Bumi Bebas

The World At Ransom

2008-04-16T23:36:00.000-07:00

THE WORLD AT RANSOM
by Abdur-Razzaq Lubis
(Extract from Introduction to Discredit Interest-Debt!: The Instrument of World Enslavement by Abdur-Razzaq Lubis Et Al)

There is obviously something very wrong with the world today. The human race and the planet itself are in danger of extinction as a result of continuous and indiscriminate development and production.

Where the responsibility lies for the systematic degradation of human beings and the destruction of natural and cultural environments is an uncomfortable issue that must be confronted and resolved before any attempt to forge a sustainable future can be successfully realised.

At the very outset, we must categorically state that to think in the political or economic language of the day would be futile, as it would cause us to become enmeshed in `political' and `economic' issues of no relevance whatsoever.

We may even find ourselves labeled as propagandists for one side or another of the political-economic divide, whereas it is the very dialectics thrown up by the political economists which prevent us from seeing how things really work.

The world today is facing an economic, political, ideological and environmental crisis. The world debt crisis has assumed gigantic proportions, a staggering sum that cannot be paid for by any amount of environment-destructive development.

Economists' recipes are too far removed from the present-day reality. The old cures won't work - not Keynesian, Friedman or Galbraith. No simple programmes based on ideological purity, free enterprise or nationalisation will save us. In fact, no manipulative tricks with taxes, wages, interest rates, price policies, subsidies, trade relations or regional trade blocks, will make a difference. Nor will strikes, union actions, demonstrations or revolutions.

Al1 existing theoretical formulations are outmoded whether we examine the capitalist `free market' or marxism, welfare statism or traditional theories of third world development. Events have exposed their fallacies. Neither the conservative nor the liberal, the right wing nor the left wing, has the answers because both sides are locked into archaic ideological debate.

Political and economic realities have undergone such tremendous change and upheavel that our old labels do not fit any more. The terms `right' and `left' which used to denote poltical and economic ideas and entities are now relics of the past age, relegated to our political¬economic history. We are now witnessing the break-up of the system. Not the capitalist system, not the communist system, but the system that embraces them both.

Today's crisis is the crisis of the monetary system, which is a direct result of mammoth pyramids of usurious transactions. Monetarism is a global system, and its `means of production' is the banking system which exploits the principle of usury.

The critics of the capitalist state have been misled for the last century by Marx who named surplus-value as a crime against the people but did not speak out against interest-debt. The false `class conflict' between capital and labour can no longer rally the grassroots because of the increasing social mobility promised by the modern market economy.

The monetary system is entrenched in apparently diametrically opposite and opposing systems of politics and economics. Capitalism, socialism and communism are all built on the same principles of standardisation, centralisation, maximisation and more importantly monetarism. These common structural features override the differences focussed by the opponents of each side, who are merely side-tracking the issues.

To put it another way, capitalism and communism today are defined by their attitudes to the market, and the market today dominates both their political and economic spheres. `Capitalism' and `communism' both contain within them the seeds of their own fatal inner contradictions, and the tide of financial and monetary change is making them both obsolete.

To the monetarist elite, there was never any communist and capitalist divide, as they finance both sides in peace and in war. For the last few centuries they have been profiteering from war - from the European Civil Wars, the First World War, the Second World War, the imperialistic wars, up till the wars perpetuated in the Middle East today to secure control of the oil reserves.

Those who financed the colonial expeditions and expansionism are now financing the third world countries as well as the multinationals, just as those who financed the proliferation of polluting industries throughout the world are now financing the cleaning-up of the environment.

The international banking system works in tandem with the multinational corporations, and as computer and new communications systems are being laid in place, a higher and higher percentage of world production will be managed by multinationals rather than national markets today.

The monetarist elite is now pumping money into `regional growth areas' to encompass and absorb hitherto `underdeveloped' areas into the market economy. Financial centres are match-made with poorer neighbours offering abundant labour supply, to create new markets which justify further credit expansion.

As these twins, triangles or quadrangles, as the case may be, often involve two or more countries, the institutions that bridge them, and which are in fact sovereign, are none other than the banking entities and multinationals, which owe no allegiance to any country. Most transnationals are based in one country for administrative purposes, registered in another country for financial purposes, and locate their operational bases in yet other countries for cost-effective production and profit maximization.

The power structures of today operate across the national grids, overlapping their systems and methods by a series of interlocking network of commodities, currencies, stock exchange, futures and options markets. Both East and West are actively participating in this webbing monetary systems control, and its masters are in effect the masters of the world.

That is not to say that the national governments do not wield substantive physical powers. However, they act only out of necessity in compliance with these non-conspiratorial, unhiddden, yet unperceived power structures.

What must be understood is that the debt spiral and the fantastical trillion dollar loans and interest-accumulating debts are the signifiers of the power realities of today. While political and economic systems appear to be disparate, Competing and sometimes opposing entities, they are merely sub-systems of a monetarism. whose power structure represents the commodities, finance and armaments elite. Monetarism as a system which is consistent in its central principle i.e. the application of usury, rises above and profits from, all ideological and economic inconsistencies of its sub-systems.

Most people, irrespective of their politics, see the future as a simple straight line extension of the present. They are in for a big surprise. We are now witnessing revolutionary changes in all the basic sub-systems - the economic, political and social systems - generated by the shift in the monetary movement from the West to the East.

Industrialising nations, caught in the productivity competition, no longer question the technolorical project nor the wisdom of endless growth which will only exhaust their resources and environment, after which the monetarists will simply move their capital into new regions where exploitation will be more 'cost-effective'.

Nor do the third world peoples question the creation, in the first place, of that artificial politico-economic entity, the modern 'nation-state', which boundaries cut across natural nations and which hold together diverse peoples whose government must necessarily be a political compromise, hence one whose survival is inevitably dependent on the generosity of international patrons. To attain and retain power, the nation's political masters have to enter into a Faustian contract.

That is why it is practically and theoretically impossible to shift the tyranny of modern statism by revolution, as has been proven by the many failed revolutions which have only caused senseless death, destruction and misery to millions.

In a world where multinational and regional economies are becoming more important than national economies, the 'sovereign nation’ continues to be deceptively propped up in all its glory. Peoples are divided into competing national economies, and democracy sustains the illusion of political freedom. In actual fact, the results of democratic elections impinge no more on the power structures than does the matter of who win the football game affect the whole business of professional football.

All that matters to the monetarist elite is that the national governments, democractically elected or otherwise, are given carte blanche to commit themselves to colossal interest-debts, which are passed on to their citizens in the form of taxes. National assets are held to ransom, having been mortaged several times over. Through the authority delivered to the national governments by popular mandate, the whole world has been surrendered to the monetarists'

Now, it appears that we are in a great rush of seemingly unrelated changes. In fact, accelaration of change is itself a mark of our time. These changes on a global scale, while purporting to be driven by technological advances and market forces, in fact propel the systematic absorption and exploitation of people and resource.,. The changes affect many countries and peoples, not in the narrow political sense, but through a comprehensive social transformation which encompasses the realm of psychological and social development.

The process of social disintegration had already begun in the colonial days. The authorities sowed disharmony and suspicion, while claiming to be the only force keeping the people from tearing each other apart. The rivalry of political parties in a democratic svstem are just another way of keeping the people divided.With the modern work and leisure patterns, the atomisation of modern society is thorough and complete.

As the peoples in the third world have been hypnotized by materialistic displays into accepting `modernisation', they cease to defend their traditional forests, farmlands, towns, settlements, in short, the sustainable human community. As soon as the community as a whole puts down its guard, its people are effectively transformed into `workers' - commodified labour units in the enslaving production process.

Yet the elite among the worker ants of the monetarist colony entertain the myth of individual freedom - expressed in little more than private fantasies, individual fashion tastes and spending habits - programmed by a media monopoly which stretches from one end of the globe to the other, reaching 3 billion out of 5 billion of the world's population.

Where in a community with traditional loyalties, the people could rally around a leader and seek justice for a wrong done to one of their own, modern-day `individuals', divided into nuclear families, car¬owners, workers, credit-card holders, consumers etc. are powerless to act, delegating actions and responsibilities to authorities, departments, and so forth.

Instead of kingdom, tribe and clan, individuals now band themselves into `residents' organisations', `friendly societies', and `social clubs' which provide a `sense of belonging', but which are in fact divorced from their natural political territories and sources of authority.

Just as displaced indigenous peoples are offered welfare resettlement, the poor and dispossessed are offered `charity' `housing', so every alienated individual in modern society is allowed to claim nominal `human rights', in a world where the traditional society, which had it’s own provisions for personal safety and social justice, has been completely undermined.

Human rights cases will be acknowledged wherever it gives the monetarists an excuse to slander a `closed economy'. Even the environmental cause has already been absorbed into the mainstream, gg multinationals a cleaner image than most local industries. Any social orpolitical organisation, causeor lobby will betolerated, coopted and even funded, so long as it does not question the means by which wealth is created, procreated and appropriated.

'Most people are still unaware that the basic rules are changing, that a large and growing hegemony has arisen that dwarfs all others and affects all of us. We should be fighting to shape the next society, to define our positions in relation to what is emerging and not to what is passing into oblivion.

A whole cluster of new groups are taking form, despite the political and economic tyranny of today, of people who are resisting the homogenising force of the production and consumer-oriented society. These new forces have to unleash a new vigour and vision, and mount a real challenge to those who remain totally committed to an unsustainable way of life.

The collapse of the monetary system itself is inevitable because of its inherently illusory and irrational nature. However, we do not want the world and its species to be destroyed in the last convulsive throes of the all-devouring, parasitical, usurious beast.

At this historical moment the entire world is held at ransom - where every person and every land must submit to the monetarist agenda of continuous expansion, at whatever cost to the human being and the planet earth. The human project has been hijacked by the monetarist oligarchy and its destination has been switched, from a fertile realm of self-realisation to a desecrated wasteland.

Faced with the endangered present, we must identify the elements responsible, and assess where the greatest clangers lie and whcre the most radical measures must be applied - if we are to survive and save the human project, which is none other than a balanced and sane life transaction.

It will begin with the re-evaluation of our current values and the conscious attempt to be a free being as opposed to an enslaved, indebted being. It is in this context that we need a new community and a non¬usurious trading model.

Saat "Setan Keuangan" Manguasai Dunia

2007-09-19T05:10:00.000-07:00

RESENSI

Judul Buku : Satanic Finance, True Conspiracies
Penulis : A. Riawan Amin
Penerbit : Celestial Publishing
Cetakan I : April, 2007
Tebal : xvi + 150 halaman

Saat “Setan Keuangan” Menguasai Dunia
Oleh: Emil W. Aulia

JELAS ada yang tidak beres dengan dunia kita saat ini. Hari ke hari, jumlah orang miskin terus bertambah. Kota dan desa dipadati para penganggur sementara pabrik dan industri di sekitar mereka terus berproduksi, mengeksploitasi kekayaan bumi. Ironis, ada daerah yang kaya sumber daya alam namun penduduk di sekitarnya kurang gizi bahkan kelaparan.

Sejumlah usaha telah dilakukan untuk memperbaiki keadaan. Pelbagai kebijakan ekonomi dan proyek pengentasan kemiskinan diluncurkan namun tidak satupun yang benar-benar berhasil saat diterapkan. Jauh panggang dari api. Dunia, masyarakat kita, terus terperosok dalam krisis ekonomi, politik, sosial, dan lingkungan.

Sementara itu, inflasi kian memperburuk keadaan. Nilai uang merosot, harga barang dan jasa melambung. Otoritas moneter berjuang menekan laju inflasi namun secanggih apapun pendekatannya, akar inflasi tak pernah sungguh-sungguh bisa dihancurkan. Benar kiranya Robert Mundell. Dunia saat ini, kata peraih nobel ekonomi itu, memasuki apa yang disebut rejim inflasi permanen.

Kenapa tak satupun tindakan yang benar-benar mampu mengubah keadaan? Direktur Utama Bank Muamalat Indonesia, A. Riawan Amin punya pandangan tak biasa. Bankir bank syariah terbesar di Indonesia itu berpendapat, semua itu terjadi karena sistem ekonomi yang kita gunakan saat ini mengandung cacat laten. Walhasil, apapun kebijakan yang dilahirkannya, –dengan segala turunannya-- sama sekali tidak akan mampu memperbaiki keadaan.

Pandangan Riawan itu terbentang dalam buku terbarunya, Satanic Finance, True Conspiracies. Membaca buku Ketua Asosiasi Bank Syariah Indonesia ini sungguh menyentak kesadaran sebab ia meruntuhkan pelbagai teori dan praktik keuangan moderen yang selama ini kita anggap benar dan final. Sistem ekonomi moderen adalah “sistem setan”, demikian istilah yang dikenalkannya. Sistem itu hidup karena ditopang Three Pilars of Evil (tiga pilar setan). Pertama, fiat money –uang kertas. Kedua, fractional reserve requirement --cadangan wajib bank. Ketiga, interest –bunga.

Mari menyigi satu persatu. Berapa banyak di antara kita menerima begitu saja penggunaan uang kertas. Riawan menyingkap, dibalik pembuatan uang kertas terdapat muslihat. Uang kertas diciptakan dari ketiadaan karena penerbitannya tidak disokong emas atau perak. Itulah makna fiat money. Uang kertas bernilai --persisnya dianggap bernilai-- hanya karena diberi cetakan angka oleh otoritas moneter yang menerbitkannya. Selebihnya, uang kertas hanya lembaran kertas biasa, tak berbeda dengan kertas cetakan lainnya Disebabkan terbuat dari ketiadaan, maka fiat money juga rentan spekulasi. Saat penciptaannya melebihi jumlah barang dan jasa yang bisa diproduksi maka inflasipun terjadi.

Melalui fiat money pula, kolonialisasi moderen dijalankan. Tidak perlu serangan militer untuk menguasai negara lain. Negara yang punya mata uang kuat, bisa membuat negara yang mata uangnya lemah, bertekuk lutut. Uang kertas dolar Amerika Serikat (AS), sebut buku ini adalah contoh nyata bagaimana AS mudah menjajah dunia. Penerapan sistem uang kertas, memungkinkan AS mempermainkan nilai mata uang negara-negara ketiga yang bersandar kepadanya. Penerapan uang kertas dalam sistem keuangan dunia adalah konspirasi.

Pilar kedua, fractional reserve requirement (FRR) --kebijakan yang menempatkan bank sebagai pihak yang leluasa mengucurkan pinjaman (kredit) kepada deposan. Disini, bank, termasuk bank sentral, ikut mencetak fiat money lalu menggandakannya. Pilar kedua ini bertemali dengan pilar ketiga; interest (bunga) –praktik lumrah berikutnya dalam perbankan.

Bank memungut bunga karena beberapa alasan: biaya servis atas transaksi pinjaman (utang) atau kompensasi mendapatkan hasil produktif bila uang tersebut diinvestasikan dalam bentuk lain. Apapun alasannya, Taurat, Injil dan Al Quran melarang memungut bunga karena hal itu tergolong riba. Seluruh kitab agama langit sepakat, mengambil riba (bunga) menyebabkan pelbagai kerusakan. Dalam praktiknya, bunga menuntut tercapainya pertumbuhan ekonomi yang terus menerus, kendati kondisi ekonomi aktual sudah jenuh dan konstan. Bunga mendorong persaingan di antara para pemain dalam ekonomi. Bunga memosisikan kesejahteraan pada segelintir minoritas dengan memajaki kaum mayoritas. (hal. 48).

Tidak sekedar menyingkap borok satanic finance, Riawan memberi solusi menghadapinya yaitu tinggalkan riba dan kembali pada mata uang dinar emas dan dirham perak. Riawan yakin, dengan melakukan dua hal ini maka “tiga pilar setan” akan runtuh dengan sendirinya. (hal. 112).

Dinar adalah koin emas murni seberat 4,25 gram; dirham adalah koin perak seberat 3 gram. Keduanya patut dijadikan mata uang alternatif pengganti fiat money. Dinar-dirham bernilai ril karena terbuat dari logam mulia (commodity currency). Ini berbeda dengan uang kertas yang hakikatnya tak lebih dari kertas cetakan belaka, nihil karena tak mewakili nilai emas atau perak. Potonglah sekeping dinar emas menjadi bagian-bagian kecil, seluruh bagiannya tetap berharga namun guntinglah selembar uang kertas maka ia sama sekali tak akan berguna.

Disebabkan kandungannya, dinar dan dirham lebih stabil nilainya ketimbang fiat money. Sejarah menunjukkan, dinar tak mengenal inflasi sementara fiat money adalah biangnya inflasi. Tidak heran bila banyak kalangan menyebut dinar-dirham sebagai mata uang surga (the heavens currency). Maksudnya, bukan mata uang yang digunakan di surga melainkan sebagai penjaga keadilan yang menjadi salah satu ciri penghuni surga (hal. 107).

Dinar-dirham hanya sekadar nama. Esensinya, keduanya adalah logam berharga: emas dan perak. Sejarah menunjukkan, ribuan tahun peradaban manusia menempatkan emas dan perak sebagai alat moneter. Koin emas pertama kali digunakan 500 tahun sebelum masehi tatkala Raja Croesus berkuasa hingga ke era Julius Caesar dan Kaisar Nero. Dinar sendiri dikenal sebagai mata uang Byzantium dan dirham dari Persia. Belakangan, Nabi Muhammad SAW mengakuinya sebagai mata uang. Koin emas dan perak terakhir digunakan sebagai mata uang pada tahun 1924 seiring jatuhnya Kekhalifahan Osmaniah di Turki.

Pamor dinar yang meredup selama lebih setengah abad, kembali dihidupkan oleh Syeikh Dr Abdalqadir as-Sufi. Pertengahan Agustus 1991, tokoh sufi di Eropa itu mengeluarkan fatwa haram penggunaan uang kertas sebagai alat tukar. Dinar-dirham dicetak kembali oleh Islamic Mint Spanyol tahun 1992 di bawah kewenangan World Islamic Trade Organization (WITO).

Tidak seperti buku ekonomi yang umumnya terkesan berat, membaca buku ini justru enteng. Dengan bahasa yang ringan, Riawan merangkai semua gagasannya melalui kisah suku Sukus dan Tukus yang hidup di pulau imajiner bernama Pulau Aya dan Pulau Baya. Melalui kisah mereka, alumnus Institut Teknologi New York dan Universitas Texas, AS itu mengajak pembaca menjelajahi sistem satanic finance, siapa koleganya, bagaimana trik dan dogmanya. Riawan menunjukkan dengan cemerlang, penerimaan kita pada uang kertas dan riba adalah biang pelbagai kerusakan ekonomi yang diiringi krisis kemanusiaan lainnya.

Sepanjang penceritaannya, penulis buku laris The Celestial Management itu menghidupkan sosok setan sebagai tukang cerita. Lewat sudut pandang tokoh terkutuk inilah, Riawan membentangkan data seputar carut-marut satanic finance. Usai membaca buku ini, kita dihadapkan pada dua pilihan: berdamai dengan sistem keuangan yang berlaku sekarang dengan segala bencana yang ditimbulkannya atau memilih aturan baru yang sama sekali berbeda untuk menyelamatkan keadaan. Buku yang ditulis Director International Islamic Financial Market ini patut dibaca bagi siapapun yang menginginkan pilihan kedua. ***

Emil W. Aulia, peminat kajian numismatika

Jaffar Lubis, Melestarikan Tanpa Memaikan

2007-07-22T02:20:00.000-07:00

Foto Arbain Rambey
Jaffar Lubis, Melestarikan Tanpa Memainkan

MENURUT etnomusikolog dari Universitas Sumatera Utara, Irwansyah Harahap, alat musik perkusi terbesar di dunia adalah gordang sembilan milik masyarakat Mandailing di Sumatera Utara (Sumut) bagian selatan. Dengan jumlahnya yang sembilan buah dan dengan gordang terbesar sepanjang sekitar dua meter, sungguh alat musik ini memang besar. Empat orang dibutuhkan untuk memainkannya.

Namun, saat ini, di tengah merajalelanya musik pop, gordang sembilan, seperti juga alat musik tradisional lain, makin tergeser perannya. Selain itu, makin sedikit pula orang yang bisa membuatnya. Di antara yang sedikit itu, tersebutlah sebuah nama: Jaffar Lubis.

Dijumpai Kompas di Desa Manambin, Kecamatan Kotanopan, Kabupaten Mandailing Natal (Madina), Sumut, Jaffar Lubis terlihat sedang mengerjakan satu perangkat gordang sembilan di halaman rumahnya. Pria yang kurus tinggi ini namanya memang sering disebut di Mandailing kalau lagi membicarakan masalah gordang sembilan. Beberapa buatannya sudah sampai di luar negeri, seperti Malaysia dan Singapura. Bupati Madina pun memesan kepadanya untuk kepentingan koleksi kabupaten.

"Saya bisa membuat gordang sembilan secara otodidak. Tetapi, saya pun tidak bisa memainkannya sama sekali," kata Jaffar Lubis.

TERNYATA masalah memainkan dan membuat tidaklah harus seiring sejalan. Gordang sembilan dalam sejarahnya memang tidak bisa dimainkan sembarang orang. Ada upacara tertentu untuk membuka selubungnya, untuk lalu dimainkan dalam perayaan-perayaan besar.

"Saya tinggal di Manambin bagian bawah. Gordang desa ada di Manambin atas. Jadi, sejak kecil saya memang tidak punya kesempatan untuk memainkan gordang yang ada di depan balai desa," kata Jaffar Lubis, menjelaskan ketidakbisaannya memainkan gordang sembilan.

Namun, Jaffar Lubis, yang mulanya magang pada temannya dalam membuat gordang, akhirnya justru menjadi maestro pembuat yang selalu dicari. Sudah dua puluh tahun pria kelahiran 26 Januari 1960 ini berkecimpung dalam pembuatan gordang, dan dalam rentang itu sudah belasan alat musik ini dihasilkannya.

Bagi Jaffar Lubis, membuat gordang adalah menciptakan sebuah karya yang akan dinikmati banyak orang. Adalah kebanggaan besar bagi dirinya kalau dalam sebuah upacara besar karyanya dipakai dan para hadirin hanyut dalam indahnya suara gordang buatannya itu.

"Kebahagiaan saya kalau orang senang dengan suara gordang buatan saya. Uang menjadi tidak berarti lagi," kata suami Barinjen Daulay ini.

Untuk satu perangkat gordang sembilan dengan ukuran normal, JaffarLubis meminta upah lima juta rupiah. Barang harus diambil sendiri ke Manambin, karena dia memang tidak menerima jasa antar. Kata "ukuran normal" ini perlu ditekankan, sebab kini mulai terjadi aksi jor-joran dalam ukuran gordang sembilan.

"Ada beberapa orang yang ingin memesan gordang sembilan dengan ukuran yang lebih besar dari milik bupati dengan alasan gengsi. Padahal, ukuran yang terlalu besar membuat suara gordang buruk," katanya.

SEBUAH set gordang sembilan dengan ukuran normal, menurut Jaffar Lubis, bisa didapatkan dari sebuah pohon utuh yang panjangnya sekitar 12 meter.

"Dengan diambil dari satu pohon utuh, sebuah gordang punya sifat sama pada kesembilan bagiannya. Bagi saya, sembilan gordang dari satu pohon adalah sebuah kesatuan yang kokoh dan dalam segalanya tidak terpisahkan," tuturnya.

Dari pengalaman Lubis, untuk set terbaik gordang sembilan, gordang terbesarnya berukuran panjang 165 sentimeter, diameter atas 43 sentimeter dan diameter bawah 40 sentimeter. Ukuran selanjutnya dari gordang dua sampai sembilan adalah, 160-40-38, 155-30-35, 150-35-32, 140-32-30, 135-30-28, 130-28-25, 125-25-23, dan 110-22-20.
Dibandingkan dengan harga alat musik modern yang lebih tinggi dari sekadar lima juta rupiah, kerja keras Jaffar Lubis memang jadi tampak tidak dihargai sebagaimana mestinya.

Untuk membuat sebuah perangkat gordang sembilan, hal pertama yang dilakukan Jaffar Lubis adalah "berburu pohon". Ia memerlukan waktu sekitar sebulan keluar masuk hutan untuk mendapatkan pohon yang sesuai. Kayu yang terbaik yang bisa didapatkan di Tanah Mandailing adalah kayu ingol atau surian.

"Tapi, kini makin sulit untuk mendapatkan pohon besar lagi. Terlalu banyak pembabatan hutan," kata ayah lima anak ini.

Tidak seperti di abad lalu, Lubis mengatakan bahwa ia tidak merasa perlu berpuasa atau melakukan upacara tertentu dulu untuk membuat sebuah perangkat gordang sembilan. "Saya natural saja," katanya.

Persiapan terpenting yang dilakukannya adalah memahami benar keinginan pemesan, lalu menyiapkan bekal secukupnya untuk keluar masuk hutan selama sekitar sebulan. Hutan favoritnya dalam mencari kayu untuk gordang adalah Gading Baing yang tidak jauh dari Manambin, desanya.

SETELAH mendapatkan sebuah pohon yang cocok pun bukan berarti separuh tugasnya selesai. Ia harus segera kembali ke kampungnya untuk membawa aneka peralatan yang dibutuhkan guna memotong pohon dan melubangi bagian tengahnya."Kayu harus saya potong-potong dengan panjang yang tepat, lalu saya lubangi tengahnya agar ringan. Semua itu saya kerjakan di tengah hutan yang sering di permukaan tanahnya sangat miring," papar pria yang selalu tersenyum ini.

Pengerjaan di hutan adalah bagian tersulit dalam pembuatan seperangkat gordang sembilan. Selain tempatnya yang sangat tidak sesuai untuk sebuah bengkel kerja, kesalahan di sini sama sekali tidak bisa diperbaiki lagi. Kesalahan memotong panjang sebuah gordang membuat potongan itu lalu menjadi tidak berguna. Akibatnya yang lebih panjang lagi, perangkat gordang itu akhirnya bukan terbuat dari satu pohon yang sama.

"Ada perasaan tidak lengkap di situ," kata Lubis. Itulah sebabnya, bagi dia, pengerjaan awal di hutan adalah bagian terberat dan terpenting pada pembuatan sebuah perangkat gordang sembilan. Ia lalu menceriterakan pengalaman pembuat gordang di masa lalu, yang masih berjumpa harimau sumatera di tengah hutan.

Kerja yang dilakukan di rumah adalah memberi sentuhan terakhir pada gordang, termasuk memasang kulit sapi putih sebagai bagian yang dipukul nantinya."Kulit sapi yang dipakai haruslah kulit pilihan. Saya sudah punya orang yang selalu bisa memberikan kulit terbaik," katanya. Dan, menurut dia, "Kulit yang baik adalah yang tidak terlalu tebal dan juga tidak terlalu tipis. Ada kekeringan tertentu yang harus dicapai saat dipasangkan di badan gordangnya."

AKHIRNYA, hasil akhir sebuah gordang yang baik terletak pada pemainnya juga. Pemain pertama yang memainkan gordang 1, 2, dan 3, yang disebut jangat, sangat berperan pada permainan total. Yang memainkan gordang 4 dan 5 disebut jogo-jogo, pemain gordang 6 dan 7 disebut udong-udong, sedangkan pemain gordang 8 dan 9 disebut tepe-tepe.

"Saya bahagia bisa ikut melestarikan kesenian ini, walau tidak bisa memainkannya," kata Lubis dengan tatapan mata yang berbinar-binar. (ARBAIN RAMBEY)

http://kompas.com/kompas-cetak/0302/28/naper/152548.htm

Pintu Rasionalisme Harun Nasution

2007-07-21T01:27:00.000-07:00

Pintu Rasionalisme Harun Nasution

Teologi fatalistik adalah biang kemunduran masyarakat muslim. Harun Nasution (1919-1998) menawarkan teologi Mu'tazilah yang rasional sebagai pengganti teologi Asy'ariyah.

Nasib Mu'tazilah, mazhab teologi paling rasional dalam sejarah klasik Islam, bisa diibaratkan mutiara yang tertutup debu. Berharga, tapi tak banyak ulama yang sudi melihat "kemilau" pemikiran kaum rasionalis yang dipelopori Washil bin Attha' pada abad XIII itu. Bahkan, sebagian dari mereka--atas dasar perbedaan pandangan teologis- -menuduh penganut mazhab tersebut kafir dan sesat.

Sikap kurang menyenangkan semacam itu pernah dialami Profesor Harun Nasution,pemikir rasionalis dan penjaja pemikiran Mu'tazilah paling gigih di Indonesia. Harun Nasution, lelaki asal Mandailing, Sumatra Utara, yang mendapatkan gelar doktornya di Universitas McGill, Kanada, tahun 1968, meninggal dalam usia 79 tahun, akhir bulan lalu. Ia menulis tesis tentang pemikiran Muhammad Abduh, ulama modernis asal Mesir.

Dalam sebuah pertemuan ulama, Muhammad Hatta, mantan wakil presiden RI, pernah bertanya kepada Harun tentang tesisnya. "Mengapa tidak dipublikasikan saja?" tanya Bung Hatta waktu itu. Sebagai jawaban, Harun mengatakan, ia takut akan reaksi negatif dari sebagian umat Islam.

Ternyata dugaannya tak meleset. Ketika Harun mengungkapkan kesimpulannya dalam pembicaraan itu, bahwa Abduh seorang penganut Mu'tazilah, seorang tokoh Islam yang berada di dekat Harun dan Bung Hatta berkomentar, "Naudzubillah," ungkapan yang menyiratkan ketidaksukaan terhadap Mu'tazilah.

Bahkan, di kesempatan lain, cendekiawan Islam, Prof. Dr.H.M. Rasjidi, pernah mengecam pemikiran Harun, yang menurut dia dipengaruhi cara berpikir kaum orientalis.

Memang kaum Mu'tazilah, menurut cendekiawan Fazlur Rahman, guru besar studi Islam di Universitas Chicago, AS, telah membawa rasionalitas demikian jauh dengan menyejajarkan kemampuan akal dengan wahyu dalam menemukan kebenaran agama. Pemikiran Mu'tazilah, dalam konteks waktu itu, dianggap melampaui zamannya.

Beberapa tema pokok mazhab tersebut--seperti rasio disejajarkan dengan wahyu, manusia memiliki otoritas penuh atas perbuatannya, dan takdir Tuhan adalah final dengan diciptakannya sunatullah (hukum alam)-- cukup mempengaruhi cara pandang intelektual muslim hingga kini.

Harun, yang pernah menjadi Rektor Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN) Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta, adalah salah satu pemikir yang berhasil membersihkan "debu" mutiara itu. Menurut Harun, teologi Mu'tazilah adalah embrio teologi rasional dan teologi liberal dalam Islam --dua aspek yang menurut pemikir terkemuka dari IAIN ini relevan untuk masyarakat modern.

Pemikiran ini berbeda dengan teologi fatalistik ala Asy'ariyah, mazhab teologi varian Jabbariyah, yang selama ini membentuk masyarakat tradisional. Menurut Harun, untuk memodernisasi umat, teologi Asy'ariyah harus diganti dengan teologi Mu'tazilah. Teologi yang fatalistik adalah biang kemunduran masyarakat muslim bagi Harun.

Implikasi dari teologi rasional, seperti diperlihatkan pemikiran-pemikiran Harun, memang tampak moderat, lebih terbuka terhadap peradaban dan kebudayaan lain, dan tak terjebak pada satu mazhab (desakralisasi mazhab). Namun, bedanya dengan rasionalisme dan liberalisme, dua narasi besar yang menjadi landasan peradaban sekuler Barat, menurut Dr. Komaruddin Hidayat dari Yayasan Paramadina, Jakarta, rasionalisme Islam tak sampai meninggalkan wahyu sebagai instrumen kebenaran.

"Seekstrem-ekstremnya pemikir Islam, wahyu tetap sebagai sumber utama. Hanya, ruang untuk akal diperluas serta penafsirannya lebih kontekstual dan liberal," kata Komaruddin. Itu juga yang terjadi pada Harun, yang mendesakralisasi mazhab-mazhab fikih tapi tak meninggalkan tasawuf.

Dalam bahasa Nurcholish Madjid, seperti termuat dalam buku Refleksi Pembaharuan Pemikiran Islam--70 Tahun Harun Nasution, Harun adalah "pembuka" pintu dalam mendekati wahyu secara rasional. "Sebuah langkah dari ribuan langkah yang memang harus ditempuh," kata Nurcholish.

Kelik M. Nugroho, Ardi Bramantyo

http://www.forums.apakabar.ws/viewtopic.php?p=2064&sid=90e3797e4891e32cf6267a4985e46c5c

Harun Nasution, Pembangun Fondasi Islam Modern

2007-07-21T01:22:00.000-07:00

Jumat, 19 September 2003
Prof Harun Nasution
Pembangun Fondasi Islam Modern

Sepanjang hayatnya, ia dedikasikan dirinya pada dunia ilmu. Gagasan dan pemikirannya terasa mencerahkan kehidupan berbangsa dan beragama. Ia juga dinilai cukup berani dalam hal pemikiran keagamaan. Di bidang akademis, dia terbilang sukses, terutama dalam meletakkan dasar-dasar pemahaman yang baru tentang keislaman di kalangan Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN) di Indonesia.

Profesor Harun Nasution, sosok pemikir yang dikenal luas, di dalam maupun luar negeri itu. Dilahirkan di Pematangsiantar, Sumatra Utara, 23 September 1919, sejak kecil Harun dikenal gemar mendalami ilmu. Otaknya tergolong encer. Sementara semangatnya mencari ilmu menjadi spirit utama hidupnya. Bahkan di usianya yang setengah abad, ia belum punya rumah justru karena kecintaannya mendalami ilmu di negeri orang. Besar di Pematangsiantar, guru besar filsafat Islam ini adalah putra keempat Abdul Jabbar Ahmad, ulama, pedagang, hakim sekaligus penghulu di kota itu. Ibunya adalah seorang keturunan ulama Mandailing, Tapanuli Selatan, menguasai bahasa Arab karena pernah bermukim di Makkah.

Di usia 14, setelah tujuh tahun belajar di HIS dan tamat pada 1934, lelaki beristrikan gadis Kairo (Mesir) ini berniat masuk MULO, sekolah umum saat itu. Sayangnya, kedua orang tuanya kurang menyetujui. Untuk mengobati rasa kecewa kedua orang tuanya itu, Harun memutuskan masuk sekolah Islam, Moderne Islamietische Kweekschool (MIK) di Bukittinggi. Ia tamat dan tamat pada 1937. Harun merasa cocok belajar di sekolah guru-menengah-pertama swasta modern pimpinan Abdul Malik Jambek, seorang ulama moderat di Bukittinggi. Di sekolah ini mulai terlihat daya kritisnya terhadap hukum-hukum Islam yang selama ini dijalankan kedua orang tuanya. Misalnya, bertolak belakang dengan apa yang dianut kedua orang tua dan masyarakat sekitarnya, sejak 64 tahun lalu itu dia sudah tahu bahwa memegang Alquran tanpa berwudlu terlebih dulu diperbolehkan menurut salah satu mazhab fikih.

Tapi, justru karena inilah dia dilarang melanjutkan studi ke HIK, sebuah sekolah guru Muhammadiyah di Solo. Dia dipaksa melanjutkan studi ke Makkah agar jadi lebih ''lurus''. Namun, merasa Makkah bukanlah tempat belajar yang baik, pada 1938 Harun hijrah ke Mesir dan melanjutkan studi di Universitas Al-Azhar. Selepas dari Al-Azhar, Harun melanjutkan di Universitas Amerika di Kairo dan menyelesaikan studi sosialnya dengan gelar Sarjana Muda pada 1952. Pada 1953 ia kembali ke Indonesia dan bertugas di Departemen Luar Negeri bagian Timur Tengah. Tugas diplomatnya di luar negeri berlanjut kembali sejak ia bekerja di Kedutaan Republik Indonesia di Brussels mulai akhir Desember 1955.

Karena pengaruh komunis semakin kuat di Indonesia, Harun yang antikomunis memutuskan untuk keluar dari kedutaan. Untuk kedua kalinya, ia ke Mesir untuk melanjutkan studinya. Harun memilih belajar di lembaga Ad-Dirasat al-Islamiyah (1960). Studinya di Mesir, lagi-lagi, tidak dapat diteruskan akibat kekurangan biaya. Ketika itulah ia menerima tawaran dari Prof Rasjidi --orang yang kemudian menjadi partner polemiknya di bidang pembaharuan dan pemikiran Islam-- untuk menerima beasiswa dari Institute of Islamic Studies McGill, Montreal, Kanada. Pada 1965, Harun memperoleh gelar Magister dari universitas tersebut dengan judul tesis yang masih dekat dengan sejarah tanah airnya: The Islamic State in Indonesia: The Rise of The Ideology, The Movement for Its Creation and the Theory of the Masjumi. Tiga tahun berikutnya (1968), ia memperoleh gelar Doktor (PhD) dalam bidang studi Islam pada universitas yang sama, dengan disertasi The Place of Reason in 'Abduh's Theology: Its Impact on His Theological System and Views. Setahun kemudian (1969), ia kembali ke Indonesia. Berbagai jabatan pernah ia pegang, baik akademis maupun pemerintahan.

Dari segi pemikiran, gagasan Prof Harun tak lepas dari petualangan panjangnya. Yang paling menonjol tentu saat ia menuntut ilmu di Makkah dan Mesir. Di kedua negeri inilah, ia terkagum dengan pemikiran tokoh dan pembaru Muhammad Abduh, terutama sekali tentang paham Mu'tazilah yang banyak menganjurkan sikap-sikap qadariah. Di kemudian hari, Harun dikenal sebagai intelektual Muslim yang banyak memperhatikan pembaharuan dalam Islam, meliputi pemikiran teologi, filsafat, mistisisme (tasawuf), dan hukum (fikih) saja, hingga masalah segi kehidupan kaum Muslim. Ada dua obsesi Harun yang paling menonjol. Pertama, bagaimana membawa umat Islam Indonesia ke arah rasionalitas. Kedua, terkait dengan yang pertama, bagaimana agar di kalangan umat Islam Indonesia tumbuh pengakuan atas kapasitas manusia qadariah.

Harun sering menyatakan bahwa salah satu sebab kemunduran umat Islam Indonesia adalah akibat dominasi Asy'arisme yang sangat bersifat Jabariah (terlalu menyerah pada takdir). Untuk itu, dalam berbagai tulisannya Harun selalu menghubungkan akal dengan wahyu, dan lebih tajam lagi melihat fungsi akal itu dalam pandangan Alquran yang demikian penting dan bebas. Harun memang sangat tersosialisasi dalam tradisi intelektual dan akademis kosmopolitan (Barat). Tapi, sesungguhnya hampir sepenuhnya dia mewarisi dasar-dasar pemikiran Islam abad pertengahan. Penguasaannya yang mendalam terhadap pemikiran-pemikiran para filsuf Islam, termasuk pengetahuannya yang luas terhadap dunia tasawuf, membuat ia dapat merumuskan konsep yang akurat tentang terapinya untuk membangun masyarakat Muslim Indonesia. Ia selalu mengatakan bahwa kebangkitan umat Islam tidak hanya ditandai dengan emosi keagamaan yang meluap-luap, tapi harus berdasarkan pemikiran yang dalam, menyeluruh, dan filosofis terhadap agama Islam itu sendiri.

Semua itu dia buktikan dengan mewujudkan tiga langkah, yang kerap disebut sebagai ''Gebrakan Harun''. Gebrakan pertama, dia meletakkan pemahaman yang mendasar dan menyeluruh terhadap Islam. Menurutnya, dalam Islam terdapat dua kelompok ajaran. Ajaran pertama bersifat absolut dan mutlak benar, universal, kekal, tidak berubah, dan tidak boleh diubah. Ajaran yang terdapat dalam Alquran dan Hadis mutawatir berada dalam kelompok ini. Kedua, bersifat absolut, namun relatif, tidak universal, tidak kekal, berubah dan boleh diubah. Ajaran yang dihasilkan melalui ijtihad para ulama berada dalam kelompok ini. Dalam ajaran Islam, lanjutnya seperti ditulis dalam Islam Rasional (Mizan), yang maksum atau terpelihara dari kesalahan hanyalah Nabi Muhammad SAW. Karena itu, kebenaran hasil ijtihad para ulama bersifat relatif dan bisa direformasi. Menurutnya, kedinamisan suatu agama justru ditentukan oleh sedikit banyaknya kelompok pertama itu. Semakin sedikit kelompok ajaran pertama, semakin lincahlah agama tersebut menghadapi tantangan zaman dan sebaliknya. Kenyataannya, kata Harun, jumlah pertama sedikit.

Gebrakan kedua dilakukan saat dia menjabat rektor IAIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, 1973 (kini Universitas Islam negeri/UIN). Saat itu, secara revolusioner dia merombak kurikulum IAIN seluruh Indonesia. Pengantar ilmu agama dimasukkan dengan harapan akan mengubah pandangan mahasiswa. Demikian pula filsafat, tasawuf, ilmu kalam, tauhid, sosiologi, dan metodologi riset. Menurut dia, kurikulum IAIN yang selama ini berorientasi fikih harus diubah karena hal itu membuat pikiran mahasiswa jumud. Sedang gebrakan ketiga, bersama menteri agama Harun mengusahakan berdirinya Fakultas Pascasarjana pada 1982. Menurutnya, di Indonesia belum ada organisasi sosial yang berprestasi melakukan pimpinan umat Islam masa depan. Baginya pimpinan harus rasional, mengerti Islam secara komprehensif, tahu tentang ilmu agama, dan menguasai filsafat. Filsafat, ujarnya, sangat penting untuk mengetahui pengertian ilmu secara umum. Pimpinan seperti itulah yang diharapkannya lahir dari Fakultas Pascasarjana. Dampak dari usaha Harun sungguh luar biasa. Ciputat jadi hidup.

Berbagai gagasan Harun yang dikenal amat menjunjung tinggi rasionalitas dan metode ilmiah itu, tak sedikit kalangan menuduhnya sebagai pelopor gerakan mu'tazilah dan salah seorang penyokong sekularisme di Indonesia. Ini jelas terlihat dari karyanya berjudul Islam Ditinjau dari Berbagai Aspeknya. Toh demikian, Harun tetap melaju membumikan Islam. Menurut Nurcholish Madjid, Harun telah memberikan sumbangan nyata bagi bangsa Indonesia dalam hal menumbuhkan ''tradisi intelektual'' yang dirintis di IAIN Jakarta, dan kemudian menghasilkan suatu gejala umum bahwa doktrin bukan sebagai taken for granted, justru di saat doktrin itu sudah mapan. Dia mempertanyakan relevansi doktrin itu kepada sejarah, bagaimana kaitannya dulu dan sebagainya. Inilah yang menghasilkan suatu kemampuan tertentu yang secara teknis disebut learning capacity. Harun, lanjut Cak Nur, telah berhasil menciptakan intellectual capacity sekaligus learning capacity.

