Al-Jāmi‘ah: Journal of Islamic Studies - ISSN: 0126-012X (p); 2356-0912 (e)
Vol. 57, no. 1 (2019), pp.167-196, doi: 10.14421/ajis.2019.571.167-196

MADURESE CHRISTIAN
In Search of Christian Identity within Muslim Society
Akhmad Siddiq
State Islamic University of Sunan Ampel, Surabaya
email: a.siddiq@uinsby.ac.id
Abstract
In many discussions and conversations with Muslim Madurese I often heard
common belief that none of Madurese individuals embraces Christianity.
They mostly conceive that almost one hundred percent of Madurese people are
Muslim while Christian people living in Madura are generally non-Madurese.
It might be right but the fact shows that some of the Madurese have embraced
Christianity, besides Madurese Christian community in Sumber Pakem
East Java which is practicing Christianity for more than four generations.
The ignorance of Madurese Muslim toward Christian population, especially
Madurese Christian in Madura, appear because of less interaction between
Muslim and Christian on the one hand and social worries of Madurese
Christians to express their identity on the other. This paper aims to describe
the existence of Madurese Christians, examine how they survive inside and
outside Madura island, and how they interact with Madurese Muslims. It
also attempts to elucidate cultural connection between ethnicity (of Madurese)
and religiosity (of Christian).
[Dalam perlbagai diskusi dan perbincangan dengan orang Madura,
seringkali terdengar pernyataan bahwa tidak ada orang Madura yang
memeluk Kristen. Dipercaya bahwa 100 % orang Madura adalah muslim,
sedangkan orang Kristen di Madura adalah bukan orang Madura. Hal ini
mungkin benar, namun realitasnya berkata bahwa ada sekolompok orang
Madura memeluk Kristen beberapa generasi dan tinggal di Sumber Pakem,
Jawa Timur. Ketidaktahuan ini disebabkan oleh minimnya interaksi antara

Akhmad Siddiq

Madura muslim dan Kristen disatu sisi, dan di sisi yang lain karena adanya
kegamangan kelompok Madura Kristen untuk menunjukkan identitasnya
pada publik. Artikel ini menjelaskan keberadaan orang Madura Kristen
dan bagaimana mempertahankannya dan berinteraksi dengan muslim, baik
di dalam maupun luar Pulau Madura. Artikel ini juga mengeksplorasi
hubungan kultural antara etnisitas (Madura) dengan agama (Kristen).]
Keywords: Madurese, Islam, Christianity, social identity.
A. Introduction
It is somewhat sensible when many Madurese claimed that almost
all Madurese are Muslims. Statistics reported that more than 99 percent
of Madurese population are Muslims. There are approximately 8,000
Christians living in Madura compared to 3,787,174 Muslims. Based on
BPS (Central Bureau of Statistics), other religious believers living in
Madura are Buddhists and Hindus—in spite of its very small number—
with their own temple and shrine in Pamekasan and Sumenep.1 Indeed,
Emha Ainun Najib, an Indonesian Muslim writer and artist, illustrated
Islamic picture of Madura by saying, “Di Madura ayam dan sapi pun
Islam (In Madura, even the chicken and the cow are Muslims).”2
Madurese Islam has traditionally established for centuries through
at least three key elements: the pesantren (Islamic traditional education
system), the Nahdlatul Ulama (Muslim organization), and the kiai
(traditional Islamic authority).3 Pribadi asserts that the santri culture
of Madura was rooted to religion that makes it difficult to draw a clear
distinction between tradition and religion.4 Strength and weakness of
Muslim-Christian relationship in Madura and beyond do not only remain
1

BPS Kab. Pamekasan, Kabupaten Pamekasan dalam Angka 2016 (Pamekasan:
Badan Pusat Statistik Kabupaten Pamekasan, 2016), p. 186; BPS Kab. Sumenep, Sumenep
dalam Angka 2018 (Sumenep: Badan Pusat Statistik Kabupaten Sumenep, 2018), p. 190.
2
Mirjam Lucking, “‘Arabness’ as Social Capital in Madura”, Islamika Indonesiana,
vol. 1, no. 2 (2014), pp. 37–46.
3
Yanwar Pribadi, “Religious Networks in Madura: Pesantren, Nahdlatul Ulama,
and Kiai as the Core of Santri Culture”, Al-Jami’ah: Journal of Islamic Studies, vol. 51,
no. 1 (2013), pp. 1–32.
4
Ibid.

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Madurese Christian: In Search of Christian Identity within Muslim Society

on how Madurese Muslim interact with Christian but also on how
Madurese Christian interact with their Muslim counterpart.
According to Husein, Muslim-Christian relation in Indonesia has
been influenced by unfinished debates on religious exclusiveness and
inclusiveness. Focusing on Muslim’s understanding and interpretation on
Christian-Muslim relation during New Order Indonesia, Husein states
that inter-religious discourse raised as highly-attractive tension: exclusivist
Muslims criticized inclusivists for being linked with Christians (and Jews),
weakening Islamic faith with secular-liberal interpretation, and fostering
Christianization.5 In Madura, discourse on inter-religious relation involves
within social activities and internal-external identification which could
create cultural distance between Christian and Muslim society. On the one
hand Madurese people preserve Islam as a main part of their multiple
identities, on the other hand they tend to exclude Christianity out of
from social concern. In this context, social encounters are needed to
create mutual understanding and good communication between religious
communities, as it is supposed by Fahardian that identities are reflective
depending on the contexts of social encounters.6
Renowned as religious people, Madurese Muslim tend to associate
their ethnicity with Islam as unseparated entities. Being Madurese for
them is being Muslim: converting to another religion outside Islam means
to be detached from the ethnicity of Madurese people. When Kusumah
states that Islam has become an innate character of Madurese people,7
it means that Madurese people are identical with Muslim identity. In
other word, to be Madurese is culturally to be a Muslim. In this regard,
it is interesting to look at Kipp’s description that religiosity (Christianity)
has become a unifying factor which was culturally indebted in the social
identity of Karo People. He concluded that at one point in the past
religious conversion from Christianity to Islam has been perceived by
5

Fatimah Husein, “Muslim-Christian Relations in the New Order Indonesia:
The Exclusivist and Inclusivist Muslims’ Perspectives”, Ph.D. Dissertation (Melbourne:
University of Melbourne, 2003).
6
Charles E. Farhadian, Christianity, Islam, and Nationalism in Indonesia (New York:
Routledge, 2005), p. 6.
7
Maulana Surya Kusumah, “Sopan, Hormat dan Islam: Ciri-Ciri Orang
Madura”, in Kepercayaan, Magi, dan Tradisi dalam Masyarakat Madura, ed. by Soegianto
(Jember: Tapal Kuda, 2003), pp. 1–29.

