Page 139 - INDONESIA ISLAMIC CULTURE
P. 139

to one expert was a “single society”    tartib, the traditional provision, allowed,           central palace in order to solve the   a religious leader--- is understandable.
                                                                   30
                                   ---although not a “single culture”, was   the Sultan would always be facing a                 problem of political legitimacy and in   He was known as Sultan Agung, and
                                   determined by its genealogical bonds    lawsuit. Nevertheless, the lawsuit was                order to maintain continuity. Without   he had earned the title of Sultan after
                                   with these first kings. Without this bond,   never directed at the “sanctity of the           this legitimacy and continuity, the new   he Islamized various social institutions
                                   no datu or regional head, and especially   sultanate institution”.It is here, Majul           central palace would only be able to   including marriage. He was not only
                                   no sultan, would have been recognized.   said, “that the awareness of Muslims                 depend on its military and economic    the ruler of the world, but also the
                                   This means that he is the proof of tarsila   is found, who tend to feel the need of           power. However, this would boil down   panatagama, the protector and regulator
                                   and that he was the descendant of the   having a sultan”. In other words, a datu                                                     of religion. 33
                                   Prophet ---his title sayyid or sharif (from   would never challenge the Sultan’s              to having become a small but more      The Javanese tradition increasingly
                                   the lineage of Hasan or Hussein) was a   position of supreme religious leader.                powerful minor palace rather than the   displayed the form it had taken after the
                                                                                                            31
                                   requirement.                            Indeed, Malay, traditional political                  new central palace.  Therefore, not    political hegemony of Java shifted from
                                   Although Sulu (compared with            thinking not only cursed disobedience                 only a political myth should be given its   coastal Demak, to the hinterland ---first
                                   Maguindanao and Maranao with its        towards the sovereign, it also precluded              place in the changing situation, as far as   to Pajang and finally to Mataram. An
                                   many centers) had reached the highest   a situation where there would be no king              possible,  old structural arrangements   important consequence of this move
                                   level of unification, its political system   at all, something unimaginable situation         and the social and cultural lifestyle   of the power center to the interior was
                                   allowed for the possibility of competition   in this tradition. 32                            of the ancient regime also had to be   the separation of the three major social
                                   for the position of Sultan. When        Thus, the tradition of integration was                maintained. The old concept that power   institutions that used to support Demak
                                   recognized as Sultan and thus as “God’s   based on the cultural recognition                   was something that descended on the    and the other coastal principalities.
                                   Caliph on earth”, the institution of ruma   that power was the ideological basis              elected person, should remain in force.   These three institutions were the palace
                                   bicara (consisting of the influential datu,   as determined by Islam. Although                This power concept gave the new palace   as the center of power, the market as
                                   the crown prince and the dignitaries    structurally power was divided into                   ruler his legitimate basis and formed the   center of commerce and the boarding
                                   of the kingdom) prevented him from      traditional and religious, both were                  ideological basis for the monopoly of   school as center of religion.  In the
                                                                                                                                                                                                 34
                                   becoming a tyrant and his political     integrated in the king who was the                    power. The ruler might not have fallen   process of establishing itself as the
                                   authority was not infrequently quetioned   commander of the faithful, i.e. the Muslim         from the sky, such as the descendants   owner of the newly established political
                                   by the datus, the local aristocracy. Each   leader (amirul mukminin).                                                                hegemony, Mataram, which was an
                                   time a datu thought the Sultan had                                                            of the to Manurung in South Sulawesi,   agricultural stage, militarily conquered
                                   overstepped his sovereign prerogatives   A different style of tradition developed in          but light (teja and wahyu cakraningrat)   the dynamic trading centers in the
                                   in politics and the economy or when he   Java. In its concentric political system,            had descended onto him. With this he   coastal regions one by one. All this
                                   felt that it had gone beyond what the   It required the establishment of a new                was destined to be the center of the   occurred at a time when the VOC already
                                   30.  Melvin Mednick, “Some problems of Moro   31.  Majul, Muslims in the Philippines, p. 317-337.   universe and the source of power. Within   had commercial and political interests in
                                   History and Political Organization” quoted by Peter   104.                                    this framework, the King of Mataram’s
                                   G. Cowing, Muslim Filipinos Heritage and Horizon,   32.  See A.C. Milner, Kerajaan: Malay Political   choice in 1624 of the title Susuhunan   33.  H.J. de Graaf, Puncak Kekuasaan Mataram
                                   Quezon City: 1979: New Day Publishers, 1979, p.   Culture on the Eve of Colonial Rule, Tucson: The                                   (translation), Jakarta: Grafitti Press, 1985.
                                   45-46.                                  University of Arizona Press, 1982, p. 94-111.         ---a title commonly used by a saint or   34.  Abdullah, Islam dan Masyarakat, pp.  110-158.



          130  Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives                                                                                                                    Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives  131
   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144