Muslim localizing democracy : 1 a non-pesantren village in Madura as a preliminary study 2

The political dynamic of village in Indonesian New Order has two faces. On one hand, it is conditioned by the feudalism of village’s leader which is monopolized from one generation to other generations. On the other hand, religion can be an alternative to challenge this feudalism. I explore this condition through an examination of the role of kalebun (the village’s leader) and kiai in a non-pesantren village in Madura, Indonesia. In Madura society, kiai and its pesantren take important role in the process of Islamic institutionalization. Yet, in this case, the absence of pesantren enforces the kiai to be counter-balance of the feudalism of the kalebun. And, the kiai claims that this counter-balance is on behalf of democracy. This article concludes with a discussion of the requirement of democracy in 1 This first draft of the paper was presented in the 2 International Conference, October 68, 2009 under the theme of Islam, Democracy and Good Governance in Indonesia, held by Training Indonesian Young Leader, Leiden University in collaboration with State Islamic Institute Walisongo, Semarang, Central Java. 2 The most of data in this paper has been taken from my ethnographic book, Kiai Langgar and Kalebun: A Study on Contestation between Cultural Brokers in a Non-Pesantren Village in Madura, Indonesia, Yogyakarta: Graduate School, UGM, 2009. IJIMS, Indonesian Journal of Islam and Muslim Societies, Volume 1, Number 2, December 2011: 297-316 298 “Islamic” local politics as well as in search of good local governance in post Indonesian New Order. Dinamika politik desa pada masa Orde Baru menghadapi dua realitas antagonis. Di satu sisi, pemerintahan desa dimonopoli oleh generasi tertentu yang melahirkan rezim feodal. Seorang Muslim, di lain sisi, berpotensi menjadi elan vital perlawanan terhadap feodalisme tersebut. Tulisan ini berupaya menggali dua kenyataan tersebut melalui analisis kepemimpinan kalebun (kepala desa) dan kiai di sebuah desa non-pesantren di Madura, Indonesia. Pada jamaknya, dalam masyarakat Madura, kiai dan pesantren memiliki peranan penting dalam proses institusionalisasi Islam. Namun, dalam studi ini, ketiadaan pesantren, membuat kiai (dengan langgarnya) berusaha membendung arus feudalisme kalebun. Sebuah temuan menarik bahwa perlawanan sang kiai tidak atas nama Islam, tetapi demi tegaknya demokratisasi di desa.


Introduction
In 1895, some kiais of Prajan provoked the Madurese to fight against Netherland colonial power who governed in Sampang, Madura.The Netherland ended this fighting with a battlefield that killed twenty Madurese and injured twelve others.From this event, Prajan becomes a symbol of rebellion toward the colonial power. 3This Prajan event is a proof of the kiai's important role in struggling colonial feudalism in the past time.
It was surprised that the kiai of Prajan was kiai langgar instead of kiai pesantren.Langgar is a small private "mosque" within a tanean lanjang (Madurese family houses).A kiai langgar usually heads a langgar, whereas a kiai pesantren has and heads one or more pesantren. 4rom this reason, the Prajan case reminds me to pay more attention to the role of kiai langgar in Madurese social structure.
Although recent studies on Madura have depicted the kiai langgar, however they subordinated the kiai langgar under the kiai pesantren's position.5 It opens two possibilities on the kiai langgar's position.First, the kiai langgar is the former kiai pesantren's pupil.Second, the kiai langgar is an honorable people who have indigenous (spiritual) power.
Madurese call it "mak kaeh". 6In addition, this subordination was caused by the absence of kiai langgar from having pesantren.
In Madura, one village has one pesantren.Furthermore, through the pesantren, the kiai pesantren do structuration within social structure of surrounding villages.In the pesantren, the kiai teaches his santris with Islamic teaching, such as reading Quran, Islamic jurisprudence and Sufism.Because the santri comes from the surrounding villages, having graduated from the pesantren, they live in their village with implementing Islamic teaching educated by the kiai. 7The santri maintains their respect to the kiai pesantren.In doing so, this respect is a social capital of the kiai's power.
Beside the existence of Islam and pesantren, in some Madurese villages there exist blater people.Put it simply, the blater is a village bandit.Even though the blater is in opposition of the kiai pesantren, they make a relationship in such case as village leader election. 8It shows that besides Islamizing his village, the kiai pesantren take a significant role in the process of democratization in his village.
