It’s never easy to brainstorm about pesantren in the debate of national movement in Indonesia; Since most of the discussions, analyzes, and reports on the two monumental milestones of the national movement, namely the first Boedi Oetomo Congress in 1908 and the second Pemoeda Congress in 1928, did not mention the role of Pesantren in it widely. Especially at the 2nd Pemoeda Congress, Jong Java, Jong Sumatranen Bond, Jong Islamieten Bond, Sekar Roekoen, Jong Batak, Jong Theosofen Bond, Ambonsche Strudeerenden, Minahasa Strudeerenden, Studieclub Indonesia, Boedi Oetomo, and Muhammadiyah were indeed named as official participants. However, pesantren and Nahdlatul Ulama as official institutions are not registered at all. The involvement of the youth of Wahab Hasbullah, Hasyim Asy’ari, and Wahid Hasyim in the event was recognized as Individuals and not to represent Pesantren neither Nahdlatul Ulama.
Two Entry points
To start a discussion about this, we can use two entry points. First, the exciting debate between Takdir Alisjahbana and Dr Sutomo about the type of society and the desired new Indonesian human character in the future (Achadiat, K. Mihardja, Cultural Polemics). The debate, which is widely known as the cultural polemic that has emerged since the 1930s. Sutomo, during the discussion on the ideological basis of the national movement, is being critical of Islamic ideology, not only shows enthusiasm for pesantren but is also persistent in defending and campaigning for defence during an onslaught of opponents. His polemic opponents like Takdir Alisjahbana. Luckily, because Sutomo received support from Sanusi Pane and Ki Hadjar Dewantara, the latter even tried to adopt the pesantren education system in Taman Siswa. Second, as made by historians, the historical painting of the pesantren for half a century (1900-1950) shows its strongest tendency to engage in a guerrilla war against Dutch colonialism. The description of the pesantren at the time described this educational institution as “ceasing its intellectual activity and moving into the forest to become a guerrilla war troop against the Dutch”.
But why was Sutomo so passionate about defending the pesantren education system, which at that time was famous for being traditional, ancient, and “village”? It is precisely because of its traditionality and antiquity that pesantren can fulfil the most basic needs of the current and future national formation process. With the choice of location in rural areas and the outskirts of industrial regions, pesantren not only stay away from the centre of political power but also avoid the penetration of outside forces, such as colonial politics and capitalism, which can lead pesantren to find their own identity. Early Pesantren, as historian Taufik Abdullah (Pesantren in Historical Perspective) have said, became “world-shapers” and rural realities, especially in Java, a conclusion that Gus Dur also put forward (The Revival of Islamic Civilization: Is There Him?). With its ability to fuse the solid bureaucratic desire in the Western education system into a familial atmosphere, between Kiai and santri; and not focus on accumulating knowledge and sharpening the brain, but also attaching importance to the formation of human personality and character.
Pesantren has succeeded in giving birth to a generation of intellectuals different from the “Surau intellectuals” and “Western intellectuals“. Perhaps the success in shaping personality and character attracted the attention of the movement’s figures because that was what most needed at the time. They are arguing about what kind of society and human character they want in the future.
Its presence as a subculture, as exemplified by Gus Dur’s Tebuireng (Pesantren Profil A Subculture), pesantren has succeeded in upholding a humane life by fighting all acts of violence, discrimination and oppression by thugs and sugar factory rulers. A presence that has undoubtedly received a strong response from the factory and conveys sympathy for the majority of the oppressed people. And since then, Tebuireng said Gus Dur, gradually turned into a village where every aspect of human life and humanity stands tall and everyone’s honour is widely felt.
The vital role of pesantren, which then led the Kiai to occupy a strategic, central, and decisive position, seemed to still be evident until the early 1970s when they intensively researched the role of pesantren. Dhofier (Tradition Pesantren), Horikoshi (Kyai and Social Change), Nurcholish Madjid (Profile of Pesantren), and Manasurnoor (Ulama of Madura) came to the same conclusion, how Kiai and pesantren are central and essential agents of change guard. In their 1978 survey on leadership in Madura, the LP3ES research team reached similar conclusions: 70.20% of respondents chose the pesantren Kiai as the closest, most respected, and most obeyed leader; 16.40% chose non-Kiai and shaman party leaders; and the rest (10.40%) chose a formal leader: a bureaucratic official (Social Leadership in Madura).
