Religious Fundamentalism, Women and the US’s Neo-Liberal Foreign Political and Economic Policies

The discussion on the connection between the issue of religious fundamentalism and the US’s neo-liberal foreign political and economic policies increased after 9/11 tragedy. The WTC bombing in New York is seemingly evidence of how an Islamic fundamentalist group reacted to economic inequalities under neo-liberal systems. Indeed, the relationships between religious fundamentalism and neo liberalism have existed for a long time. This relationship was politically designed to create political and economic hegemony. As Amy Chua described in her book, World on Fire (2004), neo-liberal model of economic development fueled several ethnic and religious conflicts.

Furthermore, the mystery of Osama bin Laden who was subjected by the US as being involved in the 9/11 tragedy is a crucial evidence of the connection between fundamentalist groups and the US’s neo-liberal policies. This assertion seems illogical if Bin Laden has no business connections with the US. In this regard, why Bin Laden is still free and survives demonstrates how the US government wants to maintain its political and economic interests. Dylan Avery’s documentary movie, Loose Change (2007), tells a story about the conspiracy behind the WTC bombing. Meanwhile, in this article , I would like to observe how women’s issues have a significant role in the connection between religious fundamentalism and the US foreign political and economic policies, which aims to maintain neo liberalism and globalization.

First of all, a brief historical background of how European colonies began invading Muslim countries, such as Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries, is a crucial point in describing this subject of discussion. It was mentioned that around the 15th century, many European voyagers traveled to the Middle East and documented women’s daily experiences. Interestingly, the European travelers only focused on documenting women’s condition of being secluded under Islamic authorities. The travelers problematized women’s veiling, harems, seclusion and domestication, among others. This European document evoked imperialism when European colonies used the women’s stories in these European documents as a reason to occupy Middle East countries. In the name of women’s liberation, European authorities applied the idea of invasion against these countries (Ahmed, 1992). In this regard, women’s issues had a crucial role in the history of Western imperialism over Muslim countries.

It is important to address the case of Iran when Ayatollah Khomeini operated the idea of Islamic fundamentalism. His decision to force Iranian women to wear veils and stay at home was an expression of his politics of religious fundamentalism. Many women’s groups in the country protested against this idea. Many of them expressed their criticism of his ideas in articles, books, public speeches, etc as we can see from the experiences of Hazar Nafisi, Ziba Mir Hosseini and Marjane Satrapi, among others. When dealing with the critics, Khomeini sent the protesters to prisons and accused them of less religious and less moral. In response to Khomeini’s, the women protesters sought protection to the US and other Western countries, such as France, Switzerland, the UK, etc.

The politics of democracy and human rights, especially that of the US government appeared when the US gave political asylum to Iranian women, and the US made a political statement on the matter. On one hand, the US government opened its arms in the name of democracy and human rights protection. On the other hand, the US blamed Iranian authorities for having undemocratic government, and for perpetrating human rights violation and even state violence. This statement became more political since the US often exploited the situation in Iran to legitimize the US position and blame the Iranian government. Indeed, Iranian women also experienced discrimination and violence during the era of the Shah when Pahlevi encouraged Iranian women to unveil in order to look more modern and “pro-Western”. However, the US had no critical response against Pahlevi’s politics or against women’s discrimination. This political game was important for the US in order to keep its good democratic image. Therefore, the US can maintain its political and economic domination over other countries in global world.

Another important case that proved the connection between religious fundamentalism and the economic and political interests of the US was Indonesia under President Soeharto. Influenced by the Iranian Revolution in 1979, many Indonesian Muslims, particularly coming from conservative and fundamentalist groups, expressed the idea of fundamentalist Islamic movements. It was not a coincidence that the 1970s to the late 1990s was a period of time when the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank started authorizing loan in Indonesia.

The government of Indonesia during that time seemed to have a very close political and economic relationship with the US government. Indonesia was an importance ally for the US. This condition of the national politics of the country was worsened when Soeharto also combined his pro-US policy with his political steps to marginalize Muslim groups in response to increasing Islamic fundamentalist expressions. At that time, he nominated non-Muslims and military links for several governmental positions. He not only marginalized Muslims in government, but also created many stigmas and stereotypes against Muslims. These all were the ways Soeharto operated his politics of anti-Muslims. State violence against Muslim groups in the case of Tanjung Priok, Jakarta in 1984 was a part of Soeharto’s political designs to discredit Muslims. He also came up with the idea of restricting female students from wearing the jilbab in their schools. Stereotypical rumors against Muslim women who wore jilbabs were established as a part of the terror against Muslim groups. I remember when I was a student of elementary school, there were many rumors about Muslim women with jilbabs, who were accused of poisoning food in market and poisoning wells.

In the 1990s, President Soeharto changed his politics of anti-Muslim with a more Islamic-friendly political strategy. This new political shifting followed Soeharto’s political goals to attract supporters from Muslim groups. On an international level, the new global political dynamics after Fukuyama’s idea of the end of history tended to prove that the US and its ally dominate universal political and economic structure. In this dominant situation, the US was not concerned about Soeharto’s political way of approaching Muslim groups. At that time, Soeharto began encouraging Muslim female students to wear jilbabs. He also visited the Holy City of Mecca for a pilgrimage, the fifth ritual Islamic foundation. Furthermore, in 1994, he initiated the foundation of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals Union (Ikatan Cendikiawan Muslim Indonesia/ICMI) and gave broader opportunities for Muslims in governmental positions. Indeed, it is an interesting fact that the identity of being Muslim intellectuals was defined by Soeharto. ICMI contained a number of “modernized” Muslim technocrats, who seemed to be loyal followers of modernization and globalization. Muslim women also colored socio-religious life under this politics of ijo royo-royo[1] with their jilbab, women majlis ta’lim (Islamic studies circle) aired on TVs, etc. Therefore, it can be stated that the foundation of ICMI and the other Islamic religious expressions of Soeharto’s government seemed to be a political rhetoric, rather than Soeharto’s religious expression. In this regard, it makes sense that during the time there were many critiques against the politization of religion, particularly coming from so-called neo-traditionalist Muslim groups, such as Abdurrahman Wahid.

I would like to describe another case that shows how religious fundamentalism contributes to discrimination and violence against women and how the US played with this issues by maintaining its foreign political and economic policies. During the Taliban’s administration, Afghan Muslim women lived in poverty and political and economic seclusion. A documentary movie, Robin Benger’s Daughters of Afghan (2003), portrays worst women’s conditions under the Taliban’s Islamic government. They had to not only wear burqa and veil, but also had to experience domestication that led to feminization of poverty. What is interesting to me is the way the US with an obscure foreign political step played with this condition in order to stabilize its political dominance over the country. First of all, the US government was involved in the process of Taliban’s down-falling and yet, the US supported President Hamid Karzai. The US needs to have a political acquaintance that can escort its foreign political and economic policies in the country. Secondly, the US government also played with the issue of women’s human rights. The US government realized that women’s issues were crucial issues in the Taliban governmental policies. The US supported the Ministry of Women in Kharzai’s presidency as a counter political step against Taliban’s politics of women’s seclusion under religious fundamentalism. In this regard, the US appeared to be a hero of Afghan women and a defender of Afghan women’s human rights against Taliban’s fundamentalist movement.

From the description above, it seems that religious fundamentalism has a close connection with the US foreign political and economic policies in bringing about a neo-liberal system of hegemony. In this connection, women’s issues have a strategic position. However, rather than showing political power, women are often victimized in situations under both religious fundamentalism and neo-liberal political and economic systems. This condition indicates that both in religious fundamentalism and neo-liberal system, patriarchal values are still strongly influential in leading the development of the politics of women’s marginalization. Therefore, in this regard, the deconstruction toward more religious liberalism to emancipate Muslim women from the nightmare of religious fundamentalism, on the one side, the changing toward more traditional economic system to liberate women from the problem of neo-liberalism, on the other side, is an important effort. In religious liberalism, Muslim women possibly have adequate opportunities to express their interests. In traditional economic systems, such as a peasant market, women also probably have more spaces to participate in a more equal relationship with men. Finally, I would like to end this paper by emphasizing the importance of following Iranian feminist groups’ way of protesting Khomeini’s politics based on religious fundamentalism. These Iranian feminist’s efforts have two main strong orientations of both calling the international attention and alerting to the national fundamentalist regime. In this regard, the Iranian feminists’ experiences provide great lessons on how to build strategies in struggling against oppressions.

Bibliography

Ahmed, Leila, (1992), Women and Gender in Islam, Historical Roots of a Modern Debates, New Haven and London: Yale University Press

Benger, Robin, (2003), Daughters of Afghan (a Documentary Movie)

Chua, Amy (2004), World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability, New York: Anchor Books
[1] Ijo royo-royo, a Javanese word means hijau in Indonesian or green in English. This color refers to green as the symbolic color of Islam. Therefore, the politics of ijo royo-royo is the politics of Islamization of Indonesia.

