Islamic Historiography

Pesantren and the Representation of Islam in the New Order History: A Challenge from Saifuddin Zuhri's Autobiographies

(Paper, Fall 2008)

West and South Asian Religion, Emory

The New Order’s official history as can be seen from the book of Sejarah Nasional Indonesia represents Islam into two different models: accommodative and selective. The accommodative approach accepts the integration of Islam in the state’s history since Islam especially in the pre-Indonesian history is interpreted as an inseparable part of the nation that played a decisive role in connecting the Nusantara archipelago worldwide and in defending the regions from the European political and economic hegemonies. The selective approach is applied to limit the visibility of Islam during the courses of the independence struggles and beyond since these times belong exclusively to the regime’s narratives. Historiography is thus projected as an effective means of silencing narratives and re-constructing the past within the regime’s perspectives.

If the former approach delimits the application of various perspectives in interpreting Islam, making representation of Islam proportionally balanced, the latter tends to selectively chose sources and data that are in line with the state’s ideology. The state only permits the representation of Islam in the history as a purely religious phenomenon regardless of if its ideological and political dimensions that encourage its follower to engage actively in defense of the nation and in the independence revolution. The fact that a strong penetration of military ideology controls the state historiography has lead to the dominant narratives of the regime and the army. The history overlooks the contributions that the Muslims and the pesantren community made during the revolutionary times. As a result, they attempt to represent themselves in the history. Autobiography thus arises as a counter balance to the state narrations, as what Saifuddin Zuhri proposed.

Saifuddin wrote two autobiographies that are specifically concerned with the world of pesantren and their considerable endeavors in the establishment and formulation of the nation which are unfortunately silenced in the official history. As a person who comes from the pesantren, lived through the late phase of colonialism, witnessed the eras of wars, conflicts, instability and economic hardship, he feels that the history does not really tell the truth. What he sees and experiences throughout these eras significantly differ from the official narratives. The institution of pesantren where he grew up, studied and began his life does not appear in the history. Although he realizes that the pesantren people are humble seeking God’s pleasure in their lives, therefore not necessarily needs representation and recognition, this does not mean misrepresenting them in the history is tenable. Writing autobiography for him does not merely mean making self-representation, but more importantly representing those he thinks deserve remembering. His autobiographies obviously challenge any historical misrepresentation to the pesantren world.