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Karo people as a crossing turn of the ethnic boundary. By becoming a
Muslim, an individual in Karo society was recognized as non-Karo and
became a Malay.8
Another interesting research is Kahn’s anthropological finding of
other Malays. Kahn presumes that within the history of Malay nationalism
in which popular narrative of national ethnicity and social identity
implanted there occur a suppressed racial exclusion to other ethnic
identities, such as Chinese and Indian. Attempts to build more or less a
fixed and stable modern identity of Malay to some extent blocked the
possibility of making alternative narratives.9 Malay people acknowledged
what so-called orang asli to identify themselves and discount another
ethnic group. Kahn criticized this myth of originality by exploring that
ethnicity of Malay was extended across the peninsular area of island
Southeast Asia and the islands of Indonesia, including Sumatra.10 The
reality exemplifies racial or ethnic propensity to fortify imagined identities
by the majority.
In this regard, it is understood that Madurese Christian, as the
religious minority living in Muslim Madurese society, was challenged by
social resistances through a manner of religious instrument: that Islam
is a common narrative of Madurese people. Social resistance occurs
especially from people with whom they interact and communicate with
each other. A Madurese Catholic in Sumenep said that his decision of
being Catholic must be paid by having cracked friendship and excluded
by his family. Many friends and relatives avoided to meet and interact
with him after his conversion to Catholic.11 For them, Christianity is a
“mistake” and to be Christian is to be “opponent” of Islam. When he
grew up, he decided to move from his former neighborhood to a new
neighborhood which are fairly disconnected with his past. Some of the
Madurese Christians tend to conceal their new-faith at the beginning
until they felt well prepared to face any social challenges. This condition
8

Rita Smith Kipp, Dissociated Identities: Ethnicity, Religion, and Class in an Indonesian
Society (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1993), p. 5.
9
Joel Kahn, Other Malays: Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism in the Modern Malay
World (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2006), p. xxiii.
10
Ibid., pp. 29–70.
11
ED, interview (20 Oct 2017).

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emerges as a public inhibitor to social identity integration where the
feelings of threat not only impede Madurese Christian’s adjustment to
the change but also decrease their identification with the new religious
community.12 Catherine E. Amiot points out that adaptation and social
support can inherit a developmental mechanism toward social identity
integration.13
When I aimed to interview Madurese Christians in a certain
church in Madura, they preferred not to talk about their Christianity with
“non-Christian” person. They kept a distance to expose their identity
as Madurese Christians. Romo Fajar reminded me about a traumatic
condition and Rev. Samuel mentioned historical worriers they might
face during the interview.14 It could, according to them, raise personal
wounds of the past.
At the first time I embraced Christianity, my friends kept a distance from
me. Some of them threatened me by giving Islamic books, directing me
to come back to Islam, and even intimidating me physically… I have ever
got an attack in front of the church from an unknown person trying to
kill me by motorcycle assault. And thanks to God I was saved.15
Frankly speaking, I am not strong enough to talk about it… At the first
time I embraced Christianity, I was expelled from my village. My family
and my neighbor did not accept my existence as a Christian. I was tried
by the people. I was really weakened. I wanted to go away from this city.
The torture was very tough for me. But here now I can still live in this
city… Thanks to God.16

Different experience acknowledged by Madurese Christian who
stay outside the island. HRS, a Madurese Christian in Surabaya, states
that his life in Surabaya—far away from home in Sumenep—was a gift
of God where he can delightfully practice Christianity without any social
worries and fears. He remembered his Christian-childhood in Madura
12

Catherine E. Amiot et al., “Integration of Social Identities in the Self: Toward
a Cognitive-Developmental Model”, Personality and Social Psychology Review, vol. 11, no. 4
(2007), pp. 364–88.social identity theory, self-categorization theory
13
Amiot et al., “Integration of Social Identities in the Self ”.
14
Romo Fajar, interview (6 Nov 2017); Rev. Samuel, interview (30 Oct 2017).
15
AD, interview (31 Oct 2017).
16
MA, interview (9 Nov 2017).

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which was full of social threats from his friends, relatives, and neighbors.17
WK, another Madurese Christian living in Surabaya said that her faith
has not been suspected by her friends, families, or colleagues both in
Pamekasan or Surabaya. She asserted that she still communicates with
her schoolmates in Pamekasan regardless of their religious disparities.18
Furthermore, Madurese Christians living inside or outside the
island share similarities of their closeness with Islamic tradition beyond
their Christian faith. As Madurese people, Islam (as cultural practice) has
been ingrained within Madurese cultural expressions, such as conducting
tahlilan (Islamic ritual after death) and yasinan (reciting a certain version
of the Qur’an). BD, a Madurese Christian living in Bondowoso, notified
that he still attends Islamic ritual in his village when he was invited to
come. Moreover, he was a santri (Muslim student) before his conversion
to Christianity.19
Visiting a house of the Madurese Christian in Surabaya, East Java,
I have seen the transcript of Doa Bapa Kami (the Lord Prayer) hang up
in the wall, written in Arabic and drew with beautiful Arabic calligraphy.
Many Muslim guests supposed that the picture is Ayat Kursi (a verse of
the Quran). The host said that the picture was sketched by his brother,
who was grown up within Islamic society. I suggest that the culture of
pandalungan, hybrid identity of social acculturation between Madurese
and Javanese, has created an inclusive school of thought among Madurese
living outside the Island, where religion and ethnicity could be equally
positioned within traditional activities.
In his article, “Religion and Ethnicity: Theoretical Connections,”
Rebecca Kim points out that ethnicity and religion have been rooted in
long-lasting relation, in spite of assimilation and secularization theory that
questioned the existence of ethnic in the first and religion in the second.
Exploring and criticizing these two major theories, he argues that there
was a deep connection between social transformation and revitalization
of Christianity in America.20 In term of Madurese Christianity, it was
17

HRS, interview (14 Aug 2017).
WK, interview (17 Nov 2017).
19
BD, interview (13 Aug 2017).
20
Rebecca Y. Kim, “Religion and Ethnicity: Theoretical Connections”, Religions,
vol. 2, no. 3 (2011), p. 323.
18