The Sati Tradition in Indian Hindu Communities: Virtuous Women or Widow Burning

Introduction: Developing Basis of Understanding

Sati in Indian society is one of the most highly debatable subjects of discussion since this tradition seems to display two opposing pictures of women’s positions in Hindu traditions in India. On one hand, sati is seen as a portrait of a cultural opportunity for women in India to pursue the highest cultural accomplishment within the society. On the other hand, sati is often viewed as a form of cultural barbarism and oppression of women, grounded in Hindu Indian traditions. For example, feminists, particularly western feminism, as well as progressive, groups often stereotype sati as a form of traditional-based discrimination and violence against women. In fact, Indian Hindu societies believe that sati is an important religious and spiritual way for women to reach high status in the society. With this contention between two opposite perspectives in looking at the sati tradition, it is important to develop a cultural understanding of it. Rather than just condemning sati as cultural barbarism, on one side, and perpetrating portrait of women’s subordination, on the other side, cultural understanding will lead one to acknowledge and honor sati as a part of the greatest Indian civilizations, while emphasizing efforts to remove discrimination against women in that tradition.

In this paper, I will observe sati as a part of rich Hindu Indian traditions. This is a fundamental way of avoiding stereotypes against sati. Furthermore, this view is also an important basis to asserting that tradition and culture are historical, contextual and dynamic. In this regard, in this paper, rather than criticizing the cultural form and practice of sati, I will explore the contextual backgrounds of this tradition in order to understand its main values for Hindu Indian society. Observing the main values of sati is an appropriate cultural method of understanding the way Hindu Indian society reaches the highest civilization. In this context, observation can be an important way in mediating between two opposite opinions in viewing sati. Therefore, widow-burning as a form of the cultural practice of sati can possibly be changed with other forms, but the traditional values of providing opportunities for women to pursue high social and religious status in the society can be maintained.

In addition, it is crucial to address the discussion of women’s power in order to avoid stereotyping sati. In this regard, I will look to the possibility of sati tradition providing power for women in Indian society. I assume that if sati is a part of the religious and spiritual belief of Hinduism, this tradition offers a huge space for women to have power within the society. Feminist perspectives are really important in encouraging women to be aware of available power in the sati tradition. Additionally, it is necessary to mention that feminist perspectives possibly contribute to representing a new perspective of the sati tradition by supporting women in finding the most appropriate expression of being good women within Indian Hindu societies. Since women are aware with their power in the sati tradition, they can create the most appropriate cultural expression of being sati, virtuous and good women without sacrificing themselves. Therefore, instead of being a source of criticism against the tradition, feminism offers a significant approach in the discussion of it.

Introducing the Sati Tradition

Sati is an important tradition for Hindu communities in India. It is grounded in the classic history of Indian Hindu traditions and has been perpetuated from generations to generations. Upreti (1991: 1) mentions that “The word sati has come to acquire a religious and spiritual significance for the Hindus.” It is important to say that sati cannot be separated from the ways Hindu communities gain a high religious and spiritual status. The sati tradition is not practiced by all Indian Hindu societies, but among the well-known Indian Hindu societies practicing it are Brahmin communities of Bengal and Rajput of Rajasthan and Deorala in the Sikar district.

Sati or suttee (or su-thi) literally means a good woman or a good wife or a virtuous woman. It has a close correlation to the traditional view within Indian Hindu societies of defining good women and wives. According to Kamat (1997), sati is “the traditional Hindu practice of a widow immolating herself on her husband's funeral pyre.” Furthermore, Kamat says that a “woman who dies burning herself on her husbands’ funeral fire was considered most virtuous, and was believed to directly go to heaven, redeeming all the forefathers rotting in hell, by this ‘meritorious’ act. The woman who committed Sati was worshipped as a Goddess, and temples were built in her memory.” Additionally, Parrilla mentions that “some Hindus believe the act of self-immolation by a widow facilitates the attainment of spiritual salvation for her dead husband.” Harlan (1995: 81) as quoted by Parilla describes that “the woman who commits sati is also revered as a goddess.”

According to Upreti (ibid. 1-2), the traditional belief of sati rests in the mythological stories of the triumvirate of Pervati, Sita and Savitri. Pervati was known as Sati in her former life when she was Shiva’s wife. She burnt herself after she could not listen to her father’s criticism of Shiva. Hence, Upreti says that Pavreti “symbolizes a woman who passed the real test of love with pain and determination,” and “the worship of this Goddess is an integral part of Hindu culture.” As the highest model of sati, as Uperti further asserts, “Sita is a famous, eternally remembered, sweet, innocent, pure, self-sacrificing and self-effacing women,” and “devoted, loyal and faithful wife under all possible adversities –personal, familial and social.” Princess Savitri is the third famous sati. Her father asked her to find a suitable husband and she decided to marry Setyawan who would die within one year. It is told that after the death of her husband, Savitri followed the God of death, Yama, persistently and God was pleased by her devotion. In this regard, “Savitri personifies triumph over death for the sake of husband.” (1997: 2) Therefore, all of these women’s stories are portraits of women whose devotional life is only for their husbands. For these women, nothing matters in their life more than their husbands. These stories are a fundamental cultural background in order to view sati as a way women within Indian Hindu societies express their high level of religiosity and spirituality.

From the description above, I understand that the cultural practices of sati tradition are diverse. In contemporary life, people other than Indian Hindus often view widow burning as the only cultural form of sati tradition. However, to use this point of view to condemn the sati tradition as cultural barbarism that sacrifices women in the name of religious and spiritual Hindu beliefs is not appropriate.

I want to emphasize that the most substantial value of the sati tradition is wives devoting their lives to husbands. The ultimate values of sati are grounded in loyalty, purity, self-sacrifice and self-effacement as the characteristics of virtuous women. These characteristics have a connection to the Hindu belief of viewing husbands as representations of God. In this regard, in my opinion, the final destination of their devotions is to pursue God’s blessings and the highest spiritual place. Pervati’s story is clear evidence of this spiritual reason for her final spiritual goal in accomplishing the highest place as Goddess in her reincarnation. Her devotional expression to her husband is the medium toward the ultimate spiritual positions.

It is important to remember that many women within Indian Hindu tradition worship Goddess of Parvati as a symbol of sati, a virtuous woman. This tradition displays crucial evidence that Hinduism is not really a male-dominant and patriarchal-based belief. In fact, the Hindu belief also provides Goddess to be worshipped. In this regard, sati plays a significant role in giving women in Indian Hindu communities a way to gain the Goddess’s blessings by worshipping Pervati and other sati symbols. In addition, as Upreti mentions, sati is a spiritual way for widows to be fortunate and auspicious since in Indian Hindu society it is a common view to consider widows as unfortunate and inauspicious (ashuba) (Upreti, 6). This perspective is another reason for addressing sati as a tradition providing a chance for women to move towards a high spiritual and religious status. In this regard, it can be concluded that, grounded in its history, sati buries great spiritual and religious values for women within Indian Hindu society in gaining a suitable spiritual status.

Contemporary Sati: Between Spiritual Virtuosity and Cultural-Based Oppression

The discussion of sati first flourished in 1829, following the British colony’s initiative to outlaw this tradition. From this time, Oldenberg, as quoted by Narrayan (1997: 69), asserts that the practice of sati faded into a very rare crime. Furthermore, Narrayan mentions that only four cases of sati were recorded during the four decades between Indian independence in 1947 and 1987 when Roop Kanwar committed to burn herself (Narrayan, 69). This historical fact displays important evidence of the decreasing number of widow burnings in the name of the sati tradition. It is important to note that the British colony played a significant role in increasing the debate on sati. An important focus of the debate was the clash between two “civilizations”, between modernization and tradition. In the name of maintaining tradition and resistance to modernization indigenous Indian Hindu societies refused the idea of outlawing sati. British colony came up with the idea of highlighting sati as cultural-based women’s oppression. Some people of India resisted the idea of restricting sati in the name of a nationalist straggle. It is interesting to note that the British colony also emphasized the problem of misunderstanding Hindu scriptures in leading Indian Hindu societies to widow burning in the sati tradition (Upreti, 1997).

In a more contemporary period, the debate on sati bloomed in 1987 when a well-educated 18-year-old girl from the Rajput caste, Roop Kanwar, decided to be burned alive on her husband’s funeral pyre. It seemed very dramatic since Roop Kanwar and her husband were only married for eight months. Parilla mentions that “varying accounts exist of the incident suggesting that Roop Kanwar may have been forced into self-immolation and she was possibly drugged (Kumar 1995: 81 as quoted by Parilla, “Sati: Virtuous Woman Through Self-Sacrifice,”). Parilla further asserts that this incident created considerable upheaval throughout India and forced the country to re-evaluate the status of women.

The contest between two mainstreams of civilization, modernization and traditional, played a crucial role in reawakening the debate on sati. Western feminists decried Roop Kanwar’s incident as a form of traditional and religious-based oppression and barbarism against women in Indian Hindu societies. These feminist groups even presumed women who committed sati were “victims of patriarchal tradition”. Such western feminist view indeed was a continuity of the colonial perspective in seeing women sati as victims of oppression. According to Upreti (1997: 18), “Christian missionaries had also raised to voice against the custom in both India and Britain by giving an account of widow burning and calling it ‘atrocious murder’.” Based on this viewpoint, Upreti pointed out that the Christian missionaries’ perspective in viewing sati tradition as cultural barbarism was not to purify Hindu tradition of any form of oppression but rather to point out the weaknesses of Hindu beliefs and motivate Hindu people to convert to Christianity (Upreti, 19).

