Negotiating Ethnicity and Religiosity: Chinese Muslim Identities in Post-New Order Indonesia

In this paper WaiWeng Hew discusses the emergence of Chinese Muslim cultural identities in post-New Order Indonesia. Recently, Chinese Muslim cultures in Indonesia found expressions in symbols (e.g. in Chinese-style mosques), in organisations (e.g. the Indonesian Chinese Muslim Association), in popular media (e.g. Chinese preachers), and in rituals (e.g. in the celebration of the Chinese New Year). Chinese Muslim leaders also promote their unique identities through rearticulation of their histories and cultivation of ties to Muslims in China. By examining the activities in Chinese-style mosques, the speeches of Chinese preachers and the debates of Chinese New Year celebrations, this presentation investigates the possibilities and limitations of Islamic cosmopolitanism in contemporary Indonesia. WaiWeng Hew argues that Chinese Muslim cultures diversify the cultural expression of Islam and promote the universality of Islam, but do not necessarily pluralise Islamic discourses.

WaiWeng Hew recently graduated from the Australian National University, where he finished his PhD thesis about Chinese Muslim identities in contemporary Indonesia. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden, and working on a research entitled, ‘Translocal and Cosmopolitan Islam: Chinese-style Mosques in Malaysia and Indonesia’.

The Leiden Southeast Asia Seminar is a cooperation of the KITLV, IIAS, VVI , the Programme in South and Southeast Asian Languages and Cultures and the Department of Cultural Anthropology & Development Sociology, Leiden University.