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witnessed that migration and social transformation had influenced the
wave of Christianity in Madura or Madurese Christians life. In what
follows I will explain two significant entry points to describe social and
cultural life of Madurese Christians: Madurese Christian community in
Sumber Pakem and Alketab (the Madurese version of Christian scripture).
B. Madurese Christian Community in Sumberpakem
Among—to avoid saying the only—Madurese community that
practice Christianity along with Madurese tradition is Madurese Christians
living in Sumber Pakem, Jember. They represented the fourth or fifth
generation of Rev. Ebing (Bing) who fostered Christianity among the
Madurese in the district for the first time. He is the first person of the
Madurese in the district who embraced Christianity in 1882 and spread
out Christian doctrine among his family and companions.21 After being
baptized, he called ten of his families to Christianity and become his
former congregation. There were at least five persons who had a role
in spreading Christianity in Sumber Pakem: Rev. Ebing, Yapet, Sampun,
Maria, and Juman.22 Almost all Madurese Christians in Sumber Pakem
today are descendant of these people. About 7 kilometers from Sumber
Pakem, there is a little church of District Paleran which also involves
Madurese Christian community. This community has been circled within
small area maintaining not more than 109 persons. According to Asmawi,
a Christian leader in Paleran, all Madurese Christians in the district are
descendant of Bhuju’ Satima. For Madurese people, bhuju’ is a greatgrandfather, a term that is used to signify certain ancestor representing
historical fame of a family lineage. Along with the population growth
of Bhuju’ Satima, Madurese Christian at the area established Paleran
Church in 1958. Before this time, Madurese Christian in the district came
to Slateng to perform church service and liturgy.
Sumber Pakem represents a central church for three other Christian
churches in its surrounding areas: Paleran, Slateng, and Kalisat. In Fajar’s
term, Sumber Pakem is a masjid (great mosque) which manages three
21

Edy Sumartono, Kidung di Kaki Gunung Raung: Sebuah Potret Komunitas Madura
Kristen (Bandung: Bina Media Informasi, 2009), pp. 47–50.
22
Pak Win, interview (12 Aug 2017).

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musalla (little mosque) under its supervision.23 In the beginning, Sumber
Pakem was known as one of the most dynamic areas of the Christian
missionary. It was I. J. Esser from Java Committee24 who initiated to
spread Christianity for Madurese people, both inside Madura or outside
the island. He established an elementary school in Sumber Pakem as his
first missionary action where Ebing, one of his pupils and successors,
grew and became Madurese Christian proselytizer.
Compared to Christian missionary for Javanese people managed
by NZG (Nederlandse Zendelings Genootschap), the mission initiated
by Java Committee for Madurese people was more challenging and
puzzling. Social and technical difficulties occurred within that mission
relating to its method and approach. There was no meeting point between
Christianity and Madurese ethnicity that could energize promising result
of the mission as well as no comprehensive knowledge of Madurese life
and culture.25 However, the growth of Christianity in Sumber Pakem
and its surrounding areas has successfully produced several Madurese
evangelists such as Ebing, Guru Soleiman, Guru Injil Amin, Nugroho,
Guru Injil Bogi, Pilipoes, Alpejoes, and Tartib Eprojim.26 To maintain
social encounter between Madurese locality and Christian theology, they
nurtured their Madurese Christianity under official support of GKJW
(East Java Christian Church).
Madurese Christian community in Sumber Pakem symbolizes lived
and practiced Christianity in the midst of Muslim majority neighborhood.
Madurese Christian and Muslim share the same tradition regardless of
their different faith. Anyone can find cross-cultural and cross-religious
family in Sumber Pakem where the husband is a Christian and the wife is
a Muslim or vice versa. The family of ML is an example: he is a Christian,
fifth generation of Madurese Christian ancestry in the district, while his
wife is a Javanese Muslim. Their children are educated within Christian
23

Fajar (Christian priest Sumber Pakem), interview (12 Aug 2017).
Java Committee was Board of Christian missionary organized in 1855 and
had three branch offices: 1 in Java and 2 in Sumatra.
25
Lembaga Penelitian dan Studi Dewan Gereja-Gereja di Indonesia, Benih
yang Tumbuh: Suatu Survey Mengenai .... (Bandung: Badan Pekerja Sinode Gereja Kristen
Pasundan, 1975), p. 94.
26
Lembaga Penelitian dan Studi Dewan Gereja-Gereja di Indonesia, Benih
yang Tumbuh.
24

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theology but not avoided to learn Islam. ML insisted that he will allow his
children to choose to be a Christian or a Muslim, sometime in the future,
when they were grown up.27 Similar to ML, EK lives with his Muslim
family in one house. He shared rooms with his Muslim uncle and auntie.
He said that to live in an inter-religious family is to mutually respect each
other and not to impose certain belief to another.28 In his official house
of GKJW Sumber Pakem, Fajar accommodated several Muslim children
to play and learn traditional music with him. He has also involved in
social activities and ceremonies, such as bersih desa (cleaning feast of
the village) and maulid (birthday festival of the Prophet Muhammad).
Muslim and Christian in this area shared a similar story of migration
and faced the same weakness or happiness of life. They are brothers
and sisters connected not only by kinship but also history, culture,
and ethnicity.29 The tension commonly based on mutual suspicion
between Christian and Muslim as elaborated in Mujiburrahman’s Feeling
Threatened has not been reflected and exacerbated among people of the
area.30 Their ethnicity and religion have been smelted equitably through
open public communication and affinitive interaction. Social interaction
in the district reflects what Menchik called as “communal tolerance”
which stems from group rights and separation between religious and
social affairs.31
Madurese Christianity in the district symbolizes Madurese ethnicity
which is entangled with Christian theology: it is kind of distinctive
acculturation where Madurese (commonly identified as one-hundredpercent Muslim society) assimilated with Christianity. Living outside
the island of Madura, Madurese Christians in Sumber Pakem practiced
Madurese tradition in their daily activities and conduct social interaction
with Muslim society based on shared identity and engagement. They
encountered mutual and equal practice based on cultural origins.
27

ML and his wife, interview (12 Aug 2017).
Eko (Madurese Christian in Sumber Pakem), interview (12 Aug 2017).
29
Pak Win, interview (12 Aug 2017).
30
Mujiburrahman, Feeling Threatened: Muslim-Christian Relations in Indonesia’s New
Order (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2006), pp. 299–300.
31
Jeremy Menchik, Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance without Liberalism
(Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016), pp. 124–5.2016
28

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Madurese people in Sumber Pakem transcend beyond Noha Nasser’s
description that some prominent narratives explore dichotomic
mythology between “self ” and “other”, “control” and “oppression”,
“educated” and “barbaric”. Nasser emphasizes that the need for mutual
understanding and communication between two cultures is currently
eager.32 Interestingly, Madurese Christian in Sumber Pakem used
Madurese language in the sermon and liturgy, specifically in the second
week every month, while Churches in Madura use Indonesia language
as their lingua franca. The church also utilized Kejungan Pojian Rohani
Untuk Jemaat Berbahasa Madura (Madurese liturgical songs) as liturgical
songs for Madurese community.33
C. Alketab
Alketab is a Madurese version of Christian scripture. Alketab is
part of a long-lasting process of Biblical translation into local languages
among Malay and Indonesian nations. This process started from Ruyl’s
initiation when he translated the Bible of Matthew into Bahasa Melayu
(Malay language). He needed 12 years for this effort and finished his
project in 1612. In 1629, this Malay version was published by Jan Jacobsz
Palenstein, Nederland. Ruyl was a pioneer for Malay translation of the
Bible. In 1668, Daniel Brouwerious published his full translation of the
New Testament into the Malay language. Among the first generation
of Biblical translators into the Malay language was Melchior Leijdecker
who translated a full version of the Holy Book in a very thoughtful and
academic method. Before finishing his translation, which reached almost
90 percent of completion, Leijdecker died. His translation was continued
eventually by Pieter van der Vorm. In 1733, the translation was published
in Amsterdam in Latin text while the Arabic text (pegon) was published
in Batavia in 1758.34
32

Noha Nasser, “Muslim-British Architectural Exchanges in Britain: Dispelling
Myths, Rewriting History, and Creating Shared Identity”, Traditional Dwellings and
Settlements Review, vol. 24, no. 1 (2012), p. 6.
33
Kejungan Pojian Rohani Greja Kristen Jawi Wetan Untuk Jemaat Berbahasa Madura
(Sumber Pakem: Majelis Agung GKJW, 2011).
34
Daud Hadi Soesilo, Mengenal Alkitab Anda (Jakarta: Lembaga Alkitab
Indonesia, 2014), pp. 54–60.