Pola pemikiran Harun, dalam pandangan Cak Nur, sangat Abduhis. Etos atau penghargaannya terhadap Muhammad Abduh sangat tinggi. Obsesi Harun kepada Mu'tazilah mempunyai relevansi terhadap dua hal. Pertama, rasionalitas, sebab dampak dari etos kerasionalan itu ialah pembukaan yang mempunyai efek pembebasan. Kedua, pengakuan atas kapasitas manusia qadariah. Kemunduran kaum Muslim, kata Harun, salah satunya lantaran dominasi Asy'ariyah yang Jabbari. Betapapun, Harun telah menanamkan fondasi Islam modern Indonesia. Perjuangan panjangnya itu berakhir pada 18 September 1998, ketika Sang Khaliq memanggilnya untuk selama-lamanya. Kini, persis 5 tahun wafatnya, Harun seakan terus 'hidup' melalui gagasan dan pemikirannya.

Di Antara Karya dan Khomeini

Harun Nasution tergolong pemikir dan penulis produktif. Sedikitnya telah tujuh buku ia tulis. Yakni, Islam Ditinjau dari Berbagai Aspeknya (bukan saja buku yang sangat laris, tapi itu sengaja dia tulis agar umat Islam bersikap moderat setelah melihat agama Muhammad ini dari berbagai sisinya. Buku lainnya, Filsafat Agama, Filsafat dan Mistisisme dalam Islam, Teologi Islam: Aliran-Aliran, Sejarah, Analisa dan Perbandingan, adalah karya yang sengaja ia buat dalam rangka memperkenalkan filsafat ke khalayak ramai dengan bahasa yang mudah dicerna.

Sedang Muhammad 'Abduh dan Teologi Rasional Mu'tazilah sengaja dia publikasi untuk memperkenalkan paham Mu'tazilah yang dialergikan banyak orang itu secara bersahaja, dengan satu obsesi: umat Islam di Indonesia harus segera meninggalkan budaya fatalistis yang membuat mereka mundur. Agar lebih komprehensif, karya itu dilengkapi dengan karyanya yang lain, Pembaharuan Dalam Islam: Sejarah Pemikiran dan Gerakan/ serta Akal dan Wahyu dalam Islam.

Dari semua itu, ada satu obsesi penting Harun yang layak dicatat di sini. Dia berharap, dengan semua upanyanya itu, lahir ulama Indonesia yang mirip dengan Imam Khomeini. Pemimpin spiritual Iran itu adalah ulama sekaligus pemikir (ahli filsafat), atau pemikir yang sekaligus ulama. Jika banyak ulama sekaliber Khomeini muncul di sini, maka gagasan Alfarabi tentang al-Madinah al-Fadhilah sangat mungkin terlaksana. Ini karena menurut gagasan yang diadopsi dari konsep Plato tentang Negara Ideal itu, negara hanya akan makmur jika dipimpin para filsuf yang cerdas, bersifat warak, zuhud, dan karenanya pantang menyaksikan korupsi, kolusi, dan nepotisme (KKN). hery sucipto/berbagai sumber ()

http://202.155.15.208/koran_detail.asp?id=140408&kat_id=105&kat_id1=147&kat_id2=185

Mengenang Harun Nasution

2007-07-21T01:17:00.000-07:00

Mengenang Harun Nasution; “Untuk Perjuangan Di Tanah Air”

Sepanjang hayatnya, ia dedikasikan dirinya pada dunia ilmu. Gagasan dan pemikirannya terasa mencerahkan kehidupan berbangsa dan beragama. Ia juga dinilai cukup berani dalam hal pemikiran keagamaan. Di bidang akademis, dia terbilang sukses, terutama dalam meletakkan dasar-dasar pemahaman yang baru tentang keislaman di kalangan Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN) di Indonesia maupun dikalangan masyarakat luas.

Profesor Harun Nasution, sosok pemikir yang dikenal luas, di dalam maupun luar negeri itu. Dilahirkan di Pematangsiantar, Sumatra Utara, 23 September 1919, sejak kecil Harun dikenal gemar mendalami ilmu. Otaknya tergolong encer. Sementara semangatnya mencari ilmu menjadi spirit utama hidupnya. Bahkan di usianya yang setengah abad, ia belum punya rumah justru karena kecintaannya mendalami ilmu di negeri orang. Besar di Pematangsiantar, guru besar filsafat Islam ini adalah putra keempat Abdul Jabbar Ahmad, ulama, pedagang, hakim sekaligus penghulu di kota itu. Ibunya adalah seorang keturunan ulama Mandailing, Tapanuli Selatan, menguasai bahasa Arab karena pernah bermukim di Makkah.

Karena pengaruh komunis semakin kuat di Indonesia, Harun yang antikomunis memutuskan untuk keluar dari kedutaan. Untuk kedua kalinya, ia ke Mesir untuk melanjutkan studinya. Harun memilih belajar di lembaga Ad-Dirasat al-Islamiyah (1960). Studinya di Mesir, lagi-lagi, tidak dapat diteruskan akibat kekurangan biaya. Ketika itulah ia menerima tawaran dari Prof Rasjidi --orang yang kemudian menjadi partner polemiknya di bidang pembaharuan dan pemikiran Islam-- untuk menerima beasiswa dari Institute of Islamic Studies McGill, Montreal, Kanada.

Pada 1965, Harun memperoleh gelar Magister dari universitas tersebut dengan judul tesis yang masih dekat dengan sejarah tanah airnya: The Islamic State in Indonesia: The Rise of The Ideology, The Movement for Its Creation and the Theory of the Masjumi. Tiga tahun berikutnya (1968), ia memperoleh gelar Doktor (PhD) dalam bidang studi Islam pada universitas yang sama, dengan disertasi The Place of Reason in 'Abduh's Theology: Its Impact on His Theological System and Views. Setahun kemudian (1969), ia kembali ke Indonesia. Berbagai jabatan pernah ia pegang, baik akademis maupun pemerintahan.

Dari segi pemikiran, gagasan Prof Harun tak lepas dari petualangan panjangnya. Yang paling menonjol tentu saat ia menuntut ilmu di Makkah dan Mesir. Di kedua negeri inilah, ia terkagum dengan pemikiran tokoh dan pembaru Muhammad Abduh, terutama sekali tentang paham Mu'tazilah yang banyak menganjurkan sikap-sikap qadariah. Di kemudian hari, Harun dikenal sebagai intelektual Muslim yang banyak memperhatikan pembaharuan dalam Islam, meliputi pemikiran teologi, filsafat, mistisisme (tasawuf), dan hukum (fikih) saja, hingga masalah segi kehidupan kaum Muslim. Ada dua obsesi Harun yang paling menonjol. Pertama, bagaimana membawa umat Islam Indonesia ke arah rasionalitas. Kedua, terkait dengan yang pertama, bagaimana agar di kalangan umat Islam Indonesia tumbuh pengakuan atas kapasitas manusia qadariah.

Harun sering menyatakan bahwa salah satu sebab kemunduran umat Islam Indonesia adalah akibat dominasi Asy'arisme yang sangat bersifat Jabariah (terlalu menyerah pada takdir). Untuk itu, dalam berbagai tulisannya Harun selalu menghubungkan akal dengan wahyu, dan lebih tajam lagi melihat fungsi akal itu dalam pandangan Alquran yang demikian penting dan bebas. Harun memang sangat tersosialisasi dalam tradisi intelektual dan akademis kosmopolitan (Barat).

Tapi, sesungguhnya hampir sepenuhnya dia mewarisi dasar-dasar pemikiran Islam abad pertengahan. Penguasaannya yang mendalam terhadap pemikiran-pemikiran para filsuf Islam, termasuk pengetahuannya yang luas terhadap dunia tasawuf, membuat ia dapat merumuskan konsep yang akurat tentang terapinya untuk membangun masyarakat Muslim Indonesia. Ia selalu mengatakan bahwa kebangkitan umat Islam tidak hanya ditandai dengan emosi keagamaan yang meluap-luap, tapi harus berdasarkan pemikiran yang dalam, menyeluruh, dan filosofis terhadap agama Islam itu sendiri.

Semua itu dia buktikan dengan mewujudkan tiga langkah, yang kerap disebut sebagai ''Gebrakan Harun''. Gebrakan itu diantaranya, dia meletakkan pemahaman yang mendasar dan menyeluruh terhadap Islam. Menurutnya, dalam Islam terdapat dua kelompok ajaran. Ajaran pertama bersifat absolut dan mutlak benar, universal, kekal, tidak berubah, dan tidak boleh diubah. Ajaran yang terdapat dalam Alquran dan Hadis mutawatir berada dalam kelompok ini. Kedua, bersifat absolut, namun relatif, tidak universal, tidak kekal, berubah dan boleh diubah. Ajaran yang dihasilkan melalui ijtihad para ulama berada dalam kelompok ini. Dalam ajaran Islam, lanjutnya seperti ditulis dalam Islam Rasional (Mizan), yang maksum atau terpelihara dari kesalahan hanyalah Nabi Muhammad SAW. Karena itu, kebenaran hasil ijtihad para ulama bersifat relatif dan bisa direformasi.

Menurutnya, kedinamisan suatu agama justru ditentukan oleh sedikit banyaknya kelompok pertama itu. Semakin sedikit kelompok ajaran pertama, semakin lincahlah agama tersebut menghadapi tantangan zaman dan sebaliknya. Kenyataannya, kata Harun, jumlah pertama sedikit.

Berbagai gagasan Harun yang dikenal amat menjunjung tinggi rasionalitas dan metode ilmiah itu, tak sedikit kalangan menuduhnya sebagai pelopor gerakan mu'tazilah dan salah seorang penyokong sekularisme di Indonesia. Ini jelas terlihat dari karyanya berjudul Islam Ditinjau dari Berbagai Aspeknya. Toh demikian, Harun tetap melaju membumikan Islam.

Obsesi Harun kepada Mu'tazilah mempunyai relevansi terhadap dua hal. Pertama, rasionalitas, sebab dampak dari etos kerasionalan itu ialah pembukaan yang mempunyai efek pembebasan. Kedua, pengakuan atas kapasitas manusia qadariah. Kemunduran kaum Muslim, kata Harun, salah satunya lantaran dominasi Asy'ariyah yang Jabbari. Betapapun, Harun telah menanamkan fondasi Islam modern Indonesia. Perjuangan panjangnya itu berakhir pada 18 September 1998, ketika Sang Khaliq memanggilnya untuk selama-lamanya. • Ugi”

http://filosof.blog.m3-access.com/posts/3303_Mengenang-Harun-Nasution-Untuk-Perjuangan-Di-Tanah-Air.html

Prof Dr Muhammad Yasir Nasution

2007-07-15T03:35:00.000-07:00

Jumat, 13 Oktober 2000
Muhammad Yasir Nasution
Cita-cita Santri dari Panyabungan
Kompas/surya makmur nasution

NAMA Prof Dr Muhammad Yasir Nasution (50), tidaklah sepopuler cendekiawan Prof Dr Nurcholish Madjid, Dr Komaruddin Hidayat, atau Prof Dr Azyumardi Azra. Namun, dilihat dari gagasan dan aktivitasnya di Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN) Sumatera Utara, ia pantas mendapat tempat dan penghargaan sebagai seorang akademisi.

Sebagai seorang guru besar bidang filsafat hukum Islam, Yasir, panggilan akrabnya, menggagas konsep "Ekonomi dan Perbankan Islam". Tentu saja gagasannya menjadi kontroversi di kalangan akademisi di kampusnya. Pemikiran itu bukan saja sebagai hal baru, namun belum pernah terpikirkan sebelumnya. Lagi pula, gagasan itu dinilai berada di luar otoritas atau kajian keilmuan yang dikembangkan IAIN selama ini. Dari empat fakultas di IAIN Sumut (Syariah, Tarbiyah, Ushuluddin, dan Dakwah) tak satu pun yang langsung bersentuhan dengan gagasan tersebut. Apalagi, ia tak ada dasar keilmuan tentang ekonomi.

Sebagai ilmuwan, Yasir yang memperoleh gelar profesor tahun 1991, semula ragu menyampaikan gagasannya. Namun, keraguannya hilang tatkala ahli ekonomi senior dari Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU), seperti Prof Bahauddin Darus, Prof Abdullah Yacub, mendorong dirinya memprakarsai munculnya lembaga kajian ekonomi Islam. Bahkan dukungan pun datang dari ekonom muda Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU), seperti Jhon Tafbu Ritonga MEc dan Sofyan Syafri PhD (kini dosen Universitas Trisakti Jakarta).

Pakar ekonomi USU itu mengakui merindukan satu wadah kajian ekonomi dalam perspektif Islam. Menurut mereka, lembaga yang kompeten dan bisa mendapatkan kepercayaan dari masyarakat adalah IAIN. "Saya pun tertantang," kata Yasir ketika ditemui di rumah dinasnya berukuran 6 meter x 10 meter di kompleks IAIN Sumatera Utara, Jalan Sutomo Ujung, Medan, 2 Oktober.

Bersama Dr Amiur Nurruddin, kini Dekan Fakultas Syariah, ia mendirikan Forum Kajian Ekonomi dan Perbankan Islam (FKEBI) tahun 1990. "Teman-teman di Syariah mengkaji dari sisi konsep muamalat (hubungan sesama manusia-Red) dalam Islam, teman ekonom USU mengeksplorasinya dalam perspektif Ilmu Ekonomi konvensional. Orang IAIN belajar matriks ilmu ekonomi umum, orang USU belajar matriks konsep ekonomi Islam," kata Yasir yang lahir 18 Mei 1950 di Panyabungan, Kabupaten Mandailing Natal (510 kilometer selatan Medan).

Menurut Yasir, konsep ekonomi Islam memiliki perbedaan mendasar dari konsep ekonomi umumnya yaitu dari sisi metodologi, aksiologis, dan juga ontologisnya. Dari sudut metodologi, konsep ekonomi Islam memiliki prinsip nilai yang bisa dikaji secara dinamis. Secara aksiologis, memiliki tujuan dan arah, yaitu kesejahteraan dan keadilan. Sementara dari tinjauan ontologisnya, sistem ekonomi Islam mempunyai tujuan luhur. Dalam konsep Islam, antara pemilik modal dan pekerja diberi penghargaan proporsional atas prestasi kerja sehingga ada kesejajaran. Keberhasilan seseorang dinilai bukan dari dirinya sendiri, melainkan banyak faktor.

"Itu semuanya beranjak dari konsep Islam yang memandang manusia secara integral, yaitu secara material, spiritual, sosial, dan lainnya," ungkap alumnus S2 dan S3 IAIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. Sementara dalam konsep ekonomi Barat, penghargaan cenderung kepada pengusaha sebagai pemilik modal. Semua permasalahan, selalu timbul dulu deviasi baru dicari jalan keluar. Bahkan kesuksesan kerja dominan dinilai dari faktor diri sendiri.

***

UNTUK mewujudkan gagasan itu, FKEBI bekerja sama dengan USU, PT Bank Sumut (dulu Bank Pembangunan Daerah Sumut), membuat Simposium Nasional Pemasyarakatan Bank Muamalat Indonesia (BMI). Sebelumnya, Yasir mengikuti pertemuan The Third International Conference on Islamic Economy di Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia yang diprakarsai Universitas Islam Antarbangsa (UIA), Malaysia. Hasilnya, Yasir banyak mendapatkan masukan pemikiran, terutama pesatnya perkembangan Bank Islam di Malaysia dengan sistem bagi hasil (mudlarabah, musyarakah).

IAIN melalui FKEBI juga melakukan workshop internasional tentang "ekonomi Islam" bekerja sama dengan Universitas Islam Antarbangsa dan Institut Kesepahaman Islam, Malaysia, tahun 1993. Lalu muncul ide mewujudkan konsep ekonomi Islam secara kelembagaan.

"Atas bantuan teman-teman berdirilah Bank Perkreditan Rakyat Syariah (BPRS) Puduarta Insani milik IAIN yang lokasinya berada di Tembung, Kecamatan Medan Tembung, tahun 1996. Nasabahnya 40 sampai 50 persen dosen dan pegawai IAIN," kata Pembantu Rektor I IAIN Sumut sejak tahun 1997.

Untuk menjaga kesinambungan gagasannya, tahun 1997, Yasir yang juga anggota pengurus Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) Sumut (1992 sampai sekarang), membuat program Diploma III, Manajemen Keuangan dan Perbankan Syariah. Program ini satu-satunya yang dimiliki IAIN di seluruh Indonesia.

Bahkan setelah ia memprakarsai berdirinya program pascasarjana di IAIN Sumut (1994), tahun ajaran tahun 2000 ini membuka program studi Ekonomi Islam melengkapi program studi hanya Dirasah Islamiyah, Pemikiran Islam dan lainnya.

***

SEMASA belajar di Sekolah Rakyat (SR) Negeri I di Panyabungan, Yasir sudah bercita-cita menjadi ahli ekonomi karena melihat nasib ayahnya, H Abdul Baki Nasution, dan ibunya, Siti Arbi, sebagai petani miskin. Yasir tak diizinkan ayahnya (almarhum) melanjutkan pendidikan ke sekolah menengah pertama (SMP), melainkan dimasukkan ke Pesantren Mustafawiyah, Purbabaru, Mandailing Natal. Harapan ayahnya, ia bisa menjadi ulama atau ahli agama, melanjutkan cita-cita ayahnya sebagai penghafal Al Quran.

"Begitu kuatnya keinginan melanjutkan ke pesantren, oleh ayah, guru-guru di sekolah dipengaruhi agar tak meluluskan saya dari SR. Padahal, prestasi saya bagus," ungkap ayah tiga putri buah perkawinannya dengan Ny H Hasibuan (44).

Semasa di pesantren, penggemar lagu-lagu Umi Kalsum ini bukan cuma belajar agama saja melainkan juga bahasa Inggris. Ia juga menambah wawasan pengetahuan umumnya dengan minta dikirimi koran bekas dari seniornya yang kuliah di Medan, sebulan sekali. Tamat dari pesantren, Yasir melanjutkan kuliah ke Fakultas Syariah IAIN Sumut atas bantuan beasiswa dari Menteri Agama terhadap santri yang memperoleh peringkat satu sampai 10.

Di kampus ia dikenal kritis oleh dosennya. Malah gara-gara ia protes bahwa mahasiswa tak harus pakai peci mengikuti kuliah, ia pernah disuruh pulang oleh dosennya. "Saya pun pulang," kenangnya. Perkenalannya dengan kelompok diskusi Mahasiswa Willem Iskandar (MWI), Medan, membuat dirinya mengenali ilmu-ilmu umum.

Yasir mengakui, Prof Harun Nasution berjasa membuka wawasan pemikirannya tentang Islam, terutama pernyataannya tentang pintu ijtihad dalam Islam belum ditutup dan malah bersifat dinamis.

Kini Yasir yang pernah mengikuti kursus singkat pendidikan manajemen di Institut Manajemen, McGill University, Montreal (1995), terpilih menjadi Rektor IAIN Sumut pada 25 Agustus. Ia meraih 22 suara sedangkan sahabatnya Prof Dr M Ridwan Lubis meraih 12 suara. Dapatkah ia meneruskan impiannya setelah memimpin IAIN Sumut? "Insya Allah jika diberi amanah, saya lebih mudah mewujudkan gagasan-gagasan saya di masa depan. Bagi saya IAIN masa depan adalah IAIN yang memiliki kompetensi standar global," jawabnya. (Surya Makmur Nasution)

http://www.kompas.com/kompas-cetak/0010/13/naper/cita12.htm

Mochtar Lubis, The Crusading Journalist

2007-07-13T22:05:00.000-07:00

Mocthar Lubis

Known for his exposés of government corruption and inefficiency, the legendary Indonesian editor Mochtar Lubis was jailed by two presidents while his newspaper, the daily Indonesia Raya, was banned six times. “Unable to report except accurately or to comment except honestly, he was bound to get into trouble with the despot Sukarno and the autocrat Suharto,” said author and journalist Robert Elegant.

Lubis was first imprisoned in December 1956. As a result of strong protests by the International Press Institute (IPI) among others, he was transferred to house arrest in January 1957. However, he was neither charged nor set free until April 1961. That year, he was given a hero’s welcome at the IPI General Assembly in Tel Aviv, where he attacked Sukarno’s treatment of the press in a courageous speech.

On returning to Jakarta from Tel Aviv, Lubis was promptly arrested and jailed. From a military prison in Madiun, hundreds of kilometers from his Jakarta home, Lubis smuggled out occasional letters, some of which were printed in IPI Report. After nine years in prison, he wrote: “I am a stubborn old fool and am fully convinced that our era is the era of human freedom and human cooperation and not the era of human enslavement and inevitable confrontation. ... But only a truly free press can help build up traditions of freedom, the respect of law, for public rights, for private rights, to fight against the abuse of power, against corruption — moral and material.”

Lubis was freed after nearly 10 years in jail following the overthrow of Sukarno. After his release, he revived Indonesia Raya in 1968 and resumed his role in pointing out government corruption. Lubis was soon to be in trouble again — this time for exposing corruption in the new government and among President Suharto’s family members. Along with many other publications, Indonesia Raya was closed down for good after the riots that accompanied the 1974 visit to Indonesia by the Prime Minister of Japan, Kakuei Tanaka. A year later, in February 1975, Lubis was again arrested. After weeks of interrogation by the military, he was imprisoned on charges of sedition for allegedly having mobilized students to demonstrate against the Japanese prime minister’s visit. The international press came forcefully to his defense, and he was released after two and a half months in prison on Apr. 15.

Mochtar Lubis was born on Mar. 7, 1922. Before taking over the editorship of Indonesia Raya in 1952, he worked as foreign affairs editor of the Indonesian National News Agency, Antara, from 1945 to 1952, and published the first English-language newspaper in Indonesia, the Times of Indonesia, in 1952. In 1966, he founded a cultural and literary monthly, Horison. A former member of the IPI Executive Board and chairman of IPI’s National Committee in Indonesia, he is also a renowned novelist, poet and essayist.

Lubis’s courage during the Sukarno and Suharto years became a byword in Asia and wherever the press was under attack. He was long ignored by the self-censoring media in his own country because of his firm belief that universal human rights should not be superseded by the notions of unity and nation-building. However, he is today regarded by his countrymen as the doyen of the Indonesian press and a symbol of courageous and independent journalism.

http://www.globaljournalist.org/archive/Magazine/Lubis-20002q.html

Mochtar Lubis

2007-07-13T21:50:00.000-07:00

Mochtar Lubis
David Hill

By any measure, Mochtar Lubis was impressive. A mostly self-educated Mandailinger, he was tall, handsome, urbane, and articulate in several languages. Always controversial, Mochtar was one of Indonesia’s most respected journalists and best-known authors for over four decades.

His uncompromising journalistic style, his several substantial periods of political detention, his considerable literary skills and his extensive international connections, all earned him a colourful reputation, at home and abroad. He was an extremely deft ‘cultural broker’, explaining Indonesia to the West, and interpreting Western ideas for his own community.

Born in Padang in 1922, Mochtar was best known as the crusading editor of Indonesia Raya (Glorious Indonesia) daily newspaper, a publication with combative — even ‘muck-racking’ — journalism, dedicated to the exposure of corruption and government malfeasance.

From its establishment in December 1949, Indonesia Raya became embroiled in the divisive politics of the 1950s. In confrontations between the army and the civilian government, Mochtar and Indonesia Raya were often critical of President Sukarno. Critics accused them of serving those military and pro-US interests that were uncomfortable with Sukarno’s non-aligned policies. Mochtar and his staff vehemently denied such claims.

Detentions
Frequent criticisms of Sukarno and his ministers led to Mochtar being detained without trial in 1956. Indonesia Raya closed under pressure two years later. Mochtar spent most of the remainder of Sukarno’s presidency in detention, becoming Indonesia’s best-known political prisoner internationally for most of this period.
Released in 1966, Mochtar revived Indonesia Raya only to have it banned by Suharto after anti-government riots in January 1974. He was imprisoned for yet another year.

In his clashes with authorities, Mochtar dismissed pleas from colleagues to tone down his criticisms in order to be allowed to re-open Indonesia Raya. He argued that the press must be fearless in its criticism of those in power; it must accept banning rather than compromise.

He was accused of being politically naïve, unable to negotiate that fine line trod by savvy Indonesian editors as they struggled to maintain their publications and the livelihoods of their employees despite often-overwhelming constraints on political expression.

But Mochtar’s forthright, combative spirit made him heroic to many. Younger journalists in particular admired the simple clarity of his analysis and his preparedness to speak out.

An international voice

Despite the demise of Indonesia Raya, he remained an editor at heart, active internationally in the International Press Institute and the Press Foundation of Asia. For 36 years he edited Indonesia’s leading monthly literary magazine, Horison, founded in 1966 on the initiative of young anti-Sukarnoist activists.

As a measure of his international standing, he was appointed to the UNESCO Commission for the Study of Communication Problems (1977-9). This made Mochtar, at that stage, one of only four Indonesians to have been appointed to such UN commissions.

At home, he maintained his feisty opposition to the prevailing political authorities through support for various non-government organisations, such as the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, and the environment movement. Yet he also became a life member of the establishment’s most prestigious and exclusive intellectual and cultural body, the Jakarta Academy.

During his periods of detention Mochtar still wrote energetically, producing a string of novels, short stories and children’s tales as well as some poems, diary accounts and biographical sketches, garnering a string of awards.

Literary achievements

In 1958, while under house arrest, he was the first Indonesian (and remains one of only three) to be given the prestigious Magsaysay Award for Journalism and Literature. His strong anti-leftist views led him to return the Magsaysay Award in protest in 1996 when leftist author Pramoedya Ananta Toer received the honour.

Most highly regarded of his literary works was his novel Jalan Tak Ada Ujung (Road with No End), which explored fear and courage during the Indonesian revolution, and for which he won a national Literary Award in 1952.

But what sealed his reputation internationally was his pillorying of the self-interested politics of Sukarno’s Indonesia in Senja di Jakarta (Twilight in Jakarta). This was the first Indonesian novel ever translated into English.

Most touching perhaps remains his 1959 short story, Kuli Kontrak (Contract Coolies). This is an account of a childhood experience secretly witnessing his father, a Dutch-appointed administrator, overseeing the whipping of indentured labourers in the local prison.

Tragically Alzheimer’s disease stole Mochtar’s memory during his final years. Yet when he passed away in Jakarta on 2 July 2004, aged 82, his moral courage, revered journalistic principles and literary achievements left an enduring legacy.

David Hill (dthill@murdoch.edu.au) is Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Murdoch University, and a biographer of Mochtar Lubis.

http://www.insideindonesia.org/edit83/p23_hill.html

2007-07-08T07:58:00.001-07:00

Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution, an Islamic religious scholar who also uses the pen for da'wa.

Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution
Translation by Haji Hashim Bin Samin

Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution was born in Langgarbon March 1, 1912. He received his early education from his father until the age of 10. In 1920, he was admitted into Langgar Malay School. In 1923, he continued his education at the Pondok (hut) Arabic School in Penang and Jitra, Kedah.

From 1928 to 1932, he went on to further his education at Tok Kenali Pondok Religious School at Kota Bharu Kelantan, and at the Maahad Muhammadi, also in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. From 1937 to 1940, he completed his studies at the Pondok School of Ahamadiah Bunut Payung, in Kota Bharu Kelantan. He then returned to Kedah to teach at the Pulau Pisang Pondok School in Jitra, before moving on to Haji Mohsin Pondok School in Titi Besi, Kepala Batas. At the end of 1940, Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution opened his own school, which was known as Madrasah Maahad Ehya Al-Ulum Ad-Diniah, in Tanjung Pauh, Jitra. The school provided lessons on Islamic Religious Knowledge, the Malay Language, Arabic and English. From 1940 to 1967, Madarsah Maahad Ehya Al-Ulum Ad-Diniah had produced around 4000 graduates who were very knowledgeable on Islam.

Besides teaching, Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution was also active in Islamic missionary work, through his writing. He had been actively involved in writing since the early 1930s. In 1933, he tried his skills by becoming part-time contributors to newspapers. He was at that time, still studying in the Tok Kenali Pondok School in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. He open used such pseudonyms as A.A. Pilpasani, AAN and Ibni Arabi. His writng, which were often religious in nature, wou;d be published in such papers as Saudara, Warta Malaya of Singapore, and Sahabat of Penang. Besides articles on religion, he also contributed everyday news for these papers. Among the subjects of his reports were news of chicken thefts, fights between people, and news on crime.

Haji Abdullah next turned to translation of religious texts from its original Arabic form into Malay. Among the work he had translated at this early period were Tarbiah Al-Ijtimabiah (Social Affairs), Tarbiah Al-Wataniah (Egyptian Political Science) and a few other texts. Apart from translation, he also did his own writing and produced a few texts book such as Sejarah Melayu Raya (A History of the Malays) in which was noted the history of the Malay people from the Sri Vijaya era to the arrival of Islam in South East Asia. In 1940, Haji Abdullah began his work of translating the Koran, which was finally published in 1959. He also wrote an analysis of the Koran, a work he completed within eight years. On the whole, Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution had written and translated about 100 books and articles on various subjects in the years between 1933 and 1980. Most of these books were on Islam, its culture and history. He also wrote on a general history of South East Asia. He had also written on his own family's genealogical history and a few other books on Geography, Economics, Political Science, Social Science, Education, and many other fields including his own autobiography. All these were either written in the khat tuluth jawi script or simply typewritten.

Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution was also active in the Kedah Ulama Association (PUK). At the earlier part of its formation, Haji Abdullah was considered to be one of its founders and strongmen. He was at that time the Head of his own pondok school, the Maahad Ehya Al-Ulum addiniah of Tanjung Pauh, Jitra, Kedah. As a founder member of PUK, he was registered as the eighth member of the Association. He was later appointed as its founding Secretary and later as the Association's Honourary Secretary.

As the founding Secretary and the Honourary Secretary of the Association, he was given the task of formulating its constitution, which he did, based on the Penang Straits Born Association (a Penang Indian Muslim charity organization). Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution was appointed as the Assistant Secretary of the Kedah Ulama Association (PUK) and served from January 1946 to 1949. The Association had at first, based its movement in Alor Setar (it had its headquarters in Mahmud College) before deciding to move to Guar Chempedak a year later. This had to be undertaken as Mahmud College was a government institution and the Association was a non-government organization. As it was a non-government organization, its activities were beset by governmental rules and regulations. This had the effect of the Association being less free to pursue its objectives. On the other hand, the Associaiton, which was based at the Al-Taufikiah Al-Khairiyah Religious Chool in Guar Chempedak, enjoyed more freedom as the school was a private institution, which was not subjected to any governmental rules and regulation. From 1949 to the 1950s, Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution served as the PUK's Religious Education Head replacing Sheikh Abdul Halim Othman who incidentally, was PUK's first Religious Education Chief.

In the political arena, Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution used to hold such posts as Secretary of the Kedah Malay Organization and Secretary of Kubang Pasu UMNO Division. He later became PAS (Pan-Malayan Islamic Party) Secretary for Kubang Pasu and Kuala Nerang, Chief of Kedah PAS Ulama Council, and a member of PAS Central Committee. He had also involved himself with the anti-Malayan Union movement by attending the important Congress of Malayan Malay Organizations which was held at the Sultan Sulaiman Club in Kuala Lumpur, on March 1, 1946. He had attended as a representative of both PUK and the Kedah Malay Organization. He was also present at a meeting of a Malayan Ulama Assembly held in Butterworth in 1952. Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution did not limit his activities to religious affairs only, as he was also active in social affairs. An example was his involvement in the Companionship of Pen Pals (Persaudaraan Shabat Pena or Perspam). Besides that he was also well known as an orator as could be seen in his delivery of a talk entitled 'The Life and Struggles of Tok Kenali' at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia on February 21, 1978. He often attended seminars on politics, economics, history, education, language, literature and culture.

Haji Abdullah Abbas Naution died on January 4, 1987 at the age of 78. His struggle through PUK to unite Muslims, especially in Kedah has left a positive impression in the effort to Islam throughout the Nation. For that reason alone, he should be remembered by later generations of Muslims.

http://www.mykedah.com/e_10heritage/e102_4_08.htm

2007-07-08T07:50:00.000-07:00

Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution seorang ulama yang juga giat berdakwah menerusi bidang penulisan.

Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution

Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution lahir di Langgar, Alor Star, Kedah pada 1 Mac 1912. Haji Abdullah mendapat pendidikan awal daripada bapanya hingga meningkat usia 10 tahun. Selepas itu, barulah beliau memasuki Sekolah Melayu Langgar pada tahun 1920. Pada tahun 1923, beliau menyambung pelajarannya di sekolah pondok (Arab) di Pulau Pinang dan di Jitra, Kedah.

Pada tahun 1928, beliau meneruskan pengajiannya di Pondok Tok Kenali di Kota Bharu, Kelantan dan kemudian berpindah belajar di Maahad Muhammadi, Kota Bharu hingga tahun 1936. Akhir sekali, beliau belajar di pondok Ahmadiyah Bunut Payong, Kota Bharu pada tahun 1937 hingga tahun 1940. Selepas itu, beliau kembali ke sekolah pondok di Pulau Pisang, Jitra sebagai guru dan kemudiannya berpindah pula ke Pondok Haji Muhsin, Titi Besi, Kepala Batas. Pada akhir tahun 1940, Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution membuka sebuah sekolah perguruan agama yang dikenali sebagai Madrasah Maahad Ehya Al-Ulum Ad-Diniah di Tanjung Pauh, Jitra. Madrasah ini menyediakan matapelajaran Pendidikan Agama Islam, Bahasa Melayu, Bahasa Arab dan Bahasa Inggeris. Pada tahun 1940 hingga tahun 1967, Madrasah Maahad Ehya AI-Ulum Ad-Diniah telah melahirkan kira-kira 4000 orang murid yang masing-masing diasaskan dengan pendidikan Islam.

Selain daripada mengajar, Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution juga seorang ulama yang giat berdakwah menerusi bidang penulisan. Kegiatannya dalam bidang itu bermula sejak awal tahun 1930-an lagi. Pada tahun 1933, Haji Abdullah mula berlatih menjadi penulis sambilan di akhbar. Waktu itu beliau masih belajar di Kota Bharu, Kelantan iaitu di Pondok Tok Kenali. Dalam bidang penulisan, Haji Abdullah sering menggunakan nama samaran A.A. Pilpisani, AAN dan lbnil Arabi. Tulisannya yang sering mengimbau kepada persoalan agama itu kerap tersiar dalam akhbar Saudara, Warta Malaya di Singapura dan Sahabat di Pulau Pinang. Selain rencana agama, Haji Abdullah pernah menulis berita biasa untuk akhbar-akhbar itu. Antara bahan berita yang pernah ditulisnya termasuklah kejadian mencuri ayam, orang bergaduh dan cerita jenayah.

Haji Abdullah kemudiannya beralih kepada bidang menterjemah kitab agama daripada Bahasa Arab ke Bahasa Melayu. Antara usaha penterjemahannya yang awal ialah menterjemah kitab Tarbiah Al-ljtimaiah (Hal Ehwal Kemasyarakatan), Tarbiah Al-Wataniah (Sains Politik Mesir) dan beberapa kitab lain. Di samping menterjemah, beliau juga telah mengarang beberapa buah kitab seperti Sejarah Melayu Raya yang mencatatkan sejarah orang Melayu dari zaman Sri Vijaya dan kedatangan Islam ke Asia Tenggara. Pada tahun 1940, Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution memulakan kerja menterjemah al-Quran al-Karim yang dicetak pada tahun 1959. Beliau juga telah menulis huraian tafsir al-Quran yang dapat disiapkannya dalam tempoh lapan tahun. Secara keseluruhan, sejak tahun 1933 hingga 1980, Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution telah menulis dan menterjemah kira-kira 100 buah kitab dan risalah yang menyentuh pelbagai maudhuk. Kebanyakan daripada kitab-kitab itu adalah mengenai Islam, termasuklah kebudayaan dan sejarahnya. Beliau juga menulis tentang sejarah am Asia Tenggara. Dalam pada itu, beliau juga pernah menulis salasilah keturunan keluarganya dan beberapa buah buku ilmu pengetahuan seperti Geografi, Ekonomi, biografi hidup dirinya, Sains Politik, Sains Kemasyarakatan, pendidikan dan lain-lain lagi. Kebanyakan karya beliau ditulis dalam bentuk khat thuluth dan ada yang ditaip.

Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution juga bergiat aktif dalam Persatuan Ulama Kedah (PUK). Pada peringkat awal penubuhan Persatuan Ulama Kedah (PUK), beliau dianggap sebagai seorang daripada penaja dan orang kuat persatuan itu. Ketika itu, beliau bertugas sebagai mudir di pondok yang dikendalikannya sendiri iaitu Maahad Ehya Al-Ulum Addiniah di Tanjung Pauh, Jitra, Kedah. Sebagai tokoh penaja PUK, Haji Abdullah didaftarkan sebagai ahli ke lapan dalam persatuan itu. Beliau kemudiannya dilantik sebagai Setiausaha Penaja dan seterusnya sebagai Setiausaha Kehormat PUK.

Sebagai Setiausaha Penaja dan Setiausaha Kehormat PUK, beliau telah dipertanggungjawabkan menggubal sebuah undang-undang PUK yang dibentuk berpandukan undang-undang tubuh Persatuan Pinang Peranakan (sebuah pertubuhan kebajikan India Muslim di Pulau Pinang) . Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution telah dilantik sebagai Penolong Setiausaha PUK pada bulan Januari 1946 hingga 1949. Selepas setahun PUK bergerak di Alor Star (ibu pejabatnya di Maktab Mahmud), ia terpaksa dipindahkan ke Guar Chempedak kerana pada ketika itu Maktab Mahmud ialah sebuah sekolah agama kerajaan. Oleh kerana PUK merupakan sebuah persatuan bukan kerajaan, beberapa syarat tertentu telah dikenakan. Secara tidak langsung, keadaan itu sedikit sebanyak menjadi sekatan dan menghalang pergerakan PUK sendiri. Sebaliknya, pergerakan PUK di Madrasah At Taufikiah AI-Khairiah di Guar Cempedak lebih bebas kerana madrasah itu adalah sebuah sekolah agama rakyat yang tidak terikat dengan sebarang peraturan atau undang-undang pihak berkuasa. Mulai tahun 1949 sehingga sekitar tahun 1950-an, Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution dilantik sebagai Ketua Hal Pelajaran menggantikan Syeikh Abdul Halim Othman yang merupakan Ketua Hal Pelajaran PUK yang pertama.

Dalam bidang politik, beliau pernah menyandang pelbagai jawatan seperti Setiausaha Kesatuan Melayu Kedah dan Setiausaha UMNO Bahagian Kubang Pasu, Setiausaha PAS Kubang Pasu dan Kuala Nerang, Ketua Dewan Ulama PAS Kedah dan juga Jawatankuasa Pusat PAS Tanah Melayu. Selain itu, beliau pernah menghadiri pertemuan penting Kongres Kesatuan Melayu Malaya yang diadakan di Kelab Sultan Sulaiman, Kuala Lumpur pada 1 Mac 1946 sewaktu menentang Malayan Union. Kehadirannya dalam pertemuan itu ialah sebagai wakil kepada PUK dan Kesatuan Melayu Kedah. Di samping itu, beliau pernah menghadiri majlis mesyuarat ulama seluruh Tanah Melayu yang berlangsung di Butterworth pada tahun 1952. Haji Abdullah bukan saja membabitkan diri dalam bidang keagamaan tetapi turut bergerak cergas dalam bidang sosial. Satu contoh pembabitan beliau ialah sebagai ahli Persaudaraan Sahabat Pena (PERSPAM). Selain itu, beliau juga merupakan tokoh pemidato yang handal. Ini dapat dilihat sewaktu beliau menyampaikan ceramah bertajuk "Riwayat dan Perjuangan Tuk Kenali" di Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia pada 21 Februari 1978. Beliau sering menghadirkan diri ke seminar-seminar yang berkaitan dengan politik, ekonomi, sejarah, pendidikan, bahasa,sastera dan kebudayaan.

Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution telah kembali ke Rahmatullah pada 4 Januari 1987 dalam usia 78 tahun. Perjuangan Haji Abdullah dalam PUK untuk menyatupadukan umat Islam khusus di negeri Kedah adalah satu perjuangan yang meninggalkan kesan positif terhadap perkembangan Islam di seluruh negara. Oleh yang demikian, ia wajar diketahui dan dikenang oleh generasi Islam yang terkemudian.

http://www.mykedah.com/10heritage/102_4_08.htm

2007-07-07T10:05:00.000-07:00

Abdur Razzaq Lubis
Rabu, 3 Oktober 2001

Abdur Razzaq Lubis
Kerinduan Mandailing dari Tanah Seberang
Kompas/arbain rambey

TERNYATA banyak sekali orang Mandailing yang pernah dan masih menduduki jabatan penting di negara tetangga kita Malaysia. Beberapa di antaranya adalah Datuk Harun Harahap yang pernah menjabat sebagai Menteri Besar, Tan Sri Muhammad Taib Nasution yang Gubernur Selangor, Tun Mohammad Hanif Nasution yang pernah menjabat sebagai Ketua Polis Diraja Malaysia (semacam Kepala Polri), dan Tun Daim Batubara yang pernah menjabat Menteri Keuangan.

"Masih banyak lagi orang Mandailing yang memegang peran penting di Malaysia, namun tidak terlacak karena tidak memasang nama marga di belakang namanya," kata Abdur Razzaq Lubis, seorang Mandailing yang kini menjalankan situs www.mandailing.org dari Penang, Malaysia.

Bagi Abdur Razzaq Lubis, persoalan Mandailing atau bukan Mandailing adalah persoalan jati diri. Di Indonesia, Mandailing dimasukkan dalam kelompok etnis Batak alias disebut Batak Mandailing. Sedangkan di Malaysia, orang Mandailing dianggap sebagai sub etnis Melayu alias dianggap Melayu Mandailing yang dalam lafal Malaysia disebut Melayu Mendeleng.

