islamic influences on indonesian feminism

Berghahn Books

Islamic Influences on Indonesian FeminismAuthor(s): Kathryn RobinsonSource: Social Analysis: The International Journal of Social and Cultural Practice, Vol. 50, No.1 (Spring 2006), pp. 171-177Published by: Berghahn BooksStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23181949 .

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Islamic Influences on Indonesian Feminism

Kathryn Robinson

In imagining Indonesia's future, its character as a country with the world's larg

est Islamic population emerges as a critical issue. In the post-Suharto period, some commentators have seen the emergence of Islamist politics as a threat to

newly attained freedoms. No sooner had women been freed from the constraints

of 'state ibuism', i.e., the official policy promoting the role of wife and mother

[ibu] of the New Order (see Suryakusuma 1996), which endorsed patriarchal familism as a cornerstone of authoritarian politics, than they faced a new kind of patriarchal authority in the demands for the enactment of shari'a as state

law. For example, during her 2005 visit to Australia, Indonesian feminist com

mentator Julia Suryakusuma raised the specter of Islam as the greatest current

threat to gender equity and to women as social actors in civic life, whose rights in the domestic sphere are now protected by the state. The growing influence

of Middle Eastern Islam in Indonesia, evidenced by funding for organizations,

translations of publications, and the increase in Islamist rhetoric, has caused

alarm among many observers. This apprehension draws on the stereotype of

the Middle East as the source of all that is 'bad' about Islam, taken as an undif

ferentiated whole. But this view of Islam fails to acknowledge debates within Islam and diversity in Islamic practice, not the least of which are the varieties of Islam that can be found throughout the Indonesian archipelago. These diverse

practices have emerged as local communities and indigenous polities responded in distinctive and often unique ways during the long period of Islamic conver

sion, beginning from the thirteenth century. The influence of reform traditions that arise in the Middle East is not some

thing new in Indonesia. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Islamic modernism developed as a response to Wahabism, the conservative Islamic movement that became dominant in Arabia in the eighteenth century. These influences, too, emerged in a variety of forms in the archipelago, and were expressed in local debates and contestations.

Social Analysis, Volume 50, Issue 1, Spring 2006, 171-177 ® Berglwhn Journals I



172 | Kathryn Robinson

What threat does Islamism pose to gender equity in Indonesia? The cur

rent efflorescence of the jilbab (tight veil), as a marker of Islamic identity and

piety, and even as a fashion statement, with proliferating styles, is seized on

by many observers as a symbol of the current drive to regulate women's access

to the public sphere and to roll back gains that women have made, including, for example, the bureaucratic restriction on the male prerogative of polygamy

(from the 1975 Marriage Law) (Robinson 2006). Gender analysis gained wide currency among social activists in Indonesia

in the 1980s and became a factor in contemporary Islamic thought in the 1990s, with Indonesian Islamic intellectuals drawing on the analyses of criti cal women Islamic writers, such as Amina Wadud Muhsin, Fatima Mernissi from Morocco, Pakistani scholar Riffat Hassan, and the Indian proponent of

gender equity in Islam, Ali Asghar Engineer. Indonesian authors were citing English versions of their works in the early and mid-1990s. The organization LSPPA translated and published a compilation of works, Setara di Hadapan Allah (Equal before Allah), by Riffat Hassan and Fatima Mernissi (1991), and a translation of Mernissi's (1994) Women in Islam (Wanita dalam Islam) was

published by Pustaka. Engineer's (1994) translated work, Hak-Hak Perempuan dalam Islam (Women's rights under Islam), was published by Yayasan Bentang Budaya. A visit by Riffat Hassan sparked further interest in interpretive stances to argue for Islam as a source of gender equity.

These Islamic writers were taken up in discussion groups among stu

dents and activists in Jakarta, Bandung, and Yogyakarta (Viviani 2001: 4). A number of Indonesian feminist Islamic thinkers came to the fore, notably,

Lies Marcoes-Natsir and Wardah Hafidz. Marcoes-Natsir and Meuleman's

(1993) co-edited book, Wanita Islam dalam Kajian Tekstual dan Kontekstual

(Muslim women in textual and contextual study), emerged in this climate (with contributing authors citing Mernissi and Hassan). The compilation by Fakih et al. (1996), Membincang Feminisme (Debating feminism), engaged the debates on Islamic textualism and gender relations, with authors citing Engineer and Mernissi. Interestingly, in light of the assumption that the Middle East, and in particular Saudi Arabia, is the source of new Islamic

ideas, this surge of Islamic feminist writing in Indonesian translation exem

plifies how Indonesia draws on international intellectual currents. Most of

the works supporting feminist contextual analysis were not translated from

Arabic but from English, French, or German. Women's advocacy groups such as Rahima established links with Sisters in Islam in Malaysia. Two

major books that emerged at the end of the decade were Nasaruddin Umar's

(1999) Argumen Kesetaraan Jender: Perspectif Al-Qur'an and Syafiq Hasy im's (2002) Hal-Hal yang Tidak Dipikirkan: Tentang Isu-isu Keperempuanan dalam Islam, both of which cite Mernissi and Hassan. A unique feature of this Islamic movement for women's rights in Indonesia is the significant influence of male scholars, who have been subjected to criticism and even threats for their supportive stance.

