Islamic Hegemony in Forming Religious Attitudes: Study of Majority and Minority Islam in Southeast Asia

<p>This article critically examines why the dualism of the Islamic model occurs in Southeast Asia. This article uses a historical approach with the literature method to identify how is the map of the distribution of majority and minority Islam in Southeast Asia, what causes the dualism of the Islamic model in Southeast Asia, and how the minority model occurs in the minority Islamic countries. The results show that Islamic syncretism in the archipelago is a logical consequence of the complicated process of struggling religious reflection. His entity also received many challenges from local Indigenous. The majority of Islam is largely determined by the success of harmonizing Islam with political, social and cultural conditions. On the other hand, poor harmonization with the rulers, military invasion, and colonialism cause Muslim minorities. Islamic minority models can be classified into three parts: First, Separatists, such as the Moro Philippines Muslim Separatist movement. Second, accommodating Pattani Muslims in Thailand and Singapore. Third, Genocide happened to Rohingya Muslims in Burma and Khmer Muslims in Cambodia. Furthermore, research on each minority model can be carried out further to enrich the treasures of Islamic studies in Southeast Asia.</p><p><em>Artikel ini menelaah secara kritis mengapa terjadi dualisme model Islam di Asia Tenggara. Artikel ini menggunakan pendekatan historis dengan metode kepustakaan akan mengidentifikasi: Bagaimana peta persebaran Islam mayoritas dan minoritas di Asia Tenggara, apa yang menyebabkan dualisme model Islam di Asia Tenggara, dan bagaimana model keminoritasan yang terjadi pada negara-negara Islam minoritas. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa Sinkretisme Islam di Nusantara merupakan konsekuensi logis dari proses pergulatan refleksi keagamaan yang rumit. Entitasnya pun banyak mendapatkan tantangan dari Indigeneous lokal. Islam mayoritas sangat ditentukan oleh keberhasilan harmonisasi Islam dengan kondisi politik, sosial, dan budaya. Sebaliknya harmonisasi yang kurang baik dengan penguasa, invasi militer, dan kolonialisme menjadi faktor penyebab minoritas Islam. Model-model minoritas Islam dapat diklasifikasikan menjadi tiga </em><em>bagian: Pertama, Separatis, seperti gerakan Separatis Muslim Moro Philipina. Kedua, Akomodatif, muslim Pattani di Thailand dan Singapura. Ketiga, Genosida, terjadi kepada muslim Rohingya di Burma dan Muslim Khmer di Kamboja. Selanjutnya penelitian terhadap masing-masing model minoritas bisa dilakukan untuk semakin memperkaya khazanah studi Islam di Asia Tenggara.</em></p>

Revitalizing Local Wisdom in Committing Radicalism in Aceh

Local wisdom is known as a cultural asset that develops in an area, all policies and customs that play a role in Aceh will become a culture that is respected and appreciated in Aceh. In its development, local wisdom is very influential in protecting people's thoughts, including the seeds of radicalism. The existence of radicalism in Aceh was most evident during the conflict between the Republic of Indonesia and the separatist movement in Aceh. After the peace period of the MOU Helsingki took place, radicalism in Aceh did not occur openly. Only ripples of thought trying to incite from within the disapproval of the current government. You could say, the turmoil arose because of the influence of political color, where the current population of Aceh is quantitatively more inclined to the failed presidential candidate. The problem raised in this study is how to revitalize the values ​​of Aceh's local wisdom which are threatened with fading due to the globalization of foreign cultures. This research design uses qualitative with reference sources based on literature and field studies. The analysis technique is descriptive. The findings of this study are that local wisdom is ideal in countering the existence of radicalism in Aceh through the media meuseumeuraya, tengku authorities, implementing the values ​​of ‘hadih madja’, sub-district da'i programs, and so on. In conclusion, strengthening local wisdom in Aceh is very urgent because the character of the Acehnese people respects traditional values ​​and authority more than the government authority. Abstrak: Kearifan lokal dikenal sebagai aset budaya yang berkembang di suatu daerah, semua kebijakan dan kebiasaan yang memainkan peran keacehan akan menjadi suatu kultur yang dihormati dan dihargai di Aceh. Pada perkembangannya kearifan lokal sangat berpengaruh dalam memproteksi pemikiran masyarakat termasuk bibit-bibit radikalisme. Eksistensi radikalisme di Aceh paling kentara terjadi pada masa konflik antara NKRI dan gerakan sparatis di Aceh. Setelah masa damai MOU Helsingki terjadi, radikalisme di Aceh tidak terjadi secara terbuka. Hanya riak-riak pemikiran yang mencoba menghasut dari dalam tentang ketidaksetujuan terhadap pemerintahan saat ini. Bisa dibilang, gejolak itu muncul karena pengaruh warna politik yang mana saat ini penduduk Aceh secara kuantitas lebih condong pada calon Presiden yang gagal terpilih. Adapun masalah yang diangkat dalam penelitian ini adalah bagaimana merevitalisasikan nilai-nilai kearifan lokal Aceh yang terancam pudar akibat serangan globalisasi budaya luar. Design penelitian ini menggunakan kualitatif dengan sumber referensi berbasis kajian pustaka dan lapangan. Teknik analisis berupa deskriptif. Temuan dari penelitian ini adalah kearifan lokal sangat ideal dalam menangkal eksistensi radikalisme di Aceh melalui media meuseumeuraya, otoritas tengku,implementasi nilai hadih madja, program da’i kecamatan dan lain sebagainya. Kesimpulannya, penguatan kearifan lokal di Aceh sangat urgen karena karakter masyarakat Aceh lebih menghormati nilai dan otoritas adat dibanding otoritas pemerintah. Kata-kata kunci: revitalisasi, kearifan lokal, radikalisme