"Kami orang Mandailing bukanlah Batak dan juga bukan Melayu. Kami punya perbedaan banyak dalam hal budaya dan lain-lain. Tolong dicatat ini," kata Lubis di kantornya yang sangat asri di George Town, Penang, Malaysia, akhir September lalu. Kantor Lubis di Armenian Street ini, dulu adalah Kantor Dr Sun Yat Sen, tokoh nasional Cina saat menyusun berbagai rencana.

Dari telaah yang telah dilakukan Lubis di berbagai museum dan berbagai perpustakaan, didapatlah fakta-fakta. Pendefinisian Mandailing ke dalam etnis Batak dilakukan pemerintah kolonial Belanda semata untuk membuat "batas" antara kelompok Muslim Minang dan Muslim Aceh.

Pada daerah "batas" ini, Belanda memberikan nama Batakland sehingga otomatis etnis-etnis di wilayah itu disebut orang Batak, termasuk orang Karo, orang Pakpak dan orang Angkola.

Sampai sekarang, Lubis masih terus memperdalam telaahnya tentang perbatakan dan permandailingan ini dari berbagai sumber. Sayangnya, literatur lama tentang Mandailing memang sangat sulit diperoleh, sementara biaya untuk melakukan itu tidaklah kecil.

Untunglah The Nippon Foundation mau menolong Lubis membiayai penelitiannya yang berjudul The Politics of Identity Construction: The Case of the Mandailing People.

***

PADA zaman globalisasi ini, berbicara mengenai etnis tampaknya memang seperti mundur ke belakang beberapa langkah. Abdur Razzaq Lubis sendiri sering mendapat tudingan itu atas penggalakan soal Mandailing ini di Malaysia.

"Justru di zaman globaliasasi ini masalah penemuan jati diri menjadi penting. Orang yang belum tahu siapa dirinya, akan larut dalam globalisasi dan menjadi bukan apa-apa dan bukan siapa-siapa," kata aktivis dakwah dan juga lingkungan ini.

Di Malaysia, banyak keturunan Mandailing yang sudah menanggalkan nama marganya. Dalam penelitian Lubis, ada dua hal yang mendasari hal itu. Hal pertama adalah keinginan untuk tampak menjadi murni orang Melayu karena pengaruh lingkungan, dan hal kedua adalah untuk pelarian.

Pada masa perang kemerdekaan Indonesia, banyak orang Mandailing aktivis kemerdekaan yang lari dari kejaran Belanda ke Malaysia. Mereka menanggalkan nama marganya agar tidak terlacak lagi. Salah satu di antaranya adalah Kamaludin Nasution yang lari ke Malaysia tahun 1932. Nasution ini lalu berganti nama menjadi Abdurrahman Rahim yang menjadi wartawan cukup terkenal di Malaysia pada era tahun 1960-an.

Dalam buletin Mandailing terbitan Malaysia tahun 1996, terdapat sebuah tulisan menarik. Isi tulisan itu adalah tentang mantan Wapres Indonesia Adam Malik yang ternyata juga punya hubungan erat dengan Malaysia. Adam Malik yang bermarga Batubara ini disebutkan sebenarnya kelahiran Chemor, Perak, Malaysia.

***

LUBIS memang sangat getol dengan permandailingan. Hampir segenap pembicaraan dengannya pasti diisi dengan pemikiran Mandailing. Namun, untuk menunjukkan bahwa dirinya bukanlah orang yang picik memandang kesukuan, Abdur Razzaq memaparkan fakta bahwa istrinya bukanlah orang Mandailing.

"Istri saya adalah orang Tionghoa dari marga Khoo walau sudah dimandailingkan dengan nama baru Khoo Salma Nasution," kata ayah Namora Hadi Lubis, Norma Hasya Lubis dan si bungsu Maga Hayyan Lubis.

Usaha Razzaq dalam menggali kemandailingan sangatlah besar. Mengingat ia hanyalah keturunan ketujuh dari marga Lubis yang datang ke Malaysia zaman Perang Padri di abad ke-19, Abdur Razzaq menyempatkan diri mengujungi Tanah Mandailing di Tapanuli Selatan beberapa waktu lalu, juga menjalin kontak secara teratur dengan cendekiawan Mandailing di Indonesia.

"Segala yang saya tahu tentang Mandailing saya usahakan untuk juga diketahui orang lain. Demikian pula sebaliknya. Saya selalu senang berbagi dan menggali ilmu, apa pun," kata pria kelahiran George Town, Penang, 12 Agustus 1959 ini.

Salah satu makalahnya yang dibawakannya pada seminar antropologi di Padang, Sumbar, bulan Juli lalu yang berjudul The Transformation of Traditional Mandailing Leadership in Malaysia and Indonesia in the Age of Globalization sangat banyak mendapat sambutan dari berbagai disiplin ilmu.

Selain itu, benak Abdur Razzaq Lubis amatlah banyak isinya, bukan melulu kemandailingan. Selain juga aktif dalam hal pelestarian budaya dengan menjadi perwakilan Malaysia untuk Badan Warisan Sumatera (BWS), Lubis juga aktif pada kegiatan keagamaan, hubungan antar-agama, dan juga lingkungan.

Pada Maret-April 1995, Lubis adalah wakil dari agama Islam untuk sebuah deklarasi internasional tentang kepercayaan dan lingkungan yang ditandatangani semua perwakilan agama di Ohito, Jepang. Deklarasi yang hampir senada juga ditandatangani Lubis sebulan kemudian di Istana Windsor, Inggris.

***

DALAM kancah lain, Lubis aktif di People Against Interest Debt (PAID), sebuah lembaga nonpemerintah yang berkedudukan di Penang.

Pemikiran Lubis tentang riba ini banyak yang menjadi pembicaraan, termasuk di Indonesia. Salah satu pemikirannya yang cukup kontroversial adalah soal penggunaan kembali uang emas dan perak pada negara-negara Islam juga sudah diseminarkan beberapa kali di Jakarta, termasuk sudah dibukukan.

"Saat ini ekonomi negara-negara berkembang sangat dikuasai negara Barat, sementara krisis ekonomi melanda mana pun. Mengapa? Ini karena uang kertas yang saat ini kita pakai. Uang kertas adalah uang utang," kata Lubis berapi-api.

Lebih jauh, Lubis menjelaskan uang kertas adalah selembar "surat" yang menyatakan utang, artinya ia adalah simbol dari sesuatu yang senilai dengan angka tercantum pada uang kertas. Menurutnya, uang kertas kini sangat manipulatif, bisa dicetak berjuta-juta lembar tanpa merujuk kepada sesuatu yang nyata.

Kembali ke kancah pemakaian uang emas dan perak yang sudah dirintis pada setiap Festival Karpet di Dubai, UEA, Lubis yakin kalau satu milyar penduduk Muslim dunia mau memakai kembali uang dinar dan dirham, sebuah keseimbangan ekonomi baru bisa tercipta. dollar AS tidak akan terlalu mendikte pasar lagi.

"Pendeknya, sangat banyak kehancuran dunia ini yang disebabkan oleh riba. Jangan salah. Riba itu ada 77 jenis, di antaranya korupsi dan manipulasi. Ini harus kita perangi," kata Lubis.

(Arbain Rambey, dari Penang, Malaysia )

IMF, Penolong atau Penjerat?

2007-07-01T00:23:00.000-07:00

Suara Pembaruan, 3 Maret 1999

IMF, Penolong atau Penjerat?

Jerat Utang IMF?

Oleh Abdul-Razzaq Lubis et al.

Banyak negara, terutama negara berkembang terlilit utang demi proses pembangunan negara. Dengan alihalih peningkatan kesejahteraan rakyat lewat pembangunan tersebut, rupanya tidak tersadari membangun melalui pengutang justru menjerat rakyat ke penderitaan beruntun. Ternyata kini mendekati bukti. Negara yang melakukan pembangunan dengan dana dari berutang, mendekati kebangkrutan. Lalu (untungnya?) disuntik lagi dengan pinjaman baru. Utang pun kian menumpuk. Sementara utang plus bunganya harus segera dilunasi.

Dalam konteks itu, di manakah posisi IMF (International Monetary Fund) yang sebagai lembaga pemberi pinjaman: sebagai penolong atau penjerat?

Buku Jerat Utang IMF? ini secara tegas menjawab persoalan itu bahwa IMF, termasuk Bank Dunia merupakan institusi pemberi pinjaman yang bermuatan riba. Ia jauh dari menghilangkan kesenjangan antara dunia maju dan dunia berkembang. Malah "bantuannya" kepada negara berkembang akan memerosokkan ke dalam utang yang lebih dalam (halaman 157).

Bunga Akumulatif

Mengapa bisa demikian? Karena adanya praktis bunga akumulatif atau riba di atas riba. Yaitu (bila) suatu pinjaman belum bisa dilunasi, lebih banyak lagi bunga ditambahkan pada utang awal yang harus dibayar. Tentu saja utang membesar dan semakin berat. Berpura-pura sebagai penolong, ternyata malah menjerat.

Buku ini ditulis oleh Abdur Razzaq Lubis et. al., yang berkebangsaan Malaysia, Lubis dkk. sesungguhnya dalam buku ini menegaskan penolakan mereka terhadap praktik bunga pinjaman yang selama ini terjadi dalam praktik ekonomi dunia. Menurut dia, sistem moneter global saat ini selalu memberikan kontrol kepada mereka yang menciptakan utang dan menarik bunga (riba), yang akhirnya menjadikan mayoritas utama penduduk dunia terbuka bagi proses memanipulasi dan eksistensi.

Praktik riba juga merupakan kerusakan total dalam ikatan mendasar kemanusiaan. Riba bertentangan secara diametral dengan konsep penghidupan dan bertransaksi masyarakat dalam suatu atmosfer saling percaya, saling peduli dan niat baik. Karena itu menurut Lubis, penghapusan riba atau bunga pinjaman adalah kunci pembuka aspirasi dan potensi sejati umat manusia.

Lubis menggambarkan, hidup sebagai negara pengutang adalah hidup dalam kesengsaraan. Tidak mungkin bagi suatu bangsa yang terbelit utang mampu meningkatkan perekonomian pada suatu angka pertumbuhan yang dapat memungkinkan membayar utangutangnya. (halaman 147).

Karena, hal itu memang sengaja diciptakan sedemikian rupa oleh piutangnya. Di sini para piutang hidup sebagai parasit dan menciptakan modal dari orang lain. Frederick Soddy, seorang pemenang Nobel, seperti dikutip Lubis dalam buku ini, mengatakan dengan jujur bahwa seluruh keuntungan dari pengeluaran (kredit) uang menyediakan modal bagi bisnis perbankan besar (negara donor) hingga seperti yang ada sekarang ini.

Richard J. Barnet dan Ronald E. Muller pun mengatakan bahwa negaranegara miskin (peminjam) telah menjadi sumber modal keuangan (melalui pembayaran bunga utang) bagi ekspansi perusahaan-perusahaan global ke seluruh dunia. Begitulah cara orang Eropa dan Amerika mengumpulkan kekayaan mereka dengan "bahasa sales" demi kemajuan teknologi dan industri (halaman 165).

Karena itu, Lubis mengingatkan agar negaranegara dunia ketiga seharusnya bersikap hatihati terhadap pemberian bermuatan orang asing dan utang bermuatan bunga. Syarat-syarat yang terkuantifikasi dengan rinci, yang dilampirkan pada pinjamanpinjaman bantuan, menandakan adanya hegemoni sistem moneter terhadap negaranegara berdaulat di dunia ketiga (halaman 157).

Ketika suatu bangsa melakukan kontrak bantuan penuh, negara itu benarbenar tidak mungkin meraih kembali posisi untuk menentukan nasib sendiri. Sebab, sekali suatu pemerintahan menggadaikan seluruh pendapatannya, ia pasti akan tenggelam menjadi negara lesu, lamban dan impoten. Bantuan, bukannya membantu mengembangkan negara untuk maju, melainkan malah menghasilkan kondisi terbelakang. Integrasi ke dalam "pasar bebas" tidak hanya menghancurkan bentukbentuk aktivitas ekonomi yang sudah ada, juga membawa kepada kemiskinan, kelaparan dan kekurangan gizi pada tingkat yang tak pernah disaksikan sebelumnya (halaman 159160).

Lingkaran Utang

Kini menurut Lubis, ketika seluruh dunia terjebak dalam lingkaran utang, kaum monetaris berpurapura menyelamatkan manusia dari masyarakat termonetisasi. Yaitu dengan mengganti sistem uang kertas yang tidak lagi diperlukan dengan suatu masyarakat tanpa utang kontan.
Inilah, sindir Lubis, versi baru tanda pengenal budak yang dipasang di setiap bayi yang baru lahir, yang menandainya sebagai budak One World Establishment yang disingkat OWE (utang).

Dengan demikian Lubis sampai pada suatu kesimpulan bahwa segala bentuk persoalan kemanusiaan berskala global saat initermasuk krisis ekonomiberawal dari pemberlakuan ekonomi riba atau bunga utang. Karena itu, Lubis mengingatkan, selama dunia masih berada di bawah tirani bunga utang, kebebasan manusia, keadilan sosial dan eksistensi yang seimbang akan terus menghindari kita.

Karena itu, harap Lubis, kita harus menghujat bunga utang, menghapus ekonomi bunga utang dan menggantinya dengan ekonomi bebas bunga. Sehingga, pinjaman tidak akan lagi menjerat. Berbeda dengan bentuk pinjaman IMF selama ini.

Akhirnya, buku yang ditulis Abdur Razzaq Lubis dkk ini, seperti dikatakan Zaim Saidi dalam pengantarnya, memang mulai menggulirkan pilihan lain kepada kita secara radikal (halaman xxx).

Seperti diakui Lubis dalam epilognya, sebagai awal dari perang melawan suatu sistem satu dunia (yang bunga utang sebagai andalannya untuk "menjerat leher" pengutang) (halaman 198). "Akankah kita menanggapinya dengan serius? Ataukah kita anggap Lubis dkk sebagai kaum utopis yang hendak memutar balik arah jarum sejarah?" tanya Zaim Saidi dalam akhir pengantarnya.

Bagaimana pun, buku yang terdiri atas 8 tulisan plus prolog dan epilog ini sangat menarik untuk disimak. Sekaligus sebagai pelajaran berharga bagi pemimpin bangsa kita.

Sufandi Maruih.

Senjakala Uang Kertas

2007-06-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

Koran Tempo, Ruang Baca
Edisi 27 Juni 2007

U L A S A N

Senjakala Uang Kertas

''We have gold because we cannot trust Government'' (Pernyataan Herbet Hoover dihadapan Presiden Rosevelt, tahun 1933)

Judul Buku: Gold Dinar, Sistem Moneter Global yang Stabil dan Berkeadilan
Penulis: M. Luthfi Hamidi, MA
Kata Pengantar: Dr. Mustofa Edwin Nasution
Penerbit: Senayan Abadi Publishing
Cetakan: 1, Februari 2007
Tebal: xxv + 221 halaman

Tahukah Anda, uang kertas dalam saku Anda menyimpan banyak persoalan? Ini bukan cuma soal betapa sulit mendapatkannya, namun lebih karena pada lembar-lembar uang kertas itu tersimpan masalah ekonomi dan politik berskala global. Di balik carikan uang kertas, bahkan, terdapat konspirasi, tarik-menarik kekuasaan yang membuat timpang wajah percaturan ekonomi dan politik dunia saat ini.

Buku Gold Dinar, Sistem Moneter yang Stabil dan Berkeadilan, yang ditulis oleh M. Luthfi Hamidi, ini mengurai carut-marut wajah moneter dunia sejak sistem mata uang kertas diperkenalkan lalu diterima masyarakat dunia sebagai alat traksaksi yang final. Berbekal data dan kajian mendalam, Luthfi memapar sejumlah potret ketimpangan ekonomi yang melanda negara-negara dunia ketiga akibat penerimaan mereka terhadap sistem mata uang kertas (fiat money) itu. Fiat money adalah penggunaan mata uang berbasis kertas yang diterbitkan pemerintah suatu negara tanpa disokong logam mulia (emas dan perak).

Menurut Luthfi, penggunaan uang kertas sebagai alat transaksi moneter internasional itu telah membuka ruang bagi munculnya penjajahan baru dan salah satu biang ketidakadilan moneter di dunia. Melalui mata uang kertas, sebuah negara dapat menjajah, menguasai, bahkan melucuti kekayaan negara lain. Negara yang memiliki nilai mata uang kertas lebih kuat menekan negara lain yang mata uang kertasnya lebih lemah.

Contoh nyata penjajahan melalui mata uang itu terlihat dalam penggunaan uang kertas dolar Amerika Serikat (AS) yang diterima oleh 60 persen penduduk bumi. Inilah ironi terbesar dunia saat ini, menurut Luthfi. Dolar yang terdistribusi secara luas menempatkan AS pada tempat istimewa. Melalui dolar--mata uang yang tak berbasis pada emas itu--AS mengeksploitasi, memajaki warga dunia dengan mengalihkan beban inflasi yang ditanggungnya pada seluruh pemakai dolar di seantero dunia. Negara-negara ketiga didera krisis ekonomi berkepanjangan lantaran harus membayar inflasi yang ditimbulkan oleh penggunaan uang kertas tersebut.

Bukan itu saja. Ketidakadilan juga tersimak saat negara-negara ketiga menyerahkan pelbagai komoditas mereka seperti minyak, kayu dan kekayaan alam lainnya sementara AS cukup menukar semua komoditas itu dengan uang kertas yang bisa dicetaknya kapan saja. Nah, menurut buku ini, sepanjang dolar tetap dipakai dalam pelbagai transaksi moneter internasional, ketimpangan moneter dan krisis ekonomi akan terus melanda negara-negara ketiga.

Lantas, bagaimana bila mau terbebas dari ketidakadilan moneter dan krisis ekonomi tersebut? Caranya: sistem moneter internasional saat ini yang didominasi uang kertas itu--dolar dan mata uang kertas kuat lainnya seperti euro dan yen--harus mendapat alternatif lain. Apa itu? Pilihan Luthfi jatuh pada mata uang dinar emas (gold dinar).

Dinar emas yang dimaksud adalah mata uang berupa kepingan koin berbahan baku emas 22 karat seberat 4,25 gram. Kendati disebut dinar, kata itu sejatinya sudah dikenal jauh sebelum Islam datang. Di mata Luthfi, inilah mata uang sejati. Pada dinar terdapat kestabilan nilai dan keadilan moneter karena mata uang tersebut berbasis komoditas (commodity currency). Dinar bernilai karena kandungan emas yang dimilikinya (intrinsik). Dinar tidak terikat keputusan politik apapun. Ini berbeda dengan mata uang kertas yang dianggap bernilai karena sebaris angka dicetakkan di atas kertasnya (ekstrinsik) lalu mendapat pengesahan pemerintah (negara).

Argumentasi kembali ke dinar emas tidak sampai di situ. Buku yang ditulis berdasarkan tesis yang diraih Luthfi di Markfield Institute, Inggris (2005) ini membentangkan pelbagai data berikut analisis seputar keunggulan mata uang dinar emas dan kerapuhan sistem mata uang berbasis uang kertas. Mengedepankan sejumlah variabel dan mengutip analisis para pakar ekonomi dunia, Luthfi tiba pada kesimpulan bahwa mata uang dinar emas terbukti lebih unggul dari mata uang kertas manapun. Penggunaan mata uang berbasis kertas (fiat money) patut ditinggalkan dan dinar emas (gold dinar) harus dikembalikan ke posisi terhormat sebagai mata uang internasional. (Lihat Bab II: Fiat Money atau Emas?)

Berikutnya, pada bab Gold Dinar dan Fungsi Uang Universal, pembaca diajak memahami universalitas emas. Dinar yang berbasis emas adalah mata uang yang mandiri dan sejarah telah membuktikan betapa mata uang itu dikenal sebagai extra ordinary currency yang anti-inflasi. Bahkan, dinar emas tidak terikat oleh kekuasaan politik manapun. Sebuah pemerintahan atau negara bisa jatuh dan uang kertas yang dicetak sebuah negara bisa kadaluarsa atau mengalami kemerosotan nilai. Namun, uang koin emas tetap beredar dan dihargai sesuai nilai pasar. Bukan negara yang membuat emas bernilai, melainkan pasar. (hlm. 79)

Dalam sejarah, koin dinar emas terbukti diterima sebagai alat moneter universal. Ribuan tahun lamanya masyarakat dunia dari pelbagai peradaban memilih mata uang ini sebagai alat tukar dalam aneka praktik keuangan. Selama ribuan tahun pula, perdagangan dunia menganut konsep bimetalisme, kebijakan moneter berbasis emas dan perak. Imperium Romawi menggunakan denarius, mata uang berupa koin emas bergambar Hercules bersama dua putranya, Herculyanoos dan Qustantine. Di Cina dikenal qian, mata uang yang juga berbasis logam.

Sementara itu, penggunaan fiat money baru dikenal pada abad 20 ini. Penandanya, saat sistem Bretton Woods ambruk pada 1971. Emas yang selama ribuan tahun menjadi standar mata uang (classical gold standard) diganti dengan sistem kurs mengambang (flexible excange rate) yang sama sekali tak lagi bersandar pada emas. Dunia kemudian hanya mengenal satu mata uang kertas yang mendominasi perdagangan dan menjadi pilihan mengisi cadangan devisa oleh berbagai negara, yaitu dolar AS.

Ditinggalkannya emas sebagai standar moneter internasional bukan tanpa sebab lain. Luthfi mengungkapkan, penyingkiran emas sebagai standar moneter merupakan upaya sistemik. Mengutip pernyatan Robert Mundel, peraih Nobel Ekonomi, emas mengalami marginalisasi karena konspirasi internasional. Salah satunya melalui penciptaan aset Special Drawing Right (SDR) yang diciptakan International Moneter Fund (IMF). Seperti dolar, SDR sebelumnya didukung oleh emas namun lambat laun setelah harga emas melesat naik pada 1970-an, garansi emasnya dicabut. (hlm. 148)

Buku yang ditulis Luthfi ini melengkapi langkanya literatur yang mengulas mata uang berbasis emas sebagai mata uang alternatif dalam usaha perbaikan wajah ekonomi dunia yang lebih berkeadilan. Boleh dikata, telaah mendalam seputar mata uang emas ini tak banyak dilakukan oleh pengamat atau pakar ekonomi kontemporer. Untuk menyebut beberapa, topik serupa terdapat dalam buku Jerat Utang IMF? karya Abdurrazaq Lubis (1998), Dinar Emas, Solusi Krisis Moneter oleh Ismail Yusanto, et.al (2001), serta Lawan Dolar dengan Dinar (2003) dan Kembali ke Dinar (2004)--keduanya buah pena Zaim Saidi.

Beberapa buku itu tampil dengan sudut pandang berbeda dalam memandang keberadaan dinar, namun dalam semangat yang sama: dunia perdagangan harus kembali pada mata uang berbasis emas, bukan fiat money.

Adakah gagasan mereka ini hanya sebuah utopia? Faktanya, tidak. Menyadari kelemahan fiat money, kesadaran kembali pada mata uang berbasis logam mulia ini sudah bertumbuh di pelbagai belahan dunia. Pamor dinar yang meredup kembali dihidupkan oleh Syaikh Dr Abdalqadr as-Sufi, seorang tokoh sufi asal Skotlandia. Di Eropa, gagasan kembali menggunakan dinar emas digaungkan oleh Umar Ibrahim Vadillo, penulis buku Return of The Gold Dinar (1991). Bahkan, koin dinar emas telah kembali dicetak oleh Islamic Mint Spanyol dan telah diedarkan sebagai alat transaksi dalam World Islamic Trading Organization (WITO).

Beberapa negara juga telah melakukan transaksi perdagangan dengan dinar emas seperti yang dimulakan Malaysia dan Iran. Mantan Perdana Menteri Malaysia Mahatir Mohammad adalah satu-satunya pemimpin negara yang berani mengatakan dinar harus dikembalikan sebagai alat perdagangan internasional. Di Indonesia, belum terlihat keberanian pemimpinnya.

Kendati tak banyak mendapat dukungan pemerintah, gagasan kembali ke dinar di Indonesia bertumbuh di tengah masyarakat. Di beberapa kota, telah berdiri sejumlah wakala, gerai pembelian dinar. Di Indonesia, sejak tahun 2001, mata uang dinar dicetak oleh PT. Logam Mulia, anak perusahaan PT. Antam Tbk dan diedarkan oleh Islamic Mint Nusantara.

Januari 2003, terbentuk pula Forum Penggerak Dinar Dirham Indonesia (FORINDO) yang menandatangani Deklarasi Gerakan Internasional Gold Dinar dan International Silver Dirham. Forum ini terdiri dari Ikatan Cendikiawan Muslim se-Indonesia (ICMI), Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI), Murabitun Nusantara, Permodalan Nasional Madani (PNM), Yayasan Dinar Dirham, Pusat Inkubasi Usaha Kecil Menengah (PINBUK), Wakala Adina, Forum Zakat Nasional, Asosiasi Bank Syariah Indonesia dan Masyarakat Ekonomi Syariah (MES). Selain untuk transaksi keuangan, dinar digunakan untuk mahar, zakat, tabungan haji dan investasi.

Buku Gold Dinar--juga beberapa buku lainnya--memberi peyakinan, bila dinar tegak sebagai alat moneter internasional, sebuah tatanan kehidupan perekonomian baru yang lebih stabil dan berkeadilan bukan utopi. Gagasan kembali pada dinar emas yang diusung buku ini berangkat dari kesadaran mengoreksi sistem moneter uang kertas yang menimbulkan kepincangan ekonomi global. Nah, bila proposal gold dinar terlaksana, ini bisa menjadi bentuk reformasi moneter yang akan mempengaruhi lanskap baru moneter dunia. (hlm. 180). Buku ini patut dibaca para praktisi dan pengamat ekonomi untuk mendapatkan sudut pandang berbeda dalam mengatasi keruwetan ekonomi Indonesia dan dunia hari ini.
· EMIL W. AULIA, peminat kajian numismatika

http://www.ruangbaca.com/ruangbaca/?doky=MjAwNw==&dokm=MDY=&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;dokd=Mjc=&dig=YXJjaGl2ZXM=&on=VUxT&uniq=NTEz

Ramadan in Sumatra: The Magical Music in Odd Numbers

2007-06-26T22:50:00.000-07:00

Gordang Sambilan performance at the Penang Festival
Permainan Gordang Sambilan di Pesta Pulau Pinang
Foto Khoo Salma Nasution

Ramadan in Sumatra: The Magical Music in Odd Numbers

For most of this month, Muslims around the world are observing Ramadan, their holy month of fasting and prayer. Because Ramadan is a month in a lunar calendar, it falls at a different time each year in the Western calendar.

Among the Mandailing people in the Indonesian state of Sumatra, the final days of Ramadan are celebrated with the joyous sound of a sacred traditional ensemble called the gordang. A gordang is made up of drums, gongs, cymbals and flute, and always includes an odd number of drums, because the Mandailing regard odd numbers as magical. A gordang with five drums is played in a ceremony to cure disease, to ask the spirit of an ancestor to enter the shaman and make him clairvoyant so he can understand why the person is sick. A three-drum ensemble may be played at a funeral.

The Mandailing consider nine, or "sembilan" in their language, to be the most magical number, and the gordang sembilan, with nine drums, is reserved for the most important occasions. In the past, the gordang sembilan could only be played for certain royal ceremonies -- to celebrate a noble marriage, the funeral of a raja, or king, or the death of a tiger, the animal considered to be the king of the jungle. After many of the Mandailing people converted to Islam in the 19th century, it became customary to play the gordang sembilan to celebrate the final days of Ramadan.

The Mandailing are primarily farmers, growing rice, cinnamon, coffee and rubber. During years of Dutch rule in Sumatra and later occupation by Japan, Mandailing culture underwent changes, and some say that valuable traditions were lost. But in recent years, the Mandailing have made efforts to preserve their unique cultural heritage -- especially their sacred music. They now play the gordang sembilan not only at Ramadan but in musical performances and competitions, finding artistic expression in what was once a purely sacred ritual.

Our thanks to anthropologists Zainudin Pangaduan Lubis and Peter Zabielskis.

http://www.pulseplanet.com/feat_archive/Dec00/index.html

Bahrum Rangkuti

2007-06-21T07:20:00.000-07:00

Bahrum Rangkuti lahir pada tanggal 7 Agustus 1919 di Galang, Riau. Ayahnya bernama M. Tosib Rangkuti dan ibunya, Siti Hanifah Siregar. Jadi, walaupun Bahrum lahir di Riau, ia adalah putra Mandailing asli. Rangkuti adalah marganya. Bahrum dibesarkan dalam keluarga Islam yang kental, ayahnya mendalami tarikat dan ibunya menyenangi tasawuf dan mistik.

Bahrum mengawali pendidikan formalnya di kota Medan. Ia masuk ke HIS (Hollands Inlandse School) , sekolah Belanda, setingkat sekolah dasar. Dari HIS, ia melanjut ke HBS (Hogere Burger School), setingkat dengan sekolah menengah pertama. Tamat dari HBS, Bahrum pindah ke Yogyakarta dan melanjutkan studinya di AMS (Algemene Middekbare School), setingkat dengan sekolah menengah atas. Dari AMS ini ia melanjutkan lagi pendidikannya ke Faculteit de Lettern, yang kemudian menjadi Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Indonesia. Ia belajar bahasa-bahasa Timur sampai tingkat sarjana muda.

Ia juga pernah belajar di Jamiatul Mubasheren, Rabwah, di pakistan pada tahun 1950. Rabwah adalah sebuah desa kecil di tepi sungai Cenaab, tempat latihan para misionaris Islam yang bertugas ke seluruh dunia. Akan tetapi, ternyata, Bahrum tidak berminat menjadi misionaris.

Sekembali dari Pakistan, Bachrum melanjutkan kuliahnya di Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Indonesia, untuk mendapatkan gelar sarjana penuh dan tamat pada tahun 1960. Ia menguasai tujuh bahasa, Inggris, Prancis, Jerman, Belanda, Arab, Urdu, dan bahasa daerahnya.

Dengan pengetahuan bahasa yang dimilikinya, Bachrum, kemudian bekerja sebagai penerjemah. Ia bekerja sebagai penerjemah bahasa Inggris dan Prancis, di samping menjadi wartawan freelance dan guru di sebuah sekolah menengah atas di Jakarta.

Bachrum Rangkuti pernah berceramah mengenai aspek sosial hari raya di depan para perwira ALRI pada saat Angkatan Laut RI itu dipemimpin oleh Edi Martadinata. Ternyata, ceramahnya itu sangat memukau Edi dan para perwira. Lalu, Edi meminta Bachrum untuk menjadi Ketua Dinas Perawatan Rohani Islam di AL dan diberi pangkat kolonel tituler.

Walaupun telah menjadi kolonel tituler ALRI, Bahrum tidak dapat mengabaikan kecintaannya terhadap dunia sastra. Dunia itu selalu menarik dan memanggil hati nuraninya. Oleh karena itu, ia pun muncul di Pusat Kesenian Jakarta pada tanggal 28 September 1969 membacakan sajak-sajak Iqbal, pengarang dari Pakistan.

Karya Bahrum Rangkuti

1) Puisi:

a. Sajak-sajak yang Sudah Diterbitkan
(1) “Tuhanku” Pandji Poestaka (1943)
(2) “Langit dan Bumi Baru” Pandji Poestaka (1944)
(3) “Peperangan Badar” Pandji Poestaka (1944)
(4) “Prajurit Rohani” Pandji Poestaka (1944)
(5) “Akibat” Pantja Raja (1946)
(6) “Borobudur” Pantja Raja (1946)
(7) “Cita-Cita” Pantja Raja (1946)
(8) “Doa Makam” Pantja Raja (1946)
(9) “Hidupku” Pantja Raja (1946)
(10) “Insyaf” Pantja Raja (1946)
(11) “Kembali” Pantja Raja (1946)
(12) “Laut Kenangan” Pantja Raja (1946)
(13) “Sakura” Pantja Raja (1946)
(14) “Tugu Kenangan” Pantja Raja (1946)
(15) “Laila” Gema Suasana (1948)
(16) “Pasar Ikan” Gema (1948)
(17) “Sajak-Sajak Muhammad Iqbal” Siasat (1951)
(18) “Syuhada” Hikmah (1952)
(19) “Iqbal” Hikmah (1953)
(20) “Malam dari Segala Malam” Gema Islam (1962)
(21) “Pesan” Gema Islam (1966)
(22) “Nafiri Ciputat” Horison (1970)
(23) “Anak-Anakku” Horison (1971)
(24) “Dunia Baru” Horison (1971)
(25) “Ayahanda” Horison (1971)
(26) “Bunda” Horison (1971)
(27) “Lebaran di Tengah-Tengah Gelandangan” Horison (1971)
(28) “Mercon Malam Takbiran” Horison (1971)
(29) “Pejuang” Horison (1971)
(30) “Rumah” Horison (1971)
(31) “Sembahyang di Taman HI” Horison (1971)
(32) “Tuhan di Tengah-Tengah Insan” Horison (1971)
(33) “Sumbangsih” Koninklijke Boekhandel dan Drukkery G. Kollf dan Co
(34) “Hikmah Puasa dan Idul Fitri” Koninklijke Boekhandel dan Drukkery G. Kollf dan Co

b. Sajak-sajak yang Belum Diterbitkan dan Tahun Ciptaannya
(1) “Tao Toba” (1970)
(2) “Sipirok” (1970)
(3) “Natalandi Gita Bahari” (t.th.)
(4) “Nunukan” (1970)
(5) “Mesjid di Tanjung Selor” (1970)
(6) “Ka’bah” (1971)
(7) “Bungan Bondar” (1971)
(8) “Mina” (1971)
(9) “Madinah” (1971)
(10) “Arafah” (1971)
(11) “Makkah” (1971)
(12) “Hajir” (1971)
(13) “Nisbah” (1971)
(14) “Yang Genap dan Yang Ganjil” (1971)
(15) “Bengkel Manusia” (t.th.)
(16) “meluruskan bahtera” (1973)
(17) “Nyanyian di Pohon Kelapa” (1973)
(18) “Mi’raj” (t.th.)
(19) “kepada Biniku A. Bara” (t.th.)
(20) “Isa a.s.” (1969)
(21) “Idul Fitri” (t.th.)
(22) “Mula Segala” (1969)
(23) “Muhammad s.a.w.” (1969)
(24) “Beton, Beling, dan Besi” (t.th.)
(25) “Laut Lepas Menanti” (t.th.) (PDS. H.B. Jassin)

2) Drama
(1) “Laila Majenun” Gema Suasana (1949)
(2) “Sinar memancar dari Jabal Ennur” Indonesia (1949)
(3) “Asmaran Dahana” Indonesia (1949)
(4) “Arjuna Wiwaha”

3) Cerpen

(1) “Ditolong Arwah” Pandji Poestaka (1936)
(2) “Rindu” Poedjangga Baroe (1941)
(3) “Renungan Jiwa” Pandji Poestaka (1942)
(4) “Ngobrol dengan Cak Lahama” gema Suasana (1946)
(5) “Sayuti Parinduri Alfaghuru” atau “Antero Krisis Cita, Moral, dan benda” Zenith (1952)
(6) “Laut, Perempuan, dan Tuhan” Gema Tanah Air (1969)

4) Esai
(1) “Setahun di negeri Bulan Bintang I” Zenith (1951)
(2) “Setahun di negeri Bulan Bintang II” Zenith (1951)
(3) “Setahun di negeri Bulan Bintang II” Zenith (1951)
(4) “Angka dan Penjelmaannya” Zenith (1951)
(5) “Pengantar kepad Cita Iqbal” Indonesia (1953)
(6) “Kandungan Al Fatihah” (1953)
(7) “Nabi Kita” Bacaan untuk Anak-anak (t.th.)
(8) “Islam dan kesusastraan Indonesia Modern”: skripsi s-1 (1961). Diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Inggris dengan judul
(9) “Islam and “Modern Indonesian Literature”
(10) “Pramudya Ananta Toer; dan Karya seninya” (1963)
(11) “Terapan Hikmah Isra dan Mikraj dalam kehidupan Sehari-hari” Operasi (1968)
(12) “Muhammad Iqbal Pemikir dan Penyair” ceramah di TIM (1969)
(13) “Ceramah Tentang Cita-Cita M. Iqbal” TIM (1976)
(14) “Al Quran, Sejarah, dan Kebudayaan” Pidato pengukuhan sebagai Guru Besar (1976)
(15) “Sejarah Indonesia I dan II”
(16) “Metode Mempelajari Tafsir Qur’an dan Bahasa Arab”
(17) “Sejarah Khalifah Usman r.a”
(18) “Sejarah Nabi Muhammad s.a.w”
(19) “Islam dan PEmbangunan”
(20) “The Spritual Wealth in Islam”

5) Terjemahan

(1) “Puisi Dunia” karya Sophocles dari Antagone (1948)
(2) “Dengan Benih Kemerdekaan” karya Alexander Pushkin (1949)
(3) “Kepada Penyair” karya M. Iqbal
(4) “Insan dan Alam” karya M. Iqbal (1953)
(5) “Waktu itu Adalah Pedang” karya M. Iqbal (1953)
(6) “Iqbal Di Hadapan Rumi” karya M. Iqbal (1953)
(7) “Soledad Montoya” karya Lorca
(8) “Lintas Sejarah Dunia” karya Jawaharlal Nehru
(9) “Asrar-J. Khudi” karya Dr. Muhammad Iqbal.

http://www.pusatbahasa.depdiknas.go.id/

Mandailing Mart: Trend Social

2007-06-21T07:14:00.000-07:00

Oleh Julkifli Marbun

Mandailing Mart: Trend Sosial

Tulisan ini sebenarnya bukan lah sebuah artikel ekonomi perihal Mandailing Mart. Tapi hanya mengenai sebuah trend social yang menggejala. Mandailing Mart yang dimaksud adalah gejala kecenderungan sosial masyarakat Mandailing dalam menggeluti usaha kelontong kecil, mirip sebuah mart atau minimarket, yang menguasasi kelompok kecil dan menengah masyarakat di Jakarta atau mungkin di Indonesia.

Seperti halnya komunitas Tegal yang sangat terkenal itu yang banyak menggeluti rumah makan dari Tegal alias warung tegal yang disingkat 'warteg' yang dapat dikatakan menjadi tulang punggung masyarakat kecil di Jakarta. Kelompok komunitas Tegal ini, mengambil persan sosial yang sangat penting dengan menyediakan salah satu profesi yang ikut serta dalam membangun masyarakat Ibukota dan kota-kota lain di Indonesia dengan makanan dan rumah makan dengan harga yang relatif murah. Dengan dibandingkan misalnya dengan rumah makan Padang, yang dikelola oleh orang-orang Padang dan lain sebagainya.

Demikian halnya dengan orang Mandailing. Namun spesialisasi mereka ini terletak pada barang kelontong atau sembako. Sebagaimana warteg, toko-toko sembako milik orang-orang Mandailing di Indonesia bukanlah tanpa pesaing. Sebut saj misalnya, toko grosir milik toke Cina, Alfa Mart, Super Market dan lain sebagainya. Namun bagai mana mereka survive???

Itulah pertanyaan yang sering penulis lontarkan kepada mereka-mereka yang terlibat dengan usaha ini. Dari beberapa tanya jawab dengan orang-orang Mandailing dapat disimpulkan beberapa hal:

Soal Survive:

Toko-toko sembako yang dikelola oleh orang-orang Mandailing tersebut menyediakan barang-barang dengan harga yang murah. Sehingga banyak pelanggan yang datang. Resikonya, memang, adalah si pemilik toko harus sangat bersabar dengan untung yang sangat kecil dari setiap item barang yang dijualnya. Dengan demikian, walaupun harus bersaing dengan toko-toko grosil milik pemodal besar, mereka tetap survive dan dapat bertahan dengan pelanggan-pelanggan tetap mereka.

Toko-toko sembako milik para mandailing tersebut, mempunyai persatuan alias koperasi yang sangat kuat yang menjadi sumber permodalan dan sekaligus sumber supplai barang-barang dengan harga yang sangat murah. Dengan demikian, mereka yang terlibat dengan usaha ini dapat mendapat kemudahan mendapat permodalan dan supplai barang yang sedang tren dan lagi murah.

Melalui paguyuban dan koperasi tersebut, setiap anggota dapat sharing informasi mengenai lokasi-lokasi strategis untuk membuka toko sembako. Sehingga setiap anggota yang sudah eksis dapat memperluas jaringan tokonya atau koperasi dapat menyarankan dan mengarahkan anggota barunya untuk membuka toko alias berinvestasi di daerah tersebut.

Target-target lokasi mereka adalah daerah perumahan yang belum memiliki toko sembako dan kelontong yang lengkap, atau perumahan yang baru buka, atau perkampungan yang masih belum memiliki toko-toko atau perumahan yang sudah banyak toko-tokonya namun masih terbuka peluang untuk bersaing.

Setiap toko selalu mengadakan perjumpaan secara berkala sehingga mereka dapat saling membantu mengatasi masalah masing-masing. Misalnya, apabila satu item barang tidak laku di suatu tempat mereka akan segera melemparkannya ke tempat yang masih laku penjualannya.

Modal yang dibutuhkan sangat variatif. Karena ini merupakan usaha kecil, konsentrasi modal dalam kisaran 10-30 juta tergantung tempat dan kondisi.

Adanya atau tersedianya sumber daya manusia yang sangat membludak. Orang-orang Mandailing, yakni generasi mudanya, merupakan kalangan perantau yang menjamin tersedianya SDM untuk menopang usaha ini. Mereka-mereka yang masih baru merantau dari Tanah Mandailing akan sangat berguna sebagai petugas magang di toko-toko tersebut, sehingga pemilik toko dapat mempekerjakan pekerja dengan gaji yang ekonomis.

Pihak paguyuban dan Koperasi sangat membantu dalam pengurusan perijinan dan pendirian toko sembako kecil sehingga menghemat kost dan biaya yang harus dikeluarkan oleh investor kecil tersebut. Di samping itu para anggota juga saling menjaga keselamatan dan keamanan anggota masing-masing dari pihak-pihak yang menjadi penyakit sosial seperti maling, pencuri, preman dan pejabat yang korup. Dengan demikian para toko sembako ini sangat disegani di tempat perkampungan-perkapungan tersebut.