For the Indian Hindu society, the western perspective seems to simplify and generalize the complexity of sati tradition, including its possibility in providing women’s spaces to gain a high spiritual accomplishment. Some feminist groups from India even criticized this western feminist point of view as a form of post-colonial perspective as a basis for framing “the Third World countries” as uncivilized societies. Furthermore, Harlan (1995: 80), as quoted by Parilla, points out that for many traditionalists among Hindu believers, the practice of sati is a symbol of the epitome of wifely devotion, especially among the Rajput caste in Northern India. Furthermore, Harlan says that “some Hindus also believe the act of self-immolation by a widow facilitates the attainment of spiritual salvation for her dead husband. Meanwhile, feminists, political leaders, and many of India’s rural people and elite contend that the glorification of sati is a national disgrace and an immoral act.”

Rather than faulting the traditions and religion of Hinduism, Narrayan, following her criticism of the colonial stance in viewing sati, connects the sati tradition with political and economic interests of Indian Hindu societies, particularly in the Brahmin and Rajpur communities. With her point of view, Narrayan can make a clear analysis in observing the main source of widow burning in sati as a form of oppression against women within Indian Hindu societies. First of all, it is clear from the historical accounts that sati was originally a spiritual way toward the ultimate spiritual place. Political and economic changes greatly influenced the shifting of the sati tradition toward being more supportive of political and economic interests.

According to Oldenberg, Narrayan states that one of the main reasons behind the widow burning of sati in contemporary Indian Hindu societies is the economy. Dowry is an important topic in discussing economic reasons behind the sati tradition. For instance, Narrayan mentions that “Roop Kanwar’s dowry –consisting of a large quantity of gold, fixed deposits in her name, and a wide range of expensive domestic goods—was not only very substantial by Indian standards by also far beyond the assets of her husband’s poorer family” (Narrayan, 71).

Furthermore, Narrayan addresses another important economic advantage for communities that has led to an increase in sati cases. She asserts that “these (widow) immolations have helped turn undistinguished small towns into important places of religious pilgrimage... (and) large and ostentatious sati temples have been erected at the sites of these immolations, ensuring considerable profit for those on the boards that run them” (Narrayan, ibid. 71). As destinations of “religious tourism”, these places provide huge financial opportunities for larger communities. This seems clear proof that rather than referring to traditional and religious Hindu beliefs, perpetuating widow burning of the sati tradition in contemporary life rests in economic interests.

Local castes of Indian Hindu communities have used the politics of sati to support their political goals. Narrayan describes the ruling caste of Kshatriya Rajput, the priestly caste of Brahmins and the wealthy mercantile caste of Banias as the three castes in Rajasthan that were involved in the politics of sati. The Brahmins, one of the most crucial of Hindu fundamentalist groups in India, used sati incidents “to reorganize religious events to commemorate and celebrate sati”. The Rajput used these events “to reinforce their status as a martial race who are historic defenders of ‘Hindu dharma’, at a time when their power and status is declining.” Furthermore, Rajput presumed this tradition as a privilege of this caste as a way to maintain nobility and courage befitting the “mother of a martial race.” Meanwhile, the Banias were seemingly the main financial source of the establishment of the ostentatious sati temples, faith and profit reinforcing each other (Narrayan, 71). For instance, according to Kosambi, Upreti mentions that the Rani Sati temple had 105 branches in different towns and cities and this provided great financial profits for the caste. Furthermore, Upreti (1991: 108-110) interestingly describes this phenomenon of using the sati tradition for economic interests as “the industry of sati” or “commercialization of widow burning.” In this regard, Narrayan finally concludes that the sati tradition in contemporary local Indian Hindu communities provides economic, political and cultural power for these local castes.

At the national level, an example of the politics of sati existed in the responses of politicians to Roop Kanwar’s death. Mala Sen (2001: 31), based on report of the Bombay Union of Journalists (BJU) that the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Harideo Jushi, two days after the incident expressly condemned the incident and stated that Roop Kanwar had committed the widow burning voluntarily without forcing from religious Hindu communities. This statement indicated his political intention to protect religious Hindu groups as targets of blame as a traditional power behind the incident.

From the description of the complexity of sati, blaming this tradition as a form of cultural barbarism of Indian Hinduism is an over simplification. In other words, this perspective is grounded in post-colonial stance that simply views sati as victimizing women based on traditional and religious beliefs of Hinduism. In fact, economic and political interests and the orientation toward socio-cultural power greatly contributed to creating the portrait of women’s oppression in sati practices. To some extent, it can be stated that the portrait of women’s oppression in sati practices is a form of cultural shift of this tradition from a spiritual devotion to political and economic expression. In this regard, rather than blaming the tradition and belief of Hinduism, it is a more appropriate understanding to express critical responses to Hindu communities that used the sati tradition for their political and economic goals. In fact, it is also important to mention, the politics of women’s oppression exists not only within Hindu Indian societies but also other religious and political groups.

Finally, it important to take an appropriate and comprehensive multicultural approach in viewing the sati tradition in order to avoid generalization and oversimplification which would end in the problem of tradition-based condemnation. A multicultural approach provides the possibility to develop a cultural understanding of sati which views it as an integral cultural practice of Indian Hindu traditions which existed a long time ago. This approach also can significantly view the main source of women’s oppression in sati practices grounded more on economic and political interests than on religious and spiritual beliefs of Hinduism in giving women from the society space and power for being good women. Indeed, being considered as good women and good wives improve their spiritual status within the societies.

Redefining Virtue (about Women’s Power) in the Sati Tradition

In this subtopic, I want to discuss how to redefine some cultural and religious concepts in the sati tradition. Through this discussion, I mean to focus the debate on sati practices of substantial traditional values rather than on cultural forms of this tradition. Therefore, I will not criticize sati as a part of traditional and religious-based women’s oppression or as cultural barbarism, but, rather, I will emphasize the values of sati that possibly provide cultural and spiritual power for women within the societies. One of the most important values regarding sati as women’s power is the concept of virtue as a basis of good women or good wives, sati.

Theoretically, the sati tradition is described as being voluntarily committed by women as an expression of their religiosity and traditional piety of Hinduism and it was self immolation. In fact, for example, Upreti (1991: 14) mentions that in practice, women were often forced by societies into practicing sati. It is important to the discussion of sati to agree on terms of either voluntary decision or forced-action in order to address women’s perspectives in using this tradition for their interests. Based on Upreti’s description, it can be stated that social force behind sati practices is a form of deviation from the original Hindu tradition.

Since sati was originally a voluntary spiritual action, women could freely create their own ideas of sati practices. In this regard, an important effort to introduce to women in the societies practicing sati is women’s empowerment in order to build their strong position within societies. It is important in this agenda to reintroduce women to the ultimate values of the sati tradition so they cannot point sacrificing or burning themselves as the only religious devotion. In other words, since the substantial value of the sati tradition is to pursue the ultimate place of swargaloka and paramount spiritual happiness, a crucial agenda is to introduce a perspective that can encourage women to gain this value without burning and “sacrificing” themselves. Therefore, through this effort, we can transform the values of the sati tradition in diverse cultural practices as its original constructions.

In a voluntary spirit to practice sati, women also can freely redefine the concept of virtue that leads to the construction of good women or good wives. A patriarchal perspective defines virtuous women based only on men’s own dominant interests, including political, economic, traditional and religious interests. This perspective does not provide adequate space for women to express their own interests. Therefore, the patriarchal-based concept of good women refers to women who are taken for granted and obey a male’s instructions. From this point of view, women are presumed to have no rights for bargaining their opinions about being good women. Women’s criticism or refusal against male’s instructions is a form of social subversion, a reason for men to exclude women from societies.

Since the ultimate meaning of the sati tradition is to provide an opportunity for women in pursuing the highest level of spiritual accomplishment, virtue in this tradition can be possibly innovated in many cultural forms without abrogating the meaning. Rather than focusing only on self-sacrifice, women can pursue the highest spiritual status with other spiritual vehicles. For example, instead of burning themselves, women can express their spiritual-based devotion of their husbands with prayer and other ritual religious traditions. In addition, as economic problems of societies lead to contemporary sati practices of victimizing and sacrificing women, it is important to seek several ways to empower women’s economy. In fact, poverty is one of the main sources of widow burning for, among the reasons, it is usually impossible for the women to repay dowry.

It is also important to address religious fundamentalism as factor of stereotyping against the sati tradition. Fundamentalist groups in Indian Hindu communities used sati practices to organize religious masses to increase their political support. In this context, it is necessary to address the idea of secularism in order to avoid using religious tradition for political goals. Public education to develop more contextual and open-minded religious thinking is an important effort to support the idea of secularism.