What about the kiai langgar?Based on my fieldwork, the absence of pesantren enforced the kiai langgar to structuring his village through optimizing his langgar for teaching Islamic values.According to the kiai langgar, this action is a part of democratization in his village.In this paper, I analysis this democratization process in detail.
In the following sections, I describe the condition in which the kiai langgar do structuring democratization in Gapurana village.This village has been governed by a feudalist kalebun.To fight against the power of kalebun, the kiai langgar spreads Islamic values toward the Gapuranese people.Here, I elaborate this contestation in the case of claiming langgar become mosque.In the last section, I analyze this phenomenon in the context of democracy with arguing that Islam needs democracy to fight against feudalism.

Gapurana
Based on administrative territorial, Gapurana is part of Sumenep Regency, Madura, East Java.Sumenep lies in the eastern edge of Madura islands.This regency occupies two different characteristics areas.The first is Sumenep daratan (mainland) consists of eighteen sub regents, while the second is Sumenep kepulauan (sub-archipelago), consists of nine sub regents.Gapurana is one of the Sumenep kepulauan areas as a part of Talangoh sub regent. 9 In fact, it is a unique potential that Gapurana locates in Poteran Island.This area plays a transitional spot that marks Sumenep daratan and that of the kepulauan.The unique of Poteran correlates to the modernity that has influenced areas in western of Poteran Island (Madura mainland) as well as the eastern of Poteran Island.Kalianget, in the western of Poteran, for example, has been a transitory area to other islands such as Borneo, Banyuwangi and Celebes.Moreover, Pagerungan in the eastern of Poteran is often called as "the small Surabaya" since its oil mining activities and production has brought the community dwellers into well-being.
The geographical performance of Gapurana also has influenced the push and pull of people's belief.When for the residents of Sumenep daratan, in which the pesantren institutions that spread in almost all villages in the area influences the making process of people belief; the eastern side of Poteran Island has been dominated by local belief, especially Sapudi.On the other hand, Gapurana compiles the contestation between the two, Islam and local belief.Indeed, this could not be separated from colonial precedent in the Dutch colonialism era. 9 See http://www.sumenep.go.id

Kiai: a past perspective
The Sumenep palace, however, has been a very influential force in shaping social structure and culture in Madura, particularly Sumenep.
Observing from archeological aspect, the Sumenep palace and Asta Tinggi (the grave of Sumenep kings) as well as the building of langgar (small mosque for family) are so close with the models used in family pura (worshiping place) in Hindus' tradition, it opens possibility that Hindu religion has used to be influential in this area. 10It is strengthened by the tradition of mamaca (reading Mahabarata and Ramayana scripture), tayuban (local dance), strong believe in the ancestors, and the use of primbon as life guidance which are still part of people in the region's daily practice.
If we traced back to history of the Majapahit kingdom, many Madurese prominences have influenced its establishment.It suggested that Hindu has strong influence on Madurese belief.Put as the example, Arya Banyak Wedi or Arya Wiraraja (1269-1292) who was the founding father of the Majapahit kingdom then ascertained the belief on Buddha-Siwa as the state religion.It seems that economical reason persuaded the rise of Majapahit-Madura relationship that associated to salt trading as the main commodity of this island. 11 can see the relationship between Majapahit and Madura as central and peripheral link.That is why when Islam overtakes Majapahit, the impact had also affected Madura.It is the stream of islamization over the Sumenep palace.A number of wali (saints), such as Sunan 10 Iik Arifin Mansurnoor, Islam in an Indonesia World, 7; Paul van der Veur (transl.)," Van  Ampel, Kudus, and Sunan Giri has undertaken this process. 12There were at least two factors underlying the success of islamization process in Madura.The first was the making of strong bond between the kiai in Demak and Madura, which fostered the conversion process of the palace elite's belief into Islam.For an example was the marriage of the last sultan (king) of Demak's daughter with the prince of Pamadekan, Sampang, Madura. 13The marriage raised royal descendants who understand religion, which then called bindara.The second was the existence of positive connection between rato (king) as the royal elite and kiai as the local elite who live within the community. 14e question in turn is can we say that the positive correlation between the rato and the kiai is a positive effect of the islamization process?It needs to consider that before the coming of Islam, there was a big gap between the Sumenep palace and the local kiai.On one hand, the kingdom was a house for the aristocrats as bourgeois social group.On the other hand, the kiai was "rural religious leader" who has active role in religious education, 15 at the same time has concerned about empowerment for welfare of the community. 16 the process of religious education and social improvement, the kiai's role closely relates to the institution of the pesantren.The pesantren is like a kingdom for the kiai.At the same time, it is a house of education for the society.Hence, the process of institutionalization of education constructs the society to respect and pay sympathy to the kiai.In 12 Iik Arifin Mansurnoor, Islam in an Indonesia World, 9. 13 Iik Arifin Mansurnoor, Islam in an Indonesia World, 9. 14 Iik Arifin Mansurnoor,Islam in an Indonesia World,[12][13] Luc Nagtegaal, "The Legitimacy of Rule in Early Modern Madura", in Kees Van Dijk, Huub de Jonge and Elly Touwen-Bouwsma (eds.), Acoss Madura Strait: the Dynamics of an Insular Society, Leiden: KITLV Press, 1995, 49-66.16 Iik Arifin Mansurnoor, Islam in an Indonesia World, 9-12.
