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Zakir Hussain Indonesia Correspondent In Cibinong, West Java The Tan Kok Liong mosque in this village 40km south of Jakarta, with its red pillars and sloping roofs, looks just like a Chinese temple from afar. Indeed, some strict Muslims feel it has gone too far, finding the sculpted dragons, doves and eagles on its roofs a violation of religious proscriptions on human and animal figures. “Some Arab-Indonesian clerics from Jakarta came to visit and said this is a sinful innovation,” its builder and imam, who named it after himself, tells The Sunday Times. “I said ‘no’ – it all boils down to our intentions. You can circumcise me 100 times, I will still be Chinese. If we’re not proud of that, who will be?” Better known as Anton Medan, Mr Tan says he wants to show his countrymen that there is room for differences and that people can be as fully Chinese as they are Muslim. Others agree. Mr Tan, 54, was elected chief of the Indonesian Chinese Muslim Association (PITI) in March and wants to bridge a gap in understanding about Chinese Muslims, which many like him say still exists. Although Chinese Indonesians today face far less discrimination than during the era of former presi- dent Suharto, some Chi- nese Muslims still face constant questioning and suspicion about their identity – from other Muslims and Chi- nese alike. Mosques like this one seek to educate people that there are those who straddle both worlds. There are about a dozen Chinese mosques, either in existence already or be- ing built. Community leaders say few realise that Mus- lims from China came to Java long before those from India or the Middle East did. “Chinese going into mosques still attract stares and suspicious looks,” says PITI secretary-general Anda Hakim, or Mr Lie Sin Hoa, 53. “It can be very disheartening.” Mr Tan built his mosque in 2005, when his banner-printing business made significant profits from the 2004 presidential election won by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. A Hokkien-speaking former gang leader and con- vict, Mr Tan converted to Islam in 1992 and em- barked on a second career as a preacher, going to pris- ons and red-light districts where few ventured. He also started a pesantren, or Islamic boarding school, for former convicts in Cibinong. About 200 of them worked on the mosque, which fits 400 and has a small dome on the side. He estimates that there are between 500,000 and one million Chinese Muslims today, out of some nine million Chinese Indonesians. During the Suharto years, PITI, which was found- ed in Jakarta in 1963 by prominent Chinese Muslim leaders including Bank Central Asia co-founder Abdul Karim Oei, had to remove the word Chinese from its name. But it retained its ethnic character, and towards the end of the New Order, several friends and family members started the Haji Karim Oei Foundation. Around 1990, the foundation started operating the Lautze Mosque, the first Chinese mosque in modern Indonesia. A Chinese migrant had built the Kebon Jeruk mosque in the 18th century but its con- gregation is now diverse. Run out of a refurbished shophouse in a predomi- nantly Chinese business district in Jakarta, the Lautze Mosque sought to change the negative image of Islam among Chinese Indonesians and minister to Chinese converts. “We discussed a range of Arabic names,” recalls mosque leader Ali Karim Oei, 56, the son of Mr Abdul Karim. “I said, why not use the name of the street we’re on? It so happens to be the name of a Taoist sage.” He adds: “The religion is about respecting others, not just about being respected. So Muslims who fast should be giving food to those who do not, instead of expecting those who are not fasting to also not eat.” Two more Lautze mosques have since opened in Bandung and Tangerang. PITI leaders in East Java also opened a pagoda- style Cheng Ho Mosque in Surabaya in 2002, named after the Muslim Ming dynasty admiral who visited Java. Its octagonal shape evokes the pak kwa or eight- sided object meant to bring fortune, and Cheng Ho mosques have been built in cities such as Pasuruan and Palembang, with more in the pipeline. Singaporean researcher Zhuang Wubin, 34, who photographed and interviewed Chinese Muslims in Indonesia over two years for his recent book by that title, points out that Chinese Muslims are, like any other group, not homogeneous. Even as some want to reconcile their ethnicity and their religion, others reject such a possibility. But that choice is now wide open, Mr Zhuang notes: “Sustaining both their ‘Chineseness’ and their Muslim identities has become possible only in the post-Suharto era, where Indonesians again have the right to decide for themselves the identities that they wish to project.” Mr Tan says: “Diversity is a blessing, and as Indo- nesians, we should appreciate that better.” [email protected] Singaporean researcher Zhuang Wubin, 34, points out that Chinese Muslims are, like any other group, not homogeneous. Even as some want to reconcile their ethnicity and their religion, others reject such a possibility. ST PHOTO: ZAKIR HUSSAIN Mr Tan Kok Liong at the mosque he built in Cibinong, West Java, with its roofs decorated with carvings of doves, dragons and eagles. It is one of a number of mosques that have been built in recent years by Chinese Muslims in Indonesia. Chinese mosques in Indonesia seek to educate people of unique group that straddles both worlds Chinese Muslim, and proud of it 21 world August 5, 2012 thesundaytimes ★