Cross-cultural dialogues are a significant foundation for discussing the sati tradition for redefining women’s power. Through cross-cultural dialogues, the western concept of feminism, for example, will not dominate the construction of women’s power definitions that often call women from different cultural backgrounds victims of traditions, as in the case of sati. It is necessary to understand the main substantial values behind traditions by providing space for local people to explain their understanding of traditions. Local women can define feminism based on their own traditions and culture. On one hand, western feminists play a significant role in encouraging local women to be more aware of the power opportunities provided in their traditions. Living with traditions often blocks local people’s awareness of available power and follow these traditions which are taken for granted. On the other hand, through a multicultural approach, western feminists will not easily judge the sati practice as a source of victimization of women. In this regard, a multicultural perspective can mediate the cultural gap between indigenous and foreign people in viewing the sati tradition.

Conclusion

Some castes within Indian Hindu societies view the sati tradition as a part of the religious beliefs of Hinduism. This cultural practice has deep historical roots in the history of Indian Hindu tradition. The debate about sati increased regarding the many cases that were viewed as cultural-based oppression of women, including widow burning. It is not an appropriate approach to view sati merely as a form of cultural-based barbarism based only on specific reasons for incidences of widow burning. In fact, sati is practiced for various interests, including economics and politics. Therefore, it is important to conduct multicultural dialogues in order to gain better understanding and avoid generalization of this tradition. Through these dialogues, it is possible to use the sati tradition as an opportunity for women to redevelop spiritual and cultural power. Thus, women can transform the powerful value of sati based on their interests.

Bibliography
Kamat, Jyotsna, “The Tradition of Sati in India,” in http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/hindu/sati.htm (excerpted June 2, 2007)
Narrayan, Umma. 1997. Dislocating Culture: Identities, Traditions, and Third World Feminism, New York: Routledge
Parrilla, Vanessa, “Sati: Virtuous Woman through Self-Sacrifice,” in http://www.csuchico.edu/~cheinz/syllabi/asst001/spring99/parrilla/parr1.htm (excerpted June 2, 2007)
Sen, Mala. 2001. Death by Fire: Sati, Dowry Death and Female Infanticide in Modern India, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press
Upreti, H.C., Upreti Nandini. 1991. The Myth of Sati (Some Dimensions of Widow Burning), Delhi: Himalaya Publishing House

A Portrait of Traveling Progressive Islamic Idea: from Philosophy to Feminism

In this discussion, I want to address the importance of studying philosophy as an academic foundation of being progressive Muslim and the significance of being involved in feminist movements as a basis of social movements or a basis of actions of a progressive Muslim. Additionally, since in this sub-topic I describe a field experience, I will not describe a more theoretical discussion of progressive Islamic idea.

Describing the field experiences also exhibits an important portrait about the process of transformation of being a progressive Muslim through feminism. From this transformation, I performed my personal reflection in experiencing the process of life from a monologist Muslim toward a dialogist and open-minded one. Therefore, I understand that being a Muslim is a dynamic and fluid. Muslim identities refer to not only symbolical piety in religious rituality, but also social piety in contributing to solving social problems. I reflect that, to some extent, social piety should be prioritized in expressing our Islamic religiosity. In this regard, I tried to connect my Islamic belief and academic interest in Islamic studies to the efforts of upholding women’s rights and eliminating violence and discrimination against women. In this reflection, I brought feminist issues as actual application of my progressive Islamic belief.

I want to begin describing my experience in traveling a process of being involved in women’s right issues as a progressive religious reflection with the importance of the academic tradition in the State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta in providing me a foundation for being involved in progressive Islamic movements. In 1994, I enrolled the university in the Department of Islamic Theology and Philosophy (Ushuluddin). This university is considered one of the most progressive Islamic educational institutions in Indonesia since it produced a number of Islamic thinkers who influence the discourse of Islam with the idea of Islamic renewals or pembaruan Islam. Professor Harun Nasution who served as a rector of the university in 1973-1984 has to be noted as a locomotive in leading the university toward a progressive Islamic educational system. He came up with the idea of rational Islam and sending students from the university to study in the United States, Canada and European countries, such as the Netherlands, Germany, and England.

I still felt the impacts of Nasution’s idea to introduce Islamic renewals through the university. For example, the tradition of discussions and debates were operated in learning Islamic theology (‘aqidah), Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), the Koran and the Prophet Muhammad’s thoughts and customs (hadith). This tradition opened the gates to the customs of debating, questioning and criticizing some basic Islamic concepts. This tradition replaced the previous academic culture in the university that seemed to provide more taken-for-granted and dogmatizing methods of learning that referred to teachers as the monolithic source of knowledge.

Under such academic tradition, I had personal reflections to be involved in the grand agendas of Islamic renewal movements through performing critical and rational method in approaching Islamic teachings. The academic spirit of questioning established classical thoughts of Islam greatly increased within students of the university. Critical and reflective philosophical methods were imposed in searching for new perspectives and views of Islamic teachings. This academic tradition replaced the previous method of Islamic studies in the university that was based more on memorizing books and other resources and listening to teachers.

Unlike the old method of learning that limited students in striving for finding and developing new knowledge, critical and reflective philosophical method of Islamic studies fostered student in the university to use their rational and logic capability in studying Islam. A number of students had initiatives to found discussion forums and brought some particular issues as the subject of discourse. In the discussion forum, they tried to approach Islam with “secular knowledge”, such as sociology, philosophy, and anthropology. They proposed Marxism and other social theories from Emile Durkheim, Max Webber, Talcott Persons, Clifford Geertz, etc to observe and study Islam. To empower critical views, they also brought political issues as a part of the discussion. Indeed, in the end of 1990s, Indonesia faced a serious economic and political crisis that brought the country to the political transition. Students with their critical point of views against the corrupt and authoritarian government of President Soeharto in the university were important groups in leading the process of transition toward reform era or Era Reformasi. Hence, I view the crucial involvement of the students in the reform movement cannot separated from critical academic tradition in the university.

Furthermore, this academic tradition led some students to address feminism and women’s issues in the forum. They worked on discussing several women’s issues in Islam based on feminist theories. Additionally, they also tried to approach many women’s issues with critical Islamic views that they learned from the forums and classes in the university. Therefore, such academic tradition within students in the university was a very important cornerstone for developing Islamic feminism in Indonesia.

There are two importance values of the students’ forum in strengthening Islamic feminism and Islamic renewal movement. First, it brought Islamic renewal agendas into daily lives since the forum facilitated to discuss ordinary issues within Indonesian society, including domestic violence, violence in dating, polygamy, sexual harassment, and women’s participation in politics among others resulting from misunderstanding of Islamic teachings. Second, feminism became more popular within Muslim students, particularly from the university. There were number of students who were attracted for being involved in the discussions of feminist and women’s issues. Many activities, such as trainings, seminars, public speaking, and workshops, were conducted to spread women’s issues.

In the situation of the rise of discussion forums, I dove myself in women’s issues after I thought to be more involved in more practical movements rather than theoretical interests. Indeed, at that time, I experienced self-struggle of thinking between praxis and theory after I learned about the discourse of this issue in philosophy from Plato, Hegel and Max Horkheimer of the Frankfurt Schools. Particularly, my understanding to critical theory of the Frankfurt School as a method of social critiques really influenced me in strengthening the academic perspectives toward the involvement in more social praxis rather than theoretical one. This theory inspired me to view that knowledge is interested; knowledge has main interest to emancipate people from any form of inequality. Knowledge has to be devoted for the purpose of building social justice. Knowledge has to participate in contributing to better social change (see Held, Introduction to Critical Theory: Horkheimer to Habermas). Finally, my academic reflection led me to address feminism and women’s issues in applying my interests in social praxis and empower my progressive and liberal religiosity. It can be stated that feminism and women’s issues were a foundation for my academic and religious reflection of being a progressive-minded Muslim. First, I understand that several Islamic teachings from the Koran, hadith, and classical Muslim scholars’ thoughts are deviated to be a reason of perpetrating violence and discrimination against women. Islam and Muslim community in Indonesia have great potentials in upholding women’s rights. Both clarification of the deviation and misinterpretation and the actualization of these potentials insist efforts to reconstruct religious perspectives toward more progressive and liberal views.

An important phase of my earlier involvement in Islamic feminist issues was when 1998 with other students in the university, I introduced the initiative to conduct a research on Islamic universities female students’ gender awareness. The research observed the influences of Islamic views and the method of learning in Islamic universities to female students’ perspectives on women’s issues. In this regard, this research is important since it exposed how Islamic teachings were used to create gender biases and how Islamic educations became a source of institutions in producing Islamic-based gender biases. Therefore, the research implemented the idea of critical religious views in order to reconstruct understanding and interpretation of Islamic teachings toward more gender sensitive perspectives. The research found an important fact that the process of learning Islam in Islamic universities played a significant role in causing gender biases within female students of the universities. Additionally, the research provided an evidence of the influence of religious misinterpretation in developing biases and stereotypes. Hence, to some extent, the information resulting from the research is important as a basis of action to approach Islamic teachings as a foundation of social movements to change Muslims’ perspectives on women’s rights.

