCB and especially Adi Srikuning for welcoming me into their midst. I acknowledge the help of my research assistant Sutrisno Murtiyoso. I am rich for his friendship and that of Bodong and Bayu. I also thank the anonymous reviewer who encouraged me and gave me really useful suggestions.

Notes

1. The PCB site is 3,400 square meters — Tjaroko HP Teguh Pranoto, nDerek Dawuh Kaki Semar (Obeying the Command of Semar) (Jogjakarta: Kuntul Press, 2008), p. 50. The church is perhaps 1,500 square meters in area. It is located in Glempang Pasir, Adipala, one kilometer away from Gunung Srandil. 2. Gunung Srandil is a hillock about one kilometer away from the sea, where Pantai Selatan and

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Pantai Ayah meet. The unremarkable hill (I climbed the stone stairs leading to the peak in one go), is regarded as the “navel of the earth” — Pranoto, nDerek Dawuh, p. 40; and the “center” of Java — Alan M. Stevens, and A. Ed Schmidgall Tellings, A Comprehensive Indonesian-English Dictionary (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2004), p. 336. The site is suffused with the mystic power of kingship so that rulers, even up to modern times, must come to meditate and perform rituals at Gunung Srandil, otherwise the rule would not last long and would be full of dangers — Sidik Purnama Negara, Gunung Srandil & Selok: Tempat Olah dan Laku Spiritual Kejawen Para Pemimpin Indonesia [Gunung Srandil & Selok: Javanese Pilgrimage Sites of Indonesian Leaders], (Jogjakarta: Narasi, 2010), p.12. 3. Sarwo Dadi Ngudiono died of a heart attack on January 8, 2013. 4. Clifford Geertz, The Religion of Java (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976[1960]), p. 23. 5. Sri Mulyono, Apa & Siapa Semar (What and Who is Semar) (Jakarta: Haji Masagung, 1989), p. 65; Benedict R. O’G. Anderson, Mythology and the Tolerance of the Javanese (Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur: Equinox, 2009[1965]), p. 37. 6. “Chinese New Year in West Kalimantan: Ritual theatre and political circus,” Chinese Southern Diaspora Studies (CSDS), 3, 2009: 106-142. 7. “Nini Towong: The Chinese connection,” Asian Ethnology. (Forthcoming). 8. Lee Khoon Choy wrote of one Romo Budi who said that Semar on occasion spoke to him, and through him, in Chinese. — Lee Khoon Choy, A Fragile Nation: The Indonesian Crisis (Singapore, New Jersey, London and Hong Kong: World Scientific, 1999), pp. 98-107. 9. In Chinese popular religion, the possessed spirit-medium is the veritable god – Margaret Chan, Ritual is Theatre, Theatre is Ritual: Tang-ki Chinese Spirit Medium Worship (Singapore: Wee Kim Wee Centre, Singapore Management University and SNP Reference, 2006), p. 13. Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (New York: Basic Books, 1973), p. 116, discusses trance in Bali as entering into another order of existence “to become,” “to be.” Sarwo told me that when possessed “Semar covers me,” while, he, Sarwo, slept in a place for sleep. (December 6, 2010, Srandil). 10. Damardjati Supadjar, “Etika dan Tatakrama Jawa Dahulu dan Masa Kini” [“Javanese Ethics and Manners, Past and Present”], in Keadaan dan Perkembangan Bahasa, Sastra, Etika, Tatakrama, dan Seni Pertunjukan Jawa, Bali dan Sunda [Situation and Development of Language, Literature, Ethics, Manners and the Performing Arts of Java, Bali and Sunda], ed. Soerdasono (Jogjakarta: Proyek Penelitian dan Pengkajian Kebudayaan Nusantara (Javanologi), Direktorat Jenderal, Kebudayaan Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan (Research Project for the Cultural Assessment of the Indonesian Archipelago [Javanology], Directorate General for Culture, Department for Education and Culture, , 1985), pp. 191-192. 11. Anderson, Mythology and the Tolerance of the Javanese, p. 16; Ayu Sutarto, “Becoming a True Javanese: A Javanese View of Attempts at ,” Indonesia and the Malay World, 34, 98 (March, 2006): 41. 12. Melton, J Gordon and Martin Baumann (eds), Religions of the world: a comprehensive encyclopedia of beliefs and practices (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2010), p. 1573. 13. For a fuller discussion of this law and the politicization of indigeneity in Indonesia, please refer to Elizabeth Chandra, “‘We the (Chinese) People’: Revisiting the 1945 Constitutional Debate on Citizenship,” Indonesia, 94 (October, 2012): 85-110. 14. Max Weber, Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology, ed. Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich, (New York: Bedminster Press, 1968), p. 389. 15. Victor Turner, The of Performance (New York: PAJ, 1988), p. 76.