Satu titik keistimewaan dari kelompok Mandailing yang sebagian besar bermarga Nasution, Lubis, Daulay, Rangkuti dll ini adalah kemampuan mereka dalam beradaptasi dengan sosial di Indonesia. Banyak para pemilik toko sembako tersebut juga diangkat oleh masyarakat setempat sebagai pemimpin agama, imam, khatib dan lain sebagainya di mesjid-mesjid setempat. Dengan demikian posisi mereka sebagai saudagar mendapat dukungan dari masyarakat.

Bila dilihat dari segi sejarah, paguyuban saudagar Mandailing ini sebenarnya bukanlah hal yang baru. Sejak abad pertengahan (abad 15-16), orang-orang Mandailing telah terlibat dalam persatuan perdagangan yang terealisir ke dalam kelompok-kelompok pedagang. Marga harahap misalnya merupakan kelompokm pedagang kuda (sebagai ternak dan alat transportasi) sejak dahulu kala. Dapat dipastikan bahwa seluruh tanah Batak pernah dikuasasi oleh perdagangan kuda kelompok komunitas ini.

Marga Hasibuan, Pulungan, Nasution misalnya merupakan kelompok pedaganga emas yang menguasasi perdagangan akasesoris perhiasan emas di seluruh tanah Batak. Setiap onan di tanah Batak pasti terdapat sebuah kios atau toko perhiasan emas dan barang berharga lainnya dari kelompok marga ini.Seperti halnya marga Hutagalung dan Marpaung dengan perdagangan kelontong mereka yang menghubungkan setiap huta-huta yang terpencil dari daerah-daerah pedalaman tanah Batak. Semuanya merupakan latar belakang dari bentuk tren sosial seperti ini.

Namun, profesi seperti Mandailing Mart ini seharusnya mendapat dukungan dari pihak-pihak terkait. Termasuk pemerintah, pemilik modal dari orang-orang Mandailing, kelompok pemerhati masalah-masalah sosial dan lain sebagainya. Karena sebagaimana sebuah tren, profesi ini dapat saja tidak dapat bertahan karena pertukaran dan perputaran zaman. Memang tidak dapat dipungkiri bahwa sekarang ini orang-orang Mandailing sudah banyak yang teremansipasi. Kelompok Mandailing tidak saja terlibat dalam sektor yang sekarang ini. Beberapa di antaranya sudah menduduki posisi-posisi puncak di Indonesia. Sebagai pengusaha ternama, politikus, petinggi militer, pejabat dan lain sebagainya.

Sektor-sektor usaha orang-orang Mandailing juga sudah mencakup sebuah skala yang lebih besar. Sepeti misalnya pertambangan, kontraktor bangunan, keuangan, jasa dan lain sebagainya. Namun, walaupun begitu, Mandailing Mart, sebagai sebuah lahan profesi bagi kalangan menengah ke bawah harus tetap dipertahan dan dikembangkan agar dapat bersaing dengan kelompok-kelompok sejenisnya dari komunitas yang lain.Kelompok menengah ke bawah yang kuat dan solid akan membantu ketahanan sistem sosial dan budaya sebuah kelompok masyarakat. Sehingga kita tidak usah heran mengapa kelompok Mandailing dapat berusah berdiri sendiri di kancah peradaban Indonesia dengan sistem budaya dan identitas sendiri.

Syeikh Juned Tola: Berjasa di Mandailing dan di Semenanjung

2007-06-21T06:55:00.000-07:00

Syeikh Juned Tola

Di Padang Rengas pengajian pondok telah dikenali sejak tahun 1850-an, yang didirikan oleh seorang ulama yang lari dari pulau Jawa kerana menentang sistem kultur (sistem tanaman paksa) yang dikuatkuasakan oleh penjajah Belanda di pulau itu. Namanya Haji Abdul Manan. Beliau berasal dari Pesantren Ambal. Dalam usahanya ini beliau disokong oleh Tok Paduka Abdul Latif, seorang pembesar jajahan Kerian.

Usaha beliau ini kemudian dilanjutkan oleh anaknya, Haji Nur. Kemudian digantikan oleh menantunya Haji Saleh. Apabila Haji Saleh meninggal dunia, maka pengajian pondok di Padang Rengas terhenti untuk seketika, sebab tidak ada tokoh yang dapat meneruskan usaha pengajian ini. Sampailah Syeikh Juned kemudiannya datang dan mengajar di Padang Rengas.

Kelahiran

Syeikh Juned dilahirkan pada tahun 1897 di Tarlola, sebuah kampung kecil termasuk daerah Maga, Kota Nopan, Kabupaten Tapanuli Selatan di wilayah Sumatra Utara, Indonesia. Beliau termasuk puak Mandailing dengan marga (clan) Rangkuti. Nama asal beliau ialah Simanonga.

Pendidikan

Pendidikan awal beliau ialah sekolah desa (sekolah rendah tiga tahun) di kampung Maga. Beberapa tahun kemudian beliau berpindah ke Tanah Deli (di Sumatra Utara bahagian Timur), untuk kemudiannya pergi ke Besilam (Babussalam), Langkat. Besilam dikenali sebagai sebuah pusat tarikat Naqsyabandi. Pemukiman itu diasaskan oleh Syeikh Abdul Wahab Rokan.

Di Besilam beliau memulai pengajian agamanya. Sebab kesungguhan beliau menuntut ilmu, beliau disayangi oleh [Syeikh Abdul Wahab]], gurunya yang memberinya nama "Juned" mengambil nama seorang ulama tasawuf yang terkenal, iaitu "Syeikh Juned al-Baghdadi".

Kemudian di belakang nama beliau ditambahkan (oleh siapa?) "Tola". Menurut suatu pendapat kata itu singkatan daripada "Tarlola", kampung kelahirannya. Namun, Datuk Haji Asri bin Haji Muda (Datuk Asri), menantu allahyarham (Wawancara: 12 Oktober 1989) tidak dapat memastikannya.

Namun, beliau masih bercita-cita hendak melanjutkan pelajarannya. Untuk itu beliau merantau ke Tanah Melayu. Mula-mula beliau berguru di Kedah di Pondok Haji Che Dol, Gajah Mati, dan kemudian disambung oleh menantunya Syeikh Ibrahim (Pak Cu Hin) dan di Pondok Haji Hussain Cik Dol di Guar Cempedak. Kemudian beliau pindah ke Bukit Mertajam, Pulau Pinang, berguru dengan Tuan Haji Salleh Masri.

Oleh kerana kecerdasannya, seorang ulama di Padang Rengas membawa beliau ke kampungnya, kemudian menikahkannya dengan anak perempuannya, Sariyah binti Haji Said (1922). Tiga bulan kemudian Haji Said mengirim menantunya, Juned belajar ke Universiti al-Azhar di Mesir. Turut bersama beliau ke Mesir ialah iparnya, Haji Husin Said, dan Haji Mohd Zain Haji Noh. Menurut Datuk Asri, pada masa itu isterinya sedang mengandungkan anaknya yang pertama. Pertemuan beliau dengan puterinya yang pertama ini berlaku di Mekah.
Selama di Mesir beliau bukan hanya mencari ilmu tetapi juga berkecimpung di dalam pergerakan pelajar Indonesia-Malaya. Mesir pada waktu itu sedang bergolak menentang penjajahan. Juga sedang berkembang fahaman "pembaharuan" Muhammad Abduh-Rasyid Ridha. Hal ini menanamkan semangat menentang penjajahan, yang kelak dibawanya pulang ke negerinya.

Beliau amat tertarik dengan institusi wakaf dan pentadbirannya, sehingga mampu membiayai sebuah universiti yang besar seperti al-Azhar. Beliau amat berminat dengan wakaf. Minatnya itu kemudiannya mendorongnya untuk menulis sebuah buku kecil dengan judul Kaifiat mengadakan Wakaf, yang diterbitkan di Mesir pada tahun 1927, dengan kata pengantar oleh Syeikh Idris al-Marbawi yang terkenal di seluruh negara yang berbahasa Melayu di Asia Tenggara kerana kamus Arab-Melayunya yang dikenali dengan nama Kamus al-Marbawi. Kamus ini ialah antara kamus Arab-Melayu yang terawal. Syeikh Juned turut membantu melengkapkan Kamus al-Marbawi.

Sebelum pulang ke tanah air Syeikh Juned sempat juga belajar kepada Syeikh Abdul Kadir al-Mandili, salah seorang guru di Masjidil Haram pada ketika itu.

Dalam tahun 1926, Syeikh Juned kembali ke tanah air, bersama isterinya Sariyah Haji Said dan puteri pertamanya, Sakinah (sekarang dikenali sebagai Cik Kinah atau Datin Sakinah, isteri kepada Datuk Asri). Tidak berapa lama kemudian isterinya, Sariyah meninggal dunia. Dalam tahun 1927, beliau mengahwini seorang lagi puteri Haji Said, bernama Siti Hajar Haji Said. Dalam tahun 1934, beliau mengahwini lagi seorang isteri di Tapanuli Selatan bernama Rokiah Haji Ibrahim.

Pengajian pondok

Dalam tahun 1927, beliau telah mewujudkan suatu kelas pengajian di sebuah surau dekat rumahnya di Kampung Lalang, Padang Rengas. Pelajar terdiri daripada penduduk Kampung Lalang dan kampung di sekitarnya di dalam kawasan Padang Rengas. Ada bahagian untuk anak-anak dan ada bahagian untuk orang dewasa. Pengajian ini mendapat sambutan hangat daripada masyarakat kaum muslimin setempat. Kemudian pelajar dari luar Padang Rengas berdatangan, seperti dari Temoh, Teluk Intan, Bagan Serai, dan Parit. Memandangkan para pelajar semakin ramai, maka didirikanlah pondok penginapan. Tok Maharaja Indera Haji Syukri mewakafkan sebidang tanah untuk tapak pondok-pondok penginapan itu. Juga beliau mendapat sokongan daripada Haji Abdul Rahim yang di gelar Datuk Panglima Garang, Ketua Kampung Lalang pada ketika itu. Beliau juga mendapat bantuan daripada beberapa tokoh yang mendapat didikan agama di Timur Tengah dan juga daripada madrasah tempatan. Ke dalam kelompok ini termasuklah nama-nama Haji Usman Ahmad, Haji Abdul Aziz Yaakub, Haji Said, Haji Kasim, Haji Anjang Ahmad, dan Haji Ismail Moin. Juga beliau mendapat sokongan daripada Haji Mohd. Zain Abd. Majid, Haji Mohd Zain Noh, dan Abu Bakar. Daripada sebuah pengajian kampung dengan pesatnya ia berkembang menjadi sebuah pengajian pondok yang mendapat sambutan ramai daripada masyarakat Islam negeri Perak. Padang Rengas sekali lagi mengambil tempatnya sebagai pusat perkembangan pengetahuan Islam menyambung institusi pesantren yang dahulunya telah didirikan oleh Haji Abdul Manan.

Didesak oleh sambutan yang hangat terhadap pengajian pondok Syeikh Juned, maka dalam tahun 1930 didirikan sebuah Madrasah Arabiah Kampung Lalang. Sekolah ini terus berkembang pesat. Keadaan ini mendorong berdirinya sebuah madrasah yang lebih lengkap dan lebih teratur, dalam tahun 1931 dengan nama Madrasah Yahyawiah untuk mengambil alih tempat Madrasah Arabiah. Nama Yahyawiah diambil daripada nama Orang Besar Jajahan Kuala Kangsar, iaitu Datuk Andika Mior Yahya Mior Syamsuddin yang menjadi penaung madrasah itu yang telah memberikan sumbangan derma.

Oleh desakan yang kuat daripada masyarakat muslimin untuk membina suatu pengajian yang berasingan bagi pelajar perempuan, maka Syeikh Juned menaja pendirian sebuah lagi madrasah yang khas untuk pelajar puteri. Beliau sesungguhnya ingin memberi peluang yang sama kepada kaum perempuan untuk mendapat pelajaran. Semangat anti penjajahan yang ada di dalam dirinya tidak mengizinkan anak-anak muslim bersekolah di sekolah kerajaan yang mendidik mereka menjadi hamba British. Puteri-puteri beliau sendiri, Sakinah Syeikh Juned dan Habibah Syeikh Juned dihantar belajar ke Indonesia di Sekolah Diniah Puteri, Padang Panjang, Sumatera Barat, sebuah sekolah agama yang mengikuti aliran pembaharuan. Dan nama ini, Diniah Puteri , kemudian diambilnya untuk menamai madrasah puteri yang baru didirikan itu. Madrasah itu dirasmikan dalam tahun 1935.

Idea pembaharuan

Madrasah ini mendukung idea pembaharuan. Sekolah ini adalah madrasah pertama di Perak yang mendukung idea Islah . Oleh sebab pendirian "pembaharuannya", ia sering dikunjungi oleh tokoh-tokoh pembaharuan Islam, terutama oleh Syeikh Tahir Jalaluddin yang juga sahabat karib kepada Syeikh Juned. Di dalam madrasah ini pelajarnya bukan hanya ditumpukan kepada pengetahuan agama Islam tetapi juga meliputi pelajaran dan latihan kemahiran yang boleh dipergunakan untuk menampung keperluan hidup duniawi. Kepada murid juga diajarkan membuat kicap, kacang masin, bersawah, berkebun, membuat terompah (bagi pelajar lelaki-Yahyawiah) dan menjahit (bagi pelajar wanita-Diniah Puteri).

Pelajar yang semakin ramai mendorong masyarakat Islam di sekitar Padang Rengas untuk mendirikan madrasah seperti itu di kampung-kampung lain. Maka berdirilah cawangan Madrasah Diniah dengan nama yang berbeza tetapi dengan isi yang sama di berbagai-bagai tempat, seperti Madrasah al-Ridzuaniah di Padang Asam, Madrasah al-Falahiah di Kampung Buaya, Madrasah al-Nasriah di Padang Rengas, Madrasah al-Ijtihadiah di Kampung Gapis, Madrasah al-Hadi di Kampung Pauh, Madrasah al-Bakariah di Paya Lintah, Madrasah al-Zahiriah di Kampung Keruh Hilir, Madrasah al-Iqtisadiah di Kampung Keruh Hulu, dan Madrasah Sabiyah al-Ahmadiah di Kampung Laneh.

Pembaharuan Syeikh Juned mempunyai wajah lain jika dibandingkan dengan pembaharuan di Perlis. Jika Perlis banyak menumpukan perhatian kepada masalah khilafiah dan sunnah atau tidak sunnah, terutama di dalam ibadah, maka Syeikh Juned bertumpu pada pembangunan mental dan sikap. Beliau menekankan bagaimana semestinya seorang muslim itu berfikir, berjuang, dan berekonomi. Beliau tidak memilih jalan konfrontasi, meskipun beliau juga menentang bidaah, dan khurafat. Beliau lebih mengutamakan hikmah dan mauizah yang baik. Sebab itu beliau tidak menimbulkan ketegangan sosial.

Di sekolah yang ada di bawah bimbingannya, bukan hanya ilmu agama yang diajarkan, tetapi juga cara hidup yang baik secara berdikari. Menurut Datin Sakinah Syeikh Juned , Syeikh Juned sering mengingatkan masyarakat Islam dan pelajarnya: "Bagaimana kita hendak merdeka jika kita tidak sanggup berdikari dalam kehidupan kita".

Sebab itu beliau sentiasa menghidupkan semangat berdikari itu dalam kalangan pelajarnya, sesuai dengan ajaran Rasulullah s.a.w. Menurut beliau ekonomi umat Islam hanya dapat dibina jika mereka sanggup berdikari tanpa mengharapkan bantuan daripada orang bukan muslim. Kekuatan politik juga dapat ditegakkan jika ekonomi kuat.

Dengan menggalakkan umat Islam mewakafkan tanah dan harta, beliau berusaha untuk mewujudkan ekonomi Islam atas dasar bersama dan bantu membantu antara satu dengan lain. Di atas tanah yang diwakafkan, beliau telah mengambil inisiatif untuk memajukannya dengan menanam sayur-sayuran, buah-buahan, dan sebagainya. Beliau sendiri menunjukkan kepada pelajarnya teknik pertanian yang betul. Dari segi industri dan ekonomi beliau mempelawa beberapa orang pembatik dan pembuat terompah supaya datang ke [Padang Rengas]] dan membuka perusahaan di sini. Dan sebagai hasil daripada usaha ini, maka di Padang Rengas sendiri pada penghujung tahun tiga puluhan terdapat lebih kurang 30 buah kedai yang semuanya kepunyaan orang Melayu, terdiri daripada kedai kopi, kedai dobi, kedai getah, kedai runcit, kedai gunting rambut, dan lain-lainnya.

Kesan usaha ini menanamkan ke dalam jiwa dan semangat orang Islam percaya kepada diri sendiri dan keyakinan bahawa mereka juga boleh melakukan sebarang pekerjaan yang selama ini dikuasai oleh orang bukan Islam, asal saja ada kemahuan dan ada kesungguhan.

Kesan yang ketara pada masa itu, jumlah orang Melayu yang membeli di kedai Cina tidak sampai 20 peratus. Itu pun mereka lakukan apabila barang yang diperlukan itu kebetulan tidak ada di kedai Melayu. Bahkan orang Melayu telah berasa malu membeli di kedai Cina. Hal ini semua boleh berlaku berkat kejayaan pimpinan ulama dan tokoh yang bercita-cita pembaharuan Islam.

Pengaruh

Bahkan lompatan ke depan daripada kelompok Padang Rengas ini semakin jauh ke muka. Ia telah menyentuh aspek perjuangan politik untuk memerdekakan tanah air daripada penjajahan British . Pada penghujung tahun 1940-an, pondok di Madrasah ad-Diniah itu menjadi tempat berkumpul pejuang Melayu menentang penjajahan. Bahkan pekarangan Madrasah ini selalu dijadikan gelanggang latihan berkawad ahli-ahli Angkatan Pemuda Insaf (API) dan Angkatan Wanita Sedar (AWAS) yang merupakan sebahagian daripada Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM).

Madrasah ad-Diniah Padang Rengas ini kadang-kadang dilawati oleh tokoh pimpinan Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM) seperti Majid Sabli dan Pakcik Ahmad. Kadang-kadang juga kader-kader komunis seperti Rashid Maidin dan Syamsiah Pakeh datang berkunjung ke sekolah ini dan memberi ceramah tentang keburukan feudalisme dan penjajahan.

Peningkatan kesedaran politik dalam kalangan para pelajar dan pemuda kampung itu nampaknya didorong oleh pengaruh guru-guru Madrasah tersebut.

Beberapa orang guru kelulusan beberapa buah sekolah di Indonesia, sama ada orang dari luar atau anak tempatan sendiri mengajar di Madrasah ini. Demikianlah beberapa nama yang disenaraikan di bawah ini ialah guru-guru yang mendapat pendidikan di Indonesia: Aisyah Ghani, Abdul Kadir dari Sulawesi , Darwis , Syahrom Syeikh Muhammad, Kalsum, dan Sakinah Syeikh Juned. Mereka ini adalah kelulusan berbagai-bagai madrasah dari aliran pembaharuan di Indonesia.

Menurut Datuk Asri, Syeikh Juned menganut akidah yang sederhana, tidak berliku-liku dan berbelit-belit. Selain Padang Rengas, Syeikh Juned juga mengajar di tempat-tempat lain di negeri Perak. Beliau menentang perkara khurafat. Beliau tidak pernah menyuruh orang menghafaz Sifat Dua Puluh. Di dalam fikah juga beliau bersifat sederhana. Meskipun beliau menganut aliran pembaharuan yang hendak kembali kepada ajaran al-Quran dan al-Sunnah, namun beliau tidak membezakan orang yang berusalli dengan yang tidak berusalli. Beliau mengajarkan solat kepada orang yang baru belajar sembahyang adalah dengan cara yang sederhana. Biarlah orang itu mengerjakan salat mengikut cara yang disanggupinya terlebih dahulu.

Semangat kemerdekaan memang telah tertanam di dalam darah daging Syeikh Juned. Dalam setiap ucapannya ia menyebut kemerdekaan dan menggalakkan umat untuk berjuang mencapai kemerdekaan.

Beliau meramalkan bahawa pada zaman kemerdekaan kelak motokar akan masuk ke dalam bendang. Pada masa itu orang tidak memahami makna ramalannya itu. Sekarang barulah orang tahu, setelah melihat mesin bermotor masuk membajak sawah. Beliau juga membuat lesung kincir yang digerakkan oleh tenaga air. Hal ini banyak menolong petani menumbuk padi.
Mokhtar Lintang, seorang tokoh yang disegani yang pernah menjadi pensyarah di UKM ialah murid kepada Syeikh Juned. Allahyarham Syeikh Juned ialah tokoh yang pandai bergaul dengan segala peringkat dan golongan masyarakat. Bahkan dengan ahli polis yang berseluar pendek juga beliau mempunyai hubungan yang baik, meskipun seluar pendek itu termasuk pakaian yang tidak menutup aurat. Hubungan beliau dengan pihak istana juga baik.

Cara pengajaran di madrasah yang terletak di bawah pengawasan Syeikh Juned adalah lebih moden daripada sistem pondok, meskipun belum sampai ke tahap sekarang ini. Dalam pembaharuan sistem pendidikan Islam ini beliau juga mengikuti ajaran dan teladan Muhammad Abduh di Mesir.

Palestin

Masalah Palestin adalah menjadi perhatian beliau yang serius. Beliau mengumpulkan derma di sini dan mengirimkannya ke sana. Antara sifatnya yang menonjol ialah qanaah, sederhana, dan memadakan yang ada. Dan amalan yang paling baik bagi beliau ialah berwakaf. Di semua tempat beliau menggalakkan kaum muslimin untuk berwakaf. Agaknya beliau tertarik dengan sistem wakaf di Mesir, yang bahkan dapat menghidupkan sebuah universiti yang besar, yakni Universiti Al-Azhar. Di kampung asalnya di Tapanuli Selatan, beliau mendirikan sekolah dan pengajian agama daripada harta waqaf. Dan beliau juga menggalakkannya di Padang Rengas.
Memanglah wakaf merupakan suatu institusi yang amat digalakkan dalam ajaran Islam.

Menurut Datuk Asri ada juga diceritakan tentang "karamat" beliau; namun usahlah perkara itu dibesar-besarkan. Demikianlah misalnya, pada suatu ketika beliau jatuh pengsan beberapa hari lamanya, namun beliau tidak sakit apa-apa. Beberapa ketika kemudian diterima telegram dari Palestin, menanyakan apakah beliau sudah sampai kembali dari Palestin.

Diusir Belanda

Beliau pernah diusir oleh Ketua Kampung-nya di Tapanuli Selatan atas arahan pihak berkuasa Belanda kerana dicurigai menentang penjajahan Belanda, beliau mengatakan: "Ketua kampung itu kelak akan mengalami nasib yang luar biasa". Tidak berapa lama kemudian ketua kampung itu menyembelih dirinya sendiri. Wallahualam.

Kematiannya

Syeikh Juned Tola meninggal dunia pada hari Selasa, 10 Mac 1948. Ada sangkaan bahawa kematian beliau disebabkan termakan racun. Jika benar demikian, meskipun beliau tidak mencari lawan, namun setiap perubahan baru mesti ada penentangnya. Dan beliau sebagai seorang pembaharu tentulah pula mendapat tentangan keras. Jenazahnya dikebumikan di hadapan Madrasah Al-Junidiah di kampung kelahirannya di Tapanuli Selatan. Walaupun beliau telah pergi, namun harta wakaf yang beliau tinggalkan terus berkekalan dan terus memberikan sumbangan kepada umat Islam. Dalam sejarah hidupnya Syeikh Juned melambangkan seorang ulama yang peka terhadap persekitarannya. Realiti masyarakat pada waktu itu memerlukan pembasmian kejahilan, pembinaan ekonomi ummah dan pembebasan daripada cengkaman penjajahan. Beliau cuba menggerakkan bangsanya supaya mampu berdikari dan dihormati seperti yang dituntut oleh Islam. Syeikh Juned ialah seorang ulama tetapi kesedaran ekonomi, politik, dan pendidikan yang beliau tanamkan kepada pelajar dan masyarakatnya akan terus meletakkannya sebagai seorang ulama, yang mempunyai keistimewaan yang tersendiri.

Syeikh Juned telah menunjukkan sisi yang lain daripada Pembaharuan Islam yang melingkupi semua aspek kehidupan manusia itu. Tekanan beliau tidak ke atas perbezaan dalam soal furu'. Beliau tidak menonjolkan perbezaan anggapan tentang Sifat Dua Puluh, usalli, qunut, dan sebagainya. Beliau lebih menujukan perhatiannya kepada pembaharuan mental, ekonomi, pendidikan, dan politik. Beliau ingin memanfaatkan institusi Islam yang selama ini diabaikan orang seperti wakaf dan khidmat masyarakat. Walau bagaimanapun, beliau tidak menyukai perkara bidaah dan khurafat. Beliau ingin mengembalikan umat Islam kepada Islam yang sebenarnya, yang berpegang kepada al-Quran dan al-Hadis.

Mungkin beliau tidak meninggalkan sesuatu yang nyata. Beliau tidak menegakkan monumen untuk dirinya. Sekolah yang telah didirikannya itu pun dewasa ini serupa sekolah biasa, tidak ada keistimewaannya pada masa kini. Namun, beliau telah menjadikan perjuangannya sebarisan batu-bata di dalam mendirikan suatu bangunan umat Islam yang kuat dan menjadi pendukung Malaysia merdeka. Beliau telah menanamkan rasa harga diri kepada umat Islam. Beliau telah membangunkan semangat berdikari dalam hati umat Islam. Beliau telah menunjukkan bahawa kaum muslimin juga mempunyai kemampuan yang sama dengan bangsa-bangsa lain untuk menyusun kehidupan yang lebih baik di dunia ini. Beliau telah menanamkan semangat merdeka, dan bahawa kemerdekaan dalam politik dan ekonomi adalah matlamat Islam untuk umatnya.

Itulah dia jasa dan peranan Syeikh Juned Tola di dalam pembaharuan dan kebangunan umat Islam Malaysia. Beliau memang tidak mempunyai monumen untuk dirinya. Namun banyak yang ditinggalkannya kepada bangsanya yang terdiri daripada nilai yang berharga untuk menyongsong kebangunan baru umat Islam.

Diperolehi daripada "http://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syeikh_Juned_Tola"

Sinondang Mandailing, Tabloid Bulanan

2007-06-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

Harga RM 5 / Rp. 5,000

Tabloid Sinondang Mandailing (Cahaya Mandailing) dengan slogan sinondang marabang torang, torang maroban sonang (cahaya membawa terang, terang membawa senang) dilancarkan/diluncurkan di Medan, baru-baru ini. Edisi pertama tabloid tersebut terbit pada hari Khamis 14 June/Juni 2007.

Tabloid itu banyak merangkum makalah-makalah dan berita-berita ringkas seputur kabupaten Mandailing-Natal (Madina) yang disadur dari surat khabar, akan diterbitkan pada setiap hari Khamis minggu kedua setiap bulan.

Tajuk sidang pengarangnya, mencita-citakan 'seluruh warga Mandailing, baik mora, kahanggi maupun anak borunya dengan ikhlas mau membina persatuan yang kuat berupa persatuan sibulus-bulus sirumbuk-rumbuk dan melalui persatuan yang demikian itu bersama-sama pula menumbuhkan rasa cinta yang besar dan dalam terhadap Mandailing dengan keadaan jiwa senantiasa merasa bangga sebagai warga Mandailing dalam arti, jauh dari rasa malu atau rasa rendah diri sebagai warga Mandailing sejati, bukan yang lain dari itu'.

Menginggatkan kita pada kata pengantar Asal-Oesoelnja Bangsa Mandailing, Berhoeboeng dengan perkara tanah Wakaf bangsa Mandailing, di Soengei Mati - Medan, yang diterbitkan pada 1926.

'Riwajat tanah wakaf ini dikarangkan dan dihimpoenkan, goenanja teroetama ialah sebagai peringatan kepada sekalian bangsa Mandailing jang mentjintai kebangsaannja, terlebih-lebih bagi mereka itoe jang berdiam diperantauan.

‘...riwajat ini djadi peringatan kepada bangsa Mandailing,...hanjalah kadar djadi peringatan dibelakang hari kepada toeroen-toeroenan bangsa Mandailing itoe, soepaja mereka tahoe bagaimana djerih pajah bapa-bapa serta nenek mojangnja mempertahankan atas berdirinja kebangsaan Mandailing itoe. Dengan djalan begitoe diharap tiadalah kiranja mereka itoe akan sia-siakan lagi kebangsaannja dengan moedah maoe mehapoeskannja dengan djalan memasoekkan diri pada bangsa lain jang tidak melebihkan martabatnja’.

Redaksi menerima tulisan berkenaan dengan kebudayaan, adat istiadat, sejarah, masalah sosial dan ekonomi masyarakat Mandailing; berita keluarga baik tentang kelahiran, perkahwinan dan berita sungkawa (sedih atau dukacita) dan kalau dapat disertai foto. Liputan berita keluarga tidak dikenakan bayaran. Redaksi membisu tentang politik.

Sinondang Mandailing mempunyai perwakilan di Jakarta, Bandung, Palembang, Jambi Bengkulu, Pekanbaru, Padang Sidempuan, Mandailing-Natal, Sibolga/Tapanuli Tengah, Binjai, Langkat, Tebing Tinggi, Asahan/Tanjung Balai dan Labuhan Batu. Meskipun ia ada perwakilan di Malaysia, pada edisi perdana ini tidak ada laporan dari negara tertangga itu, yang mempunyai penduduk berketurunan Mandailing.

Mudah-mudahan kekurangan ini dapat diatasi pada edisi berikutnya kerana ia bisa mempereratkan ikatan silaturahim antara alak Mandailing Indonesia dan Malaysia. Sesungguhnya orang Mandailing itu satu rumpun, baik mereka warga negara Indonesia mahupun Malaysia, dan pada masa mendatang, seharusnya mereka ditanggapi bersama oleh Sinondang Mandailing sebagai menjambatani dua saudara yang dipisahkan oleh negara-bangsa yang kewujudannya di belakang keberadaan Mandailing.

Sewaktu-waktu kita berbicara tentang Mandailing jangan kita lupa atau membelakangnya kerabat kita orang Mandailing Kristian. Walaupun mereka Kristian, mereka tetap Mandailing. Perbedaannya hanya pada agama, tapi dari segi etnik mereka etnik Mandailing.

Pada muka depan tabloid itu dimuatkan kata sambutan Dr. Adnan Buyung Nasution di samping pengumuman bahawa Ikatan Keluarga Nasution (Ikanas) mendapat nakhoda baru iaitu Dr. Mulia Panusunan Nasution setelah Ketua Umum Ikanas yang lama, Samsi B. Nasution meninggal dunia. Alfatihah

Dua tulisan oleh H. Syarifuddin Lubis dan Zulkifli B. Lubis, yang saling bertautan, pada satu sisi mengeluh tentang gugatan arus modernisasi dan globalisasi pada adat budaya Mandailing dan pada sisi yang lain, menyeru umat Mandailing bersatu untuk melestarikan serta membangunkan kembali Mandailing dengan merentas jalan kebersamaan. Dalam kerangka itu, Sinondang Mandailing memanggil kita pelajari dan menggunakan surat tulak-tulak aksara khas orang Mandailing dalam salah satu artikelnya. Ini dibantu dengan adanya Kamus Bahasa Mandailing Indonesia.

Sementara Zulkarnain Lubis menyorot pendidikan di Madina yang diiringi artikel tentang SMA Negeri Plus Kotanopan yang diharapkan menjadi benchmark (standar baku dan kayu ukur) bagi sekolah-sekolah lain di Madina.

Pemuka adat H. Pandapotan Nasution menulis 'Renungan tentang Mandailing' dan 'Tata Cara Perlaksanaan Perkahwinan di Mandailing' topik keahliannya yang sudah dibukukan. Budayawan Z. Pangaduan Lubis mengungkapkan 'Willem Iskander dan Kita Orang Mandailing' selain artikelnya tentang pra-sejarah di Mandailing. P. Dolok Lubis pula membicarakan tentang pembentukan huta di Mandailing termasuk asal-usulnya dan pendirinya.

Buat orang Mandailing marga Rangkuti edisi perdana cukup bererti kerana adanya artikel berjudul, 'Rangkuti, Marga Ksatria dari Mandailing' tentang asal-usul marga mereka. Manakala tulisan Jasinaloan mengkisahkan tentang asal-usul pohon aren menurut legenda di Mandailing.

Artikel Sri Mulyani Nasution, satu-satunya penulis wanita coba menepis stigma bahawa orang Mandailing itu pelit, yang juga dikenali dengan istilah Manipol (kedekut, bakhil atau kikir). Semoga orang Mandailing jauh dari sikap tersebut kerana 'Orang kikir jauh dari Allah, jauh dari surga, jauh dari manusia, sebaliknya orang yang pemurah dekat dengan Allah, dekat dengan syura, dekat dengan manusia dan jauh dari neraka.' (H. R. Tarmizi).

Alamat Sidang Pengarang

Sinondang Mandailing

Jl. Beringin No. 9

Komplek Wartawan Medan

Tel: (061) 6621 300

Email: Mandailing@yahoo.co.id

Bebas Bunga, Tak Berarti Bebas Riba

2007-06-19T05:59:00.000-07:00

Wawancara

Zaim Saidi:

Bebas Bunga, Tak Berarti Bebas Riba
22/12/2003

Ada keyakinan dikalangan umat Islam bahwa bank syariah tidak menjalankan sistem ribawi. Selain karena berpedoman pada tata cara syariah Islam, bank syariah juga dianggap tidak memberikan bunga, tapi bagi hasil. Hal ini berbeda dengan bank konvensional pada umumnya. Apalagi diperkuat oleh fatwa MUI yang mengatakan bahwa bunga bank adalah riba, setelah Rapat Kerja Nasional Majelis Ulama Indonesia (Rakornas MUI) di Jakarta, Selasa kemarin (16/12/2003).

Nah, keyakinan dan pendapat itu dibantah oleh Zaim Saidi, Direktur PIRAC (Public Interest Riset and Advocacy Center), sebuah lembaga penelitian dan advokasi untuk kepentingan publik. Menurut Zaim yang juga penulis buku-buku: Tidak Islaminya Bank Islam dana Melawan Dollar dengan Dinar, bank syariah mungkin bebas dari sistem bunga, tapi hampir mustahil terbebas dari sistem ribawi. Untuk mengetahui lebih mendalam tentang pemikirannya tersebut, Nong Darol Mahmada dari Kajian Islam Utan Kayu mewawancarainya Kamis (11/12/03). Berikut petikannya:

NONG DAROL MAHMAD (NONG): Mas Zaim, menurut Anda, apa yang melatarbelakangi munculnya unit-unit perbankan syariah?

ZAIM SAIDI (ZAIM): Penjelasannya bisa dengan cara yang sederhana. Di masyarakat Islam, memang ada keinginan yang kuat untuk mendapatkan institusi perbankan yang dirasa aman secara spiritual, sebab selama ini perbankan konvensional dikenal sebagai lembaga ribawi. Lantas, bermunculanlah unit-unit perbankan syariah yang masih menginduk ke bank-bank konvensional. Hanya saja, dalam perkembangannya kemunculan unit-unit syariah itu dimanfaatkan juga oleh institusi perbankan biasa untuk mendongkrak sentimen nasabah. Jadi menurut saya, ini hanya trik marketing saja. Kalau kita lihat secara substansial, antara perbankan konvensional dan perbankan syariah memang tidak seratus persen sama. Tapi, 99,9 % sama saja.

NONG: Lantas, di mana letak perbedaan substansial antara bank konvensional dengan bank syariah selain label syariahnya?

ZAIM: Mungkin, problem yang mendasar adalah sistem atau lembaga finansial yang ada sekarang ini (bank-bank konvensional) dianggap sebagai lembaga ribawi. Uang yang ada di perbankan saat ini dianggap bercampur-campur dan tidak jelas stasus halal-haramnya. Uang itu bisa saja digunakan untuk kegiatan yang menurut kaum muslim dibolehkan atau tidak dibolehkan. Kita tidak tahu, apakah misalnya uang di situ dipakai untuk kegiatan judi, beternak babi, atau memproduksi minuman keras, dan lain sebagainya. Karena itu, tesis yang dikonseptualisasi di perbankan syariah adalah bagaimana membersihkan sistem perbankan dari dua unsur yang diharamkan itu.

NONG: Nah, apakah bank syariah berhasil menghilangkan dua unsur tersebut?

ZAIM: Dalam kenyataannya, tidak. Karena pada akhirnya, apa yang dikemukakan para konseptor bank syariah itu secara simpel akan berujung begini: bank syariah adalah bank yang bebas bunga, tapi tidak bebas dari riba. Jadi, pengertian riba ini yang tidak dimengerti secara benar. Kekeliruan pertama adalah mereduksi pengertian riba itu pada soal bunga saja. Dengan logika ini, kalau perbankan dikembangkan tanpa sistem bunga, pasti dia juga tanpa riba.
Padahal, riba dalam konteks sekarang ini sudah menjadi sebuah sistem kokoh yang menghasilkan sesuatu dari sesuatu yang tidak ada. Dalam konteks perbankan artinya uang beranak uang. Secara tradisional, riba terjadi kalau orang meminjamkan seribu rupiah misalnya, lalu minta kembalian menjadi seribu seratus. Nah, kalau itu dihilangkan, meminjam seribu tidak kembali seribu seratus, maka dianggap bebas riba. Padahal, kalau kita telaah secara mendalam, sebenarnya bunga yang dari seribu menjadi seribu seratus itu hanya jalan masuk ke dalam sistem ribawi.

NONG: Menurut Anda, apa yang dimaksud dengan sistem riba itu?

ZAIM: Bagi saya, sistem riba itu sama seperti segitiga sama kaki, yang unsurnya terdiri dari tiga hal. Pertama, bunga. Kedua, uang kertas atau paper money. Dan ketiga, kredit. Dengan tiga unsur ini, sebetulnya kredit inilah yang memungkinkan terciptanya uang yang sebetulnya tadi tidak ada. Dulu sebelum ada sistem bank, orang meminjam seratus akan kembali seratus, kecuali ditambahkan riba. Tapi sekarang, kalau seseorang mempunyai uang seratus milyar, dengan adanya bank, dia akan cenderung menaruhnya di bank. Dengan begitu, bank yang tadinya tidak punya apa-apa, tiba-tiba mempunyai uang seratus milyar. Dan biasanya, bank mempunyai liability karena dia harus membayar bunga kepada si penyimpan. Maka, masuk akal kalau dia pasti akan meminjamkan uang tersebut kepada orang lain.

Menurut aturannya, yang boleh dikeluarkan dari uang tadi hanya sembilan puluh persen saja, karena sebagian harus ditahan sebagian cadangan. Maka yang dipinjamkan ke pihak ketiga adalah 90 % saja. Nah, dari satu kali perjalanan uang ini saja, tiba-tiba dalam catatan buku terdapat uang sejumlah seratus tambah seratus tambah sembilan puluh atau sama dengan 290. Padahal, uang yang sebenarnya kan cuma 100. Sementara, yang 190 itu sebenarnya hanya ada di buku catatan; buku tabungan orang yang menyimpankan uangnya di bank tadi, dan ketika pihak ketiga meminjamnya dari bank.

Nah, dari 100 menjadi 290 itu, sebetulnya sudah merupakan suatu tambahan dari sesuatu yang tidak ada. Itu adalah riba. Dan perlu diingat, sistem pinjam-meminjam hanya bisa dilakukan karena adanya bunga. Memang, persoalan ini agak complicated. Tapi intinya, sistem banking yang ada ini, menciptakan uang karena adanya pinjam meminjam. Atau sistem operasionalnya kalau disederhanakan, pada dasarnya adalah sistim sewa-menyewa uang. Jadi, kita yang punya uang, menyewakan kepada suatu institusi yang bernama bank, dengan uang sebesar 10 %. Itulah yang kita kenal selama ini sebagai bunga.

NONG: Di dalam sistem perbankan kan tidak hanya menjalankan sistem sewa menyewa uang saja. Bagaimana dengan sistem transaksi yang lainnya?

ZAIM: Ini yang dicampuradukkan. Kalau di bank syariah ada pembedaan dua bentuk transaksi. Pertama, ada yang namanya mudharabah atau profit-lost sharing, yakni sistem bagi hasil. Kedua, sistem yang disebut mur槆ahah atau sistem jual beli. Mereka mengklaim tidak mengenal sistem kredit, tidak mengenal sistem pinjam meminjam. Jadi, mereka hanya mengenal sistem bagi hasil dan jual beli. Tetapi kalau kita lihat ke dalam, secara de facto yang terjadi adalah kredit dengan bunga fix. Jadi seperti fix rate.

Jadi, kalau ada nasabah yang ingin beli motor, karena tidak punya uang, bank akan membelikan lebih dulu. Jadi, pihak bank yang membelinya lebih dulu, katakanlah seharga 10 juta. Lantas, harga motor itu bisa menjadi 15 juta dari pihak bank nantinya. Maka, kalau si nasabah oke, dia harus membayar 15 juga atas dasar kesepakatan. Kuncinya kan bersepakat. Nah, di situ yang menjadi soal adalah: kenapa harga motor yang 10 juta dijual seharga 15 juta? Jawabannya, karena pembayarannya dengan cara cicilan. Pertanyaaan berikutnya: kenapa kalau mencicil, harganya membengkak dari 10 juta menjadi 15 juta? Jawabannya, karena cicilannya memakan tempo 5 atau 10 tahun.

Jadi, di situ waktu menjadi satu-satunya faktor yang membuat harga jadi berubah. Dan sebetulnya, waktu yang dihargakan dengan uang, atau time value of money itulah yang bisa disebut riba.

NONG: Kalau mengikut logika Anda, bank syariah yang mengklaim diri luput dari unsur praktek ribawi, sebenarnya pada saat pelaksanaan terjebak dalam praktek ribawi juga?

ZAIM: Betul, karena penciptaan uang tidak berhenti pada titik itu saja. Memang, secara de jure di dalam akad, mereka mengatakan hanya menyelenggarakan proses jual-beli (mur槆ahah) atau sistem bagi hasil (mudarabah) tadi. Tapi secara de facto, itu juga menciptakan sebentuk kredit atau hutang. Orang akhirnya berhutang, lalu menyicil, dan ketika menyicil itu terjadi beban tambahan. Dan itu sesungguhnya persis dengan praktek riba. Memang, mereka mengatakan bahwa mereka membeli dulu dan lantas dijual kepada nasabah dengan harga yang dibengkakkan, di-mark-up. Tapi tadi sudah saya katakan, satu-satunya dasar yang dipakai untuk mark-up itu adalah waktu; karena nasabah menyicil selama 5 atau sepuluh tahun. Dan ketika menghitung nilai tambahannya itu, sama saja dengan cost of money, bunga tambahan seperti bank biasa. Jadi, dasarnya adalah riba-riba juga.