For my personal career in women’s issues, the research played a crucial role in strengthening my academic interests and social sensitivities to deeper involved in women’s rights issues as a critical reflection of religiosity. I went to several activities related to feminist movements, including these were conducted by non governmental organizations, such as Kalyanmitra and Perhimpunan Pengembangan Pesantren dan Masyarakat (P3M) or the Union for the Pesantren (Islamic traditional schools) and Society Development. Finally, in 2001, six months after graduating from the university, I had a chance to be more actively involved in upholding progressive Islamic feminist agendas when I started working at PUAN Amal Hayati that was established by a number of academicians and activists from progressive Muslim links, such as Sinta Nuriyah Abdurrahman Wahid, Mansour Fakih, Husein Muhammad, Farha Ciciek and Badriyah Fayumi. I will address wider information about PUAN Amal Hayati and its importance in spreading progressive Islamic feminism in Indonesia in the next chapter.

On one hand, the involvement in PUAN Amal Hayati gave me wide opportunities to understand deeper the colors of progressive Muslim feminist groups in Indonesia. It gave a chance to have intimate interaction with Islamic-based groups and individuals promoting women’s rights based on Islamic perspectives. On the other hand, this involvement sharpened my progressive religious vision and led me to participate in several controversial issues for Muslims in Indonesia, such as homosexuality, women’s capability to lead multi gender prayer, critical approach against the Prophet’s polygamy, and critical views against religious leaders who prefer using Islamic teachings as a legitimacy of perpetrating violence against women. The reason of being a part of the discourse of these issues is that based on a religious understanding, I see Islam is a religion of justice and humanity and it is a religious deviation if a Muslim refers to Islamic teaching to legitimize violence and discrimination.

Many cases of violence against women, particularly domestic violence that I found when I worked at PUAN Amal Hayati increased my progressive orientation since several cases occurred in the name of religious teachings. Additionally, I sought that the use of Islamic teachings as a legitimacy of discrimination against women still pervasively existed within Muslim communities, including religious leaders as I found in pesantren. Some kyais or pesantren leaders appeared to show their gender biases since they viewed that it was based on Islamic teachings to do so. This situation indeed led me to think for being more religiously progressive.

At that time, I meant being more religiously progressive as a religious perspective viewing religious-based gender biases as a religious deviation as a result of religious conservatism that overwhelms religious thoughts of Muslims. Religious conservatism leads Muslim to taken-for-granted embrace religious thinking year-by-year without critical views and being aware to actual social problems. In a religious conservatism, Muslims prefer to blindly follow ancient Islamic traditions and Islamic thoughts produced by several classical Muslim scholars. Indeed, these classical Islamic thinking made in different cultural contexts with our contemporary social-cultural situations. It can be stated that religious conservatism estrange Muslims from critical and rational religious thought tradition that brought Islam as a symbol of civilization in a period of history of mankind. Additionally, religious conservative way of thinking hides the spirit of Islam as the religion of justice and humanity. Instead of providing solutions of several social problems, including discrimination against women, religious conservative Muslim groups often use Islamic teachings as foundation of violence. Therefore, progressive Islamic ideas are an epistemological and axiological foundation to reform religious conservatism to direct Muslims to be more contributive to solve problems of social inequalities. In progressive idea, Muslims are greatly eager to search for new creative Islamic views that can inspire them to participate in the process of upholding human’s rights and reducing discrimination and inequality. Finally, the involvements in women’s movement through PUAN Amal Hayati and the interactions with Muslim feminists at that period greatly influenced me to develop deeper understanding of religious progressivism.

It is important to mention that the target of critiques of progressive Muslim feminist groups is not only religious institutions, such as ‘ulama (Muslim clerics) but also State that appears to show the silent conspiracy when the government does not take important policies to eliminate violence and discrimination against women through the politics of religion. Instead of showing strong political will to reduce violence, the government often supports religious-based biases obscurely or silently. For instance, the government of Indonesia issued the Act No. 1/1974 on Marriage and Kompilasi Hukum Islam (KHI) or the Compilation of Islamic Law that formalize religious misinterpretation as legitimacy for discrimination against women. In this regard, the government is along with conservative Muslim groups to deviate Islamic teachings for violence and inequality. Another important example is when a member of the Indonesian House of Representatives from Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa (the National Awakening Party) was subjected of perpetrating serious domestic violence, the government did not take serious political and legal steps.

The event of Polygamy Award initiated by Puspo Wardoyo, a restaurant businessman who has four wives, to acknowledge and award national leaders from both governmental institutions and Muslim groups who were viewed as successful in polygamy really challenged my personal religious progressivism and shifted my orientation toward more social movements. On one hand, with this event, I view Puspo Wardoyo has declared his tendencies to religious-based discrimination against women in public spheres. Puspo Wardoyo used religion to legitimize his social insensitivity to the facts that several polygamy marriages created problems of violence and inequality against women. It is interesting to me that although Puspo Wardoyo does not have academic background of Islamic studies that gives him bigger authority to interpret Islamic teachings, he often referred to the Koran and the Prophet’s hadith as a basis of his actions. In this regard, it can be mentioned that the event of Polygamy Award emphasized that the problems of using Islamic teachings for violence is not only problem of religious understanding, but also problem of social insensitivity that encouraged me to be more involved in critical social movements as the expression of religious progressivism.

I want to end description of personal reflection in the journey of progressive Islamic idea with a story when I was interviewed to pursue scholarship from Ford Foundation. For me, this story shows an important portrait of being a progressive Muslim. An interviewer, Professor Mohammad Jacob from Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, challenged me a question about polygamy. “What is your opinion if a woman finally chose to receive her husband’s polygamy based on her belief in Islam? Will you still force her to divorce or let her follow her belief?” The question was really challenging for a progressive religious perspective since, on one hand, this related to the use of Islamic teaching as a religious foundation for polygamy and, on the other hand, this also insisted my consistence to acknowledge freedom of thinking to honor people who have different religious view. I responded this question with an opinion that I have two obligations for the wife. First, I have to provide an adequate explanation that living in polygamy possibly causes violence and inequality against wife; and it is a misinterpretation of Islamic teaching that polygamy is acceptable for a Muslim. Second, if she still decides to accept her husband’s polygamy, it is my obligation to honor her decision in the name of freedom of thinking. Therefore, based on my personal reflection, being a progressive Muslim insists of efforts both to reconstruct new religious perspective and to respect different religious understanding.

From the Autobiography of a Javanese Aristocratic Gay

Farid Muttaqin

Introduction

Stories of wars are always full of horrors, weapon conflicts, and violence. Stories of colonialism are always full of terrors, blood, high political disputes, oppression and forced labor. During my school days in Indonesia from elementary school to high school level, the lessons of Indonesian history under Dutch colonialism, for instance, described only stories about bloody conflicts and the heroic moments of the Indonesian struggle against oppression. The stories about wars and colonialism were mostly divided between stories of national heroes and heroines, on one hand, and stories of Dutch enemies, on the other. But war and colonialism do not display only experiences of horror and violence; they also provide the process of culture and knowledge transformation.

Historical documents issued by governments usually describe war only as a source of conflicts and power abuse. This makes it necessary to find informal additional documents, such as diaries, memoirs, and autobiographies, that provide insight into daily experiences of living under colonialism. Such documents reveal the interactions between local identities, cultures and knowledge and colonial ones proving a cultural dialogues in the colonial period. A good example is Hayslip’s When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman’s Journey from War to Peace (2003). Hayslip not only could speak English fluently, she also had a broad cultural perspective as she had high interactions with the American troops during the Vietnam War. In this regard, the war became a cultural bridge for her.

In the context of Dutch colonialism in Indonesia, Frances Gouda (1995), in Dutch Culture Overseas: Colonial Practice in the Netherlands Indies, 1900-1942, records several cultural dialogues between Dutch and Indonesian culture that led to the construction of new ways of life and identities. For instance, Gouda describes Dutch women in the early 20^th Century who used to “wrap a batik sarong nonchalantly around their hips during the morning hours” and they tended to adopt this custom when living in rustic outposts, far away from the center of Europeans in Batavia, Surabaya, Semarang or Medan (p. 159-160). Gouda provides another cultural interaction through interracial marriages during the Dutch colonial period that delivered new identities of race and gender. (p. 168-169). On this subject, based on the autobiography of Dr. Soetomo, a pioneer of the Indonesian nationalistic movement, Gouda gives the example of Dr. Soetomo’s marriage to a Dutch widow. Interracial marriage “codified ‘de-Europeanization’ of a white woman who, having fallen in love with and married an Indonesian man, had compromised her virtuous womanhood and, as a result, could no longer claim either the approbation or the civil protection of the European community” (p. 169).

Finally, in looking at daily experiences of Indonesians during the Dutch colonial period in the 1920s, I found an autobiography written by a Javanese aristocrat (priyayi). Based on my observation, the document consists of several major subjects of the author’s life story, including familial relationships, people’s socio-political interactions and gays’ experiences. Therefore, I would like to discuss this document based on these topics. Finally, as the personal of a person living in a colonial period, this document is an important historical source for insight into unheard of daily lives and moments, especially of priyayis and their families’ experiences.

