Negotiating ethnicity and religiosity : Chinese Muslim identities in post- new order Indonesia

Abstract

This thesis describes and analyses the emergence of Chinese Muslim cultural identities in post-New Order Indonesia. I investigate how and under what conditions, Chinese Muslims construct and negotiate their ethnicity and religiosity, both individually and collectively, in their public and everyday lives, though I do no treat them as a bounded ethno-religious group. Recently, Chinese Muslim cultures in Indonesia have been objectified in symbols (e.g. Chinese-style mosques), embodied in organisations (e.g. Indonesian Chinese Muslim Association, PITI), represented in popular media (e.g. Chinese preachers), and performed in rituals (e.g. celebration of Chinese New Year). Chinese Muslim leaders promote their unique identities in contemporary Indonesia through rearticulation of their histories and cultivation of ties to Muslims in China. Their motivations for projecting these images include the fostering of ethnic intermingling (pembauran) and the facilitating of religious preaching (dakwah). Yet, there is often a distinction between their public performances and everyday practices, as their open displays of Chinese culture and Islamic piety may not always be replicated in the home. Also; the intentional mixing of Chineseness and Islam does not reflect all aspects of the multilayered and multifaceted identities of Chinese Muslims. Despite the relatively small number of Chinese Muslims, studying their identities helps us to better understand the 'Islamic resurgence' and 'Chinese euphoria' in Indonesia today. It also gives us insights into the possibilities and limitations of ethnic and religious cosmopolitanism. First, the rise of Chinese Muslim cultures reflects the acceptance of Chinese culture in Indonesian society, and the tolerance of Islam towards different cultural expressions. Second, although encompassed by ethnic stereotypes and religious conservatism, Chinese Muslim cultures embrace a limited kind of inclusive Chineseness and cosmopolitan Islam, in which the assertion of Chinese identity and Islamic religiosity does not necessarily imply racial segregation and religious exclusion. Third, Chinese Muslim cultures reconcile the perceived incompatibility between Islam and Chineseness, as well as open up more space for identity contestation, but do not necessarily pluralise Islamic discourses. Paradoxically, while there is an increasing acceptance of cultural and religious diversity among many Muslim leaders, there is also a rising intolerance of religious intermingling and intra-religious differences within some sections of Indonesian Muslim society. Last of all, I use the notion of flexible piety to examine fluid Islamic religiosity, and the concept of multiple identifications to reveal the shifting ethnicity among Chinese Muslim converts according to their living contexts.