Kedua. Yang sesungguhnya terjadi juga dalam sistem perbankan adalah praktek mencampuradukkan antara uang titipan dengan uang pinjaman. Pada dasarnya, sistem syariah memang tidak mengenal praktek pinjam meminjam. Nah, kalau kita menyimpan sesuatu seperti menitipkan sepatu di masjid, ketika sepatu itu harus diambil, dia kan harus ada. Jadi, sepatu tadi tidak boleh dipinjamkan kepada orang lain karena statusnya adalah barang titipan.

Nah, dalam sistem perbankan dicampuradukkan saja antara uang yang dititipkan dengan uang yang dipinjamkan. Kalau uang itu statusnya dipinjamkan, memang si peminjam berhak memakainya untuk keperluan apapun, termasuk untuk dipinjamkan kepada orang lain. Tapi dalam sistem perbankan, status itu menjadi tidak jelas; siapa yang menitip dan siapa yang meminjam. Akhirnya, praktiknya berujung juga pada sewa menyewa uang dan menjadi kredit.

Di sini juga masih terdapat persoalan mendasar. Dalam prinsip bagi hasil, antara orang yang punya uang dengan yang memakai uang kan ada arrangement yang jelas: saya punya uang, anda punya tenaga, maka kita bekerja sama dalam prinsip bagi hasil. Nah, sekarang kita lihat apa yang diakui sebagai prinsip mudl漷abah dalam sistem perbankan syariah. Ketika bank berhadapan dengan orang yang punya uang, dia mengaku sebagai pihak yang punya tenaga. Anda sebagai nasabah atau orang yang berpunya uang, maka mari kita bekerjasama. Nanti kalau ada hasilnya akan berbagi. Namun begitu kita pergi, lalu datang orang lain yang butuh uang. Maka bank bilang, saya adalah pemilik uang. Anda butuh uang, dan mari kita berbagi hasil. Atau, bank menawarkan untuk membelikan sesuatu yang sudah di-mark-up. Anda lalu mesti membayar kembali kepada bank. Pertanyaannya adalah, uang siapa yang diberikan bank syariah kepada orang lain itu?

NONG: Apakah riba itu diharamkan karena prosedur transaksinya atau karena bunganya?

ZAIM: Karena alasan menindasnya. Sebab, riba itu sebagaimana yang kita terangkan tadi. Kalau Anda mula-mula meminjam seribu, dalam jangka satu tahun bisa menjadi seribu seratus. Dua tahun bisa menjadi seribu dua ratus. Tiga tahun seribu tiga ratus, dan seterusnya. Di situ ada unsur menindas orang yang meminjam. Orang meminjam pertamanya seribu, tapi dalam dua tahun bisa menjadi dua ribu.

NONG: Tapi Bung Zaim, apakah bisa dikatakan adil jika kini saya punya hutang dengan orang lain seribu rupiah untuk tempo setahun, tapi dalam kondisi moneter yang tidak stabil saya kembali membayar seribu rupiah dalam tempo setahun itu?

ZAIM: Di situ sebetulnya terkandung problem sistemiknya. Ini disebabkan kita menggunakan uang kertas yang kemudian secara integral masuk ke dalam sistem banking. Konsekuensinya, nilai uang itu bisa merosot. Sebab, kertas adalah kertas, karena tidak tidak punya nilai intrinstik, atau nilai pada dirinya sendiri. Mau Anda tulis angka satu juta, seratus ribu, pada ujungnya dia akan menjadi zero, nol. Karena itu, dalam tradisi Islam, mata uang yang digunakan adalah emas dan perak yang tidak pernah merosot nilai intrinstiknya.

NONG: Ada sebuah cerita yang biasanya menjadi rujukan dalam pinjam meminjam. Konon pernah Nabi Muhammad berhutang onta berumur dua tahun. Lalu, ketika mengembalikan hutang tersebut, beliau memberikan onta berumur empat tahun. Sahabat lalu bertanya, ho, kok dibayar pakai unta empat tahun??Nabi menjawab, hiy漷ukum ahsanukum qadl滱.?/i> Sebaik-baiknya penghutang adalah yang terbaik dalam pengembalian hutangnya. Nah, bagaimana posisi sikap Nabi ini dalam konsep perbankan modern?

ZAIM: Itu bisa diterjemahkan bahwa orang yang meminjam yang harus tahu diri. Orang yang dipinjamkan sesuatu, boleh menetapkan berapa dia harus mengembalikan pinjamannya dan menambahkan dari yang dia pinjam. Orang yang meminjam sebaiknya memberikan bonus atas pinjamannya. Nah, dalam konteks perbankan, itu tidak diterjemahkan seperti perilaku Nabi tadi. Lantas, diterjemahkan menjadi penetapan persenan yang harus dibayar oleh pihak yang meminjam. Itu yang saya maksud menindas.

Selama ini, yang sering diperdebatkan juga adalah seberapa besar kecilnya persentase bunga itu. Jadi, riba dipahami sebagai konsep yang relatif. Satu persen misalnya, dianggap bukan riba, kalau sepuluh persen baru terhitung riba. Tapi orang lupa bahwa dalam sistem banking sekarang, satu persen itu dalam hitungan sekian tahun akan beranak menjadi menjadi seratus persen.

NONG: Pandangan Anda radikal sekali, tapi nyaris utopis untuk kondisi sekarang. Soalnya, apakah mungkin kita keluar dari jebakan sistem perbankan yang ada? Sebab, jika mengikut jalan pikiran Anda, nyaris tidak ada sistem perbankan yang bisa dibenarkan dalam Islam.

ZAIM: Kita kan tidak bisa mengatakan bahwa meski babi haram, karena banyak orang yang memakan, maka babi tidak haram. Analogi ini sama saja dengan dunia perbankan. Meski bunga bank haram dan banyak orang yang memanfaatkannya, dia menjadi tidak haram. Jadi, posisi itu yang mesti dijelaskan betul. Sebetulnya, kalau menurut syariah betul, maka kita tidak butuh institusi perbankan. Sebab, mekanisme bagi hasil yang diklaim murni bersyariat itu, hakikatnya tidak membutuhkan dunia perbankan. Sebab esensinya, ketika ada seorang yang punya uang bertemu dengan orang yang tidak punya uang tapi punya tenaga, mereka bisa secara personal bekerja sama dan berbagi hasil. Hubungannya bisa bersifat personal saja, tidak institusional.

NONG: Artinya Anda ingin mengatakan bahwa pembicaraan tentang bank tidak absah dengan menggunakan embel-embel syariah?

ZAIM: Betul. Sebab, implikasinya cukup luas. Ketika kita menggunakan sistem banking, baik uang yang di bawah bantal, dari kampung-kampung dan kecamatan sekalipun akan terbawa ke Jakarta. Lalu di tarik ke atas lagi; ke Paris, London dan lain sebagainya. Dan dalam ekonomi Islam, uang bersifat lokal dan seharusnya tertahan di lokasi tertentu.

Nah, kalau bentuknya produk bank syariah itu adalah bagi hasil, maka uangnya tidak perlu berputar melalui bank, tapi di sektor ekonomi riil. Jadi, inti pembicaraan kita ini adalah: sistem banking adalah apa yang dikenal sebagai financial economy, ekonomi uang. Jadi, permainan kertas dan angka-angka. Sementara, sistem bagi hasil adalah ekonomi yang riil, mungkin dagang. Karena itu, dalam Al-Quran ditegaskan bahwa riba diharamkan sementara perdagangan dihalalkan. Kira-kira, zaman sekarang ayat itu bisa berbunyi: diharamkan atas kamu bank dan dihalalkan mekanisme bagi hasil? Menurut saya, ketika MUI mengeluarkan fatwa bahwa bunga bank adalah riba, sebetulnya itu juga kurang jelas dan kurang radikal. Yang jelas adalah semua bank termasuk bank syariah adalah sistem ribawi.

http://islamlib.com/id/index.php?page=article&id=466

Henry Barlow on Kinta Valley: Pioneering Malaysia's Modern Development

2007-06-19T03:39:00.000-07:00

The authors presenting a copy of the Kinta Valley book to the Regent of Perak, Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah, who launched the book.
Kedua pengarang mempersembahkan buku Kinta Valley kepada Raja Muda Perak, Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah, yang melancarkan karya tersebut.
Foto Syaharin Abidin

JMBRAS Vol: 78 Part 2 2005

KINTA VALLEY:
PIONEERING MALAYSIA'S MODERN DEVELOPMENT
by KH00 SALMA NASUTION AND ABDUR-RAZZAQ LUBIS

With a preface by WANG GUNGWU

Published by the Perak Academy, 2005. i-viii + 384 pp.
Extensive black & white photos,
327 colour plates. ISBN 983-42113-0-9 (hardback), RM180

This handsomely produced book provides the fullest account ever written, or likely to be written, on the history of the Kinta Valley. The earliest history, which is covered in little more than two pages, relates the Hindu and Buddhist influences on the area, revealed in the discovery of religious artefacts in the course of later mining activities.

The first written records emerge around AD 1500 when Portuguese and later Dutch influence began to be exercised in the area. By the eighteenth century, tin had emerged as the crucial resource of the state, promoting political machinations between the Dutch East India Company and successive Sultans.

The authors skate relatively lightly over the years of British intervention in the state. The story in any case is relatively well known, and much of the action took place outside the Kinta district, to the north and west.

Having comparatively briefly established the early history leading to the opening of the Kinta Valley, the central portion of the book examines, thematically at first, the development of different aspects of life in the valley: rivers, roads, railways, fire prevention and health, and, briefly, agriculture. A more detailed analysis of the agricultural development of the area would have been welcome. From the handsome coloured map of 1912 on pp. xxiv-xxv at the end of the book, it is clear that agriculture was, in the early years at least, a significant feature in the economy of the valley. The authors have been particularly well served by the Perak Government Gazette which they have mined very extensively for material. They have also not disregarded contemporary accounts, and more modern publications, such as the comparatively recent account of Charles Alma Baker, an early pioneer of rubber in the area.

Kinta is of course best known for its massive tin production in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Sections on tin and the potted histories of towns in the valley, whose fortunes were so closely tied to this metal, form an important and central feature of the book. Indeed the accounts of the different techniques used by the Malays, Chinese, and Europeans, frequently and vividly illustrated by old black and white photographs, bring the industry to life in a way which other, more austere and scholarly works have singularly failed to do. This section of the book at least, drawing on a wide range of sources from the early French mining engineers to academic works of the second half of the twentieth century, provides as good a summary as can be found of the fortunes of the Perak tin industry.

Significant coverage is given to the histories of the individual villages in the area. Most of them sprang up as tin rush towns on discovery of rich lodes of tin, and many subsequently became little more than ghost towns, like Papan. The accounts chronicle the building of mosques and temples, and mention the leading citizens.
Ipoh of course was the pre-eminent, and most durable, of the towns, and the book traces in some detail its beginnings from the end of the nineteenth century up to the end of the Emergency. Special chapters are devoted to the Japanese Occupation and the Emergency. However, surprisingly no account is given of the reasons for the collapse of the tin industry in the 1980s.

These are comparatively minor quibbles compared to the breadth and scope of the book overall. This scope has been enriched by the Mandailing perspective of AbdurRazzaq Lubis, who has studied in detail from his own rich family sources the contribution of the Mandailings in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to the development of Perak. The last two chapters deal with the environment and the Orang Ash. The limestone outcrops which are such a striking feature of the area support a highly specialized vegetation, adapted to the harsh, often dry conditions. Many of these species are endemic, found nowhere else in the world, and in some cases restricted to a single outcrop. It is important that they be conserved. The final and substantial chapter on the Orang Ash traces their associations in the valley from precolonial times, when they were often enslaved by the Malays, through the colonial period. They assumed strategic importance during the Emergency when the communist terrorists and the government competed to enlist their support.

The book concludes with a 32-page colour supplement which shows primarily modern photographs of surviving buildings (many threatened, alas, and at-least one destroyed since the book was written) and views of the area.

There is a comprehensive if at times idiosyncratic bibliography: T. J. Danaraj under T. rather than D. and an index. The book is excellently produced and generally well edited, p. 204 `internecine' for `interwar' being a notable exception.
Lucky the district to have its history so comprehensively and excellently catalogued as has been done for Kinta.

Malaysian Branch of the H. S. BARLOW
Royal Asiatic Society

Local history, national interest

2007-06-18T10:45:00.000-07:00

Review by BARBARA WATSON ANDAYA

KINTA VALLEY Pioneering Malaysia’s Modern Development

By Khoo Salma Nasution and Abdur-Razzaq Lubis

Publisher: Perak Academy, 384 pages(ISBN: 9-834-21130-9)

OVER the last century the Kinta River Valley has played a central role not only in the history of Perak but also in the evolution of modern Malaysia. While never losing sight of broader developments, Kinta Valley demonstrates that the appeal of “local history” ultimately rests on its ability to provide intimate details about places and people that do not appear in more general works.

One must also applaud the commitment of two independent scholars who tracked down and consulted restricted and rare material in archival records, scholarly publications and local sources.

This handsome volume is well written and organised, and supported by copious illustrations and maps. “Side bars” interspersed through the book present interesting vignettes, legends, and other information; the bibliography is exhaustive, and the index comprehensive.

The introduction by Professor Wang Gungwu, himself a Kinta product, offers insightful guidance to the book’s significance. Overall, Kinta Valley has established a bench-mark for the writing of local history in Malaysia and the Perak Academy should be congratulated for its part in the production.

The first chapter gives an overview of the early history of Perak and Kinta itself, ending with the Perak War and the initiation of British colonialism. Descriptions of Kinta as it was in the 1850s are a reminder of the amazing changes that have occurred since then.

Some readers may find it difficult to imagine that a hundred years ago elephants were a primary means of inland transport.

The authors then turn to the departure point of modern Kinta history: the development of the tin mining industry in the last quarter of the 19th century. This period witnessed the growth of several towns, notably Ipoh, which expanded from a “straggling uninteresting village” to the state capital we know today.

However, such development did not come without cost. Robbery and violent crime were not uncommon in a population of largely poor male Chinese, and fighting between secret societies was frequent. A sidebar of newspaper reports provides intriguing examples of the type of offences that came before the new court system introduced by the British.

Crimes by migrants could be partially solved by repatriation of “undesirables”, but it was far more difficult to control other persistent problems, notably fires (usually accidental), and health issues exacerbated by poor diet and the unsanitary conditions of mining settlements.

It is important to note that in many cases, Chinese leaders themselves attempted to deal with these problems, calling for a professional police force, organising their own fire patrols, donating to urban development, and working with the government to support hospitals and medical services.

In their detailed description of the expanding communication system, the authors show how the spread of rivers, roads and railways created new opportunities for the development of “agricultural colonization”. This turns attention away from Chinese migrants to the effects of economic growth on the Malay population, and the demographic changes brought about by the numbers of “foreign Malays” who now flocked to Kinta. Often from Sumatra, especially Mandailing, they were engaged in both padi farming and mining, and were among the earliest to take up land for cash crops such as coffee and pepper.

Although Europeans were now opening up rubber plantations with Tamil labourers, the tin mines remained the mainstay of Kinta’s economy. In a separate section, the authors discuss the history of mining, describing the techniques used by orang asli, Malays, and Mandailing, before turning to Chinese innovation and the final dominance of European dredging and hydraulic companies.

Huge open-cast mines certainly contributed greatly to Kinta’s prosperity, but the photographs in Kinta Valley provide sobering evidence of environmental degradation: one chapter tracks the damaging effects of tin mining, European game hunting, water pollution and deforestation.
Anyone interested in Perak history will gain much from two chapters that supply vignettes of the origin and development of Kinta’s tin mining towns. While Ipoh receives particular attention, the authors do not neglect the numerous smaller settlements which all have their own distinctive past.

Indeed, it is in the latter descriptions – truly “local history” – that the strength of their research is most evident. These chapters also document the radical shift in Kinta’s demography, notably in the larger towns. Despite strong representation from other races, who are all given due consideration, the urban population was dominated by Chinese dialect groups, especially Cantonese and Hakka.

The vibrancy of Ipoh’s social life – where entertainment ranged from Chinese drama and Malay bangsawan to European racecourses – survived the stagnation of World War One and even the depression, so that in the late 1930s Ipoh was still known as a town of “fabulous wealth”. Nonetheless, economic retrenchment could not fail to have an effect on Kinta’s expansion, and increasing poverty laid the ground for labour unrest and recruitment into the communist party.
Against this background, the book turns to the Japanese conquest of Malaya in 1942, with one particularly graphic illustration showing the “human bridges” over which the invading forces crossed small streams. Using historical records and personal accounts to great effect, the authors offer a vivid picture of the impact of the Japanese Occupation on the daily life of ordinary people. Kinta became a centre for anti-Japanese resistance, memorably recorded in the history of Papan, one of the oldest towns in the Kinta Valley.

Kinta’s prominence as a focus for post-war communist insurgency is hardly surprising, given the difficult economic climate, the heritage of Chinese organisations, the numbers of Chinese squatters, and the extent of European capitalist enterprise. In an undeclared war – the “Emergency” – the largely Chinese residents in Kinta’s 600 “new villages” lived in what was tantamount to a police state. The measures taken during this period, the authors argue, were part of a process by which residential segregation “enhanced the conditions for racial polarization and racial politics in Malaya.”

Although the narrative then moves on to the communal politics of the 1950s, when Ipoh became a focus of political activity, it is fitting that the final chapter should be devoted to the orang asli, whose way of life has been most drastically affected by the economic, political and social changes in Kinta over the last century.

Kinta’s story is central to that of modern Malaysia, and this “local history” is thus a contribution to national history as well. Undoubtedly, some readers would have liked to see the volume brought up to the present, and would have welcomed a conclusion that summarised the book’s major findings. In the end, though, the most appreciative audience will be the people of Kinta itself, for whom “local”, state, family and personal histories are intertwined.

Barbara Andaya is Professor of Asian History at University of Hawaii.

Batara Lubis, Pelukis/Painter

2007-06-18T06:35:00.000-07:00

Unicef (United Nations's Children Fund) seasons greeting card, courtesy of Adam Malik Museum, Jakarta

Batara Lubis was born in Hutanagodang, Upper Mandailing, South Tapanuli residency, province of North Sumatra on February 2, 1927. Lubis is an accomplished drummer as well as a painter, used the many locations in which he lived as inspirations for his artwork. His style ranges from winding, ornate designs to simple shapes and brash colors, depending upon his current surroundings. Because of the different roles he played in each location (head of his clan, son of the chief, or artist), he focused on using colors rather than struggling to portray societal realities like many of his contemporaries.

Batara Lubis dilahirkan di Hutagodang, Mandailing Julu, keresidenan Tapanuli Selatan pada 2 Februari 1927. Beliau seorang pen-gondang sekaligus pelukis yang ulung, tempat-tempat yang ditempatinya menjadi ilham seni lukisannya. Gayanya merangkumi lilitan-lilitan, hiasan-hiasan, rupa bentuk yang mudah atau warna yang agak 'liar' tergantung pada persekitarannya. Peranannya yang berbagai pada setiap tempat (kepala marganya, anak raja, atau seniman), beliau memberi tumpuan pada warna dari bergelut untuk mempotret realitas masyarakat sebagaimana rakan-rakan semasanya.

Census, Map, Museum

2007-06-18T01:06:00.001-07:00

Census, Map, Museum
Benedict Anderson
Excerpt from: Imagined Communities. Verso: London, 1991

In the original edition of Imagined Communities I wrote that "so often in the nation-building policies of the new states one sees both a genuine, popular nationalist enthusiasm, and a systematic, even Machiavellian, instilling of nationalist ideology through the mass media, the educational system, administrative regulations, and so forth." My short-sighted assumption then was that official nationalism in the colonized worlds of Asia and Africa was modelled directly on that of the dynastic states of nineteenth-century Europe. Subsequent reflection has persuaded me that this view was hasty and superficial, and that the immediate genealogy should be traced to the imaginings of the colonial state. At first sight, this conclusion may seem surprising, since colonial states were typically anti-nationalist, and often violently so. But if one looks beneath colonial ideologies and policies to the grammar in which, from the mid nineteenth century, they were deployed, the lineage becomes decidedly more clear.

Few things bring this grammar into more visible relief than three institutions of power which, although invented before the mid nineteenth century, changed their form and function as the colonized zones entered the age of mechanical reproduction. These three institutions were the census, the map, and the museum: together, they profoundly shaped the way in which the colonial state imagined its dominion – the nature of the human beings it ruled, the geography of its domain, and the legitimacy of its ancestry. To explore the character of this nexus I shall, in this chapter, confine my attention to Southeast Asia, since my conclusions are tentative, and my claims to serious specialization limited to that region. Southeast Asia does, however, offer those with comparative historical interests special advantages, since it includes territories colonized by almost all the "white" imperial powers – Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands, and the United States – as well as uncolonized Siam. Readers with greater knowledge of other parts of Asia and Africa than mine will be better positioned to judge if my argument is sustainable on a wider historical and geographical stage.

The Census

In two valuable recent papers the sociologist Charles Hirschman has begun the study of the of the British colonial census-makers for the Straits Settlements and peninsular Malaya, and their successors working for the independent conglomerate state of Malaysia.(1) Hirschmans facsimiles of the "identity categories" of successive censuses from the late nineteenth century up to the recent present show an extraordinarily rapid, superficially arbitrary, series of changes, in which categories are continuously agglomerated, disaggregated, recombined, intermixed, and reordered (but the politically powerful identity categories always lead the list). From these censuses he draws two principal conclusions. The first is that, as the colonial period wore on, the census categories became more visibly and exclusively racial.(2) Religious identity, on the other hand, gradually disappeared as a primary census classification. "Hindoos" – ranked alongside "Klings," and "Bengalees" – vanished after the first census of 1871. "Parsecs" lasted until the census of 1901, where they still appeared – packed in with "Bengalis, " "Burmese," and "Tamils" – under the broad category "Tamils and Other Natives of India." His second conclusion is that, on the whole, the large racial categories were retained and even concentrated after independence, but now redesignated and reranked as "Malaysian," "Chinese ", "Indian," and "Other." Yet anomalies continued up into the 1980s. In the 1980 census "Sikh" still appeared nervously as a pseudoethnic subcategory – alongside "Malayah" and "Telegu," "Pakistani" and "Bangladeshi," "Sri Lankan Tamil," and "Other Sri Lankan,"– under the general heading "Indian."

But Hirschmans wonderful facsimiles encourage one to go beyond his immediate analytical concerns. Take, for example, the 1911 Federated Malay States Census, which lists under "Malay Population by Race" the following:

"Malay," "Javanese," "Sakai," "Banjarese," "Boyanese," "Mendeling" (sic), "Krinchi" (sic), "Jambi," "Achinese," "Bugis," and "Other."

Of these "groups" all but (most) "Malay" and "Sakai" originated from the islands of Sumatra, Java, Southern Borneo, and the Celebes, all parts of the huge neighboring colony of the Netherlands East Indies. But these extra-FMS origins receive no recognition from the census-makers who, in constructing their "Malays," keep their eyes modestly lowered to their own colonial borders. (Needless to say, across the waters, Dutch census-makers were constructing a different imagining of "Malays," as a minor ethnicity alongside, not above, "Achinese," "Javanese," and the like.) "Jambi" and "Krinchi" refer to places, rather than to anything remotely identifiable as ethnolinguistic. It is extremely unlikely that, in 1911, more than a tiny fraction of those categorized and subcategorized would have recognized themselves under such labels. These "identities," imagined by the (confusedly) classifying mind of the colonial state, still awaited a reification which imperial administrative penetration would soon make possible. One notices, in addition, the census-makers passion for completeness and unambiguity. Hence their intolerance of multiple, politically "transvestite," blurred, or changing identifications. Hence the weird subcategory, tinder each racial group, of "Others" – who, nonetheless, are absolutely not to be confused with other "Others." The fiction of the census is that everyone is in it, and that everyone has one – and only one – extremely clear place. No fractions.

This mode of imagining by the colonial state had origins much older than the censuses of the 1870s, so that, in order fully to understand why the late-nineteenth-century censuses are yet profoundly novel, it is useful to look back to the earliest days of European penetration of Southeast Asia. Two examples, drawn from the Philippine and Indonesian archipelagoes, are instructive. In an important recent book, William Henry Scott has attempted meticulously to reconstruct the class structure of the pre-Hispanic Philippines, on the basis of the earliest Spanish records.(3) As a professional historian Scott is perfectly aware that the Philippines owes its name to Felipe II of "Spain," and bat, but for mischance or luck, the archipelago might have fallen into Dutch or English hands, become politically segmented, or been recombined with further conquests.(4) It is tempting therefore to attribute his curious choice of topic to his long residence in the Philippines and his strong sympathy with a Filipino nationalism that has been, for a century now, on the trail of an aboriginial Eden. But the chances are good that the deeper basis for the shaping of his imagination was the sources on which he was compelled to rely. For the fact is that wherever in the islands the earliest clerics and conquistadors ventured they espied, on shore, principales, hidalgos, pecheros, and esclavos (princes, noblemen, commoners and slaves) – quasi-estates adapted from the social classifications of late mediaeval Iberia. The documents they left behind offer plenty of incidental evidence that the "hidalgos" were mostly unaware of one anothers existence in the huge, scattered, and sparsely populated archipelago, and, where aware, usually saw one another not as hidalgos, but as enemies or potential slaves. But the power of the grid is so great that such evidence is marginalized in Scotts imagination, and therefore it is hard for him to see that the "class structure" of the precolonial period is a "census" imagining created from the poops of Spanish galleons. Wherever they went, hidalgos and esclavos loomed up, who could only be aggregated as such, that is "structurally," by an incipient colonial state.

For Indonesia we have, thanks to the research of Mason Hoadley, a detailed account of an important judicial case decided in the coastal port of Cirebon, Java, at the end of the seventeenth century.(5) By luck, the Dutch (VOC) and local Cirebonese records are still available. If the Cirebonese account only had survived, we would know the accused murderer as a high official of the Cirebonese court, and only by his title Ki Aria Marta Ningrat, not a personal name. The VOC records, however, angrily identify him as a Chinees – indeed that is the single most important piece of information about him that they convey. It is clear then that the Cirebonese court classified people by rank and status, while the Company did so by something like "race." There is no reason whatever to think that the accused murderer – whose high status attests to his and his ancestors long integration into Cirebonese society, no matter what their origins – thought of himself as "a" Chinees. How then did the VOC arrive at this classification? From what poops was it possible to imagine Chinees? Surely only those ferociously mercantile poops which, under centralized command, roved ceaselessly from port to port between the Gulf of Mergui and the mouth of the Yangtze-kiang. Oblivious of the heterogeneous populations of the Middle Kingdom; of the mutual incomprehensibility of many of their spoken languages; and of the peculiar social and geographic origins of their diaspora across coastal Southeast Asia, the Company imagined, with its trans-oceanic eye, an endless series of Chinezen, as the conquistadors had seen an endless series of hidalgos. And on the basis of this inventive census it began to insist that those under its control whom it categorized as Chinezen dress, reside, marry, be buried, and bequeath property according to that census. it is striking that the much less far-faring and commercially minded Iberians in the Philippines imagined a quite different census category: what they called sangley. Sangley was an incorporation into Spanish of the Hokkien sengli – meaning "trader." (6) One can imagine Spanish proto-census men asking the traders drawn to Manila by the galleon trade: "Who are you?", and being sensibly told: "We are traders." (7) Not sailing the seven Asian seas, for two centuries the Iberians remained in a comfortably provincial conceptual fog. Only very slowly did the sangley turn into "Chinese" – until the word disappeared in the early nineteenth century to make way for a VOC-style chino.

The real innovation of the census-takers of the 1870s was, therefore, not in the construction of ethnic-racial classifications, but rather in their systematic quantification. Precolonial rulers in the Malayo-Javanese world had attempted enumerations of the populations under their control, but these took the form of tax-rolls and levy-lists. Their purposes were concrete and specific: to keep track of those on whom taxes and military conscription could effectively be imposed – for these rulers were interested solely in economic surplus and armable manpower. Early European regimes in the region did not, in this respect, differ markedly from their predecessors. But after 1850 colonial authorities were using increasingly sophisticated administrative means to enumerate populations, including the women and children (whom the ancient rulers had always ignored), according to a maze of grids which had no immediate financial or military purpose. In the old days, those subjects liable for taxes and conscription were usually well aware of their numerability; ruler and ruled understood each other very well, if antagonistically, on the matter. But by 1870, a non-taxpaying, unlevyable "Cochin-Chinese" woman could live out her life, happily or unhappily, in the Straits Settlements, without the slightest awareness that this was how she was being mapped from on high. Here the peculiarity of the new census becomes apparent. It tried carefully to count the objects of its feverish imagining. Given the exclusive nature of the classificatory system, and the logic of quantification itself, a "Cochin-Chinese" had to be understood as one digit in an aggregable series of replicable "Cochin-Chinese" – within, of course, the states domain. The new demographic topography put down deep social and institutional roots as the colonial state multiplied its size and functions. Guided by its imagined map it organized the new educational, juridical, publichealth, police, and immigration bureaucracies it was building on the principle of ethno-racial hierarchies which were, however, always understood in terms of parallel series. The flow of subject populations through the mesh of differential schools, courts, clinics, police stations and immigration offices created "traffic-habits" which in time gave real social life to the states earlier fantasies.

Needless to say, it was not always plain sailing, and the state frequently bumped into discomforting realities. Far and away the most important of these was religious affiliation, which served as the basis of very old, very stable imagined communities not in the least aligned with the secular states authoritarian grid-map. To different degrees, in different Southeast Asian colonies, the rulers were compelled to make messy accommodations, especially to Islam and Buddhism. In particular, religious shrines, schools, and courts – access to which was determined by individual popular self-choice, not the census – continued to flourish. The state could rarely do more than try to regulate, constrict, count, standardize, and hierarchically subordinate these institutions to its own.(8) It was precisely because temples, mosques, schools and courts were topographically anomalous that they were understood as zones of freedom and – in time – fortresses from which religious, later nationalist, anticolonials could go forth to battle. At the same time, there were frequent endeavours to force a better alignment of census with religious communities by – so far as was possible – politically and juridically ethnicizing the latter. In the Federated States of colonial Malaya, this task was relatively easy. Those whom the regime regarded as being in the series "Malay" were hustled off to the courts of "their" castrated Sultans, which were in substantial part administered according to Islamic law.(9) "Islamic" was thus treated as really just another name for "Malay." (Only after independence in 1957 were efforts made by certain political groups to reverse this logic by reading "Malay" as really another name for "Islamic"). In the vast, heterogeneous Netherlands Indies, where by the end of the colonial era an array of quarrelling missionary organizations had made substantial conversions in widely scattered zones, a parallel drive faced much more substantial obstacles. Yet even there, the 1920s and 1930s saw the growth of "ethnic" Christianities (the Batak Church, the Karo Church, later the Dayak Church, and so on) which developed in part because the state allocated proselytizing zones to different missionary groups according to its own census-topography. With Islam Batavia had no comparable success. It did not dare to prohibit the pilgrimage to Mecca, though it tried to inhibit the growth of the pilgrims numbers, policed their travels, and spied on them from an outpost at Jiddah set up just for this purpose. None of these measures sufficed to prevent the intensification of Indies Muslim contacts with the vast world of Islam outside, and especially the new currents of thought emanating from Cairo.(10)

The Map

In the meantime, however, Cairo and Mecca were beginning to be visualized in a strange new way, no longer simply as sites in a sacred Muslim geography, but also as dots on paper sheets which included dots for Paris, Moscow, Manila and Caracas; and the plane relationship between these indifferently profane and sacred dots was determined by nothing beyond the mathematically calculated flight of the crow. The Mercatorian map, brought in by the European colonizers, was beginning, via print, to shape the imagination of Southeast Asians.

In a recent, brilliant thesis the Thai historian Thongchai Winichakul has traced the complex processes by which a bordered "Siam" came into being between 1850 and 1910.(11) His account is instructive precisely because Siam was not colonized, though what in the end, came to be its borders were colonially determined. in the Thai case, therefore, one can see unusually clearly the emergence of a new state-mind within a "traditional" structure of political power.

Up until the accession, in 1851, of the intelligent Rama IV (the Mongkut of The King and I), only two types of map existed in Siam, and both were hand-made: the age of mechanical reproduction had not yet there dawned. One was what could be called a "cosmograph," a formal, symbolic representation of the Three Worlds of traditional Buddhist cosmology. The cosmograph was not organized horizontally, like our own maps; rather a series of supraterrestrial heavens and subterrestrial hells wedged in the visible world along a single vertical axis. It was useless for any journey save that in search of merit and salvation. The second type, wholly profane, consisted of diagrammatic guides for military campaigns and coastal shipping. Organized roughly by the quadrant, their main features were written-in notes on marching and sailing times, required because the mapmakers had no technical conception of scale. Covering only terrestrial, profane space, they were usually drawn in a queer oblique perspective or mixture of perspectives, as if the drawers eyes, accustomed from daily life to see the landscape horizontally, at eye-level, nonetheless were influenced subliminally by the verticality of the cosmograph. Thongchai points out that these guide-maps, always local, were never situated in a larger, stable geographic context, and that the birds-eye view convention of modern maps was wholly foreign to them.

Neither type of map marked borders. Their makers would have found incomprehensible the following elegant formulation of Richard Muir:(12)

Located at the interfaces between adjacent state territories, international boundaries have a special significance in determining the limits of sovereign authority and defining the spatial form of the contained political regions.... Boundaries. . occur where the vertical interfaces between state sovereignties intersect the surface of the earth .... As vertical interfaces, boundaries have no horizontal extent ....

Boundary-stones and similar markers did exist, and indeed multiplied along the western fringes of the realm as the British pressed in from Lower Burma. But these stones were set up discontinuously at strategic mountain passes and fords, and were often substantial distances from corresponding stones set up by the adversary. They were understood horizontally, at eye level, as extension points of royal power; not "from the air." Only in the 1870s did Thai leaders begin thinking of boundaries as segments of a continuous map-line corresponding to nothing visible on the ground, but demarcating an exclusive sovereignty wedged between other sovereignties. In 1874 appeared the first geographical textbook, by the American missionary J.W. Van Dyke – an early product of the print-capitalism that was by then sweeping into Siam. In 1882, Rama V established a special mapping school in Bangkok. In 1892, Minister of Education Prince Damrong Rajanuphab, inaugurating a modern-style school system for the country, made geography a compulsory subject at the junior secondary level. in 1900, or thereabouts, was published Phumisat Sayam (Geography of Siam) by W.G. Johnson, the model for all printed geographies of the country from that time onwards.(13) Thongchai notes that the vectoral convergence of print-capitalism with the new conception of spatial reality presented by these maps had an immediate impact on the vocabulary of Thai politics. Between 1900 and 1915, the traditional words krung and muang largely disappeared, because they imaged dominion in terms of sacred capitals and visible, discontinuous population centers.(14) In their place came prathet, "country," which imaged it in the invisible terms of bounded territorial space.(15)

Like censuses, European-style maps worked on the basis of a totalizing classification, and led their bureaucratic producers and consumers towards policies with revolutionary consequences. Ever since John Harrisons 1761 invention of the chronometer, which made possible the precise calculation of longitudes, the entire planets curved surface had been subjected to a geometrical grid which squared off empty seas and unexplored regions in measured boxes.(16) The task of, as it were, "filling in" the boxes was to be accomplished by explorers, surveyors, and military forces. In Southeast Asia, the second half of the nineteenth century was the golden age of military surveyors – colonial and, a little later, Thai. They were on the march to put space under the same surveillance which the census-makers were trying to impose on persons. Triangulation by triangulation, war by war, treaty by treaty, the alignment of map and power proceeded. In the apt words of Thongchai:(17)

In terms of most communication theories and common sense, a map is a scientific abstraction of reality. A map merely represents something which already exists objectively "there." in the history I have described, this relationship was reversed. A map anticipated spatial reality, not vice versa. in other words, a map was a model for, rather than a model of, what it purported to represent.... It had become a real instrument to concretize projections on the earths surface. A map was now necessary for the new administrative mechanisms and for the troops to back up their claims.... The discourse of mapping was the paradigm which both administrative and military operations worked within and served.

By the turn of the century, with Prince Damrongs reforms at the Ministry of the Interior (a fine mapping name), the administration of the realm was finally put on a wholly territorial-cartographic basis, following earlier practice in the neighboring colonies.

It would be unwise to overlook the crucial intersection between map and census. For the new map served firmly to break off the infinite series of "Hakkas," "Non-Tamil Sri Lankans," and "Javanese" that the formal apparatus of the census conjured up, by delimiting territorially where, for political purposes, they ended. Conversely, by a sort of demographic triangulation, the census filled in politically the formal topography of the map.

Out of these changes emerged two final avatars of the map (both instituted by the late colonial state) which official nationalisms of twentieth century directly prefigure the Southeast Asia. Fully aware of their interloper status in the distant tropics, but arriving from a civilization in which the legal inheritance and the legal transferability of geographic space had long been established, (18) the Europeans frequently attempted to legitimize the spread of their power by quasi-legal methods. Among the more popular of these was their "inheritance" of the putative sovereignties of native rulers whom the Europeans had eliminated or subjected. Either way, the usurpers were in the business, especially vis-à-vis other Europeans, of reconstructing the property-history of their new possessions. Hence the appearance, late in the nineteenth century especially, of "historical maps," designed to demonstrate, in the new cartographic discourse, the antiquity of specific, tightly bounded territorial units. Through chronologically arranged sequences of such maps, a sort of political-biographical narrative of the realm came into being, sometimes with vast historical depth.(19) In turn, this narrative was adopted, if often adapted, by the nation-states which, in the twentieth century, became the colonial states legatees.(20)

The second avatar was the map-as-logo, Its origins were reasonably innocent – the practice of the imperial states of coloring their colonies on maps with an imperial dye. In Londons imperial maps, British colonies were usually pink-red, French purple-blue, Dutch yellow-brown, and so on. Dyed this way, each colony appeared like a detachable piece of a jigsaw puzzle. As this "jigsaw" effect became normal, each "piece" could be wholly detached from its geographic context. In its final form all explanatory glosses could be summarily removed: lines of longitude and latitude, place names, signs for rivers, seas, and mountains, neighbours. Pure sign, no longer compass to the world. In this shape, the map entered an infinitely reproducible series, available for transfer to posters, official seals, letterheads, magazine and textbook covers, tablecloths, and hotel walls. Instantly recognizable, everywhere visible, the logo-map penetrated deep into the popular imagination, forming a powerful emblem for the anticolonial nationalisms being born.(21)

Modern Indonesia offers us a fine, painful example of this process. In 1828 the first fever-ridden Dutch settlement was made on the island of New Guinea. Although the settlement had to be abandoned in 1836, the Dutch Crown proclaimed sovereignty over that part of the island lying west of 141 degrees longitude (an invisible line which corresponded to nothing on the ground, but boxed in Conrads diminishing white spaces), with the exception of some coastal stretches regarded as under the sovereignty of the Sultan of Tidore. Only in 1901 did The Hague buy out the Sultan, and incorporate West New Guinea into the Netherlands Indies – just in time for logoization. Large parts of the region remained Conrad-white until after World War II; the handful of Dutchmen there were mostly missionaries, mineral-prospectors – and wardens of special prison-camps for diehard radical Indonesian nationalists. The swamps north of Merauke, at the extreme southeastern edge of Dutch New Guinea, were selected as the site of these facilities precisely because the region was regarded as utterly remote from the rest of the colony, and the "stoneage" local population as wholly uncontaminated by nationalist thinking. (22)

The internment, and often interment, there of nationalist martyrs gave West New Guinea a central place in the folklore of the anticolonial struggle, and made it a sacred site in the national imagining: Indonesia Free, from Sabang (at the northwestern tip of Sumatra) to – where else but? – Merauke. It made no difference at all that, aside from the few hundred internees, no nationalists ever saw New Guinea with their own eyes until the 1960s. But Dutch colonial logo-maps sped across in the colony, showing a West New Guinea with nothing to its East, unconsciously reinforced the developing imagined ties. When, in the aftermath of the bitter anticolonial wars of 1945-49, the Dutch were forced to cede sovereignty of the archipelago to a United States of Indonesia, they attempted (for reasons that need not detain us here) to separate West New Guinea once again, keep it temporarily under colonial rule, and prepare it for independent nationhood. Not until 1963 was this enterprise abandoned, as a result of heavy American diplomatic pressure and Indonesian military raids. Only then did President Sukarno visit for the first time, at the age of sixty-two, a region about which he had tirelessly orated for four decades. The subsequent painful relations between the populations of West New Guinea and the emissaries of the independent Indonesian state can be attributed to the fact that Indonesians more or less sincerely regard these populations as "brothers and sisters," while the populations themselves, for the most part, see things very differently.(23)

This difference owes much to census and map, New Guineas remoteness and rugged terrain created over the millennia an extraordinary linguistic fragmentation. When the Dutch left the region in 1963 they estimated that within the 700,000 population there existed well over 200 mostly mutually unintelligible languages.(24) Many of the remoter "tribal" groups were not even aware of one anothers existence. But, especially after 1950, Dutch missionaries and Dutch officials for the first time made serious efforts to "unify" them by taking censuses, expanding communications networks, establishing schools, and erecting supra-"tribal" governmental structures. This effort was launched by a colonial state which, as we noted earlier, was unique in that it had governed the Indies, not primarily via a European language, but through "administrative Malay." (25) Hence West New Guinea was "brought up" in the same language in which Indonesia had earlier been raised (and which became the national language in due course). The irony is that bahasa Indonesia thus became the lingua franca of a burgeoning West New Guinean, West Papuan nationalism.(26)

But what brought the often quarrelling young West Papuan nationalists together, especially after 1963, was the map. Though the Indonesian state changed the region"s name from West Nieuw Guinea, first to Irian Barat (West Irian) and then to Irian Jaya, it read its local reality from the colonial-era birds-eye atlas. A scattering of anthropologists, missionaries and local officials might know and think about the Ndanis, the Asmats, and the Baudis. But the state itself, and through it the Indonesian population as a whole, saw only a phantom "Irianese" (orang Irian) named after the map; because phantom, to be imagined in quasi-logo form: "negroid" features, penis-sheaths, and so on. In a way that reminds us how Indonesia came first to be imagined within the racist structures of the early-twentieth-century Netherlands East Indies, an embryo "Irianese" national community, bounded by Meridian 141 and the neighboring provinces of North and South Moluccas, emerged. At the time when its most prominent and attractive spokesman, Arnold Ap, was murdered by the state in 1984, he was curator of a state-built museum devoted to "Irianese" (provincial) culture.