Introducing the Document

The document to which I referred for this observation is Jalan Hidupku: Autobiografi Seorang Gay Priyayi Jawa Awal Abad XX (My Way: an Autobiography of a Javanese Aristocratic Gay of the Early 20^th Century) published in 1992 by Apresiasi Gay Jakarta (The Jakarta Gay Appreciation). This document is a new version of a classical manuscript entitled Jalan Sempurna (A Perfect Way). The manuscript is maintained in the National Museum of Jakarta.

According to Amen Abdullah, an Indonesian historian who edited the new version of the document, the author started writing this manuscript in 1928. In addition, Abdullah states that the manuscript was originally divided into two books. Both were written on 22x28.50 cm HVS papers. The first book consisted of 195 pages, including a title page, a motto page and two pages of introduction. The second book had 273 pages, one of which was a cover page where zedenschildering (lukisan kesusilaan or the portrait of sacrilege) was written. Furthermore, Abdullah mentions that the title Jalan Sempurna was written only in the first book. Neither the first nor the second book had an author’s name. However, as Abdullah found at the end of the introductory page, the author’s name was Sutjipto (p. xii). I also found some indications that Sutjipto was often called by the nickname Tjip (pp. 137-140).

Abdullah also explains that the manuscript was written in bahasa Indonesia mixed with the local Javanese language and a little Dutch. Based on Abdullah’s observation, the author wrote the manuscript directly on a typewriter. Abdullah found many mistyped words in the manuscript.

The edited version has 201 pages plus 15 pages of introductory material. It contains 21 chapters and an introduction by the editor. It is important to mention that the document was written in novel form. The stories were set down in a systematic time order starting with “Masa Kecilku,” (My Childhood), a chapter about Sutjipto’s childhood and his reason for writing the autobiography, and finishing with “Akhir Kisahku”, (The End of My Story), a chapter about the happy ending of his life as a gay Javanese priyayi (aristocrat). Based on the document, the stories took place in Sidoarjo, Waru, Surabaya, Situbondo, Kediri, Mojokerto (East Java), Kudus, Sala or Solo (Central Java), Bandung (West Java) and Jakarta.

Priyayis’ Identities and Their Familial Relationships

It can be stated that the subject of family is the core issue of the document. The document describes several aspects of family, including experiences of Javanese priyayis, marriage and divorce, child abuse, domestic violence, and conflicts among members of families. In addition, priyayis’ identities were another interesting subject in Sutjipto’s autobiography.

From the document, I understand that a priyayi referred to social, political and economic positions. The author considered himself a priyayi since his father worked as cashier of a Dutch sugarcane plantation in Sidoarjo, East Java (pp. 2, 95). The position of cashier in the Dutch company meant social, political and economic advantage not only for the father, but also for the entire family. The author’s uncle who worked as a doctor was also a priyayi (p. 86). In other words, Dutch colonial power seemed to authorize priyayi communities to work in its companies and colonial governmental positions. Furthermore, having a good job, such as being a cashier or doctor, was a crucial factor in having a powerful social and political position since work could provide better access for interaction and connection with Dutch colonial power. For instance, as a doctor, Sutjipto’s uncle had a close contact with the Dutch who sought him professionally.

Kartodjirdjo et al also describe a similar situation with Sutjipto’s description of his research on priyayis and the importance of their work for reinforcing their standing in the community (1987: 8). In addition, it is important to mention that, according to the document, governmental positions were not provided only for priyayi communities but also for non-priyayi groups within Indonesian societies. Sutjipto’s stepfather, a Madurese, was not a raden and did not come from a priyayi family (p. 5), but he served as a governmental clerk. Furthermore, priyayi status did not hamper someone’s chance to be involved in political organizations as we can see it from the experience of Sutjipto’s father who was active in the Syarikat Islam (SI) in his city (p. 177).

In the document, the author mentions that economic status was an important factor in maintaining familial relationships among priyayi families. For instance, he describes how his relatives started to look down on him and exclude him after his father was fired because of corruption and the case drove the family into financial bankruptcy and economic poverty (pp. 71-72).

Education was also significant in maintaining the socio-political power of a priyayi. In this context, Sutjipto tells that his priyayi status decreased since he studied only at a lower education level and this was a crucial factor leading his relatives, such as his nephews, to exclude him from the priyayi communities. Furthermore, as Sutjipto mentions, different levels of education and economic status became important factors in creating intimacy and conflict among priyayi families (p. 5, 71).

Another interesting topic in discussing the social value of priyayi at that period is a person’s good behavior or tatakrama. The document provides a story of the importance of having tatakrama in maintaining a priyayi’s status. On the one hand, when Sutjipto visited his grandparents in Waru, they were angry with him and sent him away after his stepfather sent a letter telling that Sutjipto left home without asking for his parents’ permission. A priyayi had to behave well in her or his social interactions in order to keep priyayi status. On the other hand, Sutjipto also devalued his father and his grandparents as priyayi since they used foul languages in their anger, such as calling him binatang (animal) (p. 65). A priyayi, in Sutjipto’s mind, had to speak wise words, therefore, decreased her or his priyayi value by speaking inappropriately (pp. 68-69). In Sutjipto’s words, a priyayi, like a sinatriya or kstariya (warrior) in Buddhism, must have a periati, a symbol and practice of social and individual morality (p. 64).

The document also describes how priyayis had their own clothing style with different styles of clothing among priyayis from different areas. The style of clothing of priyayis from East Java, for example, was different than that of priyayis from Central Java (p. 75). The clothes were a symbol and an identity of her or his priyayi status. Sutjipto symbolically showed the significance of priyayi clothing style as an identity factor when he changed his priyayi clothes for those of ordinary people when he wanted to lose his priyayi status (p. 88).

From the description, it can be shown that being a priyayi involved several identities. It referred not only to social, political and economic status, but also to several specific identities, customs and cultures. “Real” priyayis had to speak good and wise words that made them different from ordinary people. “Real” priyayis had to be well-behaved and polite. Additionally, Priyayis wore special clothes that made them unique from other people. All of these customs, speaking well, good behavior, and special clothes, were identifiers of a priyayi, so that, to some extent, a priyayi who lost these identities devalued her or his priyayi status.

In the document, I also found interesting information about marriage phenomena within priyayi families. Sutjipto writes of his parents’ marriage and divorce. His mother divorced his father after he had a love affair and married another woman. From Sutjipto’s story, I understand that marriage to a male priyayi could enhance a woman’s social status. A woman who married a priyayi would also become a member of the priyayi community. In addition, I also learned from the document that it was possible for either a female or a male priyayi to marry someone who was not from priyayi lineage, and marrying a non-priyayi person would not reduce her or his priyayi status. For example, Sutjipto’s father’s second wife was not from a priyayi family (p. 2), while his mother’s second husband was not a raden or a priyayi and both his father and his mother did not lost her priyayi status because of these marriages (p. 5).

Sutjipto also tells of his mother’s powerless position as a wife in a priyayi family. A priyayi husband had more power in a family. Sutjipto quotes his mother speaking of her position in the family, “I was only a wife who had to obey every single order and instruction of my husband” (p. 5) and “I could not protect you, my son, from your father’s abuses. I was only a woman who was always considered wrong in your father’s eyes” (p. 52).

From the document, I understand that the greater power of the husband in a priyayi family was created by his work position. In a priyayi family at that time, only husbands had opportunities and access to good jobs, while wives had to stay at homes and were responsible for doing domestic chores. Sexual division of labor was common within priyayi families. For instance, Sutjipto’s father and stepfather had good jobs as cashier and governmental clerk while his mother was a housewife.

Furthermore, according to the document, the different power between wives and husbands in priyayi families often led to domestic violence against wives. The huge power of husbands and fathers gave them authority to control interactions in the families. Sutjipto describes his mother’s point of view on her position as a wife in a priyayi family proving that power differential between a husband and a wife caused domestic violence against wives (pp. 5, 52). The forms of this violence, as described in the document, included the husband’s love affair with another woman and physical as well as verbal and psychological violence (p. 2).

In addition, children in a priyayi family often experienced abuse from their fathers. In other words, it is important to say that being a child of priyayi parents at that time could not protect one from child abuse. In the document, Sutjipto tells that one of the main sources of the hardship of his life was his father’s abuse. His father and stepfather both perpetrated violence against him, such as hitting, thrashing and cursing him (p. 59).

From Sutjipto’s stories, I understand that economic status and education level were important factors in creating intimate and conflict relationships within priyayi families. Having the same work level would harmonize familial relationships of priyayis, but if a priyayi family experienced financial bankruptcy, it was hard for them to maintain an intimate relationship with other relatives. The bankrupt priyayi family would be viewed suspiciously by other relatives as having negative intentions, such as asking for loans and other financial help. Sutjipto had such an experience when he visited his rama (his mother’s older brother) in Kudus, Central Java (p. 87-88).

In addition, different economic status within priyayi families created a social hierarchy and class among them. I found this situation from the experience of Sutjipto’s mother. After she divorced her husband, she migrated to another area, Buduran in East Java, and lived with her older brother. While living in Buduran, she experienced hardship since she had to be a domestic worker for her brother’s family in order to be able to live in the house. She had to ngenger, a Javanese cultural term meaning to live in a relative’s house and work as domestic helper in the house without salary except getting free food and free shelter. For Sutjipto’s mother, it was even worse since she had to do all domestic chores of the family. Furthermore, even her own mother thought that rather than a relative, she was a slave or a batur (maid) for her brother’s family. Her brother did not recognize her priyayi status because she was economically bankrupt (p. 4).