other words, quoting Mansurnoor's statement,17 "Kiai in modern Madura enjoy high prestige and wide popularity among the population." To sum up, the islamization process in Madura connected to people empowerment efforts.The coming of Islam, on one hand, made the rato to realize his role as a guardian of society.Hence, the rato should be grateful to the kiai.On the other hand, the separation between the secular rato and the religious kiai was then disappeared.Moreover, at present, the position of the rato is also undertaken by the kiai' descendants.
In the process, the relationship between the rato, although he comes from the kiai' descendants, and the kiai in local village level, still bear a gap.The existence of the East Indies Trade Company (VOC) triggered this phenomenon through implementing the tax system and the greed characteristics of the royal families that have widened the disparity.

The kiai langgar of Gapurana
Kiai langgar is a term used to call a religious leader in a big family of the tanean.One or more prominent the kiai langgar usually are appointed as a kiai of village whose obligation to lead the village mosque.It needs to explain that the village mosque is a prayer place for which the local Majelis Ulama Indonesia (Indonesian Ulama Council) has legalized it.
On the other hand, the langgar is a prayer place established by a big family of the tanean.How to distinguish the two is that the mosque legally used to as a place to conduct the Friday praying (shalat Jum'at), while the langgar is not.
The kiai langgar, in this research, is a descendant of the first Islamic preacher in Gapurana.The same as his father, the kiai also attempted to spread Islam in this area.There are at least three strategies used by the kiai to teach Islam.First, he along with his two brothers taught Islam to primary school children either how to read Quran or basic knowledge of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence).Second, he leads yassinan (reading verse of yassin) for the men and dhiba'an (reading Muhammad's history) for the women once a week.In these two programs, the kiai delivers advice about good and wrong deeds in Islam.VOC gave autonomy "self-government" to the Sumenep palace.
However, VOC obligate the palace to send the tax to Java, such as the contingency tax (pajak kontingen).This taxation force the Sumenep to propel "80 koyan (1 koyan around 10 litter) green soybean, 700 pikul (1 pikul around 13 kg) coconut oil, 30 pikul siwalan sugar, 20 pikul high quality of cotton string the same as the sample they gave earlier, 30 pikul dried meat, 1000 dried fish". 19This taxation system has influenced the process of power structure partition in the Sumenep palace.
Because of hard job in gathering the tax, VOC gave commissioner of Sumenep palace a large amount of land as reward, called apanage.
Through this apanage system, VOC gave the commissioner authority to take the tax from laity people, besides the obligatory tax from VOC.
On the other hand, the low official (pejabat rendahan) have only given bengkok (small field), a narrow dry field land. 20 The taxation system has changed the ruling structure among people.
In the beginning, because of housing model based on the system of tanean lanjhang, there was no exact organizational structure in the villages.This organizational process was quite hard to apply, since tanean lanjhang used a pattern of grouping.The housing system grouped into certain cluster based on the extended family system.
