Illuminating Chinese role in history of Indonesian Islam

Illuminating Chinese role in history of Indonesian Islam

Tasyriq Hifzhillah
Contributor/Yogyakarta

Runtuhnya Kerajaan Hindu-Jawa
dan Timbulnya Negara-Negara Islam di Nusantara
(Collapse of Hindu-Javanese Kingdoms
and Emergence of Islamic States in Indonesia)
Prof. Dr. Slamet Muljana
LKiS Yogyakarta
viii + 303pp

Historical reality is often too bitter to swallow or too hot
to stand.

History is a large mirror that reflects the facts of the past,
and all that has been etched into the glass of history can never
be erased.

If you don't like a particular historical fact, you may try to
cover it up or forget it, but you can never remove it. An
historical fact can be interpreted in a variety of ways, but
regardless of the interpretation, the fact will never change.

In this light, the history of the collapse of the Majapahit
kingdom, followed by the emergence of Islamic states in
Indonesia, contains many interesting facts of note. As the oldest
kingdom on Java, the Majapahit not only represented the
historical romanticism of the apex of Hindu-Javanese
civilization, but also served as evidence of its political
struggle during its wane and amid the Islamization of Java.

Runtuhnya Kerajaan Hindu-Jawa dan Timbulnya Negara-Negara
Islam di Nusantara (Collapse of Hindu-Javanese Kingdoms
and Emergence of Islamic States in Indonesia), written by Slamet
Muljana, an historian and philologist at the University of
Indonesia, not only traces the origin of the fall of the
Majapahit kingdom, but also focuses on the role played by the
Chinese in bringing Islam to the country.

Muljana's findings counter and, at the same time, criticize
the thesis generally accepted by many historians that Islam in
Indonesia is another branch of Islam that developed on the
Arabian Peninsula.

Muljana believes that Islam in Indonesia, and in Java in
particular, was not the "pure" Islam that originated in Arab
countries, but a hybrid Islam with many variants, and that
various elements contributed to its development.

In his book, Muljana refers considerably to unofficial
historical documents like Babad Tanah Jawi (The Chronicle of
Java) and Serat Kanda, both written during the 17th-century
period of the Mataram kingdom.

Several historians have questioned the validity of these two
books, because they contain a mixture of history and tales in
such a way that it is difficult to separate fact from fiction.
Moreover, neither book refers to any reliable historical sources,
such as the ancient inscriptions and historical works on the
Majapahit in the authoritative Pararaton and Negarakertagama.

Muljana's book, divided into nine chapters, also draws upon a
number of archival documents summarizing the Preambule Prasaran,
Chinese documents from Talang Temple, Portuguese sources and
documents from Sam Po Kong Temple in Semarang, written by
Poortman and quoted by Mangaraja Onggang (M.O.) Parlindungan.

Poortman, a neighborhood head during the Dutch colonial era,
was originally assigned in 1928 by the colonial administration to
find out whether Raden Fatah was of Chinese ethnicity. As events
developed, this fact was later politicized when the Chinese were
linked with the 1926-1927 uprising staged by the Indonesian
Communist Party (PKI). Poortman searched Sam Po Kong Temple in
Semarang and confiscated three cartloads of documents written in
Chinese, some of which were 400 to 500 years old. M.O.
Parlindungan, author of the controversial book Tuanku Rao,
referred to Poortman's archives.

Muljana writes, from the basis of these sources, that Raden
Rahmad, or Sunan Ampel -- a Javanese ruler and nobleman -- who
lived in the mid-15th century, was a migrant from Yunnan
province, China. His real name was Bong Swi Hoo and he was the
grandson of Bong Tak Keng, the highest ruler of Campa.

In 1447, Sunan Ampel apparently married a woman of Chinese
origin called Ni Gede Manila. Her Chinese father, Gan Eng Cu, was
formerly a captain in Manila and was transferred to Tuban in
1423. From this marriage, Sunan Bonang was born, "Bonang" being a
derivative of the Chinese name "Bong Ang".

Another of Gan Eng Cu's sons was Gan Si Cang, who became a
captain in Semarang. In 1481, Gan Si Cang headed the construction
of Demak mosque, employing carpenters from the Semarang
dockyards.

Muljana believes that Sunan Kalijaga, who was known in his
youth as Raden Said, was none other than Gan Si Cang. Meanwhile,
Sunan Gunung Jati, or Syarif Hidayatullah, said Muljana, was Toh
Bo, the son of Tung Ka Lo, aka Sultan Trenggana.

Not only these four sunan -- a title given to the wiseman who
first brought Islam to Java -- but also others were, according to
Muljana, of Chinese origin. For example, Sunan Giri, a student of
Sunan Ampel, also came from China. His father, Sayid Ishak, was
none other than Sunan Ampel's uncle, Bong Swi Hoo. Meanwhile,
Sunan Kudus, or Jafar Sidik, was also believed to be Chinese,
with the birth name Ja Tik Su.

The book concludes that at least six sunan were of Chinese
origin. However, Muljana's weakness, as Asvi Warman Adam writes
in the preface, is that he based his research solely on M.O.
Parlindungan's book, and did not himself check Sa Pok Kong's
documents from Sam Po Kong Temple.

Regardless of this weakness, in using these sources, Muljana
has undeniably produced "another" historical perspective,
something quite different from the history interpretation that
arises from heavy reliance on official literature.

This type of reconstruction provides many benefits: We can
enjoy an "unofficial" version of history and additional stories,
tapes and interesting tidbits that have escaped the attention of
many.

Runtuhnya Kerajaan Hindu-Jawa was originally published in 1968
by Bhratara in Jakarta.

The New Order regime, in line with its policy of
developmentalism and systematic removal of all things Chinese,
banned the book in 1971 for its controversial claim that the six
sunan were of Chinese origin.

The New Order fanned anti-Chinese sentiment in many respects,
including historical research and interpretive history. However,
now seven years into the reform era, Muljana's version of the
history of Islam in Indonesia deserves to be reviewed in a more
objective frame of mind.

The reviewer is a researcher at the Liberation Studies Institute
(LSP), Yogyakarta.