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16. Clifford Geertz, Negara: The Theatre State in Nineteenth-Century Bali (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980), p. 13. 17. Performance studies as a discipline developed in the early 1970s out of a collaboration between Richard Schechner, a theater practitioner, and Victor Turner, an anthropologist. Performance Studies read social and staged dramas as socio-cultural text — Richard Schechner, Performance Studies: An Introduction, second edition (New York and London: Routledge, 2007[2002]), pp. 16-19. 18. Even though Sarwo, their leader had passed away just months before; PCB members marked Suro Javanese New Year on November 4, 2013, with a grand procession to the beach. They said they were upholding the tradition set by Sarwo. (Kabare magazine. “Larungan Ageng di Petilasan Kaki Semar” December 2013, pp. 70-73. http://issuu.com/kabaremagz/docs/138_kabare_desember_2013 /71.) PCB members are still meeting regularly without a medium to pray and to discuss the management of the group. They believe, if a true medium arises, he will show himself, and are cautious of charlatans. In any case, they want the medium to attend only to rituals and not deal with management (SMS correspondence August 16, 2014). 19. For more on kebatinan, see Neils Mulder, Mysticism and Everyday Life in Contemporary Java: Cultural Persistence and Change (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1983[1978]). 20. This account derives from an interview with Sarwo (July, 25, 2010: Srandil) and Pranoto, nDerek Dawuh Kaki Semar, pp. 42-51. Where information provided in the interview differed from Pranoto’s account, I used the interview. For example, Sarwo told me he first saw Semar’s vision on day thirty-nine of his meditation, Pranoto writes of visions occurring between days thirty-five and thirty-seven. 21. All names are pseudonyms except for those who publicly perform their roles and who want to be acknowledged as leaders of the community. 22. Jumaat Kliwon is the day when Friday coincides with Kliwon of the Javanese Pasaran five-day week. The combination of the seven-day and five-day cycles means that from a Jumaat Kliwon to the next Jumaat Kliwon is thirty-five days. 23. Women became NMT, Nyimas Tumenggung; men, RT, Raden Temenggung, rising to Kanjeng RT. In 2010, only Sarwo held the title of KRAT, Kanjeng Raden Arya Temenggung. 24. Ward Keeler, Javanese Shadow Plays, Javanese Selves (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987), pp. 209-10. 25. Anderson, Mythology and the Tolerance of the Javanese, pp. 17-18. 26. In 2005, there were about 2.4 million people in the Indonesian population who reported “other” for religion — Suhadi Cholil et al., Annual Report on Religious Life in Indonesia 2009, trans. Max M. Richter and Ivana Prazic, (Jogjakarta: Center for Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies, CRCS, Gadjah Mada University, August 2010), p. 13. The same report notes that there are 244 kepercayaan groups (p. 19). Syamsul Arifin, Attitudes to Human Rights and Freedom of Religion or Belief in Indonesia: Voices of Islamic Religious Leaders in East Java, ed. and trans. Nelly van Doorn-Harder, Tore Lindholm, and Nicola Colbran (Jogjakarta: Kanisius, 2010), p. 19, states this figure as 245, but both refer to secondary sources. Ibu Wigati, who represented the government at the PCB Suro celebrations in 2010, and who I interviewed at Srandil on December, 7, 2010, said that there are 238 groups at present, a drop from 245 in 2006. According to her, there are some 1,000 cults in all, but only 238 pass scrutiny as believers in the One and Only God. She resisted my requests for official figures or to visit her in Jakarta. Basuki Rahardjo, Secretary of the Badan Kerjasama Organasi-Organasi Kepercayaan Terhadap Tuhan Yang Maha Esa (BKOK, The Cooperative Body of Organisations of Traditional Beliefs), Cilacap, who I interviewed in Cilacap