This cluster usually place in the middle of family dry field.When the commissioner was gaining control of the land, even those which lies in the hinterland, they had reformed the organizational system of society (tanean lanjhang) in order to gain tax more easily. 21e ruling elite of the kingdom, in turn, officially appointed the lurah (governmental head of village) whose task to ensure that people do serve those who have apanage, for example in wood cutting, and gathering grass to feed the cattle of the commissioners.Besides the lurah, there was also a traditional leader whose job to take the tax from people.The traditional leader was in fact a leader in one tanean lanjhang who has used to lead ceremonial and rituals, called kalebun.
The commissioners did not appoint this leader, thus his social status is lower than that of the lurah. 22Conversely, at present, the kalebun is used to refer to the title of village head officer, which is prestigious both as ritual and as social leader.
At that time, my grand grandfather as usual was going to grassing.
22 Elly Touwen-Bouwsma, "Kepala Desa Madura: dari Boneka ke Wiraswasta", in Huub de Jonge (ed.), Agama, Kebudayaan dan Ekonomi, Jakarta: Rajawali, 1989, 138-144.him to be their leader.He agreed with a condition, that his descendants would replace him as the kalebun after his death.The people agreed, and until now, thank God, all his descendants are still hold the position.
When election time of the village leader comes, the kalebun cited this story repeatedly.Moreover, the kalebun has kept the celurit (the Madurese traditional sickle) of the first kalebun, which is used to campaign.The kalebun claims that the authorized power over Gapurana lies on the hand of the lord of this celurit.In brief, from only a story, the narrative is presently become a political tools to legitimize power.
The second until the fifth kalebun politicize the belief on the celurit as the philosophical basis of their governmental policy.They believe that ruling is similar to cut grass using the celurit, meaning the ruler has to be able to cut the disturbance of meadows to keep the crops.Because of this ruling model, people feel fearful to the kalebun, particularly the third and the fourth kalebun, because the two kalebun governed by dictatorship model.
The first four kalebun were men, however the fifth kalebun is a woman.The interesting thing about this fifth is that she is not a direct descendant of the kalebuns.She is the wife of the fourth kalebun's son (numpang katera'an).The son of the fourth kalebun can not be elected as kalebun since he has already been a civil servant.
From generation to the next generation, the kalebun of Gapurana have been supporting the tradition of tayub.In Madura island, Gapurana have been known as the field of tayub (ladang tayub), because tayub would be held in this village on nimbere' season (dry season).Tayub is recognized as representative of kalebun's tradition.

Tayub: a kalebun's tradition
Tayuban is an art performance which always be presented in all wedding ceremony in Gapurana village.The Gapuranese people claim this village as "ladang para tandak" (the field of tayub dancers).The season of nimbere' (west) is a yield season for tandaks (tayub dancers), since at the season many people held wedding ceremony.For the only next year ceremony, the kalebun has listed 48 families that will hold this big ceremony.When I was in Gapurana, one who held the ceremony was Mat Tiken (65 years old).
There are four sequential series in a wedding ceremony.The first is melekan (stay up all nights), which is held thirty days before the wedding.The family and relatives of the ceremony owner gathered in his house talking about the planning for the wedding, or just drank the coffee.The second is taruban (Madurese temporary structure/ grandstand for wedding), where people gathered to stand the tarub (stage).This agenda is held three days before the ceremony.The third is berasan (giving rice to the wedding organizer), held one day before the day.The women come to give three gantang (around 10 kg) of rice.
In this session, crowded musical was played.Gapuranese called it the music of man.The fourth is resepsi (wedding reception), which is the main agenda.In this occasion, tayuban is played as a favorite performance for the Gapuranese villagers.
The wedding stage is as large as football field.Two third of the arena used as the reception place, the rest is used as kitchen which is in the backside.The organizer designs the stage in such a similar to a palace.They divide the space into two rooms within it.The first is the room for the bride couple and women, while the other is used for tayub stage where men sitting around the stage.All the guest visitors sit cross-legs on the floor.
That morning, the wedding ceremony in the house of Mat Tiken was held at 09.00 a.m.The agenda was begun with some formal talks and introduction agenda, which was cited in a song by a gelandang of the agenda, was meant to wait the guests also.This agenda lasted in about four hours.The invited-men attended by dressing in cap on top and sarong to replace the pants.While the women dressing in long clothes and silk dresses with head cover.When the mealtime came, the men who did not want to have dance with tandak should go outside, watching the agenda from the distance; on the other hand, those who want to dance, they should prepare themselves with 50.000 up to 500.000rupiahs and then they give it to the tandak.The Gapuranese people call it nyawer.