From the description above, it can be concluded that there were several identities within priyayi status, including work, education and clothes. In addition, it also can be stated that economic status played a significant role in the relationships of priyayi families. Different economic status often created a gap and destroyed the harmony of that priyayi’s familial relationship.

Gays’ Experiences

The discussion of the 1920s gays’ lives is another important subject in Sutjipto’s autobiography. Gay in this subtopic mostly refers to man-man relationships. Among other important topics of this discussion are gay children, Dutch gay communities, dating and sexual intercourse of gays and gay families. These various topics showed that the manuscript is an important document for the discussion of gays’ lives in the history of Indonesia.

From the document, I understand that homosexual relationships existed within Indonesian society during the 1920s Dutch colonial era. It is interesting that homosexual relationships were also alive among Indonesian children. Sutjipto’s same-sex relationship with his lover began when they were less than 20 years old. Sutjipto was about 13 and still studied in Grade 4 and his lover was in Grade 7 in elementary school (pp. 10-11).

Looking at their love story, I understand that a homosexual love story at that time seemed to be like a heterosexual one in term of how they started building the relationship. For instance, Sutjipto began establishing his relationship when he met his lover in a path near the bupati’s (head of district) house in Situbondo, East Java. He dropped his scarf and his lover found and returned it back to him. They fell in love at that moment. It is important to mention that for Sutjipto it was a natural dating relationship since he had never had another same-sex relationship before that experience. In other words, his homosexual orientation was not caused by any problem of traumatic sexual violence.

For Sutjipto’s lover, a 20-year student of MULO, his relationship with Sutjipto was his third same-sex experience. He became a homosexual after a male pribumi doctor in his hometown, Kediri, East Java, tempted him into a sexual relationship and taught him about homosexual experiences. On the first day of their love rendezvous, Sutjiptos’ male lover spoke of his first same-sex love story, “When I lived in Kediri, I was your age, someone fell in love with me. He was a pribumi doctor. At that time, I thought, I could have a sex relationship only with a woman. The doctor told me that sexual desire also could exist between two men. I had a sexual relationship with him and, a couple of months later, he moved to another city” (p. 18).

IFrom Sutjipto’s male lover’s story, I found data that at that time there were some gay children in Kediri. Sutjipto’s lover said, “After [the pribumi doctor] left Kediri, I did what the doctor did. I loved boys. I had a lover whom I left when I moved to this city. From my experiences, I knew that some friends of mine in Kediri had the same experiences as me. They experienced same-sex relationships” (Ibid, p. 18). However, the document does not provide a story about same-sex relationships between two women.

From the story above, I want to emphasize that same-sex relationships at that time, including relationship among children, included sexual intercourse. In the document, along with evidence of his love story with his male lover and his lover ‘s love story with the pribumi doctor, Sutjipto even put experiences of sexual intercourse as one center in the story of homosexual lives. For example, in recounting his love story, Sutjipto mentions his first experience of sexual intercourse with his gay lover.

Furthermore, in my view, Sutjipto’s description of sexual intercourse experiences is very important to understand the Indonesian’s views of the sexuality discourse and practices at that time. Sutjipto’s story of having sexual intercourse provides historical data that in that era it was not a social taboo to be involved in a discourse or practice of sexuality.

The story of Sutjipto’s lover with the pribumi doctor is interesting to me in terms of understanding how a person becomes involved in a gay relationship. Besides Sutjipto’s experiences that seemed to be more natural, his lover’s experience with the pribumi doctor provides evidence that he had a gay relationship because of the influence of his experience with the doctor. In this context, further research is necessary in order to find data about the source of homosexual orientation of children, particularly in West Java at that period.

Another important homosexual experience in the document deals with Dutch gay communities, pedophilia and boy prostitutes. Sutjipto tells of his experience of sexual intercourse with a Ducth gay. One day when he was hanging around in Dutch communities in Surabaya, East Java, a Dutch man approached Sutjipto and asked him to follow him to his house. Sutjipto was still a boy at that time. Within moments of reaching the house, the Dutch man forced him to have sexual intercourse (pp. 111-113). This story shows that one aspect of homosexual life in Dutch communities at that time was to have sexual intercourse with boys (pp. 114-116). In other words, as Sutjipto mentions, pedophilia was common within Dutch communities in Indonesia (p. 131).

Furthermore, based on Sutjipto’s description, as a result of Dutch practices of pedophilia, there were number of boy prostitutes at that time (pp. 131 and 133). According to Sutjipto, for the boys, financial profit was one the main reasons to be involved in the prostitution (pp. 114-115 and p. 131). In addition, as was Sutjipto’s experience, continuing to a higher educational level was another important motive of boy prostitutes. In asking the boys to serve their sexual desires, Dutch gays often promised the boys to fund their education (p. 118).

Sutjipto tells of another of his experiences as a boy prostitute or a bestong of a Dutch gay. He met a Dutch gay who not only asked him to have a one-night sexual encounter, but proposed that Sutjipto live with home as his lover by promising to finance Sutjipto’s education (Ibid. p. 118). Sutjipto even named the man as Tuan GHA Sytsma, who lived in Simpang Park 8, Surabaya. Although I have tried to find the information about the roles of GHA Sytsma at that time, I did not find enough data about it. After he broke up his relationship with GHA Sytsma, Sutjipto was the lover of another Dutch gay and lived with him in order to earn money (p. 133). Sutjipto’s experience of living in a Dutch gay’s home and acting as a male domestic worker or a jongos and a lover continued when he met a Dutch man living in Condong Cereme, Surabaya (pp. 140-155). Finally, I think that it is very important to research deeper into the phenomena of that kind of sexual relationship to learn about common homosexual practices during the 1920s Dutch colonial period in Indonesia and how such sexual experiences transformed homosexuals’ lives from Dutch communities to Indonesian societies.

It is crucial to mention that these prostituted boys often experienced sexual violence from their Dutch sexual partners. Sutjipto tells his own story of experiencing such violence as well as his friends’ stories. One form of sexual violence was to force the children to have anal sex (pp. 130-132). Furthermore, Sutjipto tells that he had never had an anal sexual experience until his first experience with GHA Systma. Additionally, Sutjipto viewed anal sex in same-sex relationships as a deviation and socially and morally improper (tidak pantas) (p. 130). From this story, I understand that anal sexual intercourse was not very common among native Indonesian gays at that time and it was introduced by Dutch homosexuals.

Sutjipto also tells of bisexual phenomena and female sex workers. He mentions that there were several bisexual experiences in prostitution places in Surabaya. Sutjipto’s experience provides a fact of bisexual relationship. Besides his same-sex relationship with his tuan when he become a jongos, Sutjipto also often had sexual encounter with female prostitutes. He mentions that some of his male friends also had a similar sexual experience (p. 134-136). Furthermore, this story also displays an important fact about the phenomenon of female sex workers at that time who served the sexual needs of some native Indonesians.

Other important information about gays’ lives was the phenomenon of homosexuality within the Madura community in Panji, Situbondo. The Madura are an ethnic group mainly living on the island of Madura, East Java. Sutjipto relates that at that time several Madura men were involved in same-sex relationships. In the document he says, “There was a folk performance within Madura society called saronen. In that performance, a male actor played a female role, as a dancer or a princess. He was more beautiful than a woman. Some men in the community fell in love with him” (p. 138). Additionally, as Sutjipto describes it, some Madura men who were involved in pursuing that male actor’s love killed their competitors (Ibid. p. 138).

Besides the story of homosexuals, Sutjipto also mentions a 1920s-phenomenon of males who acted and behaved like females or, in Sutjipto’s words, they were “anak lelaki yang berperangai seperti anak perempuan” (p. 171). In Indonesian society, they were popular as banci or sissy. It is interesting to me that Sutjipto connected the story of banci with homosexual experiences, particularly in terms of sexual intercourse. Sutjipto tells that banci communities at that time preferred having anal sexual experiences rather than oral or masturbatory one (p. 171). I think it is important to observe the influence of Dutch gays’ sexual experiences on bancis’ sexual life style since they had similar sexual preferences of homosexuality.

Finally, it must be said that that the same-sex experiences told in the document were not only sexual pleasure experiences or one-night-stand sexual activities, but also true-love relationships. Sutjipto wrote of his experience of a relationship with Sukran who worked as a jongos in a Chinese hotel. In his same-sex relationship with Sukran, Sutjipto tried to transform his view on a loving same-sex relationship that provided Sukran not only with sexual fulfillment, but also with deep emotional interactions. He also taught Sukran not to behave like a woman that led Sukran to be interested in uncommon sexual experiences, such as anal sex. Meanwhile, Sukran showed his fidelity and loyalty to help Sutjipto in curing his syphilis (pp. 188-189). Sutjipto even thought to build a family with Sukran (p. 194).