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on December, 8, 2010, sets the figure at 254. 27. I refer the reader to Michel Picard, “Introduction: ‘Agama’, ‘’, and Pancasila,” in The Politics of : Syncretism, Orthodoxy, and Religious Contention in Java and Bali, ed. Michel Picard and Rémy Madinier (London and New York: Routledge, 2011), pp. 1-20, for a succinct and comprehensive report on religion in modern Indonesia. 28. I have seen and photographed KTP cards with agama columns left empty, or filled with “kepercayaan,” “liannya” (others). 29. Direktorat Jenderal Nilai Budaya, Seni dan Film Departemen Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata malalui Direktorat Kepercayaan Terhadap Tuhan Yang Maha Esa. 30. Setyawan, “Sumbangan Penghayat Kepercayaan Terhadap Tuhan Maha Esa Dalam Pembangunan Bangsa” [“Contributions of the Practice of the Belief in God the Almighty to Nation Building,” in Kepercayaan Terhadap Tuhan Masa Esa: Sebuah Wacana [The Belief in God the Almighty: A Discourse] (Jakarta: Proyek Pemanfaatan Kebudayaan, Direktorat Tradisi dan Kerpecayaan, Deputi Bidang Pelestarian dan Pengembangan Budaya, Badan Pengembangan Kebudayaan dan Pariswisata [Project for the Utilisation of Culture, The Directorate for Traditions and Beliefs, Area Deputy for the Preservation and Development of Culture, Agency for the Development of Culture and Tourism], 2002), pp. 76-78. 31. Ibid., p. 78. 32. Sri Mulyono, Apa & Siapa Semar, pp. 98-100. 33. Mangkunagoro VII of Surakarta, On the Wayang Kulit (Purwa) and its Symbolic and Mystical Elements, trans. Claire Holt (Ithaca, NY: Southeast Asia Program, Department of Far Eastern Studies, Cornell University, 1957[1933]), p.1. 34. For fuller discussion of wayang see, among others; James R. Brandon, ed., On Thrones of Gold: Three Javanese Shadow Plays (Honolulu HI: University of Hawaii Press, 1993[1970]; H. Ulbricht, Wayang Purwa: Shadows of the Past (Kuala Lumpur and Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1972[1970]), and Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof, Dictionary of Traditional South-East Asian Theatre (Kuala Lumpur, Oxford, Singapore, and New York: Oxford University Press, 1994). 35. Ulbricht, Wayang Purwa, 1972, p. 26. 36. Yousof, Dictionary of Traditional South-East Asian Theatre, 1994, p. 248. 37. Soedarsono, Living Traditional Theaters in Indonesia: Nine Selected Papers (Jogjakarta: ASTI, 1974), p.102. 38. Mangkunagoro VII, On the Wayang Kulit, 1957, pp. 10-11; Brandon, On Thrones of Gold, 1993, pp. 21-31. 39. Anderson, Language and Power: Exploring Political Cultures in Indonesia (Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press, 1990), pp. 31-32. 40. ibid. p. 45. 41. Ardian Kresna, Semar & Togog: Yin Yang dalam Budaya Jawa [Semar & Togog: Yin Yang in Javanese Culture] (Jogjakarta: Narasi, 2010), pp.118-24. 42. G. W. J. Drewes, “The struggle between Javanism and Islam as illustrated by the Sĕrat Dĕrmagandul,” Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 122,3 (1966): 310. 43. Anderson, Language and Power, p. 27. 44. M. C. Ricklefs, The Seen and the Unseen Worlds in Java, 1726–1749: History, Literature and Islam in the Court of Pakubuwana II (St. Leonards, NSW and Honolulu, HI: Allen & Unwin and University of Hawaii Press, 1998), p. 15. 45. Pranoto, nDerek Dawuh, pp. 91-93. 46. Ricklefs, The Seen and Unseen Worlds, p. 306.