This body of Islamic feminist writing argues against gender-biased interpre tations of Islamic texts.1 It proposes a reconstruction of Islamic values, weeding



Islamic Influences on Indonesian Feminism | 173

out the patriarchal traditions that have taken root in Islamic thought and prac

tice, which are in contradiction with the true egalitarian spirit of Islamic values

(Viviani 2001). Women are using Islam and interpretive strategies to challenge men's prerogative. Authors like Mernissi and Hassan contend that there is no

verse in the Qur'an which argues that men and women were created differ

ently. Mernissi uses semantics and weighs up the historical context [asbab al-nuzul) in an analysis of the verses of the Qur'an and Hadith (the reports and the words and actions of the Prophet).2

Discriminatory practices arise from gender-biased interpretations of the

Qur'an and Hadith. Proponents of gender equity argue for a contextual rather

than a textual (literalist) approach to interpretation, because almost all of the

verses that refer to gender in the Qur'an and Hadith can be understood in light of the historical context at the time of revelation (asbab al-nuzul). Local dif ferences are inherent in the transmission of Islam, and these local particulari ties can assume the basis of doctrine. For example, the story in the Hadith by Bukhari concerning the creation of Eve from Adam's rib shows the influence of Judeo-Christian ideas. It is necessary to understand the metaphorical dimen sions of meaning and to test the Hadith for reliability and credibility (sanad shahih, the rules by which scholars judge the verity of the chain of transmis

sion). Other considerations in interpretation are the chain of transmission

{jalur periwayat), the substance of the report (matan), and its history (asab al

wurud). These interpretive traditions are used by advocates of gender equity to challenge what are regarded as misogynist interpretations, and to argue for the Qur'an as a basis for gender equity. Proponents of this view maintain that one objective of the Qur'an is to transform social reality gradually and in stages Cbi al-tadri), including the area of gender relations. They assert that the idea of

gradual social change is fundamental to the Qur'an. The textual battle about appropriate social roles for women emerged in the

public debate over the question, can a woman be president of a majority Mus

lim nation? In 1999, the negative opinion emerged as a fairly transparent attack on the candidacy of Megawati Sukarnoputri. Male and female Islamic scholars defended her right to run for office, arguing their case on the basis of textual

interpretation (Robinson 2004). The flood of new Islamic feminist literature illustrates the cosmopolitan

character of Islamic social and political thought as a counterpoint and comple

ment to Western thinking (in a manner similar to the development of national ist politics). There is a significant group of prominent women activists (many of whom benefited from the flowering of Islamic education in the New Order

period) who argue that feminism is not exclusive to Western cosmopolitan ism. They view Islam as the basis of a distinctive feminist movement and of a unique form of gender equity. In the Monday section of the major Jakarta

daily, Kompas (Swara), edited by Lies Marcoes-Natsir, Indonesian Islamic intel

lectuals, both male and female, engage in these debates, as they do on the Web sites of organizations such as Jaringan Islam Liberal and Rahima. Many of

these intellectuals are active within the major Islamic organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhamadiyah.




When reformasi reopened discussion on some old arguments that women

thought had been settled, the women were ready. The public debate in favor

of polygamy that Puspo Wardoyo began with his Polygamy Awards in 2003 increased the stakes for women in terms of the demands for revision of the

1975 Marriage Law (see Brenner this volume and Robinson 2006). While

groups like LBH-APIK (Legal Aid Institute for Women's Human Rights) had been critical of the law's formal designation of men as household heads and

women as household managers, and also critical of the discriminatory nature

of the continued legality of polygamy, the debate has 'heated up'. In particular, female Muslim intellectuals are challenging the polygamy and divorce provi sions of the 1975 Marriage Law and its further iteration through the 1989

Kompilasi Hukum Islam (Compilation of Islamic law). The Kompilasi has been

praised for its incorporation of the rights women have (e.g., common property rights) under adat (custom) (see, e.g., Lev 1996) and the rights afforded Indo nesian women by the provisional divorce or Ta'lik.3 In late 2004, the govern ment signaled its intention to upgrade the status of the Kompilasi Hukum from Presidential Instruction to law. This gave rise to a new wave of public debate,

much of it initiated by the gender-mainstreaming team in the Department of

Religious Affairs, led by Siti Musdah Mulia, and supported by the Commission on Women's Human Rights (KOMNAS Perempuan). These groups argue that

the sections of the Kompilasi dealing with family law should be further revised to reflect principles of democracy and gender equity and contemporary Indone

sian social practice. In particular, women's rights advocates criticize discrimi

natory clauses of the marriage law relating to age at marriage, the stipulation of male household heads, the requirement for a wali to be male, differential divorce rights, and the continued legal support for polygamy (also argued to be in breach of Indonesia's obligations as a signatory to CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women). The women

critics also want to revisit unequal inheritance. In all these ways, women are

continuing to press for state intervention to protect women's rights.4

Demands for democratization in the post-Suharto period have led to a

scaling back of the highly centralized executive concentration of state power

through regional autonomy. The emphasis on a return to adat as a basis of local

governance has, in many places, created opportunities for powerful groups to

advance their interests in the name of a revival of distinctive traditions. In this

process, and under the rubric of adat and regional autonomy, gender relations are also being renegotiated (Budianta 2002; Noerdin 2002).

