Indonesian Muslim women's role in political

Indonesian Muslim women's role in political

A conference convened by MIC (Melbourne Indonesia Consortium),
a body consisting of five universities in Melbourne, Australia,
titled The Dynamics of Political Islam in Indonesia, reminds
participants of the important role Muslim women in Indonesia have
played in the development of the nation. One of the speakers on
the role of Muslim women is Susan Blackburn, a senior lecturer in
the School of Political and Social Inquiry at Monash University.
Her forthcoming book is entitled Indonesian Women and the State
in the Twentieth Century.

Following is an excerpt of an interview with The Jakarta
Post's contributor Dewi Anggraeni.

Question: In your paper you mention that during the colonial
period the radical groups among Muslim women were particularly
active. Could you explain how this happened?

Answer: In the colonial period a number of Islamic
organizations were primarily concerned with getting rid of
foreign rule. What made them radical at that time was the fact
that they rejected the existing colonial system. From Sarekat
Islam onwards, there were organizations that took their guiding
principles from both nationalism and Islam. This combination
seemed to offer them considerable flexibility as far as gender
was concerned, so women could play a prominent role in such
organizations. It was really continuing the tradition of the Aceh
War against the Dutch, when some women became leaders in the name
of national independence and defense of Islam.

Who were the better known personalities during the period?

The best-known women leaders in radical Islamic organizations
in the colonial period were in the Sumatran organization Permi
(Persatuan Muslimin Indonesia). After male leaders of Permi were
arrested, women took their place in the 1930s. The Dutch colonial
Attorney-General noted in 1933 that women leaders like Rasuna
Said and Rasimah Ismail sometimes "put the men to shame" with
their fiery speeches. "At many meetings the women are even in the
majority and often express themselves more sharply and
passionately than the other sex," he said.

Within Sarekat Islam and its successors like the Partai
Sarekat Islam Indonesia, women were also active during the
colonial period, although they did not achieve such prominence as
in Permi. Tjokroaminoto's wife started a women's wing of Sarekat
Islam and was noted for her public speeches. In the period
leading up to the communist revolts of 1926-1927 in Indonesia,
the distinction between Islam and communism was not as clearly
made as afterwards, and there were organizations that combined
the two with nationalism in an explosive manner. It was a
combination that accommodated women in public roles. PSII also
had its women's wing and permitted women to speak at its public
meetings. I stress 'permitted' because at this time the moderate
Islamic organizations like Muhammadiyah did not allow women to
speak before mixed audiences. At such meetings they used to
segregate the audience and erect a curtain (tabir) to conceal the
women from male eyes. Even in PSII, however, women often felt
restricted by what the male leaders wanted, and struggled to
advance their own agendas.

What groundwork had these women prepared by the end of the
colonial period, of which women in general were then able to take
advantage?

By the end of the colonial period women in radical Islamic
organizations had helped to legitimize women's public role in
politics. The main resistance had been in the overtly non-
political, moderate organizations like Muhammadiyah, which
preferred women to stay in the background. But by the 1930s
almost all Indonesian organizations had been drawn into the
nationalist fold, where opinion was turning in favor of a greater
public role for women. Nationalists recognized that women had to
participate in modernizing the country in preparation for
independence. By the time of the Japanese Occupation, for
instance, the nationalist movement, including its Islamic
elements, had accepted the notion of womens right to vote.

How did the moderate Muslim women react to their radical
sisters? Did they work alongside them, shun them, or work
independently of them?

During the colonial period moderate Muslim women meant those
who worked within the colonial framework, which largely excluded
anyone with overtly political goals. Moderate Muslim women were
to be found in "non-political" religious organizations like
Aisyiyah, the women's wing of Muhammadiyah. Although at first
they had little to do with radical Islamic women, the rise of the
women's movement and the founding of the women's federation in
1928 gave them a venue to work together with them and with non-
religious womens organizations and organizations of other
religious groups. Because the women's movement moved increasingly
into the nationalist camp, it meant the gradual politicization of
moderate Muslim women. One of the issues that divided the women's
federation was attitudes to polygamy.

What happened to the radicalization after independence? Why?

The context changed after independence. What made people
radical before was rejection of the colonial status quo. After
August 1945 it was a question of whether you accepted the new
political system of the Republic. For radical Islamic groups the
role of syariah became a defining issue. The radicals would not
accept an Indonesian state that was not based on syariah law.
Relatively few Islamic groups took this line; the majority
accepted, however reluctantly, that Indonesia was not an Islamic
state but a state based on Pancasila.

When defense of syariah became the central issue, women
disappeared from public profile of radical Islam in Indonesia. In
the groups associated with Darul Islam and more recently groups
like KISDI (Indonesian Committee for World Muslims Solidarity),
Lasykar Jihad (Jihad Force) and Front Pembela Islam (Defenders of
Islam), women play no prominent roles. This is entirely
consistent with the strict scripturalist approach to Islam held
by such groups: for them women's role is in the family, not in
the public eye.

How did the moderate groups react to this version of
radicalization?

Moderate Islamic groups since independence have been those
prepared to work within the framework of an Indonesian state
based on the Pancasila, which does not enforce syariah law and is
tolerant of other religions. It has often been dangerous to
associate with radical versions of Islam because they may be
acting outside the law, condoning rebellion or extremism. Women
in moderate Islamic groups are very wary of being linked with
such activity. Many of them also reject the views that radicals
hold about gender: they have moved to a much more liberal stance.
Radical Islam appears to have nothing to offer them.

In the post-New Order era now, are Muslim women still playing
as influential roles as they have in the past? In what fields?

Since the late New Order period, Muslim women have been more
influential than ever before in the history of the Islamic
movement in Indonesia. It goes along with higher education levels
for women generally and within the Islamic education sector in
particular. To an unpredented degree, well educated young women
are willing to challenge conservative Islamic views on women.
They have publicly embraced more woman-friendly reinterpretations
of Islamic texts that have been emerging globally and in
Indonesia since the 1980s. Many of them have linked these
interpretations to issues of concern to women, like reproductive
health and domestic violence. Examples of these prominent Islamic
women include Lies Marcoes-Natsir, Farha Ciciek and Musdah Mulia
who have entered into public controversies about women and Islam.
I mentioned Abdurrahman Wahid's mother before. If you look at his
wife and his sister you see a different, more assertive public
style. Sinta Nuriyah (wife of Abdurrahman) and Aisyah Hamid
Baidlowi make no secret of their strong desire to implement
feminist reforms within moderate Islamic circles, and with the
support of sympathetic men like Abdurrahman (Gus Dur), they have
had some success.