© Copyright 2018 Evi Lina Sutrisno Negotiating the Confucian Religion in Indonesia: Invention, Resilience and Revival (1900 – 2010) Evi Lina Sutrisno A dissertation Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2018 Reading Committee: Celia Lowe, Chair Ann Anagnost Laurie J. Sears Kyoko Tokuno Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Anthropology University of Washington Abstract Negotiating the Confucian Religion in Indonesia: Invention, Resilience and Revival (1900-2010) Evi Lina Sutrisno Chair of Supervisory Committee: Professor Celia Lowe Department of Anthropology This dissertation investigates the process of inventing and negotiating the idiosyncratic Confucian religion in Indonesia. Widely known as a philosophy or ethics, even in China, its original place, I trace the trajectory that framed Confucianism as a religion from the period of Dutch colonialism (1900-1945) to post-colonial Indonesia (1945-2010). Combining historical methods and ethnography, I demonstrate the transformation, change, continuity and revival of religious ideas and practices, as well as the struggles of its believers to promote and institutionalize them in the contemporary time. The invention of the Confucian religion, I argue, was a result of the transmission of ideas and knowledge about Chinese culture and religion, which travelled globally from China to Europe and, eventually, from Europe to the Dutch East Indies, later known as Indonesia. The unavoidable influence of Christianity and modernity took place during a period when European knowledge came to the Dutch colony through the medium of printing materials. Ideas also traveled within the intra-Asian network, particularly from Singapore and China, where Confucian revival movements were inaugurated in the end of the nineteenth century. Both routes, however, were also influenced by Western ideas of religion. My analysis of Confucianism’s invention sheds light on the multiple layers of translation politics and i the contestation of different interpretations about Confucianism, which involved different actors, whose power and sources of knowledge varied. During different regimes of the Indonesian post-colonial period (1945-2010), I investigate the problematic position of the Confucian religion under the rise of Indonesian nationalism, hostility against China and communism, and practices of religious governance and cultural citizenship. Under strong pressures from Islamic majority groups, the Indonesian government began to apply “Belief in One and Omnipotent God.” Confucian adherents were not exempt from this principle, and thus the Confucian religion took its unique form, in part, to accommodate the Indonesian state’s criteria of religion. Despite efforts to comply with the state’s criteria of a religion, the Indonesian government under Suharto’s authoritarian regime (1966- 1998) eventually degraded Confucianism to a sect in 1977. My analysis of the Indonesian state’s practices of governing religion demonstrates an alternative to secularism and the ways the state benefits from religious citizenship. I analyze the Confucian believers’ complex survival strategies to cope with the Soeharto’s oppression. These strategies combined non-confrontational yet persistent bargains for their civil rights, the adoption of Indonesian principles and values, agentive maintenance of their connection with Chinese culture, legal actions against the Indonesian government, and raising of international awareness and support. The combination of passive and active agencies ensured resilience of their religiosity during and revival after Suharto’s regime, which ended in 1998. In the post-reformation regimes (1998-2010), Confucian believers revived their religion under the Indonesian government’s restorative policies and facilitation. I examine their efforts to reinvigorate the shrinking Confucian community, to re-connect themselves with China and to become involved in the global Confucian movement ii Dedication For: Widjajanti Andri V. Harianja iii Table of Contents Page Abstract………………………………………………………………….…………….. i Dedication …………………………………………………………………………….. iv Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………….... vi A Note on Spelling ……………………………………………………………………. ix List of Terms and Abbreviations…………………………….………………….…….. x List of Illustrations ……………………………………………………………….…… xiii Chapter 1. Introduction: Why does Religion Matter in Indonesia? …….…………….. 1 Chapter 2. We Want Our Own Religion: The Historical Background and the Making 34 of the Confucian Religion in the Early 20th Century………………………………...… Chapter 3. Governing Confucianism in the Post-Colonial Indonesia (1945-1998)…… 75 Chapter 4. Confucius is Our Prophet: The Discourse of Prophecy and Religious Agency in Indonesian Confucianism…………………………………………………. 