Religion fills vacuum as traditions break down

Religion fills vacuum as traditions break down

By Endy M. Bayuni

JAKARTA (JP): Religion is reviving in many parts of Southeast
Asia as local traditions break down under the strong pressure of
modernization.

The breaking down of customs and tradition has left a vacuum
in many societies in Indonesia, as in many parts of Southeast
Asia for that matter, Bernhard Dahm of the Southeast Asia Studies
at the University of Passau, West Germany, said at a discussion
at The Jakarta Post.

In the case of the community in South Tapanuli, a regency in
North Sumatra where Dahm has been conducting lengthy and
extensive research, this vacuum is being filled by Islam, he
said.

This trend toward religious revival is found in other parts of
Indonesia, and in Thailand and Vietnam, albeit in different
forms, he said.

While Indonesia, particularly South Tapanuli, has been Dahm's
main field of survey, his university is also involved in various
research projects in Thailand and Vietnam.

The onslaught of modernization in Southeast Asian communities
has been further strengthened by the penetration of television,
he said.

It is now common to find an entire family in rural areas
sitting together all day watching television, each of them
absorbing modern values, he said. In the past the older
generation used such occasions together to orally hand down
traditional values to their offspring.

"Local customs cannot be defended against the onslaught of
modernization ... because the pillars of tradition are now weak
and shaky," he said, pointing out that this is true for all
customs in Indonesia.

"This is an extreme challenge never faced before," said Dahm,
who is considered as one of the first "Indonesianists" in the
West. He also has written a book about Indonesia's first
president, Sukarno.

He added with a little prophecy that: "Tradition may be doomed
for Indonesia in the future."

In the past, Southeast Asian societies managed to incorporate
incoming foreign values -- from Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and
later European Christianity -- into their traditions through the
process of integration.

The tribal leaders then played a prominent role in selecting
which values they found appropriate to incorporate, he said.
"They could still handle it."

But now modern values are not being brought in by people from
foreign land but rather by sophisticated means of
telecommunication, he said. "These are forces which the tribal
leaders do not have any control over."

The onslaught of modernization also is creating its own
resistance in many societies. So while traditional values may be
weakening, religious values are increasingly filling in the
vacuum, he said.

Pointing out his extensive study in South Tapanuli, he said
Islam is making a strong revival there as can be seen in the
increasing enrollment of people at pesantren (Moslem boarding
schools). One particular pesantren now boasts 7,300 students,
while it only had between 3,000 and 4,000 in 1979, when he first
launched his study, and around 6,000 in 1989. Other pesantren in
the area also are growing by leaps, he said.

"The upsurge of Islam in South Tapanuli is a reaction against
modernization ... People are turning to religious tradition to
prevent them from losing their identity."

Dahm recalled that he had chosen to study the changing values
in South Tapanuli in 1978 because of a remark Sukarno made in an
interview in October, 1966.

He posed a question on whether or not there could be a
radicalization of Islam in Indonesia. Sukarno then answered that
"as long as local customs and traditions remain strong, there is
no danger of radicalization of Islam in Indonesia."

In 1978, when there were signs of increasing radicalization of
Islam worldwide led by the revival of the religion in Iran, Dahm
decided to return to Indonesia to find whether local customs
could withstand the challenges of modernization without resorting
to radicalization as has happened in other parts of the world.

Dahm concluded that there is no indication of radicalization
of Islam in Sumatra despite the revival of the religion.

"The Islam we find in Indonesia is different from the Islam in
other parts of the world," he said, underlining the high level of
tolerance of Indonesian Moslems to the presence of other
religions.

"In South Tapanuli, it is normal to see a church and a mosque
side by side, there is intermarriage between clans, and there is
also continuous conversion from Christianity to Islam and from
Islam to Christianity," he said.

He acknowledged that radicalization of Islam is more likely to
occur among urban intellectuals rather than in rural areas, but
pointed out that the Al Arqam movement, which is based in
Malaysia and now banned in Malaysia and Indonesia because of its
radical thoughts, has its origins among peasants and not
intellectuals.

South Tapanuli was chosen for his study in part because it was
sandwiched between the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra and
Aceh, two strong Moslem societies. And in part for personal
reasons because Dahm's father spent a great deal of time in
nearby Tarutung as a missionary at the end of last century.