Separatists threaten Nigeria ruling party's chances

Significance He was greeted with a ‘sit at home’ protest by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Although crowds appeared at some events, the protest appears to have been a success, illustrating the increasing support garnered by the Igbo separatist movement in the region. To this can be added growing Yoruba separatist sentiment in south-western Nigeria following continued farmer-herder conflicts and state repression. Impacts Kanu and Igboho’s continued incarceration will further inflame anti-government sentiment. Buhari’s government will make few, if any, concessions to separatist sentiment. The cycle of sporadic protest and violence followed by violent government crackdowns will continue. Separatist sentiment will be strengthened by continuing farmer-herder conflict at the national level. Buhari’s harsh response to separatist threats will threaten the ruling All Progressives Congress party’s chances in the 2023 election.

Religion, Religious Textbooks and Territorialisation of Sinhala Buddhist Ethno-nationalism in Sri Lanka

The idea of ‘homelanď performed a central role in nationalist debates, and particularly majority/ minority societies exercise the concept of the homeland, religion and religious texts to shaped their nationalist discourse and claimed their rights over a given territory. In this context, nationalism and religion can be understood as contested terms, particularly in third world nation-states including countries like Sri Lanka, which has suffered from the three-decades-long civil war between Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarian government and minority-Tamil community based separatist movement of LTTE. The formation of Sinhala- Buddhist nationalism carries interesting links with the religion and religious textbooks and based on these Buddhist religious and historical claims the majoritarian political mindset of the Sinhala community believes Sri Lanka is their homeland, and other minority communities are alien for the society. The contemporary, political and security discourse of Sri Lanka has strongly brought these Buddhism and religious texts to claim rights over the territory and galvanised ‘Sinhala-Buddhist rights’ over the popular nationalist movement. In this context, the paper discusses ‘how and why Sinhala nationalist movement strongly shaped by the Buddhist religious values and books’ and the rationale behind the link between Sinhala nationalism and Buddhist religion based on the conceptual framework of “Geopiety.”

“Send Us Some Guns and Grenades ...”: Appeal of Young Ukrainian Nationalists from Siberia to Their Confederates from the OUN–UPA in Ukraine in 1950

