Page 129 - INDONESIA ISLAMIC CULTURE

Political Traditions in

the Formative Period

Taufik Abdullah

The Power Structure and If the statement of Ibn Majid, the Arab Let us return to the Sejarah Melayu. development of Islam in Southeast The graveyard of Sheikh
Traditions sailor who carried Vasco de Gama Reading this story the event which was Asia, particularly Indonesia, was part of Yusuf al-Makassary
4
Having failed to dispel the Portuguese to Calcutta, on the Islamic cultural that probably took place about a century “the race with Christianity”, in the 17th who was born in Gowa,
July3, 1626 and who
when they attacked Malacca in 1511, situation in the 15th century bears before the Sejarah Melayu, had the century Islam had practically won. Gowa- passed away while in
Tallo local traditions on Islamization
the Sultan of Malacca and his army any truth and is not just an outcry of specific internal purpose legitimizing the also state that Christian priests were too exile in Cape Town on
took a rest at the outskirts of the exasperation because the socio-cultural dynasty and as a special reminder to the late to come from Malacca. When they May23, 1699. He caused
capital. The lasykar wanted the Hikayat circumstances did not comply with what authorities of their moral responsibilities. arrived, three Minangkabau adat heads positive changes in Cape
Muhammad Hanafiyah to be read aloud he wanted, the episode might only be an In this atmosphere, the stories in the had managed to embrace the king. Town for which he was
but the Sultan preferred to listen to the invention or, more precisely, just a Malay Sejarah Melayu may have served as Towards the end of the 17th century, a awarded the status of
Hikayat Amir Hamzah, the legendary literary convention. Perhaps the story examples for rulers to emulate. The new cultural atmosphere had become National Hero of South
story of the Prophet’s uncle. However, is part of the efforts of the Johor palace Sejarah Melayu can also be seen as a increasingly established. As told in the Africa in September
because all his commanders and their to boost the Malacca’s grandeur as the call for the hegemony of the Palembang, Hikayat Marong Mahawangsa, in this 2005.
soldiers were adamant that their desire builder of the foundation of the Malay Malacca, and Johor dynasties at the situation Sultan Iskandar Thani from Source: Directorate of
3
be met, in the end, it was the story Islamic tradition. Straits of Malacca. Aceh sent the Sirat al Mustaqim by History and Cultural
of the Prophet Muhammad’s great- At the time the Sejarah Melayu The 17th century was the most Nuruddin al-Raniri to the king of Kedah, Values, Ministry of
grandson was read. was written Johor, Malacca’s direct decisive period in the history of Islam in who had officially become Sultan, to be Education and Culture
5
This is one episode in the tragic events successor, tried to establish its political Southeast Asia. Perhaps it was also in the guide for the new Muslim ruler. It of the Republic of
that befell on the once mighty maritime hegemony in the Straits of Malacca. this century that Islam, as high society’s is easy to disprove the historicity of the Indonesia, 2007.
empire Malacca as depicted in the However, it is noteworthy that reading cultural foundation and model, became story mentioned above but it shows how
Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals). It clearly heroic stories during pauses on the increasingly widespread. If Schrieke’s important this century was in collective
shows how intimately familiar the empire battlefield is not a strange thing in famous hypothesis is true that the memory.
was with the Islamic literary tradition the classical Malay literary tradition. 3. Conventionally, the dynasty started with Sri Tri The 17th century may be seen as the
Buwana, a prince who was supposedly a direct
and the symbolic function Islamic heroic It also seems that it was not just a descendant of Alexander the Great (maybe this is time when tradition of the relationships
stories had in times of crisis. In other literary convention, a tradition that was an example of Shi’ite influence in the royal tradition between rulers and clerics in the Malay
parts of the manuscript it is told that maintained up to the 19th century. The of the Malay world) who had appeared in Bukit maritime kingdoms were founded. In
Siguntang and ended in 1699 with the murder of
the sultan loved to discuss complicated role of the Hikayat Perang Sabil (The Sultan Mahmud II or Marhum Mangkat di Dulang. times of intense political and economic
religious issues as well. 1 Chronicle of the Holy War), by Teungku He did not have any legitimate children. Barbara 4. B. Schrieke, Indonesian Sociological Studies,
Cik Muhammad Pante Kulu during the W. Andaya & Leonard Y. Andaya, A History of Part II, 232-236.
1. The Hikayat Amir Hamzah is a translation from Malaysia, London: The Mc Millan Press, 1982, 76-
the Persian, made may be at the end of the 15 or Acehnese “war in the way of Allah”, for 78. But a genealogy of the Sultanate of Trengganu, 5. R.O. Winstedt, “A History of Malay Literature”,
th
the beginning of the 16 century. On the stories example, is remembered until now. 2 which is attached to the manuscript of the newly JMBRAS, 17,111 (January, 1940), 100-111. It is
th
being read see L.F. Brakel, Hikayat Muhammad published Tuhfat-al Nafis, shows that the dynasty certainly remembered that Kedah was Islamized
Hanafiyah, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1975, 2. On this see T. Ibrahim Alfian, Perang di Jalan continued –through the Bendahara--- in the palace in the 15 century whereas Nuruddin al-Raniri
th
1977, 2 vols. Allah, Jakarta: Sinar Harapan, 1987. of Trengganu. arrived in Aceh in 1623.
120 Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives 121