Identity Negotiation and Resistence of Indonesia Ahmadiyah

Thesis Defense on Ahmadiyah, Open for Public

Monday, 3-September-2012 | Viewed (48)

IDENTITY  NEGOTIATION AND RESISTENCE OF INDONESIA AHMADIYAH

This week two students of CRCS batch 2010, Ngatini and Syaiful Arief will defense their thesis on Indonesia Ahmadiyah. Syaiful Arief writes "Strategic, Identity Negotiation of Jemaat Ahmadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia" and Ngatini, "Texturising Resistence under Routine Repression a Study of Indonesian Ahmadiyya". The defense will be on:

Wedesday, September 5fth, 2012, @ 09 AM,

Room: Ruang Sidang B, 5th floor of Graduate School Building, UGM.

Thesis Examiners:

Dr. Zainal Abidin Bagir

Samsu Rizal Panggabean, MS

Dr. M. Iqbal Ahnaf

Abstract

Strategic, Identity Negotiation of Jemaat Ahmadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Syaiful Arief

The study examines the relation between subjects and discourses practices with specific strategies in the form of rule and programs implemented in Jemaat Ahmadiyah Yogyakarta. Through ethnographic fieldwork, I found that the obligation of bai’at, the obedience into Jemaah and the belief of Mirza Ghulam have become the significant elements for someone to be Ahmadi. However, the construction of identity within this community is dynamics, there are members try to get full attachment into Ahmadiyah and other adjust with certain conditions.

This thesis shows that through motivational or strategic positions, members of Jemaat Ahmadiyah Yogyakarta negotiate their identity with other through several aspects; social-religious, scholarship and government institutions. Although this study leads to the significant role of Ahmadis, it also acknowledges the contribution of the government and other social organizations that encourage mutual understanding and respective attitudes toward diversities in Yogyakarta.

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Abstract

Texturising Resistence under Routine Repression: a Study of Indonesian Ahmadiyya

Ngatini

“There is no action possible without little acting”, said George Elliot as quoted by Scott in his work Domination and the Arts of Resistance (Scott, 1990: 1). I think Elliot’s statement is best fit to summarize what has been going with Indonesian Ahmadiyya in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. Indonesian Ahmadiyya in Lombok is part of Indonesian Ahmadiyya  congregation  (JAI), an Islamic group that has been condemned by the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI)  in 1980 and repeated in 2005 as defiance of Islam due to its belief in Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as the promised Messiah. Following the religious decree of MUI  issued in 1980 and reissued in 2005 banning  Ahmadiyya religious activities, there are numbers of efforts  inhibiting  Ahmadiyya teaching to grow and  to bring the members of Ahmadiyya back to the “right track”. These efforts find it way in so-called coercive persuasion (Lofland & Skonovd, 1981).

In Lombok, the coercive persuasion has many forms ranging from legal laws of local governments banning Ahmadiyya activities, bribes, intimidations, exclusions from social activities, stoning, expellee, house burnings, robbery, to killing. The coercive persuasion  that have been taking place since 1972  leads  Indonesia Ahmadiyya congregation in Lombok experiencing objective-subjective deprivations (Beith-Hallahmi & Argyle, 1997). Those objective-subjective deprivations are like losing dwelling places, losing jobs, losing family members, losing possessions, undergoing psychological disorder, being expelled from their hometown, doing refugee from one place to another place and finally living in refugee camp for more than 6 years.  Still, despite of being in the face of miasma, JAI In Lombok, persisting to be Ahmadis, doing their daily activities as usual and resistance at the same time.

Employing sociological approach, this research intends to investigate why certain numbers of JAI in Lombok remained to be Ahmadi under such miasma. More, this research also wants to explore how some people who remained to be Ahmadis adjust their selves to such coercive and persuasive condition and deal with their objective-subjective deprivation.  The data for this research were collected through series of individual in-depth and group interviews with Ahmadis and non-Ahmadis, participative observation over the life of JAI in Lombok, and studying the literatures on Ahmadiyya issue from January to February 2012.

The research shows that there are three kinds of reasons of why certain numbers of people remained to be Ahmadis despite of such miasma they have; theological reason, sociological reason, and ethical reason.  Meanwhile, to make the impact of coercive persuasion and the objective-subjective deprivation less severe they are doing, following Scott, everyday forms of resistance or the infra-politic of subordinate group. Relying on Scott’s theory of resistance, I categorize the resistance of JAI in Lombok into two groups that are the public resistance and the domestic resistance.

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