Islam, State and Society in Indonesia: Local Politics in Madura by Yanwar Pribadi (review)

Continuity and change are important concepts in the study of history, and Islam, State and Society in Indonesia recognizes this dynamic of history in its examination of the Madurese community, the role of Islam and its diversity. Originally a Leiden University dissertation, the book's research is based on work that was carried out in the 1990s to 2010, and it fills the vacuum that exists in the study of local Madurese political history and Islam in Indonesia.

According to the author, "traditional understanding and practices of Islam and politics in democratizing and decentralizing Indonesia in the midst of the rise of more modern understanding and urban-style practices of Islam" (p. 1) is prevalent in Madura. It is also complex, as it involves the multiple issues of the position of juragan or rich people, political affiliation, kiai/ulemas (clerics), the diaspora community, syahbandar (harbour masters), state intervention, and the existence of the Shiite sect in the Sunni-dominated Madurese community.

The intersections of Islam and culture in Madura is the subject of chapter 2. According to the author, the Madurese people continue to preserve the sacred values of the santri (students or pious orthodox believers) culture despite their recent change in perceptions of modern education, Islamic associations, and men of religion. There are (at least) three important elements of santri culture that are inherent in the Madurese community; namely, Islamic boarding schools representing elements of traditional Islamic education, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) representing Islamic organizations, and kiai representing Islamic figures. These three elements intertwine and form complex relationships between Islam and politics as practised in Madurese society.

In the nineteenth century, the tarekat (an order of mystics), kiai (religious teacher or leader), pesantren (Islamic boarding school) and other religious figures, such as the guru ngaji (Koran teacher), imam (prayer leader), juru kunci (guardian of the cemetery), merbot (gatekeeper of the mosque), modin (muezzin) and naib (sub-district head), were influential as they were involved in regulating religious life in the villages, including maintaining the Islamic boarding schools (see also Azra and Afrianty 2002). It is worth noting that the term kiai was also a title for people who performed a special role, in positive or negative terms, in society. A criminal or even a Chinese Muslim trader may be called a kiai. It is also the title of Madurese nobility. In contemporary Madura there are also several types of kiai, but they have largely taken on a religious status.

Yanwar Pribadi explained how the character of the pesantren, the Nahdlatul Ulama (a traditionalist Sunni Islam movement) and kiai became the basis of Islamic-santri in Madura and how these three elements were interrelated. This problem then leads to another important question; namely, whether Islam in Madura has different characteristics and forms from that of other regions in Indonesia. To a certain degree, the difference exists. The author argues that the twinning of Islam with the culture of Madurese society is very strong, and politics at the local level cannot be separated from the various aspects of Islam. At the very least, there are three main political actors who intertwine Islam and local politics; namely, the kiai, blater (local strongman), and klebun (village head). These different actors are the subjects in chapters 2 and 3.

The author writes that government officials and kiai seem to challenge each other openly in an effort to secure their own interests. Local governments, via village officials, have also tried to reduce the political influence of the kiai, especially during general elections. Yanwar Pribadi noted that, at the village level, the support of the clerics was the key to garnering support from villagers in implementing government development programmes, especially during the centralized New Order's authoritarian rule. Chapters 4 and 5 detail the pembangunan (development, modernity) programmes that saw the mobilization of the network of Islamic boarding schools and the NU in convincing grass-roots communities how important development programmes were. This twinning of Islam and...