Pesantren as a Social Institution
After all, pesantren is still a social institution that, like other institutions, cannot escape change. Its existence in community life that continues to change causes pesantren to feel constantly challenged and to modify, both due to internal dynamics and the penetration of external forces. Recorded testimonies (experiences) of a number of kiai, among others, Kiai Wahid Zaini (Probolinggo), Kiai Muchtar Syafaat (Banyuwangi), Kiai Abdul Basith (Sumenep, Madura), Kiai Hayat al-Makki (Bendo, Pare, Kediri), Gurutta Ambo Dale (Pinrang, South Sulawesi), Gurutta Farid Wajdi and Wahab Zarkasyi (Mangkoso, Barru, South Sulawesi), Ajengan Tontowi Musyaddad (Garut, West Java), Abah Hoed (Babakan Ciwaringin, Cirebon), Kiai Adib Masruha (Mranggen, Semarang), and Kiai Dawam Amar (Bekasi, West Java) explained how dilemmatic the life of the pesantren was, especially when modernity was spread on a large scale in this country. As the pesantren leaders, they feel pushed into a difficult situation, swinging between idealism and pragmatism, between the formation of human character and the fulfilment of knowledge and skills.
The map of changes in pesantren education made by Karl Steenbrink (Pesantren, Madrasah, School) is fascinating. Pesantren has changed from the pesantren model with all its characteristics to schools that are no different from schools outside the pesantren. Consequently, apart from fulfilling all educational bureaucratic procedures, Pesantrens have lost their essential role in giving birth to a distinctive intellectual generation. The demands of society commonly called the demands of the times, may indeed be a factor in why pesantren chose the change. Still, the centralization of national education, the decline in the independence of pesantren, and pesantren’s fascination with modernity in a superficial sense have simultaneously become the decisive causes.
Whether there is a causal relationship or not, along with the change in education, other essential changes at determine. The orientation of the Kiai and pesantren to the problems of people’s lives, especially the lower classes, is slowly but surely fading away, which has implications for the decline of public sympathy and support for pesantren. The pre-eminence and charisma of the Kiai, which was almost perfect, has decreased, and in some cases, the Kiai have even disappeared. In such conditions, many Kiai is more interested in pursuing macro-structural matters such as political parties and even certain bureaucratic positions. Interestingly, KH Bisri Musthofa (father of KH Musthofa Bisri) from Rembang (Central Java) both described and criticized this fact in his novel published in 1969. So many Kiai, as the book explains, so many Kiai are getting used to living a different rhythm of life: a week in the village and two or three weeks in Jakarta, which finally led them to occupy the global imagination and alienated from local reality. In line with that, Horikoshi stated: the role of his Kiai and pesantren in Calipari, Garut, West Java is vital, and his awareness of position and status at the same time allows him to manipulate heroes selflessly, but at the same time, he also acts as a passionate and full of interests politician.
In the early 1970s, several Jakarta NGOs launched community development programs through Islamic boarding schools with the aim, in addition to anti-thesis to the top-down development model developed by the New Order, to try to restore the role of Kiai and pesantren as guardians of the community in the face of unsustainable development. Increasingly dispassionate “little people”. Many people hoped, at that time, that this project would have implications not only for eradicating poverty, building self-sufficiency in the lower classes of society, and changing the orientation of pesantren to a more contextual direction but also that the role of pesantren on the broader community life could be actualized. Rois Aam Syuriah PBNU (at that time), KH. Ahmad Siddiq from Jember, responding to this development, even hoped for the emergence of pesantren scholars who were experts in community development, which he considered necessary as religious scholars.
The development of pesantren concerning the fundamental problems of society involving several pesantren from Java-Madura, NTB, and southern Sumatra is indeed interesting. Some pesantren are seen to assert new orientations and roles in their work in the surrounding community, mostly in rural areas, which are hegemonic and even subordinated. Annuqoyah Islamic Boarding School, Guluk-guluk (Sumenep, Madura) is interestingly illustrated here. Under the leadership of Kiai Abdul Basith Sadjad, this pesantren surrounded by tobacco farmers emphasizes its role as a guardian (agent) of socio-economic, political, and cultural change. By changing the function of the congregations (tahlil, yasinan, and dibaan) that are scattered in Sumenep, even on the island of Madura. From ritual ceremonies to bek rembek (forum of deliberation, discussion, and deliberation), as a first step, Kiai Basith succeeded in bringing the community, including even lower classes, to become the subject, not the object, of change. As a result, self-reliance, in the real sense, was soon created among the Guluk-guluk community and its surroundings.
