Sunarwoto and dakwah through radio FM

Sunarwoto was born 5 August 1975 in Demak. His father was a kyahi and religious authority in the region. Later Sunarwoto moved to Solo, where about 25% is Christian and where so many different Muslim groups ask for attention and support: from tarekat and mystical teaching to the social message of Muhammadiyah and the hardline people of FPI, Pesantren Ngruki. Among these are some twelve Salafi groups that have radio broadcasting. About this Dakwah Radio he wrote his diseertation. First Sunarwoto came to Leiden for his MA in the NISIS, Netherlands Interuniversity School for Islamic Studies. For his PhD he came to Tilburg where he worked with Prf. Herman Beck and Prof. Jan Blommaert. The title of the dissertation is Contesting Religious Authority. A study on RDakwah Radio in Surakarta, Indonesia.

The dissertation gives a general view of the various organization of Radio Dakwah, often embedded in broader organizations. The last two chapters are on charismatic preacher Ahmad Sukino and his Majlis Tafsir Al-Quran and the Jihad pagi programme, from Pengajian Ahad Pagi: the largest meeting of the week on Sunday Morning (!). Much attention is here given to a much debated fatwa on the eating of dog-meat: not really or clearly forbidden, so it is allowed.
My own question was formulated as follows:

In your First chapter you give a nice image of religious authority in your youth in Demak: everything is clear. Common people accept the local religious authority.

But in Solo the situation is different. At one moment I wrote in the margin: who is seeking whom?  Is religious authority seeking clients? Are common people seeking advice.

A key word here is (page 38, many other places as well) the word member. I know that in the world of Muslim brotherhoods people can become a follower of a teacher by mengucapkan bai’at, by taking a vow to the teacher. In the Pentecostal Church Keluarga Allah in Solo there are member cars, kartu anggauta, for Javanese and other members who can buy cheaper, a reduction of 20%, at member-Chinese shopkeepers.

When are you a member in an organization of Radio Dakwah? What makes the difference between an incidental listener and a member? Is it something extra besides Radio: attending the pengajian hari minggu? With the somewhat strange name of jihad pagi, Pengajian Ahad pagi: the religious gathering on Sunday morning? (Page 208).

The 'conservative' turn in Indonesian Islam perhaps resembles the 'conservative turn' with the Catholics who are since the Orde Baru not active in politics, in trade unions, have less primary and secondary schools and see many of their flock active in the charismatic movement. Will this be the future of religion in Indonesia?  There were, of course, many salafi people discussed in this dissertation, but nearly all of them were of the more pietistic side.