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Before the 19th century, the Biblical translation was generally done
as personal or unorganized initiation. The Biblical translation is latterly
conducted by a team which involves at least three groups: translators,
researchers, and consultants. Translators are selected from local churches
who represent various intellectual background (such as theology, linguistic,
and social science) and different ages. All translation documents must be
discussed and criticized before they are published.35 In the 19th century,
all Biblical translation activities into Malay or Indonesian language was
controlled by Nederlands Bijbelgenootschap (NBG, Biblical Society of
Nederland) members who live in Amsterdam. This condition remained
until World War II. In February 1954, initiation and need to have an
independent board for Biblical Society of Indonesia (LAI) was certified.
In the same year, LAI was recognized by UBS (United Bible Society).36
Initiatives for biblical translation are based on needs and proposals from
Christian local congregation.
At the beginning, it was only the Gospel of Mark which was
translated into Madurese language and published limitedly in 1971,
although the process of translation began from 1967. In October 1971,
the whole pieces of the New Testament were translated into the Madurese
language, but only in 1972 the Gospel of Luke was published while the
Gospel of Matthew was published in 1974. In 1981, the project of Biblical
translation into Madurese entered a new phase when Hasaniah Waluyo,
a Madurese Catholic from Pamekasan, was honored to be a translator.
She was a teacher in the Catholic Secondary School of Pamekasan and
mastered in the English language. Consultants of this project were P.G.
Katoppo and H. Ugang. The team was involved in Protestant and Catholic
congregations. The project was finished later than it was estimated and
just published in 1994. From this year, the whole chapters of the Holy
Book were translated into Madurese language.37
Before this full version of the Holy Book, Madurese Christians
in GKJW Sumber Pakem had used several books such as Ketab Injil
35

Lady Mandalika, email interview (27 Mar 2018).
J.L. Swellengrebel, Mengikuti Jejak Leijdecker: Satu Setengah Abad Penerjemahan
Alkitab dan Penelitian Bahasa dalam Bahasa-Bahasa Nusantara, vol. 1 (Jakarta: Lembaga
Alkitab Indonesia, 2006), pp. 9–20.
37
Swellengrebel, Mengikuti jejak Leijdecker.
36

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Sotceh Se Etoles Yohanes (the Gospel of John), Kejungan Pojian Rohani
(Spiritual Songs and Prayers), and Tjareta Saratos Empa’ (One Hundred
and Four Stories) written by van der Spiegel in 1929.38 These books are
well conserved in the local church in Paleran and Sumber Pakem. When
I visited the local church of Paleran, Asmawi said that they still keep the
Madurese language as a liturgical language used within church service
twice in a month: in the first and the third week.39 Fajar strengthened
Asmawi’s statement and intended to preserve the Madurese language as
an “official and local” language of Christian liturgy among Madurese
people.40 Interestingly, East Java Christian Church in Bangkalan Madura
does not use the Madurese language within its ceremony because the
Christian congregation in the church are mostly non-Madurese.
Alketab represents a deep-rooted connection between Madurese
culture and Christianity where the local language of the people implants
within religious texts of Christianity. The Biblical society supposes that
Biblical translation into local languages in Indonesia could be a theological
pledge which links local people to the essence of Christian values and
doctrines. Having understood as a basic element of cultural expressions,
language can explain many aspects of cultural representation within
society. in this context Alketab has strengthened the cultural position of
Madurese Christian within other Christian ethnic groups in Indonesia.
D. Religious Life of Madurese Christian
During my research in Madura and beyond, I found various
responses from Madurese Christians as informers. The first Madurese
Christian I met in Sumber Pakem accepted me very well, told me stories
he knew about Madurese Christian and explained Muslim-Christian
relationship in the region. Another Madurese Christian in Bondowoso
shared his story of being Madurese Christian while giving me more stories
about his close friendship with his Muslim friends and colleagues in the
past. Some only told me their stories very concisely while others avoid
38

Tjiptowardono, “Buku Kristen Kuno Bahasa Madura Perlu Perhatian Serius”,
ICW (2005), https://sejarah.co/artikel/buku_kristen_kuno_madura.htm, accessed 28
Mar 2018.
39
Asmawi, interview (12 Aug 2017).
40
Fajar (Christian priest Sumber Pakem), interview (12 Aug 2017).