From the description, it can be concluded that homosexuality flourished within Indonesian society during the 1920s Dutch colonial period. This social phenomenon provides an important fact of Indonesians’ perspectives on homosexual relationships. In addition, the stories display crucial information about Dutch gays’ sexual experiences at that time that seemed to greatly impact native Indonesian homosexuals’ lives, particularly in terms of sexual activities. Among other important homosexual discourses of that period that should be noted are people’s responses, such as Sutjipto’s family, friends and other people around him, to gays’ lives and homosexual orientation, so we can understand public views of this phenomenon in a period of Indonesian history.

Social-Political Situations

In this subtopic, I will describe several historical moments in Sutjipto’s autobiography. Some of the interesting stories in the document are about education, election of villages heads (lurah), folk performances and entertainment as well as night markets (pasar malam), corruption, homeless children (anak-anak terlantar), and celebrating the lebaran tradition, which occurs the day after Ramadan’s fasting ends.

In the history of Indonesia, priyayi played a significant role in the process of cultural transformation from the Dutch colonialists. Education and language were among other important historical evidence of priyayis’ roles of this transformation. The Dutch built many schools, such as MULO and HBS. Interestingly, to me, in the document, Sutjito describes how education and language divided Indonesians. For instance, after his father and his family went bankruptcy, Sutjipto could not continue his education to a higher level, unlike his nephews who could finish theirs. As a result, his nephews and other relatives often humiliated him and marginalized him from familial interactions (p. 53). The role of education in dividing Indonesians into different social classes occurred after the Dutch educational institution appeared to be provided only for priyayi communities or the higher-level social class. From this story, I understand that the educational system of Dutch colonialists seemed to be an important element in dividing Indonesians.

Furthermore, as a result of the interaction with Dutch communities, whether in education or other social milieus, priyayi groups had a huge opportunity to adopt Dutch traditions and identities. Language was one of the clearest proofs of that historical moment. From the document, language, like education, also was an important element in classifying Indonesians during Dutch colonialism. As Sutjipto mentions, speaking Dutch was a crucial aspect of priyayis’ identity to distinguish them from ordinary Indonesians (p. 71). Additionally, this identity, on one hand, led priyayis to exhibit their social superiority over others and, on the other, inspired non-priyayi communities to express their social inferiority. Therefore, it can be stated that speaking Dutch became a socio-cultural border between priyayi and non-priyayi Indonesians during the Dutch colonial period.

In Chapter 10, Sutjipto tells of his experience in following a village-head election (pemilihan lurah) in his hometown. I consider Sutjipto’s story to be very important in understanding the process of a village-level political event in a period of Indonesian history under Dutch colonialism. Among other significant historical notes about this village-level political activity from Sutjipto’s document were the way people elected their village head and the ceremonies to inaugurate the elected lurah. The ballot boxes and the voters gathered in the election location near wedana’s home; the wedana, a head of kawedanan or county, and his second in-command were involved directly in that political event. They led the election. Other political leaders were also present in the area of the election. It is interesting to me that Sutjipto did not mention any involvement of non-pribumi leaders in that political event. The document also did nit provide information about women’s participation in that political event.

Six ballot boxes held flags as their symbol of political representation. The wedana invited the voters one-by-one and gave them time to decide their political choice in a secret room. Each villager had a political right to vote his (or her) preference. After all voters made their decision, the wedana asked the person with the loudest voice to count the result in front of the audience so people could watch the process. It seemed that the tradition of democracy had existed within Indonesian societies at that time.

In addition, from Sutjipto’s story, I know a unique aspect of that head-village election. Soon after the elected village head was known, the wedana invited him to his desk and delivered a wejangan or a speech. As Sutjipto quoted, the wedana said, “You were elected as a new lurah by your people. You have to know how to lead the people of your village. You have to fulfill all obligations as a lurah”. Furthermore, the wedana announced, “From now on, you have a new epithet as your new name, Suromangkurejo, because you were elected in Suro month (a month in the Javanese calendar) to mangku or hold a responsibility as a lurah and rejo meant good. Therefore, you have to be a good and responsible lurah for your people”.

An important factor of social life in the history of Indonesia during the Dutch colonial era described in the document was corruption. This story is interesting to me because corruption seemed to be a culture (budaya) within Indonesian societies. Sutjipto tells about his father who was involved in corrupting his company’s funds for his own profits (p. 2). To some extent, Sutjipto’s father’s case of corruption provides a crucial historical fact of how corruption has been very pervasive within Indonesian societies since its historical period under Dutch colonialism. In this regard, I see it as very important to observe the contribution of Dutch colonial policies in expanding the culture of corruption (budaya korupsi) within the society.

In the document (p. 10), Sutjipto also mentions a socio-political situation under Dutch colonial authority. Every year, people in Indonesia had to celebrate the Day of the Queen of the Netherlands to commemorate her authority. Sutjipto describes the celebration of the Queen’s 25-year anniversary. During that celebration, students had four days of holiday and governmental offices performed no public services.

Homeless children or street children (anak-anak terlantar or anak-anak jalanan) were another social phenomenon described in Sutjipto’s autobiography. During the 1920s Dutch occupation, a number of children became homeless and had to live in streets and public buildings (p. 97). Interestingly, economic and financial difficulties were not the only reasons that led the children to act as street boys; there were other reasons, including searching for the meaning of life (pelita hati) (pp. 98-99). In this regard, it was not just children from poor families who lived in streets, but also those who came from priyayi communities (p. 118). Furthermore, the phenomenon of homeless children also was also an important element in the rise of pedophilia and boy prostitutes. Sutjipto’s experience as a boy sex worker for Dutch pedophiles happened when he lived in the streets (pp. 111-113).

As shown in the document, Sutjipto viewed the social-economic gap as a serious problem during that time. Dutch communities dominated economic and political resources. They had big, glamorous houses. Meanwhile, native Indonesians had to live in economic difficulties. Only very small group of Indonesian elites had access to economic and political resources. However, it is interesting to me that the economic gap happened not only between native Indonesians and Dutch communities, but also among Indonesians themselves since the elite groups with the bigger economic and political opportunities did not really express their social sensibility (p. 103).

In the document, Sutjipto also mentioned that although social difficulty and economic poverty surrounded the lives of Indonesian societies at that time, people still could enjoy public entertainments. Some political elites, such as lurah, wedana, bupati and other rich Indonesians often provided public entertainment on several occasions, including the Queen’s Day, wedding receptions, and night markets (pasar malam) (pp. 147, 159). Shadow puppets, human puppets (wayang orang), traditional Javanese music (gamelan) and traditional dances were among shows performed in the events. Additionally, during these public performances, audiences often drank beer and other alcohol until drunk (p. 167). In my opinion, this situation emphasized that Dutch colonialism did not really impede people’s customs to enjoy their pleasure time. Dutch occupation did not always cause unpleasant situations for Indonesians.

Last but not least, another interesting social phenomenon described in the document is the tradition of celebrating lebaran after Ramadan, the month of fasting for Muslims. Sutjipto tells of his experience of going home or mudik to his hometown in Mojokerto from Surabaya to celebrate lebaran. There, he met his family, relatives, and friends who he left for a while (p. 174). From this story, I understand that the tradition of celebrating lebaran and mudik within Indonesian society has existed for a long time.

Finally, it can be concluded that Sutjipto’s autobiography provides important historical data of the dynamics of the social and political lives of Indonesian society in the 1920s, especially in Java during the Dutch colonial period. Therefore, the document is a crucial historical source to observe other aspects of Indonesian lives at that time that displayed not only horror and scary war stories, but also peaceful and harmonious normal interactions in daily living.

Conclusion

Based on the description, several conclusions can be reached. Sutjipto’s autobiography is a very important historical document in the search for information related to priyayi identities and priyayi families, homosexual experiences and social-political phenomena in 1920s Indonesia, particularly Java during the Dutch colonial era. In addition, the stories in the document provide crucial data indicating that Dutch colonial authorities brought not only frightening situations of living during war and conflict, but also a dynamic transformation of cultural identities and customs. To some extent, it can be said that colonialism was an important factor in bridging cultural exchanges and traditional dialogues. Moreover, this document is also important in the context of studying Indonesian history during Dutch colonialism since the process of learning Indonesian history is dominated by the government’s point of views and mainly based only on the formal governmental documents. Therefore, unlike the governmental documents that usually provide only information important to maintaining the government’s political power, Sutjipto’s autobiography covers information of real daily experiences of Indonesian people in the colonial era.

Bibliography

Gouda, Frances. 1995. Dutch Culture Overseas: Colonial Practice in the Netherlands Indies, 1900-1942. Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press.

Hayslip, Le Ly. 1992. When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman’s Journey from War to Peace (2003).

Kartodirdjo, Sartono et al. 1987. Perkembangan Peradaban Priyayi (The Dynamics of Priyayi Civilization). Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press.

Sutjipto. 1992. Jalan Hidupku: Autobiografi Seorang Gay Priyayi Jawa Awal Abad XX (My Life: an Autobiography of a Javanese Aristocratic Gay of the Early 20^th Century) (edited by Abdullah, Amen). Jakarta: Apresiasi Gay Jakarta.