Some Islamist groups have seized on the new climate of post-Suharto politi cal freedom to press their case for Islam as the foundation of government, incorporating shari'a as the basis of local directives. Perda (local regulations) enacted or proposed under this rubric have up until this time focused princi pally on the restriction of women's autonomy through dress codes and curfews.

However, the move toward regional autonomy has also been associated with

the rise of rhetoric invoking kearifan lokal (often glossed as 'local genius') and a resurgence of customary practices that had disappeared or diminished as part of legitimate public discourse under the New Order. These local customs often



Islamic Influences on Indonesian Feminism \ 175

incorporate distinctive forms of gender practice. In Sulawesi, the opportunity

for local content in the education curriculum has led to an escalation of cultural

events aiming to revitalize traditions that had been eclipsed. In South Sulawesi,

large areas of the countryside had been under the control of Darul Islam rebels

from 1950 to 1964, and the rebels had banned cultural practices deemed un

Islamic, including circle dances known as Dero, which had involved men and women holding hands and dancing together. I had assumed the Dero dance to

have disappeared from Islamic areas of North Luwu, but at a cultural festival held in the new district capital, Massamba, in 2003, the Dero dance was back with a vengeance, catching up young and old, male and female, Muslim and

Christian. The valuing of kearifin lokal is a challenge to any attempt to recast

gender relations in a unitary model. In West Sumatra, shari'a-based perda

endeavored to limit the mobility of women through curfews, a move that was

vehemently opposed by women traders, but opposition was even more strident

to an attempt to stifle matrilineally inherited land rights and the authority of the Bundo Kanduang (senior women of the matrilineage).

The calls for gender-discriminatory forms of shari'a are being challenged by both Islamic and secular feminists, with the former group contesting the notion

that the interpretive basis of the regulations represents shari'a. In addition,

groups operating under the umbrella of Islam, such as Rahima and its offshoot, Fahima, in Cirebon, are consciously adapting local cultural practices such as the

salawatan (joyous songs in praise of the prophet) to promote gender equity. In the current political climate in Indonesia, Islam is taking a progressive role in

developing new forms of political discourse and political action, as well as being used by some groups to further political self-interest. For Indonesian women who

identify with demands for greater gender equity, Islamic cosmopolitanism is pro viding an alternative source of feminist ideals to those that arise in the West. The

dialogue on gender rights is an example of the social and political complexities

of Islamic debates in Indonesia, voices that are not heard in the West due to the

clamor of anxiety discourses that equate Islam with terrorism.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Kamini Junankar for research concerning the history of trans

lations of Muslim feminist works into Indonesian. Ciciek Farha provided invaluable

comments as a protagonist in these debates.

Kathryn Robinson is an anthropologist who has worked mainly in South Sulawesi,

Indonesia. Her research has been concerned with contemporary women's social

participation in Indonesia, including women's political activism, Islam, and inter

national female labor migration. Current research projects include a study of Inter

net-mediated international marriage and strategies for local-level development based on 'diverse economies'. She has published extensively on the Soroako nickel




mine and on Sulawesi traditional architecture, and has, with Mukhlis Paeni, edited

a series of books on the anthropology of South Sulawesi. Her major publications include: Stepchildren of Progress: The Political Economy of Development in an Indo

nesian Mining Town (1986); Living Through Histories: Culture, History and Social

Life in South Sulawesi (1998) (ed. with Mukhlis Paini), published in translation as

Tapak Tapak Waktu (2005); and Women in Indonesia: Gender Equity and Develop ment (2002) (ed. with Sharon Besell). She is the editor of the Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology and a Senior Fellow in Anthropology, Research School of Pacific and

Asian Studies at the Australian National University.

Notes

1. For example, the issue of the place of women in heaven.

2. An explication of their interpretive strategies can found in Subhan (2002). 3. Under Indonesian law, the man pronounces the conditions of provisional divorce at

the time of the marriage (nikah). If he fails to fulfill these conditions, the woman has

grounds for divorce.

4. Kompas, 11 October 2004, "Menyosialisasikan 'Counter Legal Draft' Kompilasi Hukum

Islam" (Publicizing the "counter legal draft" of Islamic legal compilations), http://

www.kompas.com/kompas-cetak/0410/ll/swara/1316378.htm (accessed 8 September

2005); Jaringan Islam Liberal, 8 September 2005, "Wawancara Dr Siti Musdah Mulia, M.A.: Kompilasi Hukum Sangat Konservatif!" (Interview with Dr. Siti Musdah Mulia, M.A.: Legal compilations are extremely conservative!), http://islamlib.com/id/index.

php?page + article&id + 408 (accessed 8 September 2005).

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