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to meet and talk to about their Christianity. Through an encounter with
some of Madurese Christians, I could feel worries and fears to discover
their existence and identity of being Madurese Christian. This kind of
suspicious feeling was especially given by Madurese Christian living inside
Madura island, yet who living outside the island, such as Sumber Pakem,
tend to be more inclusive.
At one point when I met a Madurese Christian woman in
Pamekasan, her husband asked me about my intention on interviewing
Madurese Christian. He asked me not to reveal “the Islamic past” of
his wife and her religious turn to be Christian. He reminded me that the
story might contain traumatic feelings. I appreciated this family because
they could overtake some social problems in their past concerning their
choice of being Christian. In another case, I met someone who told me
his historical past and his conversion into Christianity without any fears.
He said that all religious experiences he faced were a blessing. A Madurese
Christian living in Surabaya told to me that being a Christian does not
mean to break the cultural connection with Madurese tradition and her
Madurese friends. Based on this reality I suppose that connectivity with
Islam and social fears had culturally entangled within Madurese Christian
life.
1. Connectivity with Islam
Some of the Madurese persons converted to Christianity by his
personal choice while others were born within an inter-religious family,
where the father is Christian and the mother is Muslim or vice versa. In
regard to this situation, both are familiar with Islam and have cultural
knowledge relating to Islamic tradition. The condition gives them
comparable knowledge and experience between their past and present:
between Islam and Christianity. This reality allows them to be culturally
connected with Islamic knowledge and tradition practiced by Madurese
Muslim around them. Such connectivity to some extent influences cultural
and religious approach how Madurese Christian builds inter-religious
relation with Madurese Muslim.
When I met BD in Bondowoso he told me a story of his Muslim
childhood and its connectivity with his today’s Christianity. He lived
as a Muslim child in Madura where all children in the village came to
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musalla or mosque to learn the Qur’an and Islamic doctrine. Like other
children in his village, BD studied Islam in pesantren to improve his
knowledge of Islam. He confessed that he has a deep relationship with
his Muslim friends until today though he became a Christian. “When I
moved to this settlement and held slametan rumah as welcoming party,
my Muslim friends come and helped me to organize the party,” he said.
He kept his connectivity with Islam and Muslim friends because it was a
part of his life.41 BD live with his Chinese wife and their children in the
Muslim majority area. In several attendances, many Muslims supposed
him as a Muslim because of his awareness and connectivity with Islam.
Connectivity with Islam and Muslim tradition might influence Madurese
Christian to deal with and respond to inter-religious relation.
RN, a Madurese Christian woman living in Surabaya, told me that
when she was a child she used to play with other Muslim children in
her village in Pamekasan. She remembered that her Muslim neighbor
often called her to learn and recite al-Qur’an and other Islamic praises.
She felt no objection although she was a Christian. She perceived that
being Christian girl did not limit her to interact and interplay with her
Muslim friends. This experience created intimate connectivity inside
her retention with Islam. Moreover, her mother was an English teacher
that conducted a private course for students in her house. When she
moved and lived in Surabaya, her son was also familiarized with Islamic
praises and recitations because her house was located near to a mosque.
Interestingly, her son could memorize some of those recitations.42 In
line with RN, WK affirmed that she recites Islamic praises called ayat
seribu dinar (the verse of one thousand dinar) as a daily prayer because
she believes that this Islamic prayer is efficacious and powerful.43
Islamic past within Christian life can also represent a religious turn.
HRS told me about his childhood experience when he studied al-Quran
in his village in Sumenep. He studied at the Catholic Elementary School
(SDK: Sekolah Dasar Katolik) in the morning and learned Quranic
recitation in musalla in the afternoon. According to him, the kyai in the
musalla often warned him to be careful of being a student at Catholic
41

BD, interview (13 Aug 2017).
RN, interview (17 Nov 2017).
43
WK, interview (17 Nov 2017).
42

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School. The kyai advised him not to pay attention to Christian teaching
or follow Christian ritual. During this time, he heard theological terms
such as kafir (infidel) to identify Catholics and Christians.
Based on this experience, he grew as a Muslim bad-boy who
intensely made troubles in the Catholics School and Church. He
remembered what it was said in the musalla: tak arapah, arowah oreng kaper,
be’na olle genjheren mon elasalaeh (it is no problem to make troubles to them
because they are infidels, you will take merit on it).44 What surprised him
is a response from a Christian leader. The priest always answered his
disobedience with a calm and peaceful response. This response generated
questions on his mind concerning Islam and Christian values. When he
was baptized at his fourth year in the Catholic school, he has learned
both Islamic and Christian basic knowledge to believe and practice.
The Muslim childhood provided HRS to understand Islam and
Muslim culture through many pressures and threats had been directed to
him because of his religious conversion. Currently, HRS is taking a part
in inter-religious activism along with the Muslim community in Surabaya.
He realized that being Madurese Christian does not mean to be exclusive.
Some of Madurese Christians were descendants of an intellectual
Muslim family. Hasaniah Waluyo, for instance, was a daughter of
Abdurachman Sastrasubrata, Muslim intellectual from Sumenep.
Hasaniah was an English teacher in SMPK (Catholic Secondary School)
in Pamekasan who converted into Catholics in 1955. She was a prolific
writer who wrote essays and many books, such as: Surat Ibunda buat
Dian45, Sebening Air Matanya,46 Selembar Benang Sutera47. She also translated
many books such as Kasihnya Seputih Salju48, Pelangi di Kabut Senja49, Kita

44

HRS, interview (14 Aug 2017).
C. Hasaniyah Waluyo, Surat Ibunda buat Dian (Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 1994).
46
C. Hasaniyah Waluyo, Sebening Air Matanya (S.l.: Bina Karya, 1980).
47
C. Hasaniyah Waluyo, Selembar Benang Sutera (Ende: Nusa Indah, 1989).
48
Denise Robins, Kasihnya Seputih Salju, trans. by C. Hasaniyah Waluyo (Jakarta:
Gramedia, 1978).
49
Elizabeth Ashton, Pelangi di Kabut Senja, trans. by C. Hasaniyah Waluyo
(Jakarta: Gramedia, 1978).
45

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Anak Allah50, Kisah Lama dari Rantau Jauh51, and Kasih Bersemi di Kabut
Badai.52 As mentioned before, she also translated the Bible into Madurese
language published in 1994.53 Connectivity with Islam and Muslim society
was represented in Hasaniah’s life through her social connection, daily
activities, and her active silaturahmi (visit) to her Muslim families and
companions. She always had time to visit, pay a call, help, and take care
with others, including her Muslim family and neighbors.54
Connectivity with Islam is a culturally taken-for-granted fact of
Madurese Christian since Islam has been rooted within Madurese tradition
and culture. Islam in this context deals with Madurese Christian not as
a piece of religious doctrines but as a part of cultural means. Entailing
with Madurese identity, Madurese Christians are difficult to evade
Islamic traces from their social identity. Describing relatedness between
Madurese Christian and Muslim in Sumber Pakem, Fajar expresses this
connectivity with term kekeluargaan (kinship)55 while Asmawi calls it as
settong bhuju’ (one ancestor).56 The two terms signify cultural similarities
of genetic lineage and implicitly denote into cultural connectivity with
Muslim society as the same clan.
However, in some cases, this connectivity was perceived as a
cultural restraint that could produce social worries. A small amount of
Madurese Christians, for instance, decided to live in Java because they felt
uncomfortable with being Christian in the midst of Madurese Muslim
majority in Madura.57 It was also expressed by HRS who preferred to
live in Surabaya than in Sumenep, based on the historical past of his
Muslim childhood.
50

F.H. Drinkwater, Kita Anak Allah (Kumpulan Cerita untuk Bina Iman), trans.
by C. Hasaniyah Waluyo (Ende: Nusa Indah, 2004).
51
M.G. van Neck, Kisah Lama dari Rantau Jauh, trans. by C. Hasaniyah Waluyo
(Jakarta: Balai Pustaka, 1975).
52
Roumelia Lane, Kasih Bersemi dikabut Badai, trans. by Hasaniyah Waluyo
(Jakarta: Penerbit PT Gramedia, 1978).
53
Lembaga Alkitab Indonesia, Alketab: e dhalem basa Madura., trans. by C.
Hasaniyah Waluyo (Jakarta: Lembaga Alkitab Indonesia, 1994).
54
WK, interview (17 Nov 2017).
55
Fajar (Christian priest Sumber Pakem), interview (12 Aug 2017).
56
Asmawi, interview (12 Aug 2017).
57
Sumardi, interview (25 Jan 2017).