The Museum

The link between Aps occupation and assassination is not at all accidental. For museums, and the museumizing imagination, are both profoundly political. That his museum was instituted by a distant Jakarta shows us how the new nation-state of Indonesia learned from its immediate ancestor, the colonial Netherlands East Indies. The present proliferation of museums around Southeast Asia suggests a general process of political inheriting at work. Any understanding of this process requires a consideration of the novel nineteenth-century colonial archaeology that made such museums possible.

Up until the early nineteenth century the colonial rulers in Southeast Asia exhibited very little interest in the antique monuments of the civilizations they had subjected. Thomas Stamford Raffles, ominous emissary from William Joness Calcutta, was the first prominent colonial official not merely to amass a large personal collection of local objets dart, but systematically to study their history.(27) Thereafter, with increasing speed, the grandeurs of the Borobudur, of Angkor, of Pagan, and of other ancient sites were successively disinterred, unjungled, measured, photographed, reconstructed, fenced off, analysed, and displayed.(28) Colonial Archaeological Services became powerful and prestigious institutions, calling on the services of some exceptionally capable scholar officials.(29)

To explore fully why this happened, when it happened, would take us too far afield. It may be enough here to suggest that the change was associated with the eclipse of the commercial-colonial regimes of the two great East India Companies, and the rise of the true modern colony, directly attached to the metropole.(30) The prestige of the colonial state was accordingly now intimately linked to that of its homeland superior. It is noticeable how heavily concentrated archaeological efforts were on the restoration of imposing monuments (and how these monuments began to be plotted on maps for public distribution and edification: a kind of necrological census was under way). No doubt this emphasis reflected general Orientalist fashions. But the substantial funds invested allow us to suspect that the state had its own, non-scientific reasons. Three immediately suggest themselves, of which the last is surely the most important.

In the first place, the timing of the archaeological push coincided with the first political struggle over the states educational policies.(31) "Progressives" – colonials as well as natives – were urging major investments in modern schooling. Against them were arrayed conservatives who feared the long-term consequences of such schooling, and preferred the natives to stay native. In this light, archaeological restorations – soon followed by state-sponsored printed editions of traditional literary texts – can be seen as a sort of conservative educational program, which also served as a pretext for resisting the pressure of the progressives. Second, the formal ideological programme of the reconstructions always placed the builders of the monuments and the colonial natives in a certain hierarchy. In some cases, as in the Dutch East Indies up until the 1930s, the idea was entertained that the builders were actually not of the same "race" as the natives (they were "really" Indian immigrants).(32) In other cases, as in Burma, what was imagined was a secular decadence, such that contemporary natives were no longer capable of their putative ancestors achievements. Seen in this light, the reconstructed monuments, juxtaposed with the surrounding rural poverty, said to the natives: Our very presence shows that you have always been, or have long become, incapable of either greatness or self-rule.

The third reason takes us deeper, and closer to the map. We have seen earlier, in our discussion of the "historical map," how colonial regimes began attaching themself to antiquity as much as conquest, originally for quite straightforward Machiavellian-legalistic reasons. As time passed, however, there was less and less openly brutal talk about right of conquest, and more and more effort to create alternative legitimacies. More and more Europeans were being born in Southeast Asia, and being tempted to make it their home. Monumental archaeology, increasingly linked to tourism, allowed the state to appear as the guardian of a generalized, but also local, Tradition. The old sacred sites were to be incorporated into the map of the colony, and their ancient prestige (which, if this had disappeared, as it often had, the state would attempt to revive) draped around the mappers. This paradoxical situation is nicely illustrated by the fact that the reconstructed monuments often had smartly laid-out lawns around them, and always explanatory tablets, complete with datings, planted here and there. Moreover, they were to be kept empty of people, except for perambulatory tourists (no religious ceremonies or pilgrimages, so far as possible). Museumized this way, they were repositioned as regalia for a secular colonial state.

But, as noted above, a characteristic feature of the instrumentalities of this profane state was infinite reproducibility, a reproducibility made technically possible by print and photography, but politicoculturally by the disbelief of the rulers themselves in the real sacredness of local sites. A sort of progression is detectable everywhere: massive, technically sophisticated archaeological reports, complete with dozens of photographs, recording the process of reconstruction of particular, distinct ruins; Lavishly illustrated books for public consumption, including exemplary plates of all the major sites reconstructed within the colony (so much the better if, as in the Netherlands Indies, Hindu-Buddhist shrines could be juxtaposed to restored Islamic mosques).(33) Thanks to print-capitalism, a sort of pictorial census of the states patrimony becomes available, even if at high cost, to the states subjects; A general logoization, made possible by the profaning processes outlined above. Postage stamps, with their characteristic series – tropical birds, fruits, fauna, why not monuments as well? – are exemplary of this stage. But postcards and schoolroom textbooks follow the same logic. From there it is only a step into the market: Hotel Pagan, Borobudur Fried Chicken, and so on.

While this kind of archaeology, maturing in the age of mechanical reproduction, was profoundly political, it was political at such a deep level that almost everyone, including the personnel of the colonial state (who, by the 1930s, were in most of Southeast Asia 90 per cent native) was unconscious of the fact. It had all become normal and everyday. it was precisely the infinite quotidian reproducibility of its regalia that revealed the real power of the state.

It is probably not too surprising that post-independence states, which exhibited marked continuities with their colonial predecessors, inherited this form of political museumizing. For example, on 9 November 1968, as part of the celebrations commemorating the 15th anniversary of Cambodias independence, Norodom Sihanouk had a large wood and papier-maché replica of the great Bayon temple of Angkor displayed in the national sports stadium in Phnom Penh. (34) The replica was exceptionally coarse and crude, but it served its purpose – instant recognizability via a history of colonial-era logoization. "Ali, our Bayon" – but with the memory of French colonial restorers wholly banished. French-reconstructed Angkor Wat, again in "jigsaw" form, became the central symbol of the successive flags of Sihanouks royalist, Lon Nols militarist, and Pol Pots Jacobin regimes.

More striking still is evidence of inheritance at a more popular level. One revealing example is a series of paintings of episodes in the national history commissioned by Indonesias Ministry of Education in the 1950s. The paintings were to be mass-produced and distributed throughout the primary-school system; young Indonesians were to have on the walls of their classrooms – everywhere – visual representations of their countrys past. Most of the backgrounds were done in the predictable sentimental-naturalist style of early-twentieth-century commercial art, and the human figures taken either from colonial-era museum dioramas or from the popular wayang orang pseudohistorical folk-drama. The most interesting of the series, however, offered children a representation of the Borobudur. In reality, this colossal monument, with its 504 Buddha images, 1,460 pictorial and 1,212 decorative stone panels, is a fantastic storehouse of ancient Javanese sculpture. But the well-regarded artist imagines the marvel in its ninth century A.D. heyday with instructive perversity. The Borobudur is painted completely white, with not a trace of sculpture visible. Surrounded by well-trimmed lawns and tidy treelined avenues, not a single human being is in sight.(35) One might argue that this emptiness reflects the unease of a contemporary Muslim painter in the face of an ancient Buddhist reality. But I suspect that what we are really seeing is an unselfconscious lineal descendant of colonial archaeology: the Borobudur as state regalia, and as "of course, thats it" logo. A Borobudur all the more powerful as a sign for national identity because of everyones awareness of its location in an infinite series of identical Borobudurs.

Interlinked with one another, then, the census, the map and the museum illuminate the late colonial states style of thinking about its domain. The "warp" of this thinking was a totalizing classificatory grid, which could be applied with endless flexibility to anything under the states real or contemplated control: peoples, regions, religions, languages, products, monuments, and so forth. The effect of the grid was always to be able to my of anything that it was this, not that; it belonged here, not there. It was bounded, determinate, and therefore – in principle – countable. (The comic classificatory and subclassificatory census boxes entitled "Other" concealed all reallife anomalies by a splendid bureaucratic trompe loeil). The "weft" was what one could call serialization: the assumption that the world was made up of replicable plurals. The particular always stood as a provisional representative of a series, and was to be handled in this light. This is why the colonial state imagined a Chinese series before any Chinese, and a nationalist series before the appearance of any nationalists.

No one has found a better metaphor for this frame of mind than the great Indonesian novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer, who entitled the final volume of his tetralogy on the colonial period Rumah Kaca – the Class House. It is an image, as powerful as Benthams Panopticon, of total surveyability. For the colonial state did not merely aspire to create, under its control, a human landscape of perfect visibility; the condition of this "visibility" was that everyone, everything, had (as it were) a serial number.(36) This style of imagining did not come out of thin air. It was the product of the technologies of navigation, astronomy, horology, surveying, photography and print, to say nothing of thedeep driving power of capitalism.

Map and census thus shaped the grammar which would in due course make possible "Burma" and "Burmese," "Indonesia" and "Indonesians." But the concretization of these possibilities – concretizations which have a powerful life today, long after the colonial state has disappeared – owed much to the colonial states peculiar imagining of history and power. Archaeology was an unimaginable enterprise in precolonial Southeast Asia; it was adopted in uncolonized Siam late in the game, and after the colonial states manner. It created the series "ancient niontiments," segmented within the classificatory, geographic-demographic box "Netherlands Indies," and "British Burma." Conceived within this profane series, each ruin became available for surveillance and infinite replication. As the colonial states archaeological service made it technically possible to assemble the series in mapped and photographed form, the state itself could regard the series, up historical time, as an album of its ancestors. The key thing was never the specific Borobudur, nor the specific Pagan, in which the state had no substantial interest and with which it had only archaeological connections. The replicable series, however, created a historical depth of field which was easily inherited by the states postcolonial successor. The final logical outcome was the logo – of "Pagan" or "The Philippines," it made little difference – which by its emptiness, contextlessness, visual memorableness, and infinite reproducibility in every direction brought census-and map, warp and woof, into an inerasable embrace.

Footnotes
1. Charles Hirschman, "The Meaning and Measurement of Ethnicity in Malaysia: An Analysis of Census Classifications,"J. of Asian Studies, 46:3 (August 1987), pp. 552-82; and "The Making of Race in Colonial Malaya: Political Economy and Racial ideology" Sociological Forum, 1:2 (Spring 1986), pp. 330-62.

2 . An astonishing variety of "Europeans" were enumerated right through the colonial era. But whereas in 1881 they were still grouped primarily under the headings "resident," "floating," and "prisoners," by 1911 they were fraternizing as members of a (white) race'. It is agreeable that up to the end, the census-makers were visibly uneasy about where to place those they marked as "Jews."

3. William Henry Scott, Cracks in the Parchment Curtain, chapter 7, "Filipino Class Structure in the Sixteenth Century."

4 . in first half of the seventeenth century, Spanish settlements in the archipelago came under repeated attack from the forces of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the greatest "transnational" corporation of the era. For their survival, the pious Catholic settlers owed a great debt to the arch-heretical Protector, who kept Amsterdam's back to the wall for much of his rule. Had the VOC been successful, Manila, rather than Batavia (Jakarta), might have become the centre of the "Dutch" imperium in Southeast Asia. In 1762, London seized Manila from Spain, and held it for almost two years. It is entertaining to note that Madrid only got it back in exchange for, of all places, Florida, and the other "Spanish" possessions east of the Mississippi. Had the negotiations proceeded differently, the archipelago could have been politically linked with Malaya and Singapore during the nineteenth century.

5 . Mason C. Hoadley, "State vs. Ki Aria Marta Ningrat (1696) and Tian Siangko (1720-21)" (unpublished ms., 1982).

6. See, e.g., Edgar Wickberg, The Chinese in Philippine Life, 1850-1898, chapters I and 2.

7. The galleon trade – for which Manila was, for over two centuries, the entrepot – exchanged Chinese silks and porcelain for Mexican silver.

8 . See chapter 7, above (p. 125) for mention of French colonialism's struggle to sever Buddhism in Cambodia from its old links with Siam.

9. See William Roff, The Origins of Malay Nationalism, pp. 72-4.

10. See Harry J. Benda, The Crescent and the Rising Sun, chapters 1-2.

11. Thongchai Winichakul, "Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of Siam" (Ph,D. Thesis, University of Sydney, 1988).

12. Richard Muir, Modern Political Geography, p. 119.

13. Thongchai, "Siam Mapped," pp. 105-10, 286.

14. For a full discussion of old conceptions of power in Java (which, with minor differences, corresponded to that existing in Old Siam), see my Language and Power, chapter 1.

15. Thongchai, "Siam Mapped," p. 110.

16. David S. Landes, Revolution in Time: Clocks and the Making of the Modern World, chapter 9.

17. "Siam Mapped," p. 310.

18. I do not mean merely the inheritance and sale of private property in land in the usual sense. More important was the European practice of political transfers of lands, with their populations, via dynastic marriages. Princesses, on marriage, brought their husbands duchies and petty principalities, and these transfers were formally negotiated and "signed." The tag Bella gerant alii, tu, felix Austria, nube! would have been inconceivable for any state in precolonial Asia.

19. See Thongchai, "Siam Mapped,"p. 387, on Thai ruling class absorption of this style of imagining. "According to these historical maps, moreover, the geobody is not a modern particularity but is pushed back more than a thousand years. Historical maps thus help reject any suggestion that nationhood emerged only in the recent past, and the perspective that the present Siam was a result of ruptures is precluded. So is any idea that intercourse between Siam and the European powers was the parent of Siam."

20. This adoption was by no means a Machiavellian ruse. The early nationalists in all the Southeast Asian colonies had their consciousnesses profoundly shaped by the "format" of the colonial state and its institutions.

21. in the writings of Nick Joaquin, the contemporary Philippines, preeminent man of letters – and an indubitable patriot – one can see how powerfully the emblem works on the most sophisticated intelligence. Of General Antonio Luna, tragic hero of the anti-American struggle of 1898-99, Joaquin writes that he hurried to "perform the role that had been instinctive in the Creole for three centuries: the defense of the form of the Philippines from a foreign disrupter." A Question of Heroes, p. 164 (italics added). Elsewhere he observes, astonishingly, that Spain's "Filipino allies, converts, mercenaries sent against the Filipino rebel may have kept the archipelago Spanish and Christian, but they also kept it from falling apart;" and that they "were fighting (whatever the Spaniards may have intended) to keep the Filipino one." Ibid., p. 58.

22. See Robin Osborne, Indonesia's Secret War, The Guerrilla Struggle in Irian Jaya, pp.

23. Since 1963 there have been many bloody episodes in West New Guinea (now called Irian Jaya – Great Irian), partly as a result of the militarization of the Indonesian state since 1965, partly because of the intermittently effective guerrilla activities of the so-called OPM (Organization for a Free Papua). But these brutalities pale by comparison with Jakarta's savagery in ex-Portuguese East Timor, where in the first three years after the 1976 invasion an estimated one-third of the population of 600,000 died from war, famine, disease and "resettlement". I do not think it a mistake to suggest that the difference derives in part from East Timor's absence from the logos of the Netherlands East Indies and, until 1976, of Indonesia's.

24. Osborne, Indonesia's Secret War, p. 2.

25. See above, p. 110

.26. The best sign for this is that the anti-Indonesian nationalist guerrilla organization's name, Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM), is composed of Indonesian words.

27. In 1811, the East India Company's forces seized all the Dutch possessions in the Indies (Napol"on had absorbed the Netherlands into France the previous year). Raffles ruled in Java till 1815. His monumental History of Java appeared in 1817, two years prior to his founding of Singapore.

28. The museumizing of the Borobudur, the largest Buddhist stupa in the world, exemplifies this process. In 1814, the Raffles regime "discovered" it, and had it unjungled. In 1845, the self-promoting German artist-adventurer Schaefer persuaded the Dutch authorities in Batavia to pay him to make the first daguerrotypes. In 1851, Batavia sent a team of state employees, led by civil engineer F.C. Wilsen, to make a systematic survey of the bas-reliefs and to produce a complete, "scientific" set of lithographs. In 1874, Dr. C. Leemans, Director of the museum of Antiquities in Leiden, published, at the behest of the Minister of Colonies, the first major scholarly monograph; he relied heavily on Wilsen's lithographs, never having visited the site himself. In the 1880s, the professional photographer Cephas produced a thorough modern-style photographic survey. In 1901, the colonial regime established an Oudheidkundige Commissie (Commission on Antiquities). Between 1907 and 1911, the Commission oversaw the complete restoration of the stupa, carried out at state expense by a team under the civil engineer Van Erp. Doubtless in recognition of this success, the Commission was promoted, in 1913, to an Oudheidkundigen Dienst (Antiquities Service), which kept,the monument spick and span until the end of the colonial period. See C. Leemans, Boro-Boudour, pp. ii-lv; and NJ. Krom, Inleiding tot de Hindoe-Javaansche Kunst, I, chapter 1.

29. ViceroyCurzon (1899-1905), an antiquities buff who, writes Groslier, "energized" the Archaeological Survey of India, put things very nicely: "It is ... equally our duty to dig and discover, to classify, reproduce and describe, to copy and decipher, and to cherish and conserve." (Foucault could not have said it better). In 1899, the Archaeological Department of Burma – then part of British India – was founded, and soon began the restoration of Pagan. The previous year, the École Francaise d'Extreme-Orient was established in Saigon, followed almost at once by a Directorate of Museums and Historical Monuments of Indochina. Immediately after the French seizure of Siemreap and Battambang from Siam in 1907, an Angkor Conservancy was established to Curzonize Southeast Asia's most awe-inspiring ancient monuments. See Bernard Philippe Groslier, Indochina, pp. 155-7, 174-7. As noted above, the Dutch colonial Antiquities Commission was founded in 1901. The coincidence in dates – 1899, 1898, 1901 – shows not only the keenness with which the rival colonial powers observed one another, but sea-changes in imperialism under way by the turn of the century. As was to be expected, independent Siam ambled along more slowly. its Archaeological Service was only set up in 1924, its National Museum in 1926. See Charles Higham, The Archaeology of Mainland Southeast Asia, p. 25.

30. The VOC was liquidated, in bankruptcy, in 1799. The colony of the Netherlands Indies, however, dates from 1815, when the independence of The Netherlands was restored by the Holy Alliance, and Willem I of Orange put on a Dutch throne first invented in 1806 by Napol"on and his kindly brother Louis. The British East India Company survived till the great Indian Mutiny of 1857.

31. The Oudheidkundige Commissie was established by the same government that (in 1901) inaugurated the new "Ethical Policy" for the Indies, a policy that for the first time aimed to establish a Western-style system of education for substantial numbers of the colonized. Governor-General Paul Doumer (1897-1902) created both the Directorate of Museums and Historical Monuments of Indochina and the colony's modern educational apparatus. in Burma, the huge expansion of higher education – which between 1900 and 1940 increased the number of secondary-school students eightfold, from 27,401 to 233,543, and of college students twentyfold, from 115 to 2,365 – began just as the Archaeological Department of Burma swung into action. See Robert H. Taylor, The State in Burma, p. 114.

32. Influenced in part by this kind of thinking, conservative Thai intellectuals, archaeologists, and officials persist to this day in attributing Angkor to the mysterious Khom, who vanished without a trace, and certainly have no connection with today's despised Cambodians.

33. A fine late-blooming example is Ancient Indonesian Art, by the Dutch scholar, AJ. Bernet Kempers, self-described as "former Director of Archaeology in Indonesia (sic)." On pages 24-5 one finds maps showing the location of the ancient sites. The first is especially instructive, since its rectangular shape (framed on the east by the 141st Meridian) willy-nilly includes Philippine Mindanao as well as BritishMalaysian north Borneo, peninsular Malaya, and Singapore. All are blank of sites, indeed of any naming whatsoever, except for a single, inexplicable "Kedah." The switch from Hindu-Buddhism to Islam occurs after Plate 340.

34. See Kambuja, 45 (15 December 1968), for some curious photographs.

35. The discussion here draws on material analysed more fully in Language and Power, chapter 5.

36. An exemplary policy-outcome of Glass House imaginings – an outcome of which ex-political prisoner Pramoedya is painfully aware – is the classificatory ID card that all adult Indonesians must now carry at all times. This ID is isomorphic with the census – it represents a sort of political census, with special punchings for those in the sub-series "subversives" and "traitors." It is notable that this style of census was only perfected after the achievement of national independence.

http://www.haussite.net/haus.0/SCRIPT/txt2001/01/a_censu.HTML

Bangsa Mandailing: Bukan Batak dan Tidak Melayu

2007-06-17T21:37:00.000-07:00

Bangsa Mandailing: Bukan Batak dan Tidak Melayu
Oleh Abdur-Razzaq Lubis

Islam hanya mengakui 'ketunggalan' semata bagi Zat Allah subhana wa ta'alla, dan tidak bagi makhluk dan seluruh alam. Selain dari Zat Allah, kejadian dan penciptaanNya berdiri di atas kemajemukan termasuk dunia makhluk (manusia, haiwan, dll.). Malah kemajemukan adalah satu 'ayat' (tanda kekuasaan) dan kebesaran Allah dari ayat-ayat Allah dalam penciptaan.

Allah subhana wa ta'ala menciptakan perbedaan pada bentuk tubuh badan, raut rupa, warna kulit, suara - desah dan kerasnya, ketajamannya, kelembutannya, kefasihannya, bahasanya, susunan kata-katanya dan gaya bicaranya. Getaran suara masing-masing manusia, tidak ada yang sama, meskipun mereka kembar sekalipun. Perbedaan dalam pengucapan ini adalah satu ayat dari ayat-ayat Allah subhana wa ta'ala.

"Dan di antara tanda-tanda kekuasaan-Nya ialah menciptakan langit dan bumi dan berlain-lainan bahasamu dan warna kulitmu. Sesungguhnya pada yang demikian itu benar-benar terdapat tanda-tanda bagi orang-orang yang mengetahui." ar-Rum: 22

Ayat tersebut di atas menunjukkan sifat kemajemukan atau pluralitas dalam kejadian manusia, yang membuahkan perbedaan mengikut kebangsaan dan suku, supaya masing-masing bangsa dan suku ta'aruf (saling mengenal) perbedaan yang berbeda-beda itu.

Dalam Islam, kemajemukan, berdasarkan tabiat asli, kecenderungan individu, dan perbedaan bangsa-bangsa dan suku-suku terangkum dalam fitrah (kebersihan atau kejernihan asli) yang menjadi sebagian dari sunnah (ketentuan) dari sunnah Allah subhana wa ta'ala, yang tidak dapat berubah dan tidak tergantikan. Maka, kemajemukan, pluralitas dan perbedaan adalah sunnah.

"Hai manusia, sesungguhnya Kami menciptakan kamu dari seorang laki-laki dan seorang perempuan dan menjadikan kamu berbangsa-bangsa dan bersuku-suku supaya kamu saling mengenal. Sesungguhnya orang yang paling mulia di antara kamu di sisi Allah ialah orang yang paling bertakwa di antara kamu. Sesungguhnya Allah Maha Mengetahui lagi Maha Mengenal."
al-Hujurat: 13

Kemajemukan dalam ayat tersebut mengungkap pluralitas perbedaan bangsa-bangsa dan kabilah-kabilah dengan hikmah agar ber-ta'aruf (saling mengenal) di antara semua umat manusia. Ia menolak ketaksuban (fanatism) bangsa dan ras terhadap bangsa dan ras lain. Sekaligus menolak monopoli kebaikan dan kelebihan bagi satu umat saja tidak kepada umat lain. Kebaikan dan keburukan itu merupakan sifat asli suatu bangsa atau umat yang tidak dapat berubah. Setiap kelompok manusia mempunyai kesempurnaan dan kekurangan. Ini berarti kebaikan, keutamaan, kejahatan dan kekurangan terdapat pada seluruh makhluk. Pengertian ini membawa pada rasa bangga terhadap kekhasan dan keutamaan yang dimiliki tanpa mengingkari kekhasan dan kelebihan bangsa dan suku lain.

Dalam syariat-syariat dan manhaj-manhaj, dan selanjutnya peradaban-peradaban terutama umat-umat yang menerima risalah-risalah agama, kemajemukan merupakan pokok, kaidah yang abadi, dan sunnah Ilahiah. Ini berperanan sebagai pendorong untuk saling berlomba-lomba dalam berbuat kebaikan, sebagai iktibar untuk mengambil teladan dari kemajuan dan ketinggian martabat mereka di sisi Allah.

"Jikalau Tuhanmu menghendaki, tentu Dia menjadikan manusia umat yang satu, tetapi mereka senantiasa berselisih pendapat, kecuali orang-orang yang diberi rahmat oleh Tuhanmu. Dan, untuk itulah Allah menciptakan mereka..." Hud: 118-119

"...untuk itulah Allah menciptakan mereka," seakan-akan kemajemukan itu sebagai illat sebab keberadaannya kewujudan ini.

"...Untuk tiap-tiap umat di antara kamu, Kami berikan aturan dan jalan yang terang. Sekiranya Allah menghendaki niscaya kamu dijadikan-Nya suatu umat (saja), tetapi Allah hendak menguji kamu terhadap pemberian-Nya kepadamu, maka berlomba-lombalah berbuat kebajikan. Hanya kepada Allahlah kembali kamu semuanya, lalu diberitahukan-Nya kepadamu apa yang telah kamu perselisihkan itu." al-Maa'idah: 48

Kemajemukan adalah pendorong menghadapi ujian, cobaan, kesulitan dan saingan di antara bangsa-bangsa dan suku-suku yang berbeda dalam syariat, manhaj dan peradaban, berlomba-lomba dalam berbuat kebaikan, kebajikan dan berkarya untuk keberuntungan di dunia dan di akhirat.

Ini adalah sunnah dari sunnah-sunnah Allah subhana wa ta'ala yang tidak tergantikan dan tidak berubah, yaitu kemajemukan dan perbedaan dalam kemanusian. Kemanusian yang satu dalam Islam adalah umat, bangsa, ras, kabilah, lidah, bahasa, warna kulit, yang beragam, mempunyai kekhasan tersendiri, plural/majmuk serta berbeda.

Untuk berdirinya satu umat/bangsa, mereka tidak harus mempunyai asal yang satu, bahasa yang satu, agama atau ras yang satu. Suatu umat/bangsa itu boleh berdiri di atas kesatuan sejarah, serta adanya unsur-unsur kebudayaan yang sama. Dalam kata-kata lain, umat adalah sekelompok manusia yang disatukan oleh sesuatu hal, yang membedakannya dengan kelompok-kelompok lain. Faktor yang menyatukan ialah tabiat, sifat, bawaan, ikatan-ikatan darah, nasab, sosial, bahasa, dll.. Campuraduk antara umat/bangsa dan 'negara'/nasionalisme adalah hasil pengaruh pemikiran Barat.

Definasi umat termasuk kelompok dan jenis dari tiap makhluk selain manusia.

"Dan, tiadalah binatang-binatang yang ada di bumi dan burung-burung yang terbang dengan kedua sayapnya, melainkan umat-umat (juga) seperti kamu..." al-An'am: 38

"Semut adalah suatu umat." HR Muslim

Jelaslah dari keterangan-keterangan di atas bahwa orang-orang Mandailing yang punya ikatan darah, nasab, bahasa, aksara, sistem social (Dalian Na Tolu), muzik yang istimewa, adat, urf' (kebiasaan harian), sifat, tabiat, fitrah, yang punya peradaban/tamadun dan warisan budaya tersendiri adalah suatu umat yang berbeda dari bangsa Batak dan Melayu. Keberadaan, penciptaan dan kejadian bangsa Mandailing itu adalah satu tanda/ayat dari ayat-ayat kebesaran dan kekuasaan Allah subhana wa ta'ala, dan ketetapan sunnahNya, yang tidak berubah dan tidak tergantikan.

Bangsa Mandailing dibatakkan Belanda

Nama Mandailing sudah diketahui sejak abad ke 14 lagi, dan ini menunjukkan adanya satu bangsa dan wilayah bernama Mandailing, yang barangkali telah muncul sebelum abad itu lagi. Nama Mandailing tersebut dalam kitab Nagarakretagama yang mencatat perluasan wilayah Majapahit sekitar 1365 M. Batak tidak disebut sekalipun dalam kitab tersebut.

Nama Batak itu sendiri tidak diketahui dengan pasti asal-usulnya. Ada yang berpendapat istilah Batak itu digunakan oleh orang pesisir seperti orang Melayu untuk memanggil orang di pedalaman Sumatra, Batak, sepertimana orang Melayu memanggil 'orang asli', Sakai dan Jakun. Tapi orang pedalaman sendiri tidak membahasakan diri mereka, Batak. Kemudian panggilan ini dipetik oleh pengembara seperti Marco Polo, Ibnu Batutah, dan diambil oleh Portugis dan orang-orang dari atas angin dan bawah angin, hinggalah ke ini hari.

Bila Belanda menguasai kesultanan-kesultanan Melayu mereka bukan saja memasukkan kesultanan-kesultanan tersebut ke dalam sistem kolonial, sekaligus mereka juga mengambil-alih pemisahan Batak-Melayu. Persepsi Belanda terhadap orang-orang pedalaman termasuk terhadap bangsa/umat Mandailing dipengaruhi oleh persepsi kesultanan-kesultanan Melayu dan Minang, dan orang-orang pesisir, yang mereka dului berinteraski.

Lama-kelamaan memBatakkan bangsa/umat Mandailing membudaya dalam persepsi, tanggapan, tulisan-tulisan, dan sensus administratif Belanda hinggakan sesetengah orang Mandailing sendiri mulai melihat diri mereka dari persepsi penjajah yang melihat dari kacamata Melayu. Bangsa/umat Mandailing dikatogerikan bersama-sama dengan bangsa Toba, Pak-pak, Diari, Simalungun dan Karo untuk tujuan administratif umum di samping menjadi sasaran zending/Kristenisasi.

Pandangan berikut dari sarjana-sarjana Barat seperti Lance Castles adalah tipikal.

"The use of 'Batak' as a common label for these groups (Toba, Mandailing dan Simalungun) as well as the Karo and Dairi has a chequered career. Linguists and ethnologists have always found the term necessary because of the strong common elements in all these societies. At some periods, however, those who were converted to Islam, especially Mandailings, have sought to repudiate any association with the non-Muslim Tobas by rejecting the Batak label altogether. This tendency has been strongest among Mandailing migrants to the East Coast of Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia."

(Pengunaan istilah 'Batak' sebagai label yang umum untuk kelompok-kelompok ini (Toba, Mandailing dan Simalungun) sebagaimana juga dengan Karo dan Dairi mempunyai sejarah yang berpetak-petak. Ahli-ahli bahasa dan etnologi senantiasa mendapati bahwa istilah ini merupakan istilah yang diperlukan dikarenakan adanya elemen umum yang kuat di dalam tiap-tiap kelompok ini. Pada periode tertentu, mereka yang kemudian memeluk Islam, terutama orang Mandailing telah berusaha untuk tidak dihubungkan sama sekali - hubungan dengan non-Muslim Toba dengan menolak label Batak secara keseluruhan. Kecenderungan ini telah terjadi terkuat di antara orang Mandailing perantauan di Pantai Timur Sumatra dan Semenanjung Malaysia.)

Sementara sarjana Barat seperti Susan Rogers Siregar, agak peka dan mengerti sedikit.

"Much of the Western literature asserts that there are six major Batak cultures: Toba, Karo, Dairi-Pakpak, Simalungun, Angkola, and Mandailing. This division into ethnic units is somewhat misleading, however, since villagers often have little use for such general words as 'Angkola' and identitfy themselves in much more local terms as members of a ceremonial league or a group of village clusters. The sixfold ethnic division may reflect relatively new ethnic designations as members of different homeland groups come into contact and competition with each other".

(Kebanyakan literatur Barat menegaskan bahwa ada enam budaya Budaya yang utama: Toba, Karo, Dairi, Pakpak, Simalungun, Angkola dan Mandailing. Pembagian ke dalam beberapa kelompok-kelompok etnik ini, menyesatkan, lantaran penduduk desa umum tidak banyak menggunakan perkataan seperti 'Angkola' dan mengidentifikasikan diri mereka dalam istilah yang lebih lokal sebagai 'anggota dari perhimpunan adat' atau sebuah kelompok perkampungan. Pembagian enam etnik tersebut mencerminkan secara relatif penunjuk-penunjuk etnik baru sebagai bagian dari kelompok-kelompok pribumi yang berbeda yang kebelakangan bertemu dan bersaing satu sama lain.)

Kebelakangan, sarjana-sarjana Indonesia (Indonesianists) dan antropolog terus memakai istilah Batak dengan alasan ianya "useful" (berguna) dan "necessary" (perlu). Pada akhirnya, sarjana-sarjana yang kononnya, menyelidik secara neutral dan objektif, sebetulnya bertanggungjawab mencipta identitas Batak dan memperkuat identitas Batak. Malah ciptaan mereka itu, mencorak dan mewarnai garis-garis besar ilmu mereka sendiri. Maka pemisahan Batak-Melayu itu berpanjangan hingga ini hari.

Bangsa Mandailing dimelayukan Inggeris

Kalau penjajah Belanda melabelkan orang Mandailing sebagai Batak, penjajah Inggeris melabelkan orang Mandailing sebagai "foreign Malays" (Melayu dagang). Di satu pihak, orang Mandailing disebut Batak Mandailng, dan di pihak yang lain, disebut Melayu Mandailing.

Penjajah Inggeris memakai stilah "foreign Malays" untuk merujuk kepada orang Mandailing dengan alasan kemudahan administratif (administrative convinience). Pada mulanya, kategori Mandailing dan Batak terpisah dalam sensus-sensus British Malaya, kemudian kedua kategori tersebut dihapuskan menyebabkan orang Batak mahupun orang Mandailing pilih 'masuk Melayu' atau menjadi Melayu dalam pengambilan sensus.

Meskipun berabad-abad orang-orang Batak sudah 'masuk Melayu', pemisahan Batak-Melayu terus kekal. Hinggakan proses memelayukan orang-orang Batak termasuk bangsa/umat Mandailing yang dikategorikan sebagai sub-Batak itu, berkelanjutan hingga masakini. Apakah muslihat dan strategi penjajah dan sarjana-sarjana Barat mahu menghapuskan kemajemukan kebangsaan bangsa-bangsa lain di Sumatra Utara supaya bertuankan Batak? Apakah muslihat dan strategi penjajah dan sarjana-sarjana Barat mahu menghapuskan kemajemukan kebangsaan bangsa-bangsa Nusantara yang kedapatan di Semenanjung supaya bertuankan Melayu?

Bermula dengan rekayasa sosial engineering kolonial Belanda dan British, disusuli proses Malayanisasi (kemudian Malaysianisasi) dan Indonesianisasi yang berlaku sejak dari abad ke 19 sampai sekarang menerusi pendidikan nasional, polisi kebudayaan nasional dan nasionalisme Melayu dan Indonesia. Ciri-ciri khusus kebangsaan bangsa/umat Mandailing seperti bahasa dan aksara, digugat dan kemudian terhapus sama sekali atas nama asabiah (fanatik perkauman) pembangunan nasional, identitas nasional dan kesatuan nasional.

Rumusan

Pada tahun 1920an, alim ulamak dan pemuka-pemuka Mandailing telah memprotes percobaan orang-orang Batak-Islam termasuk orang Mandailing yang mengaku Batak, untuk dikuburkan di tanah perkuburan Sungai Mati. Alim ulama dan tokoh-tokoh Mandailing berhujah bahwa wakaf tanah perkuburan Sungai Mati hanyalah untuk jenazah-jenazah orang-orang Mandailing saja. Orang-orang Batak khusus Angkola termasuk Mandailing yang mengaku Batak, tidak pantas dikuburkan di perkuburan itu.

Pejuang-pejuang kebangsaan bangsa Mandailing membawa kasus/kes ke mahkamah syariah Sultan Deli dengan keterangan bahwa tanah perkuburan bangsa Mandailing di Sungai Mati, Medan, adalah semata-mata untuk bangsa Mandailing. Mereka yang berbangsa selain Mandailing, tidak boleh dikuburkan di situ. Mahkamah syariah Sultan Deli mendeklarsi bahwa bangsa Mandailing terpisah dan berdiri sendiri dari bangsa Batak. Kemudian bangsa Batak membawa kasus tersebut di mahkamah sibil di Batavia, Jawa. Mahkamah tersebut, mahkamah tertinggi di Hindia Belanda mendeklarasikan bahwa bangsa Mandailing bukan Batak.

Kasus jati diri tersebut dibukukan oleh Mangaradja Ihoetan dalam buku Asal-Oesoelnja Bangsa Mandailing (Pewarta Deli, Medan, 1926). Dalam pengantarnya kepada buku itu, Mangaradja Ihoetan menjelaskan maksud buku itu disusun "...hanjalah kadar djadi peringatan di-belakang hari kepada toeroen-toeroenan bangsa Mandailing itoe, soepaja mereka tahoe bagaimana djerih pajah bapa-bapa serta nenek mojangnya mempertahankan atas berdirinja kebangsaan Mandailing itoe. Dengan djalan begitoe diharap tiadalah kiranja mereka itoe akan sia-siakan lagi kebangsaanja dengan moedah maoe mehapoeskannja dengan djalan memasoekkan diri pada bangsa lain jang tidak melebihkan martabatnja".

“...Sesungguhnya orang yang paling mulia di antara kamu di sisi Allah ialah orang yang paling bertakwa di antara kamu...” (al-Hujurat: 13. )

Jelas ketinggian dan kemulian tercapai dengan takwa bukan dengan memasukkan bangsa Mandailing ke dalam bangsa Batak maupun Melayu demi agenda nasionalisme, asabiah/fanatik kebangsaan dan negara-bangsa yang hakikat/entitinya berlawanan dengan Islam.

Justru kategori-kategori Batak-Mandailing dan Melayu-Mandailing, tidak menepati jati diri bangsa/umat Mandailing, bangsa/umat Mandailing hendaklah menolaknya bulat-bulat sebagai sisa-sisa peninggalan penjajahan fisikal mahupun mental. Dan tidak terjebak dalam proses globalisasi yang mencita-citakan penghapusan kebangsaan bangsa-bangsa dan bahasa-bahasa dalam Tata Dunia Baru (New World Order), di mana manusia direncanakan menjadi warga perbankan dunia!

Mengdelling, Mandahiling, Mendeheleng, Mandheling, Mandiling, Mendeleng, Mandailing

2007-06-17T03:42:00.001-07:00

Istilah baku Mandailing juga dieja seperti Mengdelling, Mandahiling, Mendeheleng, Mandheling, Mandiling, Mandaling, Mendeleng, dll.. Dari segi sejarah, orang Mandailing melihat jati diri mereka sebagai kelompok etnik/bangsa yang terpisah dan berbeda/berlainan dari kelompok etnik Batak di Indonesia maupun Melayu di Malaysia.

Klasifikasi sensus yang mengkategorikan Mandailing sebagai Batak di Hindia Timur Belanda dibuat atas 'dasar mencopet' untuk memisahkan Aceh dan Minangkabau yang Islam dari 'Tanah Batak', wilayah pemisah ciptaan pemerintah kolonial. Sementara di British Malaya, orang Mandailing dikategorikan sebagai Melayu semata-mata untuk 'kesenangan pentadbiran/administratif' yang pramatis.

The now standard Mandailing has been variously spelt as Mengdelling, Mandahiling, Mendeheleng, Mandheling, Mandiling, Mandaling, Mendeleng, etc.. The Mandailing historically see themselves as a distinct and separate ethnic group from the Batak in Indonesia and the Malay in Malaysia.The census categorization of the Mandailing as Batak in the Dutch East Indies was in pursuant of a 'wedge policy' to separate the Islamic bulwark of Aceh and Minangkabau from the so-called 'Batakland'. In British Malaya the categorization of the Mandailing as Malay was done in the name of pragmatic 'administrative convenience'.

Jenaka

2007-06-17T02:59:00.000-07:00

“The Scots, Welsh and Irish also resent being called English though Malaysians always refer to them as English. In fact, they don't even want to be British”

Dalam kata-kata lain,

"Orang Mandeling, Kampar, Minangkabau di Malaysia juga tidak suka disebut bangsa Melayu meskipun orang Inggeris dan Amerika memanggil mereka Melayu. In fact they damn want to be Malaysian bumis (bumiputera/pribumi).”

Orang Mandailing di Kamp Konsentrasi NAZI

2007-06-16T03:31:00.000-07:00

Orang Indonesia di Kamp Konsentrasi NAZI.
Autobiografi dari Parlindoengan Loebis.

Loebis berangkat ke Negeri Belanda untuk belajar Kedokteran, setelah lulus Kandidat I di Betawi (begitu dia menuliskannya). Semasa di Betawi, ia sempat aktif di Jong Islamieten Bond dan Jong Batak, yang kemudian bersama perhimpunan mahasiswa lain (selain Jong Java) bersatu membentuk PPPI dan Indonesia Moeda. Di Leiden, tak lama ia direkrut Perhimpoenan Indonesia. Sepeninggal Hatta cs, PI bersifat kekirian, dengan garis Stalinis yang jelas. Sempat Loebis menjadi ketua, selama 3 tahun, dan membawa PI ke arah yang tak begitu kiri. Kerjasama dengan Partai Komunis Belanda dihentikan, dan digantikan dengan kerjasama dengan Partai Sosialis (SDAP).

Tapi kemudian PD II pecah. Mei 1940, saat Jerman bergerak ke barat, Belanda menyerah nyaris tanpa perlawanan. Dan bahkan kemudian kehidupan masih tampak normal dalam pendudukan Jerman. Sebelum serangan Jerman pun, partai NSB pro Jerman pernah memperoleh suara cukup besar (separuh suara) dari rakyat Belanda. Selama pendudukan Jerman ini, Loebis sempat lulus di Leiden, menikah di Haarlem, menjajagi bekerja di Utrecht, dan akhirnya membuka praktek di Amsterdam. Tapi kemudian, 26 Juni 1941, dua orang reserse Belanda menjemputnya. Loebis dipenjarakan, dan kemudian dipindahkan ke Kamp Konsentrasi. (Baru pada tahun 1945, Loebis mengetahui alasan penahanannya: Jerman baru membuka front baru melawan Sovyet, dan para aktivis gerakan pro komunis ditakutkan menjadi partisan di belakang front).

