Babakan Madang monastery offers peace and tranquility

Babakan Madang monastery offers peace and tranquility

Text by Yudha Kartohadiprodjo, photos Mulkan Salmona

JAKARTA (JP): Two hundred years ago, Chinese migrants moved to
the area seeking refuge when they were targeted in a killing
spree by Dutch colonialists in Batavia (now Jakarta).

Now, every month, on the full-moon night, processions of cars
turn off the Jagorawi toll road at exit number 23. Even though
the exit is shared by the Sentul auto race track and weekend get-
away sites, the motorcades are heading for somewhere else.

They are heading for a more subtle and serene destination: the
Babakan Madang monastery in Citeureup, West Java. The devotees
are mostly Chinese-Indonesians.

Unlike most places of worship that are located within the
community of their followers, this Buddhist monastery stands
along in the middle of a four-hectare vacant lot. Twelve
pesantren (Moslem boarding schools) also stand in the same
village.

Within and beyond its red gate, the 200-year-old monastery
portrays a harmonious relationship between religious believers
and syncretists.

The monastery started as a small temple built by a local
landlord. Its main purpose was to sustain the agricultural
community in the area.

Two wooden panels in the compound state that the monastery was
built in the early 1700s, when the Dutch colonial administration
designated the area as a rice-producing zone.

In his Historical Sites of Jakarta, historian A. Heuken says
that from the late 17th century to the early 18th century, the
Dutch had difficulty in finding workers to build their colony in
Batavia. Due to its enmity against Pangeran (prince) Jayakarta,
locals refused to cooperate with the colonialists and the Dutch
imported workers from mainland China.

The policy backfired after the Dutch were overwhelmed by the
large number of jobless Chinese who streamed into Batavia.

"At the same time, a great many Chinese had run away from the
Manchu government on the mainland," said Myra Sidarta, a well-
known sinologist and lecturer at University of Indonesia.

After the 1740 bloodshed, which resulted in the deaths of more
than 5,000 Chinese in Batavia, the Chinese were not allowed to
reside within its walls. While some settled in the area known
today as Chinatown Glodok, others chose to become farmers outside
Batavia. The Citereup area was one of the destinations.

Within the monastery complex, in the furthest corner of the
temple, stands two chambers with lower walls. The chambers,
called petilasan kramat, a Javanese term meaning sacred sites,
are dedicated to local mythological figures. Some of the figures
are deified historical figures, while others are supernatural.

The presence of these figures are marked by epigraphs and
small monuments lining the rooms. Names such as Mbah Ratu
Penganten (Godmother of Brides), Nyai Putri (Princess Nyai) and
Mbah Dato' (Wise man) are inscribed on the stone.

"Many of the monastery's visitors go straight to these rooms,"
said Cecep Adhisaputra, a member of the caretaker board of the
monastery.

Many Buddhist monasteries around Jakarta also have petilasan
kramat similar to those of Babakan Madang. Mbah Djugo, one of the
deities found in Babakan Madang, can be found in five other
Chinese temples around Jakarta. Due to the assimilation process,
many of the monastery people could not trace the origin of the
deified man.

Yet, the name was mentioned in Les Chinois De Jakarta, temples
et vie collective (The Chinese of Jakarta, Temples and
Communities), a book published in 1970 by Claudine Salmon and
Denys Lombard. Mbah Djugo was actually a former military officer
from mainland China in the early 19th century who fled to Java
and finally retired to Kawi Mountain, East Java.

Although deifying a prominent figure exists not only in the
Javanese culture, the inscribed name indicates that the Chinese
culture had assimilated with the Javanese culture. This also
suggests how the Chinese and indigenous cultures interacted in
the 18th century.

"Coming to Indonesia on their own, many young Chinese men in
the early days tended to look for young local women as wives. The
interaction between the two cultures started in the courtyard of
places of worship, where ceremonies took place." said Myra. She
noted that the results of this interaction are apparent from the
slang in local dialects.

However, the sinophobic attitude of Soeharto's New Order
regime had led to repression on Chinese culture in Indonesia.

A caretaker at another monastery, Tang Tjoan, said, "Even
though the custom of setting off fireworks came from a Chinese
tradition, monasteries are forbidden from following this
practice. So what many of us did was follow our Moslem brethren
and light the fireworks during the Ramadhan month."

Kana, the Babakan Madang village chief, said that he would do
anything to maintain harmony in his area.

"When the monastery's officials said that they wanted to
distribute sembako (basic commodities) some time ago, I insisted
that they should do it in the village meeting hall to avoid any
unwanted incident." said Kana.

Although ethnic hatred is smoldering in Jakarta and other
cities, this village rarely sees any racial or religious tension.
He said he did not expect a change in attitude as long as the
visitors followed the local customs.

"When you are a guest, you have to follow the local
tradition." Kana said.