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The religious experience of SRY, a Madurese Christian in GKJW
Bangkalan, also represents a deep connection between Madurese
Christian and Islam as her religion of the past. She was baptized ten
years ago but until today she recognized Islam as an inseparable feature
of her life. She learned and understood the Qur’an and Islamic doctrine
because she studied Islam in pesantren from her childhood. She is now a
teacher and a good reader of the Holy Book. When I came to her house
she put the Bible and the Qur’an, which are full of underlined remarks,
in the table in front of us. During our conversation, she easily said Nabi
Isa (the Prophet Isa) as a term to identify Jesus. She pronounced the
word Allah in the same way the Madurese Muslim articulated it.58 She
believes that Christianity and Islam could not be divided into two different
pieces. Both are originated in the same foundation of Millah Ibrahim
(Abrahamic religion).59
2. Social Threats and Common Fears
Among the stories of Madurese Christian who were challenged by
social threats is ED’s story in Sumenep and MA’s story in Pamekasan.
These two stories may elucidate how Madurese Christians maintain
religious effort to preserve Christian believe in the midst of Muslim
society. Besides these two stories, there are other similar stories of social
threat and resistance which will be placed as supporting facts. I will focus
on the life of Madurese Christian in Madura since as long as I observed
the resistance commonly appeared within Madurese Christian inside the
island. There are at least two reasons in term of this phenomenon: first,
there is no strong community of Madurese Christian in Madura (they
58

In general, there is different pronunciation between Indonesian Muslim
and Christian on pronouncing the word Allah. The first will say Awwoh and the latter
commonly say Alah. This difference was being problematized in Malaysia where many
Muslim attempted to claim that Allah is the only godly word for Muslim. Christians
have to look for another word to articulate their God. Read Peter Kien-Hong Yu, OneDot Theory Described, Explained, Inferred, Justified, and Applied (London: Springer, 2012),
10-11. Peter Kien-hong Yu, One-dot Theory Described, Explained, Inferred, Justified, and
Applied (New York: Springer-Verlag, 2012), pp. 10–1; Masgono, “Masalah Kata ‘Allah’
di Malaysia dan Indonesia”, Insists (5 Apr 2010), https://insists.id/masalah-kata-allahdi-malaysia-dan-indonesia/, accessed 19 Feb 2017.
59
SRY, interview (18 Mar 2018).

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are Madurese individuals separated by distances among four cities) and
second is Muslim perception toward religious conversion. In Islamic
jurisprudence, some traditional religious texts allow the court and the
government to accuse and sentence to a Muslim because of religious
conversion.
The first person embraced Christianity in ED’s family was his
father. In 1970s he was an urban labor working for Chinese Christian
in Sumenep. During his work, ED’s father was anxious to know what
kind of religion embraced by his employer and what kind of ritual he
practices. Eventually, he followed the employer’s religion, converted to
Christianity, and married with a Chinese Christian woman. This marriage
did not stand for a long time. He married a Muslim woman and have two
children: ED and HRS. This family faced social resistance not in case of
the father’s conversion but after ED and HRS conversion to Christianity.
ED’s father was a gambler and strongman. People were reluctant
to deal with or have a relationship with him. Social threat and resistance
appear when ED and HRS were baptized in the Catholic Church. They
became a target of bullying and physical mistreatment. HRS said:
When I was going to the church, children of the village stopped me
behind the ditch. They gang up on me. Going to the church for me was
like going to fight on a battlefield. I was a little boy and the children who
persecuted me were teenagers. They threw stones on me and soused me
into a river. When I told that accident to my father, he looked after the
children and protested their parent. He carried his sadhe’ (machete) and
warned everyone not to disturb his sons. He alerted to kill everyone who
bothers me and my brother. In this point, I won and felt safe because of
my father’s power.

Social challenges faced by ED and HRS, as the religious story of the
past, produced notions of self-defence and self-commitment to preserve
their faith. Because of his illness, HRS had to be healed in Surabaya and
until now stay in there, while ED continued his life in Sumenep. He
is now working at the Catholic Elementary School and married with
Christian woman from Banyuwangi who works at the same school with
him. ED and HRS have different choices of facing social threats in the
past. However, ED said that their Muslim family from their mother
always kept in touch and built good relation with them. Their existence

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of being Christian did not reduce their family relation because religionbased challenges were attacked by their Muslim neighbors. Both ED
and HRS realized that social threat and pressure during their childhood
emerged from religious misunderstanding and Muslim ignorance toward
Christianity.
A different response was taken by MA when she got social threat
from her family. MA was born as a Muslim girl in a Muslim family within
Muslim society. She was, according to her, a Muslim girl who intensely
dedicated herself to practice Islamic teaching in her life. When she had a
close relationship with Chinese Christian boy she asked him to embrace
Islam if he wanted to marry her. “For me and my Muslim family, he
must be a Muslim first before we were going to get married,” she said.60
Her husband converted to Islam, and they got married through Islamic
tradition. But in reality, her husband could not ignore his Christianity
and she understood him with one condition: no Christian sign or symbol
inside their home.
When they have two daughters, MA saw a vision of Jesus. She
was shocked by the vision and covered by religious worries for several
moments. When she decided to be a Christian, she found her family was
annoyed because of her conversion. They forced her to run away from
the village and did not recognize her as part of the family anymore.
We were threatened for more than three years. Our children were also
warned of killing and torturing. In every morning when we opened our
shop, we found feces in front of it. We also found some writings and
graffiti which condemned our faith and our God... We are besieged and
they almost burned our home. My father, because of his anger have ever
ordered people to punish us. They said, better to not having children than
to have them as infidels.61

ED, HRS and MA overtook that period of social pressure and live
today with their Christian family in good relation with Madurese Muslim
society. ED moved from his former village and stay in a new settlement
60

MA, interview (9 Nov 2017).
Kesaksian Segala Bangsa, “Muslimah Pamekasan ikut Yesus Dikalungi Clurit:
Nur Emmah”, Islam to Jesus (5 Jul 2015), https://kesaksiansegalabangsa.wordpress.
com/2015/07/05/nur-emmah-muslimah-pamekasan-ikut-yesus/, accessed 19 Feb
2017.
61