Kamp Konsentrasi yang pertama dihuni adalah Kamp Schoorl. Di sini, tawanan belum disuruh bekerja, tetapi hanya disuruh apel dan berolah raga. Kemudian seluruh isi kamp ini digabungkan ke Kamp Amersfoort. Di sini, tawanan memperoleh perkerjaan konstruksi, termasuk memasang kawat berduri. Juga mulai sering disiksa secara kejam, baik oleh orang Jerman, maupun terutama oleh orang NSB.

Loebis kemudian dipindahkan ke Kamp Buchenwald di Jerman. Di sini Loebis mulai kehilangan harapan untuk dibebaskan, kecuali perang berakhir dengan kekalahan Jerman. Ia memutuskan untuk hidup secara efisien dan tanpa hati, untuk bertahan hidup selama mungkin. Di Buchenwald, mereka membuka hutan di pegunungan berkabut, memecah batu, membuat barak, saluran air, listrik, bengkel, dll, selama 7 hari seminggu, 14 jam sehari. Tawanan sering dipukuli, bahkan hingga mati. Tawanan yang mengobrol ditembak.

Namun kemudian Loebis dipindahkan lagi, pada Oktober 1942, ke Sachsenhausen, ke instalasi pabrik pesawat perang Heinkel. Di sini situasi lebih baik. Kamp lebih difokuskan pada pekerjaan teknis, biarpun kekejaman masih berlangsung, dan menyita nyawa manusia segala bangsa di sana. Kali ini, Loebis ditugaskan sebagai dokter kamp, sehingga tugasnya lebih ringan. Loebis jarang mengulas tentang Yahudi. Ia beralasan bahwa barangkali para Yahudi dipisahkan, dan ditempatkan di kamp tersendiri. Atau barangkali … entahlah.

Saat akhirnya pasukan sekutu berhasil masuk ke Jerman, Kamp kacau. Para tawanan dan penjaga membentuk barisan tak teratur yang terus bergerak ke barat. Tawanan yang keluar barisan langsung ditembak di belakang kepala. Tapi banyak juga penjaga yang juga lari memisahkan diri. Mereka akhirnya berhenti di kampung Grabouw. Sempat barisan dari kamp lain bergabung. Dan akhirnya tentara Russia masuk juga ke kampung itu. Mereka resmi lepas dari tawanan. Tapi perlu waktu untuk memulihkan diri, dan mencari cara untuk lepas dari kawasan Russia, menyeberangi sungai Elbe, masuk ke kawasan Sekutu Barat, dan akhirnya kembali ke Belanda dengan kereta ke Maastricht, lalu naik mobil ke keluarganya di Amsterdam.

Namun, nun di timur, kemerdekaan Indonesia diproklamasikan, dan pada akhir 1945, berita itu mulai terdengar masyarakat Indonesia di Belanda. Loebis dkk langsung menyatakan diri bagian dari Republik Indonesia yang merdeka, dan kekikukan kemudian terjadi lagi. Sempat ada Kongres Pemuda Demokrat Sedunia di Cekoslovakia, dan Loebis ingin menghadiri kongres ini, atas nama Indonesia. Tentu Belanda tak memberikan pass, tetapi atas bantuan Inggris, Loebis bisa berangkat. Sambutan untuk Indonesia amat meriah, membuat berang para pemuda Belanda. Loebis kembali ke Belanda menumpang tim Belgia. Pemerintah Belanda akhirnya memperbolehkan orang Indonesia kembali ke negerinya. Namun dengan status sebagai NICA. Banyak yang mengira bahwa ini adalah support yang baik, karena tidak menyadari bahwa NICA justru memusuhi Pemerintah Indonesia Merdeka. Loebis sempat menyadari, dan memberi peringatan kepada lainnya. Namun saat ia bertolak pulang, ia diberi juga pangkat Mayor NICA, yang tentu ia tolak. Ia mengambil status sebagai dokter kapal, dan dalam status itu sempat menyelundupkan Dr Setia Boedi (Douwes Dekker) kembali ke Indonesia.

Di Indonesia, Loebis meneruskan karir sebagai dokter, dan menolak berpolitik. Bekerja sebagai dokter di PT Timah, Belitung. Zaman kaum komunis Indonesia bangkit, Loebis difitnah dan dipensiunkan dini, karena dianggap tak mau mendukung kaum komunis. Tapi ia tetap tinggal di Belitung. Saat istrinya meninggal, baru ia pindah ke Jakarta. Loebis meninggal di ujung tahun 1994, nyaris tanpa perhatian dari bangsa kita.

http://kun.co.ro/2006/10/29/loebis-di-kamp-nazi/

Mocthar Lubis Receives Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism

2007-06-16T00:11:00.000-07:00

The 1958 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts

BIOGRAPHY of Mochtar Lubis

MOCHTAR LUBIS was born on March 7, 1922 in Padang, Central Sumatra. The sixth of 10 children of a Demang, or District Commissioner? the highest rank an Indonesian could hold in the Dutch administration of Sumatra; his elementary education was taken at a Dutch government school in Sungei Penuh, where his father was then posted. The family home atop a small hill in the center of the town was often the gay gathering place of the prominent and talented Sumatran clan to which the father belonged.

Along with the happy recollections of a secure childhood and close family life is the traumatic memory of a particular day when his mother forbade the children to play in the back fruit garden overlooking the district jail at the foot of the hill. While his brothers and sisters dutifully stayed away, the young MOCHTAR's curiosity took him to a perch in a tree with a commanding view of events below. He saw the Dutch Controller, his father, a doctor and other officials standing in the yard of the jail while three prisoners clad in shorts were laid face down on platforms and their outstretched hands and feet secured as three Indonesian jailers with long, black whips approached. The prisoners, he learned afterward, were escapees from a tea estate in Kerintji whom it had been his father's onerous duty to apprehend. In an area of large tea and coffee estates farmed by indentured labor mostly from Java on five year contracts that usually lasted a lifetime, the penalty for seeking escape was 80 lashes. The sight and sounds, as punishment was administered, horrified the small, hidden watcher.

"This made the deepest impression on me," MOCHTAR LUBIS recently wrote, "and even now I can hear their agonized cries. I cannot see injustice, however small, without rebelling in my heart against it." Though he later came to understand that harsh punishment was common practice for indentured labor in many free as well as colonial areas at the time and that Dutch law could also insure security for the individual, this early initiation to oppression made him from his boyhood a champion of humane treatment and fair play.

The father repeatedly advised his sons "never to become a colonial administrative official" like himself. Accordingly, for his higher education MOCHTAR LUBIS was sent to a private business college in Kaju Tanam in Central Sumatra rather than to a government institution where Indonesians then were educated only to become civil servants. The business college, run by the nationalist movement in Sumatra, taught students to think more independently. There he studied economics, political science and languages, graduating, in 1941, with fluency in Dutch, English and German as well as his native tongue.

When World War II reached Indonesia, he was in Djakarta and was quickly taken by the Japanese into a radio monitoring unit where his assignment was to listen to and summarize broadcasts by the British Broadcasting Company, the Voice of America and from Australia and other Allied countries. In the compound were Dutch and other nationals but only Indonesians were allowed to come and go. For the three and one-half years he was engaged in this work, he regularly took information gleaned from Allied broadcasts to his brother, Bachtar, who was in the Indonesian underground resistance.

During the war, he met petite Halema Kartawijaya, who was working on the Japanese daily newspaper, Asia Raya. They were married on July 2, 1945 and have two sons and a daughter.

In 1945, he joined the nationalist Antara News Agency, organized by Adam Malik in the early 1930's and revived after the Japanese surrender. When the Indonesian republican government moved to Jogjakarta in Central Java at the outbreak of the independence revolution, LUBIS was asked to stay behind as head of the Agency's Djakarta Bureau. On December 29, 1949, he founded, with the backing of a group of veterans, the Indonesia Raya, of which he is editor-in-chief and part-owner. From 1952 to 1954, he concurrently edited the English-language Times of Indonesia. He is chairman of the Indonesian National Committee of the International Press Institute (IPI) of which he was a principal organizer in 1954.

In these capacities, Mr. LUBIS has traveled widely, usually on journalistic missions. In 1947, he attended the First Asian Conference in New Delhi, India, organized by Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru to encourage independence movements in Asia. In 1950, he visited the countries of East and Southeast Asia from Japan to Burma with Adam Malik. In September and October 1952, he served as a war correspondent with the United Nations in Korea. Invited to the United States on a leadership grant in 1953, he returned to Indonesia through Europe and the Middle East. A delegate to the IPI General Assembly in Paris in 1954, he also visited other countries in Europe and Israel. In 1955, professional work took him to Mexico, the United States and Europe and, in 1956, after attending the IPI Asian Regional Conference in Tokyo, he visited several Southeast Asian countries.

Deeply committed from his school days to the nationalist cause, his writings, including several books, short stories and regular editorials, have demonstrated an active interest in national problems. One of his books was critical of the Indonesian diplomatic service. In 1952, he received ad Award from the Indonesian Press Association for his reporting on Korea and, in 1953, won the Indonesian National Literary Award for his novel on the Indonesian revolution, The Endless Road.

By his definition, the "true goals" of the fight for freedom against Dutch colonialism were to achieve democratic rights for the Indonesian people, to guarantee basic human rights to all, to achieve economic justice, prosperity and happiness for the people, and to build traditions of respect for the rule of law in freedom and justice. Seeing the preservation of these goals threatened, he began, in 1953, a crusade against government corruption, violation of civil liberties by the military and against the inroads of totalitarianism, which made Indonesia Raya one of the four most widely read newspapers in the country but incurred the animosity of many leading politicians and high officials in government and the military.

On the evening of August 12, 1956, one of his news sources told him of the pending arrest of Foreign Minister Ruslan Abdulgani by the Commander of the West Java Military Territory, Colonel Kawilarang. The arrest, to be made on the eve of the Foreign Minister's departure for Suez Canal talks in London, was in connection with the so-called Lie Hok Thay affair. Lie, an official in the State Printing Plant who had been kidnapped by unidentified men and later turned over to the police, had confessed to manipulation of several millions of rupiahs from the general election funds. Implicated in Lie's confession were a number of high officials, including the Foreign Minister.Attempted as the tipster had foretold, the arrest was prevented by the Prime Minister and Chief of Staff of the Army, and the Foreign Minister was allowed to leave for London. Arrests were made of a former Information Minister and the manager of the State Printing Plant, both also implicated by Lie, and their cases were brought to court. Indonesia Raya, being a morning paper, missed the story in its regular August 13 edition, so a special bulletin was published in mid-afternoon giving the main points of the thwarted arrest of the Foreign Minister.

A few days later in Parliament, Prime Minister Ali Sastroamidjojo charged that the attempt to arrest the Foreign Minister was part of a plot to overthrow the government. After the Foreign Minister's return from London, a special Cabinet committee was established to investigate the accusations against him, with the Attorney General and a representative of army headquarters invited to attend the sessions. The committee subsequently issued a statement that examination of evidence produced by police who had interrogated Lie Hok Thay yielded no grounds for legal prosecution of the Foreign Minister. The Attorney General later issued a statement in a similar vein.

Indonesia Raya, meanwhile, continued to research the case. On August 30, on the basis of documentary evidence in hand, the paper carried an editorial accusing the Cabinet of political conspiracy to cover machinations by the Foreign Minister. Reportedly under pressure from the Cabinet, the Attorney General promptly started proceedings against LUBIS as responsible editor of the paper on the grounds that he had violated Articles 154 and 207 of the Penal Code by publishing derogatory material about the Foreign Minister. The two Articles were leftovers from the Dutch Penal Code under which a maximum sentence of seven years could be levied against any person found guilty of "harboring and expressing hostile sentiments against the government." Under the republic, as in colonial times, persons indicted under these Articles were often tried summarily; the judge could ignore evidence introduced by defendants to prove the validity of their expressions or writings and could decline the calling of defense witnesses.

When LUBIS was summoned before the civil court in Djakarta in December 1956, he protested against the use of the "colonial" Articles, demanding that he be tried under normal libel laws. This the judge refused along with LUBIS' second demand that he be allowed to call witnesses. To the third demand that he be allowed to produce photostatic copies of documents to prove the truth of his newspaper articles, the judge assented.

Introduced into evidence by LUBIS were photostats of police documents on Lie Hok Thay's confession and that of the manager of the State Printing Plant, wherein he admitted having given large amounts of money to the Foreign Minister from general election funds. A third document was a copy of the report of the Chief of the Criminal Department of the Djakarta Police on his confiscation of a car and house belonging to the Foreign Minister?an action not publicly known until this evidence was introduced in court by LUBIS. Fourth was a photostatic copy of the admission by the former Chief of the Military Police Headquarters of Djakarta that he had received, in the United States, foreign exchange sent to him from Indonesia by Lie Hok Thay, with the Foreign Minister acting as courier on the occasion of President Sukarno's State Visit in May, 1956.

With the exposure of these documents, the police departments concerned publicly admitted they were official and genuine. The judge thereupon acquitted LUBIS of all charges. Subsequent publication of the documents in Indonesia Raya and quotation by most other newspapers in the country forced the Attorney General to review the case and announce that he now had evidence to start legal proceedings against the Foreign Minister, whom the Supreme Court had already decided to bring to trial as was done in March 1957.

Before LUBIS was charged, he had been urged by representatives of the President, the Information Minister and other officials to tone down his crusade. Among other inducements, he was offered a three million rupiah loan not to support but simply not to criticize the Cabinet. Several officials from the Attorney General's office advised him directly that the Attorney General was under heavy pressure to prosecute him under the old penal code.

To a friend who had asked why he kept up the struggle when the possibilities of influencing those in senior positions seemed bleak, LUBIS wrote: "I feel we must never compromise our principles if the goals of our revolution are to be preserved, but we must continue to expose abuses of power and fight as hard as we can against the spread of communist influence. The challenge has to be met by working hard and by working with facts and the truth."Soon after editor LUBIS achieved his victory in court, a nephew, Colonel Zulkifli Lubis, became involved in one of the army's recurrent crises. Though satisfactory evidence was never given to substantiate the charge that he had attempted a coup d'etat, suspicion of the LUBIS clan was heightened in unfriendly official circles. Having published the government's accusation, Indonesia Raya "found it no more than just" to publish several letters written by Col. Lubis from his hiding place explaining his position. Several other newspapers followed suit.On December 21, 1956, the military commander of the army regiment in Central Sumatra proclaimed the taking over of civil administration from the Governor and demanded that a new cabinet be formed and changes made in the military headquarters in Djakarta to eliminate corruption and communist infiltration. Indonesia Raya and two other dailies in Djakarta were the first to break this news in the capital.

On the evening of December 21, MOCHTAR LUBIS was arrested by military police after an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap him by armed civilians, and Indonesia Raya was placed under military censorship. Immediately deleted was an editorial intended for the following day, in which the paper had taken the position the Sumatra problem could not be solved by the Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet.Following two days of detention in the military police barracks in Djakarta, LUBIS was interrogated for about 10 minutes to establish only his identity and family relationship to Col. Lubis. He then was moved to the Djakarta Military Prison where, five days later, he was again interrogated by military police, this time as to why he published Col. Lubis' letters and how he happened to be the first to publish news of the Central Sumatra coup. Asked to write the names of his editorial staff and accused of a political affiliation he did not have, he was finally questioned about the editorial which had been suppressed by the military police.

After another two weeks and following protests by the IPI and many groups in Indonesia, LUBIS was released from prison but placed under house arrest "in the interest of peace and security" and forbidden to write for his newspaper, give interviews, or receive phone calls or letters. Up to now, no charges have been formally preferred against him.Since his detention, Mrs. Lubis has gone each day to manage Indonesia Raya. In defiance of his "political" incarceration, LUBIS has continued to write editorials and comments which could readily be recognized as his. The paper has been operating under financial and editorial handicaps resulting from irregular publication; banned for a week, allowed to publish for a month, stopped again while members of the editorial staff are arrested for one or two days and then permitted to resume, it has been under continual harassment by the military.

Lauding his defense of the right of honest dissent, LUBIS was judged the outstanding journalist in Indonesia for 1957 and the Indonesia Raya the best newspaper in an annual nationwide poll conducted by the College of Journalism and Political Science of the University of Indonesia.In May 1958, Indonesia Raya was suspended anew on charges that it had published a report considered by the Greater Djakarta City Command as "not conducive to public security." The report concerned the acquisition of Soviet MIG fighter planes for the Indonesian Air Force. Suspension was lifted in early June, 1958.At the IPI General Assembly in Amsterdam in May 1957, and again at an Asian Regional Conference in Ceylon last December, resolutions were adopted protesting the detention of LUBIS. In the March 1958 IPI Report of this Geneva-based world-wide organization of editors devoted to promotion of press freedom, the following remarks appear:

A SAD ANNIVERSARY

More than fourteen months have passed since military police in Djakarta arrested and imprisoned Indonesia Raya editor Mochtar Lubis in December 1956. Chairman of the Indonesian IPI National Committee, editor Lubis has long been an outspoken critic of certain aspects of government and army affairs.For the past year IPI Report has featured in a prominent position?usually on the back page?a black-bordered box calling attention to this journalist's plight. In reply to protests and demands from IPI and others that Lubis' rights be respected, the government released him from prison, placed him under house arrest and declared that he was not being held in connection with his work as a journalist. Yet, as we go to press with our twelfth monthly reminder that Lubis is still under arrest and that no charges have been preferred against him, there is no indication that his internment is near an end. It is a sad commentary for press freedom in Indonesia.

The Editor" August 1958 Manila REFERENCES:Asia Who's Who, Hong Kong, Pan Asia Newspaper Alliance, 1957. Atlantic Monthly, June 1956. IPI Report, March, 1958. International Who's Who, London, Europa Publications, Ltd., 1957. Philippines Free Press, Manila, April 5, 1958. Letters from and interviews with journalists and other observers acquainted with Mochtar Lubis.

EPILOGUE Indonesia Raya was suppressed in September 1958. Learning that the government intended to close down all opposition papers, MOCHTAR LUBIS arranged through friends, in 1959, to sell the printing plant and to repay the balance of the bank loan by which it had been purchased.

Editor LUBIS was kept under house arrest from January 1957 until May 1961. Upon his release he was invited to attend the IPI General Assembly in Tel Aviv. Enroute, he visited his colleagues in Malaya, Thailand and India and extended his trip to Europe after the Assembly. A press report of his speech at Tel Aviv carried in Djakarta papers quoted him as being critical of the Indonesian government. Actually talking in more general terms, he had said some leaders in Asia and Africa were maintaining that, for the sake of establishing freedom from hunger, freedom of expression could be sacrificed. LUBIS disagreed with this proposition: ". . . To me both freedoms are indivisible, and one cannot have meaning without the other because men are not cattle."Arrested again upon his return in July 1961, he was imprisoned without trial under martial law. The Djakarta Military Prison, where he was held for more than six months, was unclean, food was extremely poor, and medical care minimal, but prisoners were allowed to receive extra food twice a week from their homes and to buy their own medicines.

In January 1962, he was moved with other political detainees to Madiun Prison in East Java and was kept there for the next three years and nine months. Conditions were much better than in Djakarta, though additional food still had to be obtained from outside and both doctors and medicines had to be paid for. A source of great comfort were the monthly visits by his wife and children, when they could leave their schools. He read extensively books his wife brought and other prisoners received. One was an introduction to yoga, leading him to practice and teach some of his fellow prisoners this physical and emotional discipline. Accustomed to active sports, he played tennis inside and outside the prison when allowed. He painted, wrote and joined with others to make mosaics and ceramics. The prisoners held music classes and he had many philosophical discussions with such distinguished fellow inmates as Dr. Anuk Agung of Bali, former Foreign Minister, Interior Minister and Ambassador to Belgium and France; Dr. Rum also a former Foreign Minister and a Masjumi leader; Prawato Mangkusasmito, an ex-Vice Premier and Masjumi leader; and Subadio Sastrosatomo, parliamentary leader of the Socialist Party.

Appeals by Asian and Western intellectuals and the IPI to have him released or at least brought to trial were repeatedly ignored.From Madiun, LUBIS wrote a reflective letter to an IPI associate as he was approaching the tenth year of house arrest and imprisonment. Referring to the lashing of the three contract coolies in this childhood, which first taught him to rebel against injustice, he added:". . . To me a man, however humble and poor, is entitled to his rights as Man; he is an entity to be respected as Man. I consciously pursue the ideal of all men being of one family, regardless of their color, race or religion; I am fully convinced that mankind can only survive when nations grow into an integrated family of nations."

To me a good nationalist in our world of today must be also, first of all, a good internationalist; that is, he must weigh the welfare of other peoples as heavily as he weighs the welfare of his own."Every nation has something of value to contribute for the common good of the world, be it in the form of some of its own traditional or cultural values, wealth of natural resources, or technical and scientific knowledge. Hence no nation needs to feel inferior, and no man needs to suffer from any inferiority complex, because Man contains within himself the capacity to reach for progress and goodness and nobility . . ."Public leaders must not only lead a healthy public life, but a healthy private life as well . . ."A writer's work is only as true as his heart is true . . .

"Following the attempted Communist takeover of government in September 1965, averted by elements of the army under General Suharto, LUBIS and a number of other intellectuals and political leaders were transferred to the Djakarta Military Prison. He was then no longer being held under martial law but under Presidential Decree No. 3, issued in December 1962, which empowers the Attorney General, by authority of the President, to enforce "any place of living at his discretion for any person suspected of obstructing achievement of the purposes of the revolution.

"After three months, from October until the end of December 1965, he was transferred to a well-guarded private home in downtown Djakarta where with several other prisoners he lived more comfortably. On May 15, he was released to his home but remained under city arrest. By this time, documentary evidence had been found by the new government that LUBIS had been among those marked for execution had the Communists achieved control.Invited by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation to attend the Award ceremonies in Manila on August 31, 1966, to receive the medal and citation held for him in safekeeping since August 1958, he was given permission to leave Djakarta for this purpose by Foreign Minister Adam Malik. Attorney General Sugih Arto, however, countermanded the Foreign Minister's permit on the grounds that LUBIS was still under city arrest and no other detainees under similar restraint had been allowed to leave.

In September 1966, Mochtar Lubis was given full freedom. He received his medal and citation from the Board of Trustees of the Foundation in Manila on October 31, 1966. On that occasion he simply but eloquently expressed the value to him during his long time of trial of such acknowledgements as the Foundation's of his "crusade for truth and justice."

November l, 1966 Manila

http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Biography/BiographyLubisMoc.htm

Tidak Islamnya Bank Islam, Kritik Atas Perbankan Syariah

2007-06-13T23:16:00.000-07:00

Tidak Islamnya Bank Islam, Kritik Atas Perbankan Syariah
oleh Zaim Saidi & Imran N. Hosein
Pustaka Adina, 2003

Ucapan Terima Kasih
Buku ini terbit dengan bantuan dan kerjasama sejumlah orang. Pertama-tama adalah para mahasiswa yang tengah gandrung mempelajari ekonomi Islam di berbagai kelompok dan forum studi “ekonomi syariah” di berbagai universitas yang acap menanyakan posisi saya tentang perbankan syariah. Pertanyaan merekalah yang mendorong saya untuk menuliskan penjabaran pendapat saya tersebut dengan agak leluasa dalam bentuk buku.

Naskah kedua, karya Imran N Hosein saya peroleh dari rekan saya Abdur-Razak Lubis yang bermukim di Penang dan aktif di PAID (People Againsts Interest Debt), Malaysia. Penerjemahannya ke dalam bahasa Indonesia dilakukan oleh Sdr. Nurhasan. Rekan-rekan saya di Adina, Asad Nugroho dan Fathma, juga acap terlibat dalam diskusi tentang masalah ini – khususnya implikasi praktisnya dalam pengelolaan wakala dinar dan dirham yang mereka rintis. Fathma juga membantu saya dalam persiapan naskah. Beberapa bahan tambahan saya peroleh dari Sdr. Andhi Rahardjo dari Forinda (Forum Penggerak Dinar dan Dirham). Terakhir, dari Penerbit Adina, Sdr. Omar Camus, melakukan penyelesaian naskah sebelum pracetak.

Kepada mereka semua saya ucapkan terima kasih. Semoga pekerjaan mereka tidak semata-mata dinilai sebagai perbuatan profesional semata, melainkan bernilai ibadah di mata Allah SWT. Amin.

Pengantar Penerbit
Buku kurun lima puluh tahun terakhir ini di dunia Islam telah berkembang “ekonomi Islam”. Wujud yang paling nyata di hadapan masyarakat Muslim atas perkembangan ilmu ekonomi Islam ini adalah maraknya perbankan Islam atau perbankan syariah. Berbagai produk ditawarkan dengan prinsip tanpa bunga, melainkan atas dasar bagi hasil. Meskipun agak belakangan, tak terkecuali di Indonesia, saat ini ada belasan perbankan syariah beroperasi. Berbagai perangkat peraturan perundang-undangan dan kelembagaan juga telah mulai diterapkan untuk mendukungnya.

Demikian populernya ekonomi Islam sekarang ini hingga jarang terdengar suara yang agak berbeda dari umur “ekonomi syariah”. Dari sedikit suara kritis ini dating dari kelompok Murabitun Internasional, yang pada dasarnya menyatakan bahasa “islamisasi ekonomi”, sebagaimana yang terjadi melalui “ekonomi syariah” tersebut bukanlah jalan yang seharusnya ditempuh untuk mengatasi persoalan umat Islam. Jalan yang seharusnya ditempuh adalah menemukan alternative dari sitem kapitalisme yang melahirkan sebuah ideology, dan bukan ilmu, yang dikenal sebagai “ilmu ekonomi” arus utama saat ini.

Dalam kalimat terakhir bukunya, The End of Economics, Umar Ibrahim Vadillo, pemimpin gerakan Murabitun Internasional, menulis, “Bank Islam adalah kuda Troya yang disusupkan ke dalam Dar al-Islam”. Dengan kata lain Vadillo ingin menyatakan bahwa perbankan syariah tidak saja bukan solusi bagi kebutuhan akan sitem pengelolaan sumber daya finansial yang sesuai dengan syariah melainkan bahkan merupakan sebentuk pengkhianatan atau musuh dalam selimut

Motivasi pengembangan perbankan syariah, menurut Vadillo, adalah mempertahankan posisi agar umat Islam seluruh dunia, yang jumlah mencapai sekitar 2 milyar jiwa, tidak terlepas dari system keuangan (kapitalistik) global. Perbankan syariah adalah bagian dari upaya “islamisasi ekonomi”. Persoalannya adalah dengan dikembangkannya perbankan syariah ini upaya untuk membangun sistem alternative menjadi terhambat, sebab umat seolah telah mendapatkan jawaban atas kegelisahan akibat keterlibatan dalam riba. Padahal, demikian kata Vadillo, “kita tidak ingin mengislamkan kapitalisme, kita bermaksud menciptakan alternative terhadapnya”.

Buku ini merupakan upaya untuk mengelaborasi kritik-kritik atas perbankan syariah tersebut bagi umat Islam di Indonesia. Buku ini terdiri atas dua bagian. Bagian pertama, ditulis oleh Zaim Saidi yang belakangan gencar mengkampanyekan kembalinya mata uang riel, warisan Rasulallah yang telah lama ditinggalkan kaum Muslimin, yakni dinar emas dan dirham perak. Suatu kali ia menyatakan bahwa dinar emas dan dirham perak adalah mata uang universal yang membawa keadilan. Emas dan perak Indonesia sama bagusnya dengan emas dan perak Amerika atau emas dan perak Cina. Nilai kursnya adalah 1:1.

Tentu penerapan kembali sistem mata uang emas dan perak bukan satu-satunya counter atas sistem kapitalisme yang berbasis pada uang emas. Banyak hal lain yang diperlukan. Tetapi, dinar dan dirham, sebagaimana diuraikan dalam tulisan ini akan sangat membatasi ruang gerak liar kapitalisme. Dinar dan dirham akan membuat perilaku ribawi sebagai perilaku menyimpang dan bukan kewajaran sebagaimana kita saksikan hari-hari ini.

Tulisan Zaim selengkapnya Tidak Islamnya Bank Islam, Kritik atas Perbankan Syariah. Ia berkesimpulan “perbankan, dengan label syariah atau bukan, selama kegiatannya melibatkan sewa-menyewa uang dan penciptaan kredit, tiada lain adalah sistem ribawi. Kalau demikian maka perbankan syariah adalah sebuah contradiction in terminis belaka”.

Bagian dua buku ini berjudul Pentingnya Mengharamkan Riba dalam Islam yang merupakan terjemahan karya ulama Imran N Hosein, The Importance of Prohibition of Riba in Islam. Tulisan ini pertama kali diterbitkan dalam Ansari Memorial Series sebagai perhormatan penulis terhadap gurunya dan sheikh Maulana Dr. Muhamad Fazlur Rahman Ansari (1914-1974), rahimullah. Imran menjelaskan pentingnya memahami riba secara konsepsional. Riba umumnya kita pahami, melainakn terkai dengan banyak persoalan struktural.

Betapa jahatnya dampak dari riba sehingga Allah SWT sendiri begitu keras terhadap riba dan pemakan riba. Karena itu, menurut Imran, ayat terakhir yang diturunkan kepada Nabi Muhammad SAW, adalah perintah untuk menyelesaikan sisa-sisa praktek ribaini (Al Baqarah 278-281). Ia mengatakan:

“…ayat-ayat tersebut dalam surat Al Baqarah (surat kedua Qur’an) berkenaan dengan riba (QA 278-281) merupakan ayat pamungkas yang harus dipertimbangkan dengan sungguh-sungguh. Ayat terakhir tersebut tidak menyampaikan apa pun soal baru mengenai agama Islam. Ayat ini sekadar menegaskan bahwa Nabi telah bersabda mengenai riba, termasuk penegakan hokum yang berkenaan dengan riba dalam khutbah wada di pada Arafah.”

Semoga penerbitan buku ini memberikan penerangan dan pandangan baru di kalangan umat Islam sehingga tidak terkelabui oleh serigala-serigala yang berbulu domba.

Wallahu a’lam bish-shawab.

Pustaka Adina
Juli 2003

The Mandailings in Kinta

2007-06-13T01:36:00.000-07:00

The Mandailings in Kinta

The Mandailings have been coming to the Kinta Valley, the heart of Perak, Malaysia, since the early 19th century. Their presence in the state was noted at the point of British intervention. The Mandailings probably first started to move into Perak in the aftermath of the Padri War (1821-1837).

Kulop Riau’s father had been mining at Jelentoh in Gopeng since 1861 with a group of Mandailing miners. Kulop Riau himself brought Chinese miners to reopen Gopeng Hilir. The intensive mining methods used by the Mandailing were documented by French mining engineers and explorers.

During the so-called Perak War of 1875, two Mandailings, Raja Asal and Raja Uteh assisted British troops in the pacification of Perak. The removal of Perak nobility inimical to British rule left a power vacuum in Gopeng, Papan and Tanjung Tualang. As a reward, the Papan mines belonging to ex-Sultan Ismail was given to Raja Asal, whose following included not only the Mandailing, but also Angkola, Rawa, Talu and Kah Yin Chew Hakka. Raja Asal’s nephew Raja Bilah succeeded him as Penghulu of Papan.

Agricultural colonization by ‘foreign Malays’ saw hundreds of Mandailings taking up agriculture and establishing settlements in Kinta. Raja Mahmud Mandailing was the foremost agricultural colonist of his time. Gopeng was transformed into a padi-growing area by Imam Prang Jabarumun. Known as bondar saba, the Mandailing irrigation system constructed was two and a half miles long subsequently know as ‘Tali Air Imam Prang’.

The initial growth of Ipoh was attributed to ‘Sumatran Malays’, a generic term covering the Mandalings, who came as traders. Tok Setia Raja was the foremost Mandailing in Batu Gajah. Imam Prang Jabarumun was instrumental in the founding of Kampar. Indeed the Mandailings became the most predominant miners, agricultural settlers and traders in Pusing, Siputeh, Chemor, Tronoh, Lahat and Tanjong Tualang.

Prominent Mandailings from Kinta include:

Adam Malik (Batubara) the Vice-President and Foreign Minister of Indonesia

Aminuddin Baki (Lubis), the Father of Modern Malaysian Education

Abdul Aziz Zakaria (Nasution), the director-general of the Malaysian public services and author of several books

Mohd. Zain bin Mohd. Salleh (Nasution), the Vice-Admiral of the Malaysian Navy and a nephew of the famous Indonesian General Abdul Haris Nasution

Abdul Wahab Abdullah (Lubis), journalist, author and magistrate

Mahmud bin Sheikh Abdul Majid (Nasution), president of Pertubohan Bumi Puthra and member of the Perak State Council in the 1950s

Amir Hamzah (Nasution) @ Malungun, novelist and journalist

and many others.

Mainstreaming The Minorities: The Case of the Mandailings in Malaysia and Indonesia

2007-06-11T09:57:00.001-07:00

Published in Promoting A Culture of Peace, Kuala Lumpur: Cahayasuara Communications Centre for Signis Asia, 2005, pp. 42-8.

MAINSTREAMING THE MINORITIES: THE CASE OF THE MANDAILINGS IN MALAYSIA AND INDONESIA
By Abdur-Razzaq Lubis
Malaysian Representative, Mandailing All-Clans Assembly (HIKMA)

The issue of our time, the survival of human beings with individuated consciousness and communal ties, is in peril… Freedom, then, is the path to his new life. A freedom which begins with the individual, confirms him in his place with his people [ethnicity] and his language and his culture, yet by that specific location of his being there, grants him a world perspective to recognize his brothers and sisters elsewhere in their ‘different ness’ and their challenge. (The World Crisis)

Who are the Mandailings?
Our homeland is called tano rura Mandailing [the land and water of Mandailing], on the south-western corner of the island of Sumatra. Today it is known as the kabupaten of Mandailing-Natal, or the regency of Madina. The Mandailings are Muslims as well as Christians. For centuries the Mandailings have migrated throughout the peninsula and Indonesian archipelago.

The Mandailing’s most significant contribution to regional peace was to help end the Malaysian-Indonesian Confrontation. The ‘Konfrontasi’ arose as a result of Sukarno’s opposition to the formation of Malaysia, which the Indonesian’s saw as a British-inspired polity. Two Mandailings - Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Adam Malik and General Haris Nasution conspired to broker peace between the two neighbouring countries. At the time of Konfrontasi, Haris was a general in the Indonesian army and his nephew was the chief of staff in the Malaysian navy.[1] General Haris Nasution had flatly refused to go to war with Malaysia as he likened it as fighting his own kinsmen.

Indeed, Adam Malik felt that his main task as Indonesia’s Foreign Minister was to end the Confrontation. He even challenged Sukarno over the matter. He achieved his objective when the two neighbouring countries agreed to end the Confrontation. After the peace treaty was signed in 1966, the first thing Adam Malik did was to make a trip to Malaysia and visited Chemor (his mother’s birth place) in Perak, to reassure his relatives.[2]

In spite of their of their enormous contributions to politics, society, music, literature and the press both in Indonesia and Malaysia, Mandailings continue to be culturally marginalized in Indonesia and Malaysia. Academic works have subsumed them under the categories of the Angkola, Batak and Malay. In Malaysia, racial politics and state-sponsored socio-economic engineering in the name of nation building, backed by the academia, have resulted in the acculturation of the Mandailings into the dominant Malay racial category. In Indonesia, the Mandailings have been lumped into the dominant Batak group since the Dutch colonial era. As a result, the basic human right of the Mandailing to define themselves has been overlooked by most Malaysian and Indonesian intellectuals who have accepted the state’s discourse on ethnicity. Indeed,

In the animal kingdom, the rule is, eat or be eaten, in the human kingdom, define or be defined. (Thomas Szasz)

Are the Mandailings a minority in Malaysia?
What is a minority? Who defines a minority? Who are the beneficiaries of minority rights?

Thus far there are no definite answers. The difficulty in arriving at an acceptable definition of the term ‘minority’ lies in the variety of situations in which minorities exist. Some live together in well-defined areas, separated from the dominant population, while others are scattered throughout the national community. Some minorities has a strong sense of collective identity based on a well-remembered or recorded history; others retain only a fragmented notion of their common heritage. In certain cases, minorities enjoy – or have known – a considerable degree of autonomy. In others, there is no past history of autonomy or self-government. Some minority groups may require greater protection than others, because they are threatened by ethnic or cultural cleansing or facing extermination (genocide).

Despite the difficulty in arriving at a universally acceptable definition, various characteristics of minorities have been identified, which, taken together, cover most minority situations. The most commonly used description of a minority in a given State can be summed up as ‘a non-dominant group of individuals who share certain national, ethnic, religious or linguistic characteristics which are different from those of the majority population’. It has been argued that the use of self-definition which has been identified as ‘a will on the part of the members of the groups in question to preserve their own characteristics’ and to be accepted as part of that group by the other members, combined with certain specific objective requirements, could provide a viable option.

As far as statistics go, the Mandailings are in the majority in their homeland, but they are a minority in Indonesia and Malaysia. According to the 2003 census, the population of the regency of Madina stands at 369,691 the majority of which are Mandailing.[3] In 1982, the Mandailing Welfare Association of Malaysia (IMAN) estimated that there were about 30,000 Angkolan and Mandailings in Malaysia.[4] The Angkolan are the neighbours of the Mandailings to the north of the homeland. Many people of Angkolan descent in Malaysia, consider themselves Mandailings. Assuming that the 1982 figures are correct, the author estimates that there are about 50,000 people of Mandailing and Angkolan descent in Malaysia, today.

In Indonesia, the Mandailing ethnic category does not exist as the Indonesian state wants Indonesians to see themselves as bangsa Indonesia. In Malaysia, the DAP’s Malaysian Malaysia, and the government’s bangsa Malaysia is no different. It is expedient for a political party like the DAP or the government to call for a national identity as the DAP dominated by the majority Chinese ethnic group and the government dominated by ethnic Malays, would have their identity secured in the bargain.

Mandailing Dilemma
Suffering from acute identity crises, Mandailings use passing off when convenient. Upwardly mobile ‘passing’ can have its uses; during the period of Indonesian resurgence under Sukarno it was popular to be a Sumatran, but during Confrontation it was safer to be a Malaysian. Since then the Malaysian government has tempted people of Indonesian descent to identify themselves as bumiputra, sons of the soil/land, the natural inheritors of the Malay tradition and rights. In modern Malaysia, passing off as Malays for government contracts, joining the Malay dominated civil service, to enter politics; essentially to climb the social ladder. Mandailing also use regional identities to obscure their descent.

History and nation-building processes has seen to it that the Mandailings people are divided into two ethnic and cultural identities; in Indonesia they are Batak-Mandailing and in Malaysia as Malay-Mandailings. On one hand they are under the hegemony (ketuanan) of the predominantly Batak Christians and on the other, they are under the hegemony of the Malay Muslims. Torn between two religious and ethnic identities, the Mandailings are caught in a dilemma between two equally undesirable alternatives. Both want to appropriate the Mandailing’s differentness.

The pressure to conform to either Batak or Malay identity is both religious and cultural; the difference is that in Indonesia the weight of the state is not behind it. In Malaysia, conformity is compelled by legal means as well as with the might of the state through national policies such as cultural policy and grant concession development. In Indonesia, regional and ethnic identities is experiencing a surge in the euphoria of regional autonomy and devolution of power; in Malaysia the debate that the Mandailings are a sub-group of the Malay stock/race is considered close at the highest level and the thing to do is conform, and not rock the boat.
Although the definition of race remained uncertain, the term itself has stuck in administrative and academic language of today. In vogue is the idea of ‘Melayu inklusif’ (inclusive Malay), based on the colonial perception that the peoples of the Indonesian archipelago and the peninsula are all of the Malay race/stock (rumpun Melayu).[5] The Malay nationalists driven by fears of the ‘yellow peril’ are not letting up in its designs to incorporate the diverse ethnic groups in insular Southeast Asia into the Malay agenda in opposition and to check the so-called Nanyang Agenda of the Overseas Chinese.

Peaceful Coexistence
Because of the legacy of colonial rule in Malaysia, the most important political parties are racial representing the interest of individual ethnic groups. I would describe the brand of majority politics in Malaysia as racial rather than communal. Even though the ethnic interest of the racial trinity of Malays, Chinese and Indians, have been largely attended to, the racial threat remained; Malaysia is also divided along linguistic, religious and social lines. Since independence the principal pre-occupation of the government have been the preservation of the country’s fragile unity and the welding of a truly united nation, of which the survival or eventual demise of the new nation, depends on.

Opposition to the special privileges of one dominant race appeals to the members of minority groups who feel that their own interests are thwarted by the current Sino-Malay-Indian system, which leaves smaller groups in an isolated and exposed position. Communal politics as it serves to benefit a community is in itself not a bad thing altogether, but racial politics by its nature excludes and discriminates. Barisan Nasional (BN) or Barisan Alternatif (BA) pander to, and knowingly or unknowingly serves this brand of politics as their constituents are mainly from the three dominant ethnic groups.

That diversity characterizes the great majority of countries in the world, and that with the end of the cold war and bipolar international order, claims to ethnic, religious, cultural and religious varieties are becoming stronger. The ‘rediscovery’ of ethnicity and cultural identities has created an awareness of the need to cope with the management of ethnic and cultural diversity through policies which promote ethnic and cultural minorities participation in, and having access to the resources of society, while maintaining the unity of the country. The fears that cultural diversity, or multiculturalism, has the potential to foster highly divisive social conflicts owing to the highly contentious thesis by Huntington’s on the clash of civilization in which religion is argued to play a crucial role; it can be argued that the state and social policies can check and intervene and reduce the potential for conflict. Multiculturalism, as a systematic and comprehensive response to cultural, ethnic and religious diversity, with educational, linguistic, economic, social and religious components and specific institutional mechanisms, has been adopted by a few countries, notably Australia (not necessarily a good example), Canada and Sweden.

Special rights for minorities are not privileges but basic civil rights to make it possible for minorities to preserve their identity, characteristics and traditions. Special rights are just as important in achieving equality of treatment as non-discrimination. Only when minorities are able to use their own languages, practise their own religion, culture, etc., benefit directly from state services, as well as participate fully in the political and economic life of the state, can they begin to achieve the status which majorities take for granted. Affirmative action in the treatment of such groups, or individuals belonging to them, is justified if it is exercised to promote effective equality and the welfare of the community as a whole. This form of equitable system may have to be sustained over a prolonged period in order to enable minority groups to benefit from society on an equal footing with the majority. Recognition and entitlements would secure their cultural survival, guarantee peaceful co-existence with fellow humankinds and their well-beings in a world where cultural and human diversity matters. To sum up,

…The promotion and protection of the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities contribute to the political and social stability of States in which they live.