115 Chapter 5. Contested Confucian Ritual: Invention, Authority and Legitimacy…..….. 155 Chapter 6. The “Authentic” Confucian Temples: The Production and Negotiation of Religious Space and Monument ..……………………………………………………. 204 Chapter 7. Conclusion: From National to Global: The Possible Future of the Confucian Religion…………………………………………………………………… 253 Bibliography……………………..…………………………………………………… 269 iv Acknowledgment I am indebted to many people who helped me at different stages of this dissertation research and writing. I thank to my dissertation committee for providing valuable and constructive feedback to enrich this dissertation, I also acknowledge that each of them has contributed in specific ways. From Celia Lowe, the chair of my committee, I learned how to make strategic decisions during the dissertation research and writing. I benefitted from Ann Anagnost’s dissertation writing workshops for Anthropology graduate students, which proved to be a constructive forum to improve writing skills and to provide reviews among students. I owe Laurie Sears my understanding of history and Southeast Asia as well as abundant emotional support during my study. Kyoko Tokuno provided a great resource for deepening my understanding in Chinese philosophy and religions. I have been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to meet with and learn from Charles (Biff) Keyes and Francesco (Kiko) Benitez, through whom I started my interests in the Anthropology of Religion and Confucianism. I thank Vincente Rafael who served as my representative during the dissertation defense and provided me resources and ideas for improving my dissertation. I gratefully acknowledge the sponsors that provided financial support during my doctoral study at the University of Washington, Seattle. During the first three years, I received generous funding from the Fulbright Presidential scholarship. My dissertation research had been supported by the Anthropology Department Pre-Dissertation Research Grant and Jane and Charles Keyes Graduate Student Travel Grant. I received funding from the Southeast Asian Center and the University of Washington Libraries to preserve rare and endangered Confucian periodicals and Sino-Malay publications. During the last year of my study, the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange in Taiwan provided dissertation writing grant. v While conducting research in Indonesia, I received help from many people. My huge debt is to the Confucian community in the Boen Bio, Surabaya. They welcomed me to be a part of their community and generously shared their stories with me. I enjoyed their patience, warmth, and humor. They accepted and tolerated what must have seemed my peculiar questions and curiosity. My special thanks go to Liem Tiong Yang, Siok Tjoe, Gatot Santoso, Bingky Irawan, Soekotjo, Budi Wijaya, Lany Guito, Surya Tan, Cakra Kelana, Sioe Ling, Aety, Arta Dewangga, Charles Tee, Anuraga, Tan Djin Meng, Handoko, Cik Ho Lan and pak Tho. The Confucian priests and activists in Solo and Jakarta generously shared their knowledge. The late Hs. Tjhie Tjay Ing, Budi S. Tanuwibowo, and Kris Tan have helped enormously with their hard work, friendship and humor. I could not have completed this project without them. I have benefitted from the intellectual stimulation of my graduate student fellows in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Washington, Seattle, for which I am grateful. Yu Huang, Cheryll Alipio, Hsun-hui Tseng, Mia Siscawati, Trang Ta, Bonnie Tilland, Gladys Ge Jian, Joyce LeCompte, Luo Juan, Ulil Amri, Steph Cruz, Imam Subkhan, Anna Zogas, Acquanda Stanford, and Hollis Miller have shared with me the path of doctoral study with cheerful help, encouragement and strategies to survive. Hollis Miller and Anna Zogas offered extremely helpful and fastidious copyediting for my grant proposals and dissertation draft. Luo Juan helped me to investigate several Chinese sources and texts. The Southeast Asian Studies community at the University of Washington, Seattle, provided intellectual stimulation and warm friendship. The gatherings with late Chris Grorud, Micaela Campbell, Pauli Sandjaja, Allan Lumba, Hoang Ngo, Christopher Brown, Christina and Senggo Sunardi, Judith Henchy, Tikka Sears were filled with friendship and lively discussions about life, theory and everything in between. The habit and enjoyment continued when vi Hongxuan Lin, Ulil Amri, Imam Subkhan, Shannon Bush, Dimas Iqbal Romadhon, and Choirun Nisa Ristanty joined the community. I wish to acknowledge many friends who were supportive and encouraging during the dissertation research and writing, either directly or indirectly. In Seattle, Arlene Lev, Christopher Brown, Anja Pryor,