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with a new neighbor and a new environment as well as MA who did
the same thing by living in a new environment away from her previous
village, family, and neighbor. Meanwhile, HRS stays with his Catholic
new family in Surabaya and involves in his inter-religious activism. In this
context, social distance to some degree has a significant role to influence
social relation: social knowledge creates social identification and social
identification constructs social interaction.
From this reality, I expect that religion-based differences could
create social threats and worries among religious people. In MA’s case,
the role of her family on hardening religious tension has successfully
strengthened people’s resistance based on religious argument. Infidelity
becomes a keyword to exclude the existence of MA and her family from
kinship, relativeness, ethnicity, and Islam. Religious conversion from Islam
to Christian was perceived as a milestone to identify in-group and outgroup recognition. It is logical that many Madurese Christian kept their
official identity in their personal identity card (KTP) as Muslim. SRY, a
converted Muslim, said that replacing process of religious identity in KTP
from Islam to Christianity will not have easily ensued.62 In another case,
the problem of KTP issuance could also be observed within Kaharingan
people (and other local belief) who attempt to have their own right
on pinning Kaharingan as an officially recognized religion.63 They are
struggling to get social recognition as a basic element in multicultural
society.64
AD has another story. Born within an inter-religious family (his
mother is Madurese Muslim and his father is Chinese Christian), he grew
up as Muslim until he decided to be a Christian in his seventeenth. When
he was ten-year-old his father passed away. He realized at the moment that
his father was Christian because he was buried through Christian ritual.
His decision to be Christian emerged after his intensive dialogue and
conversation with his father family. His friends, classmates, and several
62

SRY, interview (18 Mar 2018).
Denny S, “Masyarakat Dayak Sambut Gembira Putusan MK Soal Agama”,
Nusantara (7 Nov 2017), https://mediaindonesia.com/read/detail/130929-masyarakatdayak-sambut-gembira-putusan-mk-soal-agama., accessed 19 Feb 2018.
64
Charles Taylor, Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition, ed. by Amy
Gutmann (Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1994), pp. 25–73.
63

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teachers condemned his conversion. They all were dissatisfied because
of his conversion, but his mother gave him the freedom to decide. His
mother has involved intensely in majelis pengajian (Muslim learning
group) of Nahdlatul Ulama in his village, and he maintains his life as
Christian. He respectfully lives and interacts with his Muslim mother in
their house within Muslim Madurese society. However, AD said that in
his earliest period of conversion he also faced many social threats.
Social resistance emerges as a problematic matter for Madurese
Christians living in a “frontier” between (majority) of Madurese Muslim
society and (mostly) Chinese Christian in Madura. They could not involve
deeply in Chinese life and tradition on the one hand and were not entirely
accepted within Muslim society on the other. As HRS said:
I was expelled. Muslim children were not allowed to play with me on the
one hand, and the children of the Chinese family did not want to play with
me on the other. I had no place over there and not be accepted in there. I
could only play around Catholic school and the church area. Day by day,
I felt at home, playing and being in that area. No more other places to
play. Again, it was impossible to play with Muslim children in the village
while I was not quite equal to play with the Chinese.65

Many Muslim identified conversion to Christianity as a theological
defeat that can reduce Islam and Muslim society. The phenomenon of
inter-religious debate to some extent explains that reality which publicly
attempts to show a dominating and dominated side of religion.66 This
kind of perception has also embedded within Madurese Muslim that
influences their paradigm of inter-religious interaction. Social threats
and fears experienced by several Madurese Christian signified social
worries toward the progress of Christianity in the island. Furthermore,
some Madurese Christians prefer to cover their religious identity of
being Christian.
65

HRS, interview (14 Aug 2017).
SRY, interview (18 Mar 2018). In addition, several inter-religious debates
in the past were ended by conversion from the defeated person into the religion of
the winner. Among these is an inter-religious debate between KH Bahaudin Mudhary
with Christian priest or between Kiai Sadrach and Javanese Muslims. Read Bahauddin
Mudhary, Dialog Masalah Ketuhanan Jesus (Jakarta: Kiblat Centre, 1981); Sutarman
Soediman Partonadi, Sadrach’s Community and Its Contextual Roots: A Nineteenth Century
Javanese Expression of Christianity (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1990).
66

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E. Concluding Remarks
Charles Taylor and Alfred Stepan started their book, Boundaries
of Toleration, with a very basic but essential question: how can people
of diverse religious, historical, ethnic, and linguistic allegiances and
identities live together? Many essays in the book tried to answer this
question through exploring issues and forms of toleration in different
contexts, examining problem within society on how to perceive and
respond to diversity, and understanding that the reasons beyond toleration
are multi-layered.67 According to Ira Katznelson, there is not only one
reason to like or dislike anyone or anything since diversity was always
based on heterogeneous sources. In this regard, toleration belongs to
varied content, degree, intensity, and scale of interaction. He compelled
five different categories that must be constituted in the toleration or
management of intergroup dislike: physical presence, physical security,
acquisition of means to a livelihood, cultural expression, and civic
membership.68
Imagining Madurese Christians living in the island of Madura
among the majority of Madurese Muslims as “disliked” community, I
suppose to examine the five categories of Katznelson within ChristianMuslim relation in Madura as social categories. Referring to stories of
Madurese Christian mentioned in this chapter we could see that some
of these categories have been protected. Physical threat experienced by
AD, HRS and MA, for instance, is an example of how physical presence
and security for a different person need to be more granted. It is quite
different from the fact of public life where Christians and Madurese
Muslims share the same place to build their own social, political and
economic market to maintain and keep availability of means to livelihood.
Especially within areas of economic activities, Madurese people do not
interfere with other’s faith as long as they can share economic benefit or
political interest. Many Madurese Muslims work for Chinese Christian
in many sectors such as building construction, market labor, hotel, and
67

Alfred C. Stepan and Charles Taylor, Boundaries of Toleration (New York:
Columbia University Press, 2014), pp. 1–6.
68
Ira Katznelson, “A Form of Liberty and Indulgence: Toleration as Layered
Institution”, in Boundaries of Toleration, ed. by Alfred C. Stepan and Charles G. Taylor
(New York: Columbia University Press, 2014), pp. 51–2.

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restaurants. The economic necessity in some degree disowned religious or
ethnic differences which were theologically admitted by Madurese Muslim
as a basic reason to attack religiously or an ethnically different person.
In the past traditional pesantren, many santri kept their own
imagination of kāfir ḥarbī (non-Muslims who are involved in a battle
with Muslim) and kāfir dhimmī (non-Muslims who live under Muslim
government). Such divisive thought has been historically embedded
within Muslim-Christian relation in the past, especially in the era of
crusades. Madurese traditional santri perceived Chinese Christians living
in Madura as kāfir ḥarbī whose property could be stolen or robbed: some
of them have ever tried to steal from the Chinese market. According
to them, Christian properties are rightful for Muslim because they are
economically involved in a battle with Muslim.69 This kind of perception,
even not a mainstream, shows that there was in-between frontier imagined
by Madurese Muslim to put Christians in one spot and Muslims in
another spot. This division created less opportunity for Christian in
Madura to express their cultural identity. Chinese Christians have been
restricted by double limitations of religious and ethnic markers, while
Madurese Christian have been remarked as non-Muslim gentile of being
converted to Christianity. This religion-and-ethnicity-based identification
has often reached bureaucratic matters such as personal identity card
(KTP) issuance. It is logical that Madurese Christians tend to keep their
identity as Muslim in their identity card to facilitate their civic accounts.
However, in general, Christians living in Madura have an optimistic
perception concerning with Christian-Muslim relation. They respected
how Madurese Muslim build inter-religious relationship with Christian,
socially and officially. Socially means personal and cultural initiatives of
making harmonious interrelation and officially means structural and
organizational efforts to keep cordial interaction between Christian and
Muslim group, e.g. through FKUB and MUI channel. Compared to
internal conflict appeared between Muslim group and another which
was escalated at any time, such as Sunni-Shiite conflict in Sampang, there
was no significant conflict happened between Christian and Muslim. The
69

Read Akhmad Siddiq, “Berawal dari Cina Berakhir di Tionghoa”, in Ada
Aku di antara Tionghoa dan Indonesia, ed. by Aan Anshori (Yogyakarta: Pustaka Ananda
Srva, 2018), pp. 317–21.