The article is to study the Soviet special services’ attempt to prevent youth extremist organization of Ukrainian nationalists deploying their activities in the Omsk region in early February 1951, as they expressed an obvious readiness wage an anti-Soviet fight using agitation and terror. It is based on the analysis of a completely unknown and previously unintroduced into scientific use historical source, which remains in departmental storage. The source is fully reproduced in the final part of the article. Its facsimile copy and photograph used in the article as an illustration is exhibited in the History Hall of the FSB Directorate of Russia for the Omsk Region. High relevance of the publication is associated with the fact that neither aspects of political existence of the Ukrainian special settlers in Siberia in the late 1940s–50s, nor operational activities of the Soviet special services in this connection have been a subject of research. Among key reasons explaining this gap in historiography are peculiarities of departmental storage of archival documents of the state security agencies and complicated procedure for allowing researchers to get acquainted with them. Due to specifics of the study, the authors used a comprehensive methodological approach based on a combination of source study criticism (external and internal) with anthropological approach, biographical and problem-chronological methods. This theoretical amalgamation has allowed the authors to interpret the revealed document, linking its appearance with concrete historical situation and personalities. The publication may be of interest to researchers of the Ukrainian nationalist and separatist movement, of the political exile in the USSR in period of the Second World War, and of the work of Soviet state security agencies aimed at countering radical (ultra-right) forms of social and political thought.

Reviving Albert Camus: Nonviolence and Pro-Independence PR Activism in Catalonia

In recent years, the electoral situation in Spain, has been marked by the issue of Catalan independence, which has conditioned the electoral agenda of all parties and the frames of political discourse. Against the idea of a violent movement that the Spanish nationalist parties and government want to transmit to Spanish society about the separatist movement, the nationalist parties’ and Catalan government turn to nonviolent discourse and action. This nonviolent behavior is based on what in the past century was defended by some public intellectuals, such as Albert Camus. Indeed, Camus is our exemplar because he also raises issues that continue to be relevant, especially in advocating principles and methods of nonviolent political action. Furthermore, Camus did so in situations of war and injustice through tactics typical of political communication the of activist groups. This article wants to show how current and how effective the ideas of Camus are today, when it is 60 years since his death, in some national electoral discourses and actions, and serve for activism PR purposes in the political communication frame.

Cameroon: The Military and Autocratic Stability

The military plays a vital role in upholding Cameroon’s authoritarian government. Since independence, in 1960, the country has been ruled by a single political party and only two presidents: Ahmadou Ahidjo and Paul Biya. Both have gone to great lengths to secure military loyalty: counterbalancing rival forces, personalizing command hierarchies, ethnically stacking both the regular military and presidential guard, and providing extensive patronage benefits to soldiers. Ahidjo and Biya have both also repeatedly used the security forces to repress threats from below and stabilize their dictatorships. Combined gendarme, army, and paramilitary units have been deployed to defeat the southern maquis rebellion of the 1960s; the mass protests for democratization in the 1990s; the fight against Boko Haram, beginning in 2014; and the Anglophone separatist movement, which exploded in 2017. Whether facing nonviolent demonstrators or armed rebels, the military has never defected or refused to obey orders. Yet, as the 1984 coup attempt demonstrated, the bounds of military loyalty are not limitless. When Ahidjo retired, the northern Muslim Fulbe members of the elite Republican Guard attempted to prevent Biya—a southern Christian Beti—from rising to power.

Smuggling Kidneys and Uranium

This chapter examines the exposure of two nefarious criminal episodes — organ smuggling in Kosovo and highly enriched uranium (HEU) smuggling in South Ossetia — which tested the resolve, organization, and patriotism of specialized mafias. Caught red-handed, the traffickers tainted separatists' legitimacy as the public scandals provoked repression from international military authorities (in Kosovo) or the host state (in South Ossetia). Damage control was necessary — but only one separatist movement managed it. The chapter compares three dimensions of mafia capacity: infrastructure, regarding control of borders and sites; autonomy, concerning the ability to leverage separatist ideology and instrumentalize movement institutions; and community, apropos levels of fear, discipline, and clan-based solidarity. Nefarious crime harmed Kosovo's separatists less because mafia capacity was greater, thereby containing the damage.

Mafia Filter

This chapter compares the organized criminal filtering of regional smuggling opportunities (in drugs and arms) into separatist movement benefit. For separatists, it is preferable to have transnational smuggling in their region than not. This is trivial, almost axiomatic. Movements are denied formal channels for various resources they sorely need — money, arms, fighters, and propaganda channels. What they cannot procure within host state borders, they must smuggle across them. When separatists have the fortuitous circumstance of regional smuggling routes, it is only natural they exploit it. But the advantage does not come automatically. Mafia capacity and predisposition in these rackets at critical junctures — 1999 in Kosovo and 2008 in South Ossetia — enhanced and stagnated separatism, respectively.