Pesantren Annuqoyah
Two significant projects are being worked on by Pesantren Annuqoyah together with residents. First, reforestation (reforestation) of the Luk-Guluk Mountains, which, once green, can irrigate the rice fields in the two sub-districts and meet the water needs of households in the area. A blessing that all residents genuinely feel. And it was this project that later received the Kalpataru prize from President Soeharto (at that time).
Second, cut a series of complex tobacco trade networks involving many figures, including religious figures in Sumenep (Huub den Jong, Religion, and Economic Behavior), including Kiai Basith’s uncle. He has been a tobacco trader for a long time. A series of trade networks have made tobacco farmers in Sumenep breathless in poverty and have no other way but to surrender to fate. Kiai Basith’s efforts with the residents, which resulted in a strong response from the traders, were successful. The farmers negotiated directly, especially prices, with Gudang Garam, Djarum, and Bentoel.
With these two projects, Pesantren Annuqoyah emphasized its role as an agent of dramatic social change. Irrigation of the fields of tobacco land that had always experienced drought became smooth. The tobacco harvest was abundant, and the price of tobacco which had strangled the farmers could be negotiated directly, prosperously and prosperously. However, until now, Kiai Basith has not been carried away by vertical mobility, not interested in the stages of popularity. He prefers istiqomah in Guluk-guluk with the students and the community around the pesantren.
It could be that Annuqoyah is an example of a case that other Pesantren does not experience, maybe even some who have the opposite experience. A critical analysis made by Pradjarta Dirdjasanyoto (Maintaining the Ummah: Kiai Pesantren-Kiai Langgar) regarding the implications of the ups and downs of community development projects through micro boarding schools is fascinating. By taking the case of the Kajen boarding school, Pati. Pradjarta described two critical impacts after the Kajen pesantren had struggled in community development projects for more than 20 years. First, the polarization among Kiai (in Kajen Islamic Boarding School, there are dozens of Kiai) is becoming more evident. Relationships with one another, which were previously very close and communal, are now more influenced by functions and interests. Even unhealthy competition often comes to the fore and can be easily witnessed. Second, the appointment of several Kiai to the external to the national stage inevitably reduces their attention, time, opportunities, and roles at the local level. Their popularity on the outer stage also affects them (psychologically) to always be oriented “upwards” and forget their grassroots.
Nationality Matters
Then, how should the strategic role of pesantren in the national movement be restored? Two national issues are fundamental and perhaps can be taken seriously by pesantren. First, it concerns living together based on differences, awareness of pluralism, and multiculturalism, which is called Bhinneka Tunggal Eka in political terms. The most prominent issue in this regard is how to appreciate cultural plurality, including in religious life.
As a religious institution, Pesantren was established and developed based on the togetherness of the Kiai and the surrounding community, has shown its consistency in defending local culture in all its diversity. The formation of the “Hijaz Committee”, consisting of 11 Kiai who cared for pesantren in Java in 1924, two years before Nadhlatul Ulama (NU) was born, was a concrete manifestation of this defence. The committee declared in Surabaya was explicitly to fight for the interpretations and practices of contextual, inclusive, pluralistic, and pluralistic Islamic diversity under its ecological nature, which threatened the Wahhabi power, which was upheld as the only truth. But, the formation of this committee also means that the pesantren shows its appreciation for the variety of cultural articulations and locality issues. This approach is more human when dealing with the tendency of universalization (globalization), which only gives authority to the centre and does not provide the slightest room for access to variants. That develops creatively and humanely. Hasn’t the inclusiveness formulated in the usulilkhomsah become an inseparable part of the life of Islamic boarding schools and NU as a whole?
Second, the issue of national identity is increasingly porous. Pesantren, who once succeeded in building self-identity and human character, now seem to consider returning to their original khittah – affirming self-identity in broader structural and cultural struggles and having high independence. Nevertheless, any scientific development in Pesantrens must still depart and be based on their identity and freedom. Suppose the early pesantren were once able to develop science that sided with the plurality and interests of the oppressed and marginalized communities. Is it impossible for the current pesantren to actualize and revitalize that capability? In this latter context, Pesantrens and significantly higher education institutions can learn a lot from the current generation of Indian intellectuals who were the first to act and were successful in developing postcolonial scholarship favouring those who once colonized.