Book Review: Minorities, modernity, and the emerging nations
Christians in Indonesia, a biographical approach
by Sunny Tanuwidjaja

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Minorities, modernity, and the emerging nations – Christians in Indonesia, a biographical approach Gerry Van Klinken 285 pages. 2003. Leiden: KITLV Press Category: History

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In this book, Van Klinken studies the life experiences of five Christian individuals, who he considers as representative of the general Christian individuals elites, as they underwent the process of modernization. Particularly he studies their struggles as Indonesian political elite to relate to the Indonesia masses with different religious identity and experiences. The five Christian political elites are: Kasimo, a Javanese Catholic who was a member of the Volksraad; Goenong Moelia, a Batak Protestant, who was also a member of the Volksraad; Ratu Langie, a Minahasan Christian; Amir Sjarifoeddin, a Protestant who was Indonesian prime minister and was a member of the communist revolt in Madiun, and Soegipranata, a Jesuit in Central Java, who was the first indigenous bishop in the Indies.

The book provides us, Indonesian Christians, with cases of Christian individuals who tried to resolve their identity as both Indonesian and Christians. This book shows that being a Christian Indonesian is problematic because in general, the Indonesian people are not Christians. The main weaknesses of this book are its failure to clearly answer its research question, its failure to elaborate the selection method used, and its limited theoretical framework on legitimacy and leadership. However, this book provides us with the opportunity to reflect on and struggle about our dual identities, Christian and Indonesian.

Book Summary

Van Klinken divides Indonesian history into two periods the traditional kingdom period, before the 20th century, and the modern period, after the 20th century. During the modern period, several Indonesians experienced modernization, which according to Van Klinken includes getting modern education, or being employed in colonial government structure, or working in the business sector. All of these five individuals either got a modern education provided by the Dutch or were recruited in the Dutch government structure. As minorities among the Indonesian due to their “Christian” identity, and as political elites who had the opportunity to provide leadership to the masses, they struggled to bridge their identity as Indonesians, which they shared with the masses, and their religious identity which they shared with the colonials.

In order to understand how each of these individuals dealt with this problem, Van Klinken uses Weber's different classification of relationship between leaders and the masses they lead, namely: charismatic, traditional, and legal-rational. Charismatic leadership is based on the leaders' power and extraordinary qualities as perceived by the followers. Traditional leadership is based on hereditary sources. Legal- rational leadership is based on established structures and institutions. According to Van Klinken, Amir Sjarifoeddin and Soegipranata used charismatic leadership approach in trying to relate to the masses, while Kasimo and Goenong Moelia used legal-rational approach, and Ratu Langie used traditional approach. Despite these differences in approach, all were able to escape from a marginal status under the colonial rules because of their religious identity. One the one hand, they gained the opportunity to experience modernization, while on the other their religious identity confirmed that they are different from Indonesians in general.

Kasimo and Moelia, although based on their religion were highly sympathetic to the nationalist movement, chose to utilize the Volksraad, which promised only a slow and gradual change towards a more independent Indonesia. The reason for this is because both owed their career the church and the government, established by the colonials. As both individuals became part of the modern institutions established by the colonials, their religion became institutionalized and their convictions made compromise with power. These two cases show how modernization not only provide opportunity for these minorities, but also erode their religious convictions.

Ratu Langie had the interest to gain political support and legitimacy in the Minahasa area, which was predominantly Christians. This provided him with the opportunity to appeal to the traditional root of Minahasa as a Christian society and by doing so he was able to relate to the general masses of the Minahasa. As an aristocrat, he idealized the past in which elites were able to rule in a society. This idealization was his attempt to gain legitimacy in Minahasa. For him, his participation in the nationalist movement was only a mere political exercise, and he hoped that a federal Indonesian structure would emerge with the independence.

Finally, the case of Amir Sjarifoeddin and Soegipranata represent how the future image of Indonesia drawn from Christianity was used to inspired nationalist movement. Utilizing their charismatic status they spread their imagined ideals and through such appeal, relate to some part of the Indonesian masses.

Comments

This book provides many detail accounts and can be an excellent information resource about Indonesian history. However, it fails to clearly answer its main research question stated in the introductory chapter: how were these five individuals going to relate to the Indonesian mass, considering they did not share the religious identity of those masses? Particularly the book failed to explain clearly the relationship between the Christian identity and the individuals' approach of relating the mass as political leaders.

In the case of Ratu Langie, it is unclear that his traditional approach of leadership was to relate to the people of Minahasa not the Indonesian masses in general. Thus, the account of his experience in this book is not answering the main research question posed by the author. Also, based on his accounts, it seems that Van Klinken needs to at least show the limitations of Weber's framework. For example, in the case of Amir Sjarifoeddin and Soegipranata it is clear that they combined both legal-rational and charismatic leadership approach.

This study might be more interested if the author expands his theoretical framework, instead of using only Weber's leadership classification, it would be interesting to see how other theoretical framework on leadership classification explains the five cases. The last weak point of this book is that although the author claims that his cases are representative of Christian political elites, he failed to elaborate his case selection method and explain why he considers them as representative.

Despite these weaknesses, we as Indonesian Christians can learn a very important thing from this book. We need to realize that being an Indonesian and being a Christian at the same time can be or is problematic. Particularly as intellectuals who are called to be salt and light in our society we need to attempt to resolve the identity crisis we are facing. We need to answer the question: how can we be both Indonesian and Christians and yet still able to relate to the general Indonesian mass with different mental universe?

Sunny Tanuwidjaja is currently pursuing Ph.D. in Political Science at Northern Illinois University.

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