On 12:00 am., the gelandang who earlier had been singing while sitting, now standing and going up to the stage.The gelandang introduced tandaks who were there, then brought them to the wedding owners who sit in front of the door welcoming the guests.Two of the tandaks sat on the left and right side of the house owners.In that occasion, the tandak were Ahwani and Suhadie, the most popular tandak in Madura.
The gelandang was then teasing the house owner, hanging the hands of the two tandak and holding them on his neck.The gelandang asked the wedding owner to kiss the tandaks, yet his face was blashing.
Giving some ten thousand, the wedding owner was in turn held by the tandaks to the stage.The main performance just began.
Along with the two tandaks, Mat Tiken and the gelandang sang a song.They sang the song entitled "Sri: Kapan Kowe Bali" (Sri: when do you go home) in Madurese version.After a while, the guests who wanted to do nyawer (giving money ex gratia) walking up to the stage.
Standing around the tandaks, those people were dancing, at the same time giving some thousands rupiahs until the song was end.
After a song was finished, the guests sat back.Some minutes later, the tandaks showed their action, they walk around the men seat.
Suddenly, a tandak gave her shawl on the kalebun's husband neck.He paid ten thousand rupiahs, and then went up to the stage with the tandak, dancing, and giving her money once again up to one song ended up.The more prestige the one on the stage owned, the more people did nyawer.The performance lasted on 4.00 pm, after about fourteen songs were played. 23

Mosquing the langgar
The kiai langgar attempts to re-establish his father dakwah (proselytizing) efforts.However, the absence of the pesantren makes him find it hard to spread the knowledge about Islam in Gapurana village.It is likely that the existence of Madrasah Ibtida'iyah (Islamic school in the primary level) as a medium to reproduce Islamic teaching cannot block the negative effect of tayuban.For this, the kiai establishes actions to resist to the situation.
The main resistance was getting out from the village mosque board.
As I already mentioned, the village mosque is the valid mosque which was appointed by MUI to held Friday prayer, and all activities to celebrate Islamic days.To organize the village mosque, kalebun appointed some Muslim prominences of Gapurana.Kiai langgar was one of them and one of the main boards.When he got out the leader of main board was then lead by kalebun herself.
Steeping out of the mosque boards, kiai langgar declared his langgar as mosque.He invited the community around his langgar to pray Friday prayer there.If the Friday prayer in the village mosque hardly 23 Compare to Robert Hefner, "The Politics of Popular Art: Tayuban Dance and Culture Change in East Java", Indonesia, Volume 43 (April 1987), 75-94.participated by women, Friday prayer in the kiai langgar's is the opposite.The Friday prayer participants are dominated by women, children, and elderly people.
The village mosque followers (jama'a) could not accept the declaration.Kalebun tried to invite the local Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) to solve the problem.In a meeting which was attended by the mosque boards, MUI dan kiai langgar, MUI asserted that the declaration was invalid.All prayers the people performed in it were also unaccepted.
The basis of MUI statement was Imam Syafi'i's argument, should not there two Friday prayers held in one village with a close distance.
Kiai langgar disregarded this pronouncement.In the name of democracy, he argued that it was his rights to hold a Friday prayer, since all the requirements were fulfilled, those who attend the prayer more than forty people.Up until now, he still conducts Friday prayer in his langgar.This accomplishment provoked the people's anger.Some mosque's jama'a reminded the old people who were going to langgar.A number of youngsters even planned to burn the langgar, yet it was not committed until now.Kalebun decided to keep silent.

On behalf of democracy: lesson from the -kiai langgar
The argument of democracy which kiai langgar has asserted is an interesting point.On the one hand, kiai langgar wants to contend the ritual of tayuban which brings many bad effects with the triumph of Islamic structuration process which is true according to him.On the other hand, kiai langgar tries to show that the narration of Islam in Gapurana is not one, which could not be monopolized by the Islamic village mosque only.Democracy, hence, gives an alternative Islam as an option besides the mainstream Islam in Gapurana.