(Preamble of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities)[6]

I would add that the promotion and protection of the rights of persons belonging to a minority group contributes to multiculturalism, both to cultural and human diversity, as human diversity is equally at stake today as bio-diversity, threatened by the same forces threatening bio-diversity, that is, globalized homogenized culture, Machiavellian development and malicious capital. We dream of a world where we can afford to sip a cuppa of the famous ‘Mandheling Coffee’ on equal terms.

[1] A.H. Nasution, Memenuhi Panggilan Tugas, Jilid 1: Kenangan Masa Muda, Jakarta: Gunung Aung, MCMLXXXII: 6.
[2] Adam Malik, Mengabdi Republik, Jilid 1 Adam Malik Dari Andalas, Gunung Agung, Jakarta, 1978; Abdul Rahman Rahim, Jatoh-Nya Sa-Orang President, Penerbitan Utusan Melayu Berhad, chetakan kedua, 1967.
[3] Basyral Hamidy Harahap, Madina Yang Madani, Penyabungan: Pemerintah Daerah Kabupaten Madina, 2004: 20.
[4] Basyral Hamidy Harahap and Hotman M. Siahaan, Orientasi Nilai-Nilai Budaya Batak: Suatu Pendekatan Terhadap Perilaku Batak Toba dan Angkola Mandailing, Jakarta: Sanggar Willem Iskander, 1987: 193.
[5] The idea that the peoples of the Indonesian archipelago and the peninsula are of the Malay stock or race, and its colonial origin is examined in Timothy P. Barnard, Contesting Malayness, Malay Identity Across Boundaries, Singapore University Press, National University of Singapore, 2004.
[6] Adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 1992 (General Assembly resolution 47/135)

Malaysia Today: A Reflection

2007-06-10T23:30:00.000-07:00

Malaysia Today: A Reflection
By M. Nadarajah

The idea of "Malaysia" is a contested one. There is no one single notion of Malaysia. We live in many "frames" of Malaysia. As in the case of most post-colonial societies that underwent change from a " sort of" mono-ethnic population to a definite multi-ethnic one, Malaysia is still in search of an identity.

Many amongst us have collectively tried to weave together, inspite of the many odds against us, a delicate and fragile national "socio-cultural fabric" in the effort to create an identity . And those among us who have felt at home among our families, friends and fellow citizens, to whatever degree, nurtured the motive guiding the weaving of the fabric - "a dialogically unified, a coexistential and inclusive multi-ethnic/cultural Malaysia". However, the events of our nation's recent past have ripped it cruelly here and there, causing the tenuous areas of coexistence to be thrown off track, if not destroyed altogether. Again. A periodic return to a state many of us want to move away.

Where do we start to trace the string of events of the recent past ? An examination of our recent past indicates socio-cultural and socio-political convulsions at the end of 2000 and the beginning of 2001. At the time in our nation's history when we had all the reasons and greater need to further strengthen our national commitment as a multi-ethnic/cultural society by a call for "Malaysian unity" talks. It would have contributed to and strengthened the efforts of weaving our fragile national socio-cultural fabric. It would have further encouraged the imagination of "Malaysia" as our common home, as a ground for a collective identity. And it would have moved the nation one more small step towards it.

But instead what did we do? A cursory examination of both the traditional and the new e-media reveal a focus on the Malays in recent times particularly centred on "Malay unity" talks, with a subsidiary concern for "Malay hegemony". A critical elaboration of these concerns seem to show some serious manifest and latent consequences.

The Malay unity talks arose out of UMNO's urgent need to address its loss of legitimacy among a growing number of the Malay people defined either by the specific practices of their religion, their association and support for Anwar Ibrahim, their notion of fairness and/or by their age/generation. The Malay unity talks were to set in motion a process that will in time come to displace PAS, and possibly Keadilan, and bring the Malay people back under the influence and leadership of UMNO. UMNO had to find ways to regain its lost legitimacy. In the dynamics of a modern multi-party based democratic system, this seems to be an acceptable strategy for any party to undertake. Why not?

But because of the special leadership position of the Malays in Malaysia, the historical context in which the need for Malay unity talks was embedded, among other factors, set in motion a string of intended and unintended events that seem to have taken an unfortunate trajectory , one that consolidates one frame of Malaysia as against others. The impersonal force of "fragmentation" has crystallised again and is visibly piercing through important parts of the nation , if not everywhere .

Around the time of the Lunas bye-election, Malaysia was caught up with a number of developments that seem to have adversely affected the "Malaysianisation" process. There was first the debate over "vision schools" with the Chinese community having a reservation about it, perhaps not so much about the idea itself as much as about the way it will be implemented. People in power and those associated with them took the community to task without reasonably addressing its fears.

Following closely on the heels of that was the issue of the "pleas/demands" of the Malaysian Chinese Organisations Election Appeals (Suqiu) Committee. The "pleas/demands" of Suqiu -- though not addressed critically during the election -- for that would have meant the possibility of loss of Chinese votes -- was addressed much later after the BN had won the election, again sometime around the end of 2000. The "pleas/demands" was supposedly unreasonable and anti-Malay. Naturally, groups like UMNO and Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung (GPMS) attacked Suqiu to bring it down to its knees, though the community in all fairness made the pleas/demands from that position. GPMS even proposed a set of counter-demands, including gazetting the PM's position as one that should be available only for the Malays. These alignment of forces immediately transforms what are problems of governance and of policies into issues concerning race or race relations. As the problem with Suqiu was in progress and reaching a crescendo, UMNO set in motion on the need for talks on "Malay unity".

The Malay unity talks in the context of what was going on prior and at the time it was proposed sent a definite signal to the non-Malays. The ethno-culturescape underwent a convulsion. Malaysianisation was pushed aside as "Malay-sianisation" was being re- mobilised.

It is perhaps worthwhile keeping mind here the issue of Malay hegemony. Firstly, the Malay hegemony issue addressed the position of Malays in the context of multi-ethnic Malaysia. Secondly, an area not usually addressed involved the classification of "Malay", which is by itself a hegemonic process. Like the classification of "bumiputeras", the "Malay community" is really a collection of a number of communities. For instance, the Mandailings are classified as Malays. Ask a "Mandailing" privately and s/he will probably not agree with that classification. There is a belief among them that they are a different people. So we have "Minang", "Kelantanese", "Penang Mamak", "Achenese", etc who are all classified as Malay. Such a hegemonic classification has a political function.

To continue, Malay hegemony in the first instance cited above, is seen as a function of Malay nationalism. The underlying assumption of Malay hegemony is the belief that Malaysia is part of the Malay world and that the Malays must necessarily have "more" rights - symbolic or real -- than the others in the country. It is, after all, "tanah Melayu". Their numbers and their control of important institutions provide the community the power to establish hegemonic status.

To offer the other communities equal status in every aspect is politically and culturally inadvisable, as it may upset the hegemonic status of the Malay community and take the "tanah Melayu" away from them. Given this scenario, post-colonial Malaysia as an emotional reality will, for a long, long time, be a contestation between "Malaysia" and "Malay--sia". And certain variations within these frames. The "voices" that are heard only make sense within the context of these frames.

Against this critical background, one can see how this nation's recent history has forced the fragile ethno-cultural reality, centred on an imagination of a dialogically unified, a coexistential and inclusive multi-ethnic/cultural Malaysia to break like a looking glass mirror, into hundreds of pieces. One image into many. An unfortunate fragmentation process had again clocked in.

The first fragmentation: the idea of Malay unity talks re-affirmed the "Malay - Non-Malay" ethno-cultural and religious fields. It made the point that we are not in Malaysia but in "Malay-sia". Like a child who must commit a lesson to memory, we are periodically made to remember the "Malay - Non-Malay" (or bumiputeras - non-bumiputera) divide, never allowed to create a new consciousness of a possible alternative future.

In addition to the above consequence of the Malay unity talks, the non-Malay communities were also positioned as silent spectators to a spectacle. The Malay unity talks were as much for non-Malay consumption as it was for the consumption of the majority of Malays.

At another level, given our ability to petty politicise everything, the consequences of the representation of Suqiu pleas/demands as unreasonable and anti-Malay should have allowed itself to be interpreted as an external threat to "Malay-sianisation", a factor critically important for intra-communal bonding and perhaps also contribute to and help crystallise the Malay unity talks.

To this problem faced by members of the Chinese community was another serious one that directly affected their children. Our children. This relates to the problem of the Damansara Chinese Primary School, built with community donations 71 years ago. It was to be closed because of its close proximity to a highway. Parents were unhappy. Children were unhappy.

The second fragmentation: Many Chinese Malaysian became "Chinese in Malay--sia". Again. Even as the need for Malay unity talks proceeded, the "Malay-sianisation" was in progress, re-shaping and consolidating "Malay-sia".

Whether or not the Malay unity talks will be eventually held and whether or not the expected results will be achieved, the impact and consequences of the proposal for such talks are visible, if one only cares to look. Did the process of fragmentation stop, with the Chinese committing to their memory that they are Chinese in "Malay-sia"? Hardly. It seems to have continued steadily -- like an arrow from an unknown source looking for its helpless victim -- into the harsh squatter reality of Kampong Medan and its vicinity-- something that reflects the failure of this government to reach the poor, their livelihoods and their living environments. Whatever the specificities of the problem were, another instance of fragmentation was in place.

This fragmentation is being achieved not by confronting a reasonable set of pleas/demands by an unreasonable counter-demand at the level of consciousness and/or strategy. But, by driving deep into the flesh, bones and psyche of many innocent Malaysians, an experience of bloody, intense pain . The body in pain interprets the world in the language of "us" and "them", of faultlines and of separation.

The third fragmentation: Many Indian Malaysians begin to feel insecure and become "Indians in Malay--sia". Again.

The dominant cycle involving the three major communities is complete. The "Malay-sianisation" process is re-established with a vengeance. The symbolic territories of the communities are now re-defined in space and /or time. The "Malay unity" talks will hail the Malays. "Damansara" and "education" will hail the "Chinese in Malay--sia" while the "squatter", "University Hospital"and the "prison" will hail the "Indians in Malay--sia". This periodic, culturally and/or economically motivated, political hailing, like religious hailing, will bring the individual members of the communities together, but unlike religious hailing, will keep the communities separate and fragmented.

It is back again to square one -- in that struggle to define ourselves, to seek an identity that is consistent with our "feeling at home" within the career of the two main frames, "Malaysia" or "Malay--sia". They produce different subjects and they offer different trajectories, different futures. Do we have the wisdom today to make a choice of the collective future we want, a future that is democratically participatory and deliberative from the local level upwards, culturally rich with diversity, and socially inclusive institutionally?

M. Nadarajah
Kuala Lumpur
26th March 2001

Jejak Mandailing

2007-06-10T07:49:00.001-07:00

Jejak Mandailing

Dalam kumpulan cerita pendek dan puisi berjudul Si Bulus-Bulus Si Rumpuk-Rumpuk, yang pertama kali diterbitkan pada tahun 1872, Willem Iskander melukiskan pemandangan tanah leluhur Mandailing dalam salah satu puisinya yang berjudul 'Mandailing'

O Mandailing godang! O Mandailing Raya!
Tano ingananku sorang Tanah tempatku dilahirkan
Na niatir ni dolok na lampas Yang diapit gunung yang tinggi
Na nijoling ni dolok na martimbus Yang diatap gunung berasap
Ipulna na laing bubus Asapnya mengepul terus

Tor Sihite tingon julu Gunung Sihite di hulu
Patontang dohot tor Barerang Berhadapan dengan Gunung Barerang
Gunung-gunungna manompi Lubu Punggungnya mendukung Lubu
Boina mangadop tu dolok Sigantang Keningnya menghadap Gunung Sigantang

Muda utailion tu utara Jika kupandang ke utara
Lao manindo tu irisanya Sambil menatap ke timur laut
Jongjongma uida Lubukraya Kulihat tegak Lubuk Raya
Asa manjoling dolok Malea Dan mengerling Gunung Malea

Muda utindo tingon Bania Jika kupandang dari Bania
Utatapma aek ni Batanggadis Kulihat air Batang Gadis
Mangelduk-elduk dalan nia Berkelok-kelok alirannya
Atir kamun jior mar baris Kiri kanan jaur berbaris

Lebih satu abad telah berlalu, tapi pemandangan tano ruro Mandailing yang digambarkan oleh Willem Iskander, masih seperti yang terlukis dalam puisi tersebut. Foto-foto yang dipamerkan dalam pameran ini, kurang lebih mencerminkan Mandailing yang terpelihara, bukan karena kepemerintahan yang baik, tapi secara kebetulan malah karena keterbelakangannya - terbiar dan terlantar.

Berdasarkan kisah yang diriwayatkan oleh Radja Moelia, akibat perang saudara, tanah Mandailing telah terbagi menjadi 'Mandailing Djoeloe' and 'Mandailing Djae', masing-masing diperintah oleh marga-marga yang saling bersaingan hingga saat ini. Batas antara keduanya terletak di Batoe Gondit dan Ajoeara sidjoembe Porang.

Sementara batas dengan Sumatra Barat terletak di Si Badoer, dengan Angkola di Si Marongit, dengan Natal di Lingga Bajoe dan dengan Padang Bolak di Roedang Sinaboer.

Pada masa penjajahan kolonial Belanda, batas dan wajah tanah Mandailing mengalami perubahan besar. Sebelum campur-tangan Belanda, Pasaman (dekat Rao dan Air Bangis) di selatan tanah Mandailing adalah sebagian dari daerah wewenang budaya Mandailing. Sekarang wilayah ini menjadi sebagian dari kabupaten Pasaman, Sumatra Barat. Sebelah timur, alam Mandailing sampai ke Dalu-Dalu, diambil oleh Belanda dan dijadikan bagian dari keresidenan Riau. Sementara di sebelah utara, tanah ibunda Mandailing mencakup Kotapinang Langgapayung, yang dimasukan Belanda ke dalam residensi Sumatra timur. Di sebelah Barat, tanah Mandailing meliputi hingga ke pantai Barat pulau Sumatra.

Kabupaten Madina
Lebih dekat ke zaman sekarang, Parada Harahap yang mengunjungi tanah Mandailing pada tahun 1925, pernah mencatat:

'Sebelah Barat dari tanah Mandailing kedapatan boekit Barisan, sehingga Batang Gadis soesah melaloeinja, oleh sebab itoe terdjadi disana air mantjoer jang dinamai "Loempatan ni Babiat" - "Tempat Harimau melompat". Batasnja dengan Mandailing Ketjil ja'ni tanah tinggi Maga separoehnja garis loereos jang mempersamboengkan Tor Sihite menoedjoe ke selatan teroes ke Dolok Toedjoe.

Lembah Batang Gadis dan Loeboe Batang Angkolalah jang menjadikan Lembah Mandailing Besar, itoelah jang teroetama sekali dalam daerah Mandailing. Ditengah-tengah kedapatan seboeah lembah jang lebarnja 6-12K.M. Sebagian ketjil dari lembah jang terseboet oempamanja sekeliling negeri Panjaboengan kedapatan sawah jang amat loeas, sebagiannja dimana batang Angkola dan Batang Gadis bertemoe, disitoelah terdjadi paja-paja (10.000 H. A. loeasnja) tempat bersarang penjakit malaria.

Mandailing Ketjil letaknja 400 M. diatas moeka laoet dengan beberapa poentjak-poentjak goenoeng (1800 - 2000 M.) sangat sehatnja. Tetapi bagian Selatan tanahnja koerang soeboer apalagi pada batas keresidenan Sumatra Barat'. (Parada Harahap, 1926: 116)

Dari masa Willem Iskander hingga masa Parada Harahap sampai masa sekarang, telah terjadi transformasi mendasar terhadap pandangan hidup dan karakter orang Mandailing lewat rekayasa sosio-budaya, administratif, politik dan ekonomi, manakala pengatur dan pembuat peta Belanda mengubah peta wilayah Mandailing. Etnografi Belanda mengubah identitas kultural orang-orang Mandailing dan mengklasifikasikan mereka sebagai Batak (Batak-Mandailing atau Angkola-Mandailing) dan tanah leluhur Mandailing menjadi sebagian dari tanah Batak.

Lantaran dikategorikan Batak, tanah leluhur Mandailing dan orang Mandailing kurang mendapat perhatian meskipun sumbangan mereka pada masyarakat, politik, musik, literatur dan sejarah percetakan baik di Indonesia maupun di Malaysia, agak besar. Ini karena para peneliti merasakan bahwa kalau mereka sudah meneliti Toba yang merupakan Batak, sama artinya mereka sudah meneliti Mandailing pula, karena mereka mengira Toba itu representatif semua suku yang dikategorikan Batak.

Diantara atribut terkemuka orang-orang Mandailing ialah tradisi kepemerintahan pribumi yang konsultatif dan egalitir, yang diatur oleh adat Dalian na Tolu, sistem kemargaan, tradisi silsilah susur galur, musik Gordang Sambilan yang ritualistik; dan tradisi literatur dan historiografi yang kuat. Habitat mereka terletak di tanah tinggi dengan pengairan yang baik dan tanah rendah yang berawa-rawa. Sumber ekonomi produktif mereka diantaranya adalah bercocok tanam padi, perkebunan karet, kayu manis, gula aren, kopi dan penambangan mas.

Saat ini, tanah leluhur Mandailing masuk dalam kabupaten Mandailing Natal diikuti dengan pemberian status otonomi daerah pada tahun 1998. Penamaan Kabupaten Mandailing-Natal yang kini lebih dikenali sebagai Madina semoga secara tidak langsung membawa berkah pada Mandailing, yaitu menjadi Madina tempat berdaulatnya dinul Islam Madinah.

Jejak Mandailing
Terpanggil untuk mengisi kekurangan penelitian dan perhatian terhadap Mandailing-Natal, maka saya dan Arbain Rambey, Koordinator Sumbagut Koran KOMPAS, serta ditemani oleh Binsar Bakara dan Selva Kumar, dari markas kami di rumah Mamak saya Raja Syahbudin Nasution di Maga, bersama-sama menjelajahi dan menjejaki tanah Mandailing, mencari pemandangan, situs dan momen-momen yang menarik sekaligus istimewa untuk dijadikan bahan yang dipamerkan hari ini.

Tanah tinggi Maga menjadi pusat kompas dari mana kami menelusuri ke ujung dunia alam Mandailing seperti Simpang Banyak, Pagar Gunung, Huta Julu di Pakantan, Natal, dll. Mengingat waktu yang kami miliki hanya dua minggu, tidak lah mungkin terjelajahi seluruh tanah Mandailing oleh kami, ada beberapa tempat yang tidak sempat kami kunjungi seperti Lompatan ni Babiat yang disebut oleh Parada Harahap dalam catatannya. Kami berharap pada masa mendatang kami dapat mengunjungi tempat-tempat lainnya yang belum kami datangi.

Dengan kata lain, pameran yang bakal anda saksikan ini sekaligus mencerminkan keterbatasan tersebut dan ambisi kami untuk mengangkat persada Mandailing. Foto-foto pameran ini, mengetengahkan evolusi atau peralihan alam Mandailing dari masa pra-Islam, termasuk Hindu-Buddha, kepada masa Islam, masa kolonial Belanda, pendudukan Jepang, hingga ke masa pasca-merdeka.

Pendekatan yang kami pakai untuk mewarnai pameran ini ialah pendekatan warisan budaya yang diilhami oleh pandangan tradisional Mandailing seperti yang terungkap dalam bahasanya, cerita-cerita rakyatnya dan lingkungannya. Justru berbeda dengan tanggapan atau pandangan yang melihat Mandailing sebagai sumberdaya untuk dieksplotasi dan dijarah bagi mendatangkan pendapatan ekonomi semata tanpa menghiraukan dampak negatifnya pada penduduk Mandailing dan habitatnya.

Harapan kami, pameran bertemakan Jejak Mandailing ini akan menyadarkan kita tentang potensi Mandailing sebagai daya tarik pariwisata khususnya bagi pencinta alam dan wisata budaya baik dari Malaysia, Indonesia maupun dari luar negeri. Inilah visi dan misi kami, yang terpapar dalam pameran ini, semoga kiranya mendapat dukungan anda semua.#

J. M. Gullick on Raja Bilah and the Mandailings in Perak: 1875-1911

2007-06-10T04:37:00.000-07:00

Rumah Besar (Bagas Godang) Raja Bilah di Papan, Perak.

Foto Khoo Salma Nasution

JMBRAS Vol. LXXVII Part 2, 2004

RAJAH BILAH AND THE MANDAILINGS IN PERAK: 1875-1911
by ABDUR-RAZZAQ LUBIS and KHOO SALMA NASUTION

Kuala Lumpur: MBRAS Monograph No. 35, 2003.
Illus, maps biblio, index, hard cover; ISBN 967-9948-31-5

The flow of migrants from Sumatra and other parts of Indonesia in the nineteenth century enriched Malay culture in the Malay Peninsula with distinctive new elements. The assimilation of the twentieth century had diminished but not extinguished these traditions. In this monograph, we have a welcome and perhaps overdue study of the Mandailing settlements in the Kinta Valley by author (Abdur-Razzaq) who is descended from Rajah Bilah.

Padri wars and Dutch economic policy drove Mandailing pioneers from central Sumatra to seek a better life, first in Pahang and Selangor, but disturbances there brought them in the mid-1870s to Perak, at Slim, and finally to the Kinta Valley. Their arrival marked the end of the adventurous career of Rajah Asal and the succession to traditional leadership of his nephew, Rajah Bilah, the central figure of this study.

At the outset, the Mandailing settlers mined tin, but by the 1890s they had lost out to the phenomenal expansion of Chinese mining in the Kinta Valley. As traders and agriculturalists, they soldiered on until the early twentieth century brought real prosperity in developing rubber smalholdings. It is a many-sided and very informative picture, seen through the experiences of Rajah Bilah and his kinsmen and associates. Traditional leadership and lifestyle adapted to a new environment of colonial government and capitalist economy. The British administrators of Kinta came to value this tough, industrious community, and they recognized in Rajah Bilah, a long-serving (1882-1909) penghulu of Papan (near the modern Ipoh), an outstanding personality.

It is closely woven story in which the warp is the ongoing narratives of activities, personal and collective, and the weft in found in the ties of authority and kinship within the Mandailing settlements of Papan and nearby villages. The very detailed account of Malay mining techniques is set within the context of constrains, such as forest and soil conservation policies and fluctuating prices. The massive Chinese influx of the 1880s brought disorder in which Mandailing leaders gave useful support to the British administration. As Rajah Bilah’s mining ventures became unprofitable, he sold out but augmented his commercial and property income with an increasing stipend (including commission on revenue collected) as penghulu. In that capacity, he sat in court to exercise jurisdiction over other Asian communities, and one notes the amicable inter-ethnic relations of that time. Islam – including the building of mosques and the pilgrimage to Mecca – is also an important element in the story. The latter part of the book has chapters on the careers of a number of other Mandailing leaders with whom Rajah Bilah was associated and related.

In compiling their story, the authors have ranged widely over sources that include out-of-way records of mining in Perak, archives, and oral tradition obtained from the elderly in the Mandailing homeland as well as in Perak. But the centerpiece of this social history is the collection of Jawi Malay letters and other documents accumulated by Rajah Bilah, that are unique of their kind. These are known as the ‘Penghulu Papers’ and are lodged in the Rumah Besar built at Papan by Rajah Bilah. Ostensibly a residence, the Rumah Besar was built to serve the Mandailing community as a place of assembly and celebration. Although changing economic circumstances dispersed the Mandailings from Papan later in the nineteenth century, the Rumah Besar and nearby mosque still stand.

It would be interesting to know whose hand actually wrote the more personal of these Malay documents. The Mandailing leaders seem to have been literate (in some instances, residence at Mecca had made them learned in Islam). Government officials, including penghulu, had clerks whose task it was to write leters. But one can visualize discussion between correspondent and scribe, perhaps a professional ‘Malay writer’, as to what should be said. The letters, even brief official missives, open with the conventional ‘compliments’ of a religious nature, and the wrieter of the letter defines his status, usually subordinate, by the use of the terms such as ‘anakanda’ (child) for himself and ‘kakanda’ (elder) of the addressee. Rajah Bilah is usually stled ‘Engku’ (Your Highness). If the letter seeks some help from him, the approach to the subject is, as convention requires oblique, and sometimes veiled in periphrasis. It is a style that reflects the conventional courtesies of the time.

The book reproduces in facsimile a considerable number of these Malay documents from the Penghulu Papers, together with English translations that are literal rather than colloquial but give the flavour of the original. Many are letters written to Rajah Bilah by the British officials with whom he worked. Others are letters from business associates, including some Chinese, and yet others are family communications on personal matters. In addition, the authors use unpublished Malay biographies, quoted in the text, notably the history of Rajah Asal and his descendants written in 1934 by Raja Haji Muhammad Ya’qub, son and successor in office of Rajah Bilah. There are also a number of photographs, some of them the particular contribution of Khoo Salma Nasution as joint author with her husband. In reading this material, the substance of which is skillfully worked into the main text, one has a vivid impression of the lives and personalities of Rajah Bilah and others. In a technical sense, this is a case study of a particular group at a specific place and time. It is also representative of the wider Malay society in the formative period of the late nineteenth century, when swords were being beaten if not into ploughshares then into parangs which cleared the land and created homesteads where there were none before.

The authors, the Toyota Foundation, which give financial support, and the Society all deserve our thanks for the publication of this excellent monograph.

Woodford Green J. M. Gullick

Susan Rodgers on Raja Bilah and the Mandailings: 1875-1911

2007-06-10T04:33:00.000-07:00

Gopeng Contingent starting for the Pahang War May 1892 under Imam Prang [Jabarumun]. Taken on A.D.O. (Assistant District Officer) Tennis Court.
Kontinjen Gopeng berlepas untuk Perang Pahang Mei 1892 di bawah [kepimpinan] Imam Perang [Jabarumun]. Diambil di Laman Tenis Asisten Pegawai Daerah.

Indonesia 80 (October 2005)

Abdur-Razzaq Lubis and Khoo Salma Nasution.
Raja Bilah and the Mandailings in Perak: 1875-
1911.
Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 2003. 278 pp.

Susan Rodgers

This fact-stuffed, quickly paced biography of an entrepreneurial Mandailing immigrant from Sumatra to colonial Malaya during the tin-rush years of the late 1800s goes considerably beyond a simple narration of a life. Therein lies the volume's value to scholars of both Indonesia and Malaysia-nations that this study implicitly suggests should be observed in the same research framework, as densely linked former colonies. As a monograph, Raja Bilah and the Mandailings in Perak reads as a somewhat unfinished piece of work since it includes so much text that reproduces original sources (letters, land surveys, mining permits). But, the study as a whole carries a useful message: the suggestion that minutely detailed local histories of this sort on Malaysian economic and social history can point toward broader interregional frameworks for conceptualizing the history of places like colonial Perak in British Malaya and colonial north and west Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies. The authors do not explicitly suggest that larger framework, but Raja Bilah's life story cries out for such follow-up, comparative research. Topics here might include a comparative, Dutch East Indies / British Malaya approach to late nineteenth-century immigration across the Straits of Malacca. Or, a similar comparison of colonial-era mining communities in this region in relation to such matters as labor violence. Or, a cross-straits inquiry into the remarkably fluid social-identity universes in colonial Malaya and the Indies that led a "Batak" (often a contentious ethnic tag) like Raja Bilah to move from being a "Mandailing" in Sumatra to becoming (at times) a "foreign Malay" in Perak. Such social journeys come alive in descriptive biographies of this sort.

The undigested nature of the book's narration is quite defensible in some ways. The volume offers readers a wealth of original sources and, on that score, will probably "teach well" to classes in historiography. Raja Bilah was a Mandailing high aristocrat from the Nasution clan, born in the Tapanuli north Sumatra town of Maga in about 1834. His famous uncle was Raja Asal, who had been the leader of peninsular Malaysia's large numbers of Mandailing emigres from the 1840s until his death in 1877. These immigrants had fled the violence of the Padri Wars (1821-37) to seek a better life in Malaya. In Padri times, the Dutch East Indies military attempted to contain Wahabhist-led expansion by Minangkabau militants and Muslim proselytizers into the southern Batak regions of Angkola and Mandailing. These regions were then both impoverished and dangerous. Soon after, the Dutch state's onerous corvee labor demands (fifty-two days of work per year, in Mandailing) pushed more migrants across the Straits.

Upon Raja Asal's death, Raja Bilah became the head of this growing emigre Mandailing community. He surpassed his uncle in political and business craftiness because his career intersected with the tin-mining boom in Malaya. He was "the right foreign Malay" in the right place at the right time to prosper mightily.

After performing favors for the British administrators in the pacification of Perak, Raja Asal was richly rewarded. The British appointed him penghulu, or community leader; they made him a tax collector; they befriended his family. And, most profitably, they gave him special access to developing tin mines in the Papan region. Mandailing managers led by Raja Bilah went on to forge strategic alliances with Chinese miners and their labor organizations. Although Raja Bilah suffered cash-flow problems at times, as the Perak tin industry was subject to the fluctuations of the value of tin on the international market, overall he and his family prospered, as "foreign Malays" associated with the British. The latter saw their Mandailing associates as notably "hardworking" (not to mention, expert agriculturalists). The colonial officials apparently saw the Mandailing as natural managers, in contrast to the more reviled "lazy Malays."

To document Raja Bilah's life and that of his large extended family (also a focus of the book), the authors present readers with photographed reproductions of the following: mortgage deeds; Jawi script letters in the original, with translations; old maps and mining surveys; news stories from business gazettes; and drawings by travelers. A caption for one of the latter wonderfully enough relates a trip that one of Raja Bilah's relations took into elephant territory. The young man, Abu Bakar, from Deli in East Sumatra, reports on "elephant language." These are the words that an elephant trainer would use to speak to his charges. Readers learn that to tell an elephant to sit down, one must say "Turum-turum" (146).

The book's roster of original sources also includes such minutiae as receipts for charcoal. The volume fairly bursts with such source texts, in fact, and is also illustrated with dozens of archive photographs. Abdur-Razzaq Lubis is related to Raja Bilah through his grandmother and enjoyed special access to family photographs and letters. The Toyota Foundation in Malaysia sponsored the research by Lubis and his coauthor Khoo Salma Nasution (who is Lubis's wife). The study ends with appendices on Raja Bilah's family tree and his children and grandchildren.

The major players throughout the book's twenty-seven brief chapters are Malay sultans (often jealous of successful foreign Malays like Raja Bilah), prominent British civil officials, and other Mandailing noblemen and noblewomen intent on business success in Perak. The generation-to-generation trend was for Raja Bilah's Mandailingin-Malaya contemporaries to work with the British to develop the mines; then for the next generation to branch out into shopkeeping and tin brokering; then for the third generation to enter such fields as (Malay-language) journalism.
Readers also learn of the labor violence in the tin mines at the end of the era of Chinese secret societies. At one point in the story, Raja Bilah's gun-toting wife Ungku Nai mas endeavors to defend some Chinese women and children who had sought her out as a protector (107). The development of tin mining in the Kinta Valley, in sum, emerges in this enjoyable text as apt material for movies.

Comparative studies research of a more formal historical or anthropological sort might push beyond this lavishly descriptive text to ask questions like the following. What can the history of Raja Bilah's family and its successive social-identity shifts tell scholars of the "Batak peoples" in Indonesia? Southern Batak from Angkola, and particularly those from Mandailing, sometimes dropped their diagnostically Batak clan names when they moved to the Deli plantation belt in east coast Sumatra from the 1880s forward. These immigrants thereby "masuk Melayu," that is, they entered Malayhood and became Malay. The large scholarship on this migration phenomenon within Indonesia rarely takes the Malaysian experience of families like that of Raja Bilah into account. Conversely, Lubis and Nasution's research would benefit from taking that same broader perspective-inquiring into the scholarship on Mandailing identity politics in the Indies and Indonesia and then bringing that back to the study of Mandailings in Malaysia. The authors provide fascinating material on former Indonesian vice president Adam Malik's family (a Mandailing family with ties to Perak who "became Malay" and dropped their clan name publicly). But, the authors leave the issue undertheorized.

Another promising line of inquiry would be: How can the Straits of Malacca regions of Deli and Dumai in Sumatra, and Perak and Selangor in peninsular Malaysia, be reconceptualized, specifically, as borderlands? For contemporary times, the anthropologist Johan Lindquist is exploring this idea in his work on factory-girl migrations across national boundaries to the island of Batam. But historically too, for the 1870-1930s period, the Straits of Malacca corridor seems to have formed a grand concourse for back-and-forth labor migration between places like Maga and Perak. Better known migration paths such as the one from Angkola to Deli, or from Minangkabau to Negeri Sembilan, have been studied. What this rewarding biography of this irrepressible Mandailing migrant goes on to suggest is the idea that the fuller picture will emerge only when scholars treat Malaysia and Sumatra as border regions that have long mutually constituted each other's social worlds.

Book Review: Raja Bilah and the Mandailings in Perak (1875-1911)

2007-06-10T04:28:00.000-07:00

Dato' (Tok) Setia Raja (empat dari kanan) mempamerkan getah/karet di atas sandaran kerusi, hasil perkebunan orang-orang Mandailing di Batu Gajah, Perak.
Dato' (Tok) Setia Raja (fourth from right) exhibiting a rubber sheet on the back rest of a chair, a commodity from the Mandailings' rubber estate at Batu Gajah, Perak.
Foto Raja Yacob, anak Raja Bilah

JSEAS Vol 36 No: 3 Oct 2005

Raja Bilah and the Mandailings in Perak (1875-1911).
By ABDUR-RAZZAQ LUBIS and KHOO SALMA NASUTION
Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Monograph no. 35, 2003. Pp. 278.
Illustrations, Appendices, Bibliography, Index. doi:10.1017/S0022463405300269

This book is an important watershed in the local and national historiography of Malaysia, in terms of the themes it addresses, the array of materials it has utilized and its presentation. Its title suggests that it is primarily a biography of Raja Bilah, a Mandailing leader in Perak during the formative period of British colonial expansion in the states of Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang in the Malay Peninsula. However, this biographical narrative is situated within and structured according to three broader historical themes in the history of Perak and the Melaka Straits, namely the history of Mandailing migration and movement between Sumatra and the Peninsula, the creation of the British colonial state, and the social, morphological and economic development of the state of Perak during this crucial period of colonial expansion. In encompassing the history of colonialism, diasporas and local or regional history, this book provides important new insights into ethnicity, politics and identity in Malaysian historiography.

It is one of the first comprehensive histories of the Mandailing communities in Malaysia in the English language. Most of the existing literature on the Mandailing deals with communities and regions in Sumatra, rather than the Mandailing diaspora and its broader geographical locus of movement and settlement. Merantau (migrating or sojourning) is a keyword in the identity-formation and social memory of many communities now resident in the Malay Peninsula, a region whose very history and politics were created by movement and mobile groups. The movement of the Mandailing has not received as much attention as that of other groups like the Bugis, Minangkabau and Javanese.

Raja Bilah and the Mandailings in Perak is unparalleled in the biographical details it presents. The focus is not solely on Raja Bilah, but also on his father and contemporaries. More importantly, it examines this history not only from the perspective of the Mandailings but also in terms of how members of various communities negotiated with Mandailing and non-Mandailing groups in their adaptations to a new political and economic environment brought about by British colonial expansion in Perak. It also charts their connections to the broader Islamic ecumene.

Another important contribution is that this book brings a different perspective to the history of colonial expansion and the `making' of British Malaya between the 1870s and 1914, which has hitherto focused on the British administrators, the `Malay' Sultan and his court, and the role of Chinese capital and labour in the opening up and modernization of these states. These early histories of what later came under the integrated structure of the Federated Malay States have tended to lump all non-European and non-Chinese Muslim groups under the rubric of Malay-ness, or at best `Sumatran' or `Foreign' Malays.

This book begins with the biographies of Raja Asal and Raja Bilah before the British Intervention of 1874, especially with regard to their tin-mining and pioneering activities in Perak, Selangor and Pahang, as well as their roles in the wars between the Malay court factions which also implicated Chinese kongsis. The authors then chart the subsequent recruitment of Mandailings as allies in the British pacification of Malay resistance after the murder of J.W. Birch. In return for this assistance, Mandailing were granted important positions in the rudimentary administration erected by the British in the Kinta region, as well as patronage and loans for their mining and agricultural ventures. They came to be instrumental in the founding of several important mining settlements in Kinta, such as Papan, Gopeng and Kampar, the sites of the Kinta tin rush in the 1880s.

In addition to their administrative roles under this new system, Mandailing also undertook and financed tin mining, smelting and trading operations in Perak and Selangor. The book contains rich ethnographic descriptions of the mining methods used, and their roles in the agricultural development of the Kinta valley. More importantly, the authors go to great lengths to describe and explore the relationships, often on a personal or inter-family level, between Mandailing leaders and their Chinese and British counterparts, as well as their ties with Malay royalty in the state.

Lastly, this book is also important in terms of the vast array of sources it has brought together. It is based primarily on a set of private papers known as the `Penghulu Papers', which were `family documents belonging to Raja Asal, Raja Bilah and Raja Ya'qub, that had been kept in the Rumah Besar in Papan, Perak. They are now housed in the National Archives of Malaysia, Perak Branch' (p. 10). The skill with which these sources have been juxtaposed alongside official colonial documents, family chronicles and printed memoirs, and photographs from private and institutional sources is very refreshing, and promises to appeal to both the academic world and the general reading public.

In summary, the traditional narrative approach of this book, as Khoo Kay Khim has pointed out in the preface (pp. 6-7), contains several important questions and statements about perspective, methodology and method in Malaysian historiography. It has undoubtedly set a high standard for scholarship on the writing of Malaysian local histories that is deserving of emulation.

KOH KENG WE
University of Hawaii at Manoa

Private letters, public concerns

2007-06-10T04:26:00.000-07:00

The Star, Sunday October 3, 2004
Private letters, public concerns

Review by LEONARD Y. ANDAYA

RAJA BILAH AND THE MANDAILINGS IN PERAK: 1875-1911
By Abdur-Razzaq Lubis and Khoo Salma NasutionPublisher: Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 278 pages

ALTHOUGH the title of this book suggests a very specific micro-history of one of the ethnic groups in Malaysia, the contents provide an unexpectedly rich and interesting account of an important period in Malay history seen from the local level. The initial impetus for this study was the discovery of the “Penghulu Papers”, which contains the personal correspondence of three generations of a prominent Mandailing family in Selangor and Perak between 1875 and 1911.

The story begins with Raja Asal, who emigrated from Sumatra to escape the Padri Wars in the early decades of the 19th century. But the bulk of the narrative concerns his nephew, Raja Bilah, who was a leader of the Mandailings in Perak. Raja Bilah was appointed penghulu; thus, his correspondence included letters with well-known British administrators and Chinese leaders, as well as ordinary people.

The preservation of a private family’s correspondence over such a long period is in itself a rarity in the history of the region. Equally important is the fact that the Penghulu Papers brings to life a period known in Malaysian history as the British “Forward Movement”. The serendipitous coincidence of the time frame of the Penghulu Papers and the British colonisation of the Malay Peninsula makes the papers a particularly valuable complement to the official version of the history then.

Rupert Emerson, C.D. Cowan, Emily Sadka, Eunice Thio, Chai Hon Chan and others have provided a detailed study of the colonial administrative structure, which include descriptions of the functions of the Malay penghulu. In this book, Abdur-Razzaq Lubis and Khoo Salma Nasution have skilfully culled those letters which deal with various aspects of a penghulu’s life. Even though they are interested in the Mandailing as a specific ethnic group, the activities of Raja Bilah as their penghulu in Lower Perak are very likely representative of other penghulu in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Raja Bilah dealt with matters of land claims, illnesses and diseases, relations with the Chinese mining community, Islam and wars. Not only was he part of a larger administrative structure, but he was also the leader of customary practices and was consulted in matters dealing with debt, marriage, the pilgrimage, and many other personal matters that required advice from a wise elder of the group. The correspondence provides a rare glimpse of the life of the ordinary Malays, Chinese, and what the British termed the “foreign Malays” (which included the Mandailing) during this important transitional period in the history of the Malay Peninsula.

The authors have succeeded in combining a number of sources to produce this study. The Colonial Record Office files on microfilm in Kuala Lumpur provided some of the detail not already covered by previous scholars. Khoo and Abdur-Razzaq have judiciously combined Indonesian sources written by Mandailing scholars with the more accessible articles and books in English to offer a Mandailing cultural explanation for some of their practices in their new homeland.

They argue, for example, that Mandailing irrigation techniques applied in the Kinta area in Perak enabled the community to produce a surplus of rice to feed the ever-growing Chinese mining population. The techniques learned in the gold mines in Sumatra were also applied successfully in the tin mines in Perak. In discussing these techniques they cited two French mining engineers and reproduced the sketches which were made in the late 19th century.

There is much of interest in this book, including wonderful reproductions of old photographs and of more recent ones taken by Khoo. These illustrations help bring to life many of the comments made in the Penghulu Papers. Khoo’s interest in preservation is apparent in her nostalgic photographs of the now decrepit old Mandailing houses and of a mosque which has the old tiered roofs instead of the Mughal-style bulbous domes. Old photographs of the Mandailing families provide a wonderful pictorial history of this ethnic group in Malaysia and demonstrates the possibilities of using photographs in the reconstruction of the country’s more recent past.

The authors have also used a source called the “Riwayat Tuan Abu Bakar”, about the experiences of a young Mandailing who was born in Kuala Lumpur and died sometime in the 1950s. He travelled throughout the peninsula and wrote of his experiences with the Mandailing communities he encountered, and supplemented his comments with some simple but interesting sketches of his travels. This 829-page Jawi manuscript was transliterated into Rumi, with the help of the Toyota Foundation, but it remains a text waiting to be studied.

As a professional historian, I would have liked to see a consolidation of the sections and a far more comprehensive index with entries for mining techniques, relations with colonial administrators, Chinese, Orang Laut, and Mandailing cultural practices. This book provides not only a detailed and interesting historical account of the Mandailing community, but also a rare indigenous viewpoint of events during the extension of British colonial rule in the Malay Peninsula in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One hopes that other family letters will come to light to provide scholars with the opportunity to piece together more on the lives of the ordinary people in the making of this country.

Dr Leonard Y. Andaya is Professor of South-East Asian History, Department of History, University of Hawaii.