The debate about Islam Nusantara, 3: a concluding dinner and a poem

The second day, 28 March 2017 was for internal affairs within the Nahdlatul Ulama organization. 29 March there was a great dinner for some 150 people at the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague. There was nice food, many speeches and also quite many performances of Muslim 'entertainment'. It was the kind of what we called the Friday morning 'desert sound' on the radio with sons, lyrics in mixef Indonesian and arabic.

For the presentation of Islam Nusantara there was a group of some 14 former stewardesses of Garuda Airlines. They had come especially for this three-day event from Jakarta. Above, in red is their presentation at the conference of 27 March at the Free University. Below the colourful dress worn at the closing dinner of 29th. All hymns and lyrics sung by heart with modest dancing.

The ladies in black above are a group of salawat-singers of NU circles in the Netherlands. The youngsters below performed a very dynamic way of pious local dances. Great entertainment, between the numerous speeches as part of a good Indonesian festive event.
I had written a poem to celebrate Islam nusantara and could read it here as well.

Sifat duapuluh seorang Muslim Nusantara atau

Kebanggaan Ganda

Tentu saja dia bisa berenang

antara sini dan sana, datang dan pulang

dia tetap dalam air merasa senang

dari pulau ke pulau Tuhanlah dia memandang

Baginya samudra adalah Tuhannya

pulau-pulau hanya stasiun atau maqamnya

Hamzah Fansuri nakhodanya

Sunan Giri tetap gurunya

Baginya Belanda tidak lagi musuh

banyak cari negara ini sebagai tempat teduh

restorannya menyediakan nasi lezat, piring penuh

tanah Arab dianggapnya kering dan keruh

Mukhalaf lil hawadith, berbeda dari yang baru

dia juga tidak takut kemodernan, tak terharu

hal yang baru tidak jadi dia menyeru

malah penyesuaian, pembaharuan itu perlu!

Ahmad Baso adalah laksmana pikiran

dialah yang memimpin pasukan

memberikan ceramah berapi, nulis laporan

Habib dan ustaz takut dia punya ajakan.

NU tidak hanya makna Nahdat al-'ulama

tetapi juga bangkit semangat Nusantara

tidak perlu lagi fatwa jihad lawan Belanda

Tebuireng, waratsatul Majapahit, menjadi tanda kebanggaan ganda.

Karel Steenbrink, Den Haag 29 Maret 2017