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47. Jeune Scott-Kemball, Javanese Shadow Puppets: The Raffles Collection in the British Museum (London: The Trustees of the British Museum, 1970), p. 18. 48. Ricklefs, The Seen and Unseen Worlds, p. 223. See also Anderson, Language and Power, p. 27; Claire Holt, Art in Indonesia: Continuities and Change (Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press, 1967), p. 83; and Aart Van Beek, Life in the Javanese (Singapore, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 82. 49. Sarwo Dadi Ngudiono, Kanjeng Ibu Ratu Kidul Sekaring Jagad (Her Majesty Queen of the South and the Flower of the Universe) (Srandil: Paguyuban Cahya Buwana, 2010). 50. See, for example; Ricklefs, The Seen and Unseen Worlds, 1998, pp. 8-13; Robert Wessing, “A Princess from Sunda: Some Aspects of ,” Asian Folklore Studies, 56, 2 (1997): 317-53; Robert Wessing, “Nyai Roro Kidul in Puger: Local Applications of a Myth,” Archipel, 53 (1997): 97-120. 51. Clara Brakel, “Sandhang-pangan” for the Goddess: Offerings to Sang Bathari Durga and Nyai Lara Kidul. Asian Folklore Studies, 56, 2 (1997): 253-83. See also Ricklefs, The Seen and the Unseen Worlds, 1998, p. 10. 52. Van Beek, Life in the Javanese Kraton, pp. 78-84. 53. Sarwo Dadi Ngudiono, Tata Upacara dan Laku Ritual (Arrangement and Practice for Ritual and Ceremonials) (Srandil: Paguyuban Cahya Buwana, 2008[2004]). 54. Mohammad Damami, Makna Agama dalam Masyarakat Jawa (The Significance of Religion in Javanese Society) (Jogjakarta: LESFI, 2002), pp. 46-47. 55. Sutarto, “Becoming a True Javanese,” p. 39. 56. Anderson, Mythology and the Tolerance of the Javanese, pp. 17-18. 57. Jusuf Wanadi, Shades of Grey: A Political Memoir of Modern Indonesia 1965–1998 (Jakarta and Singapore: Equinox, 2012), pp. 125-27. 58. Joko Widodo is expected to resign as governor of Jakarta in August 2014. 59. The document which handed power from Sukarno to Suharto (who styled himself as “Super Semar”) in 1965 is popularly named Supersemar (Surat Perintah Sebelas Maret, Letter of Instruction of March, 11); see Helen Pausacker, “Presidents as Punakawan: Portrayal of National Leaders as Clown-Servants in Central Javanese Wayang,” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 35,2 (June, 2004): 213-33. 60. Keeler, Javanese Shadow Plays, pp. 207-11. 61. Paguyuban Resik Kubur Jero Tengah (this name is replete with esoteric meanings that would be lost in a simple transliteration), which BKOK records as having 46,000 members, but who Kyai Suwangsa said numbered 4,000. 62. Paguyuban Tunggul Sabdo Jati (the Fraternity of the Primal True Teaching), with, according to BKOK records, a membership of 2,200. 63. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, revised edition (London and New York: Verso, 2006[1983]). 64. Eugenio Barba, “Four Spectators,” Tulane Drama Review, 34,1 (1990): 96-100. 65. Jacques Derrida, Positions, trans. Alan Bass (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981), pp. 23-26. 66. Ibid.: 19-20. 67. Derrida argues that Heidegger had warned against ontotheology but could not himself escape this notion — Ibid.: 9-10.

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