The Islam of kiai langgar was also a tool to obstruct the feudalism stream of the kalebun in Gapurana.As I mentioned earlier, the kalebun of Gapurana is chosen by posterity (generated from one descendant to the other).This long structuring process of kalebun in Gapurana made the generation of the kalebun as rato.Rato, in Madura social structure, is the descendants of the royal palace that should be honored. 24On the other side, the mosque Islam, in this point, is the backing power of the kalebun of Gapurana.For that, those who pray in the mosque are also supporters of the tayuban rites which economically troubled the people of Gapurana.
The case of kiai langgar also convinces that politics is a struggle to set the process of democratization. 25Democracy by this definition is a process.As a process, democracy is always in the condition that happening-in-progress.Thus, democracy is a process to struggle for a change.
Mosquing the langgar to blockade the negative stream of tayuban implied a process of hermeneutical democracy in Islam.If Islam needs democracy, and democracy requires secularism, the process of Islamic democracy goes hand in hand with secularism.This supports the thesis of Nader Hashemi, "… a secular consensus often emerges as a result of an engagement with and a transformation of religious ideas toward politics."26 In the case of kiai langgar,the transformation process of mosquing the langgar is a local politics initiation to block the tayub.
The kiai langgar democratization, in the one hand brings a positive result because it can defend the stream of feudalism, and gives good alternative to local governance.On the other hand, it raises an ambiguity.The ambiguity is because the democratization of the kiai langgar will be trapped in the process of Islamisation while forget the process of humanization.
Even though it is happened on the village level, the kiai langgar could be a picture of micro democratization in Indonesia.Collusion, corruption, nepotism and other feudalism cultures are often solved by Islamic values.Unfortunately, these were not followed by the process of objectifying Islamic values for humanity.However, it often offers Islam as the solution from the ideological side only, like building Islamic caliph in Indonesia or implementing sharia in Indonesia.

Conclusion
The governance system of Indonesian New Order has influenced the system of villages in Indonesia.Gapurana is one of many examples.Put is simply, this system characterized by the word "feudalism".Corruption, collusion and nepotism are the negative effects of this feudalism.
On the other hand, Islam can be an alternative to resist this feudalism.However, Islam needs democracy to do this.Democracy is needed to prevent Islam trap into the new feudalism, because democracy requires the dynamic struggle to get justice.

Bibliography
expect what you are to be, just read Quran, just reap, in order to full your stomach).Kalebun in the colonial eraVOC has successfully occupied east Madura when the process of separating the Mataram kingdom took place in 1705.Because of the intervention of VOC, Mataram was divided into Kartasura and Jogjakarta.In turn, as a "reward", the king of Kartasura gave Pamekasan and Sumenep to VOC.This reward was based on the following agreement, "Yang Mulia dengan ini secara resmi menganugerahkan dan memberikan negara Sumenep dan Pamekasan yang terletak di bagian Timur(sic)    pulau Madura ke bawah perlindungan VOC" (The majesty herewith officially award and give the country of Sumenep and Pamekasan which lie in the eastern side of Madura island under the privillege of VOC).18 de Jonge, Huub, "Pembentukan Negara Dengan Kontrak: Kabupaten Sumenep, Madura, VOC dan Hindia Belanda, 1680-1883", in Huub de Jonge (ed.).Agama, Kebudayaan dan Ekonomi.Jakarta: Rajawali, 1989.de Jonge, Huub,"State and Welfare in the Late Colonial Period: The Madura Welfare Fund (1937-1941)", AJSS, Volume 32, Number. 1 (2004): 91-104.
Third, he resists against local rituals and beliefs that oppose to Islamic norms, like tayuban.The last, he conducts the Friday prayer (shalat Jum'at) in his langgar.
Before the coming of state "secular" education in this village, thanks to the efforts of the kiai langgar's father, Gapuranese people have been familiar to Islamic education.For them, reading Quran and learning fiqh has been more important than the "secular" education.It is important to note a conversation when the kalebun suggested Sahun's (75) daughter to go to school.Responding her advice, Sahun hide his daughter to his dry field, saying to his daughter, "tak kera dadi apa keya, ngaji bhai, abajang, ngare' bhai, sopaje kenyang"(what did you