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latter was often triggered in political moments and the main issue which
was brought was a church: social resistance of building permit.
Madurese Muslim historically accepted ethnic and religious
migration as long as it can adjust and adapt with local and traditional
custom. Arab community and Chinese community which could be found
in each city in Madura are social evident for Madurese’s reception to
other ethnic groups. Churches and several viharas could be identified
as symbolic acceptance to religious movement out of Islam in Madura.
Madurese tend to keep their local wisdom to respect “guest society” and
“guest culture” as long as they respect Madurese society and culture.
Madurese proverb said, kor jhe’ lanyala (as long as they do not disturb us,
they will be respected). In this context, the personal or social disturbance
could happen regardless ethnic and religious consideration. Latief Wiyata
explains in his book, Carok: Konflik Kekerasan dan Harga Diri Orang
Madura (Carok: Conflict of Violence and Madurese Prestige), that the
basic reason behind carok (Madurese traditional fight) is family problem
and social prestige, not religion or ethnicity.70
The Madurese are tolerant people to deal and live with different
sects, beliefs or religions which are perceived as heretical as long as they
belong to others or another group. Madurese proverb kor benni sengko’
insisted that the important thing is the thing does not happen not me.
The case of AD and MA, for instance, where the main opponents of
their conversion to Christianity are their own family and friend justified
this reality. They will easily accept the presence of the Christians among
them, but not if they were their own family. When it happened to their
close relative or friend, they tend to confine and make a social demarcation
with those “disliked” converted persons. In some cases, people tend to
act extremely by doing physical attack and threat.
From this basis, Madurese Muslim have a different approach toward
Madurese Christian and non-Madurese Christian living in Madura. The
first was not only perceived as religiously different but also an extreme
exception that breaks the Madurese culture of being truly Muslim. In this
regard, Madurese Christian was excluded from the Muslim community
as well as Madurese society. In Javanese Christian tradition, there was a
70

A. Latief Wiyata, Carok: Konflik Kekerasan dan Harga Diri Orang Madura
(Yogyakarta: LKiS Yogyakarta, 2002).

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saying londo durung jowo tanggung (not-yet Dutch not-quite Javanese)
that shows in-between transition and frontier position of (Europeanized)
Javanese Christian within Javanese society.71
This different acceptance created a different embodiment of
religious acculturation among Madurese Christian. In Sumber Pakem,
Madurese Christian community reserved to experience both Christian
values and Madurese tradition through their daily life and activities. “We
are here totally Madurese: we use the Madurese language in our everyday
life and religious service, we also celebrate tellasan (Islamic festival), we
conduct ter ater (Madurese tradition of sharing food among neighbors),
and other Madurese tradition.”72 The settlement of Madurese Christian
in Sumber Pakem has also illustrated taneyan lanjeng model as traditional
architecture for Madurese kinship in the island. In contrary, Madurese
Christian on the island tends to exclude Madurese fixtures from their
religious activities and their daily life because of critical perspective they
have addressed. They have more intensive relation with other Christian
members which are mostly non-Madurese than with Madurese friend
and relative which are mostly Muslims.
Social resistance for Christianity in Madura, to some extent, has
also influenced by the Dutch and European traces behind the spread of
Christianity. For many Madurese in the past, pants and suits were identified
as klambhinah reng kafir (clothes of the infidels). This perception has
been constructed based on their imagination of the Dutch, Christianity,
and colonialism. In the late 1990s, when I was a santri in traditional
Islamic boarding school in Madura, wearing pants was still perceived as
a strange. Sarong and kopiah became everyday clothes for santri which
are attired commonly at any moment, even in the moment of playing
football. Today, Madurese Muslim perception on the (European) clothes
was changing. Santri in Islamic boarding school was familiar with pants
and suits. It signifies that there was a changing paradigm of santri on
perceiving Christian-European symbols.
71

In another version, it was said: Cino wurung, Jowo tanggung, Londo pun durung
(no-longer Chinese, not-quite Javanese, and not-yet Dutch). Read Nissim Otmazgin and
Eyal Ben-Ari (eds.), Popular Culture: Co-Productions and Collaborations in East and Southeast
Asia (Singapore; Kyoto: Nus Press ; Kyoto University Press, 2013), p. 204.
72
Asmawi, interview (12 Aug 2017).

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This changing paradigm has influenced the way how Madurese
Muslim interact and deal with Christians in Madura. Madurese Muslims
have no longer perceived Christians as “enemy” that must be attacked.
They realize that non-Muslim citizen has the same right to live on the
island,73 although some social restrains could limit the cultural expression
of Christians in the public sphere. Until today, there is no open socialresistance which publicly attack Christianity in Madura, while another
social rejection was announced by some Madurese ulama to free Madura
from Shia for instance.74 Referring to James Scott, resistance to Christians
if any within Madurese society is a “practical failure to comply”, while
rejection for Shiite is a “declared refusal to comply”.75 The former does
not breach social order while the latter has its significant influence to
reconstruct intra-religious relation among Madurese Muslims. Even
though, in many cases, Madurese Christians have been perceived as a
parasite that could spoil the Islamic world and Muslim society in Madura.
It seems that Muslim Madurese have always enclosed their identity with
Islam and present themselves as truly Muslim. In this regard, the existence
of Madurese Christian community in Sumber Pakem and Madurese
Christian individuals in Madura is important to show that ethnicity and
religion could be acculturated within Madurese identity.

73

Daeng Taufiq (head of Muhammadiyah Pamekasan), interview (15 Apr 2017).
Read Samsul Bahri, “Ulama Madura Bentuk FAAS antisipasi Aliran Sesat”,
Hidayatullah.com (30 Sep 2013), URL, accessed 19 Feb 2017; Muchsin, “Ulama Sosialisasi
FAAS di Madura”, Surya (29 Sep 2013), https://surabaya.tribunnews.com/2013/09/29/
ulama-sosialisasi-faas-di-madura, accessed 19 Feb 2017.
75
James C. Scott, Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts (New
Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 2009), p. 203.
74

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