Louis van de Vrande, chaplain for Dutch soldiers in 1945-1947. A war that not did become a Holy War.

In October I wrote already a blog about the recent Dutch debate on the dramatic, dirty and often neglected war crimes of the Dutch in Indonesia, 1945-1950. Next week, 17 November 2016,  a seminar at the Free University of Amsterdam will discuss the role of the churches in this last colonial war of the Dutch. I went to Sint Agatha to see the archives of the MSC priests, for Louis van de Vrande MSC (1901-1971). His diary was typewritten (about the year 2000 by Father Arie Vriens)  and available in the archives of the Dutch religious orders. After ordination in 1935 he went to the Philippines as a missionary, but returned to the Netherlands to seek candidates for the MSC religious order. When the diary begins, in Juky 1942 the Germans occupy the Netherlands. It is a story of cruel rule by arrogant Germans. Then, in mid-1944 the Allied Forces arrive (mostly Canadians and Polish troops). The Germans destroy bridges, costly machinery, the Allied Forces destroy many houses, many people were killed, terrible warfare like we now hear about the conquest of Mosul by the alliance against ISIS.
In  March 1945  Van de Vrande becomes army chaplain for Dutch troops, then still in France to fight against the Germans. In November he arrives in Malacca, in March 1946 in Batavia/Jakarta as army chaplain in the Dutch army.

In March-April 1946 he describes twice cruelties by the Ambonnese of the KNIL, the Dutch colonial  army.The first time it is about terrible beating during an interrogation. The second time several Indonesian soldiers are taken captive. One, a young boy of about 17 years, is relieved from his handcuffs and sent away. At a distance of some 8 meters he is killed by four Ambonnese soldiers who shoot in his back. Van de Vrande finds it a terrible act, something that should not happen in the army.  But he does not protest openly. Later in the diary we do not meet such descriptions: did they not happen, or was this man already accustomed to the crimes?
In the Government Report Excessennota of 1969 this event is mentioned and the army chaplain as witness, but not by his name.

In my talk on 17 November I will talk about several topics. First, about the fact that the war of independence was not about religion. Religion only played a very minor role here, it was between Dutch and Indonesians. I quote Mangunwijaya's Burung-burung Manyar as a sign of this minor role for religion. Second, some authors think that the colonial period did not change fundamentally Indonesia: just scratches on a rock? At least the presence of some 9% of Christians in Indonesia is an important aspect, a by-product of  the colonial relations and infrastructure. Of course, the whole process is more complicated, on the Dutch as well as on the Indonesian side. Third, the Catholics were divided as well  (like the Protestants): in Semarang and Yogyakarta Soegijapranata was as important as Kasimo on the Indonesian side, while Jesuits in Jakarta were often still dreaming of a continuation of some colonial influence.

A partial wilayah of Ahok and NU/Muhammadiyah?

Since nearly amonth there a hot debate in Indonesia about Qur'an al-Maídah, 5:51. In translations it read: Take not the Jews and Christians for guardians and confidants (Ali Ünal). Awliya or wilayah is also translated as associates, partners. Ahok, the Chinese-Indoensian Christian who is governor of Jakarta, mentioned that some people use thise verse against the continuation of his position as governor after next elections in 2017. - The quote was also understood as if Ahok rejected the idea absolutely and so rejected the Qur'an. Some people want to take him to court for blasphemy or at least insult of the Qur'an.
While I was teaching in Indonesia, 1981-1988 I experienced quite often a liberal attitude for me. My farewell lecture had as title: Word of God or Toiletpaper? and could be sold in 3000 copies. Also a lecture with the title: Does God sleep caused no protest but some interest.
I had once a more heated debate about sura 17:1, where I quoted John Wansbrough who suggested that travelling by night was here not about the ascension of Muhammad to heaven, but about Moses/Musa leaving Egypt in the night through the Red Sea, because verse 17:2 is also about Moses. Anyway, maybe the situation is now more difficult. Definitely Ahok is a politician and I was just a foreign professor teaching in Jakarta and Yogyakarta.

The idea is also discussed by Farid Esack in his doctoral dissertation Qur'an, Liberation and Pluralism (esp. 180-193; published in 1997). Esack lived in South Africa (his homeland) during the last decades of apartheid. He joined the 'good whites' of the Protestant Church like Beyers Naudé in the protests against this racial oppression. Some South African Muslims said that he should not do this, quoting some verses like 5:51 (60:1+9; 3:28+118; 4:89, 139, 144). They suggested that he should join Ahmad Deedat, fierce and eloquent debater with Christians, defending Islamic doctrines. Esack wanted to create justice and stated that in quite a few verses of the Qur'an the Christians and Jews are also mentioned as believers, because believing is doing good, creating justice. And the believers should cooperate.
Some verses of the Qur'an indeed suggest that there are conflicts with (some) Christians and Jews, but this is not a general rule. Even in Al-Ma'idah 5:51 there is a difference between ba'dahum... and others. So, it is not one block against another, but there must be made a difference between the good and the bad ones.P. 181:  The text under discussion, Qur'an 5:51, like all those prohibiting Muslims from the wilayah of Others, is Medinan and reflects the religio-political tensions of that period. As I indicated in chapter 5, it is evident from the seemingly contradictory texts dealing with the religious Other that these reflect various stages in the Muslim-Other relationship.
In the reports about the protests against Ahok, Nahdlatul Ulama did not take part and also Muhammadiyah stayed away, not allowing its members to use Muhammadiyah symbols during the protests. But it will remain difficult. Sahiron Syamsuddin found it wise to use the word 'outsider' in the title of the translation of my book on Jesus in the Qur'an.  Outsider's view on the Qur'an are even more delicate than insiders debates.
Added on 12 November 2016: Henk Schulte Nordholt discussed this issue on Dutch Television. He added with some angry that Budi Yani, the man who shot the movie of Ahok talking about al-Ma'idah 51 was a former PhD student in at Leiden University but failed to finish or to do any writing and sho he was sent back to Indonesia.

Muhammadiyah from TBC and 'Wahhabi' to attacks on Salafism

I am now busy with a close and detailed reading of the Masterpiece (according to Ayumardi Azra) of Syafii Maarif, his book Islam dalam Bingkai Keindonesiaan dan Kemanusiaan. It was published in 2009. The professor of history gives here a view on Islam from the perspective of Indonesian culture (history of Islamisation, fragments of Islamic history in Indonesia) and Human Rights (also related to the Indonesian statemphilosophy of Pancasila).
Syafii Maarif does not give a historical expose, rather an essay on various aspects of history. I wonder whether someone not familiar with the history of Indonesia will understand his arguments. But for insiders it is a wise, strong and fundamental book. My last great book on Muhammadiyah was the local study by Nakamura, The Crescent arises over the Banyan Tree (second edition of 2012). Mitsuo here mentions that the good old time of TBC, when Muhammadiyah could condemn in strong words the Takhayyul, Bid'ah, Churafat (superstitions, heresy, idolatry) is over and even in Kota Gede the Muhammadiyah Muslims are more open for present Indonesian culture. They do accept wayang stories, ketoprak theatre and modern movies. In the same way, Maarif here accepts a very broad definition of Indonesian Islam and does not repeat that we have to return to (only) Qur'an and Hadith.
Pp. 60-1 has a nice juxtaposition of Geertz (who understands true Islam as the hardcore santri variant, as separate from abangan or local Muslims), while Hodgson in his Venture of Islam has a broader vision on the changes in the world religion of Islam, also in Indonesia.

For the last century Maarif sees a growth of conversions to Christianity, but this has not weakened Islam. Just the opposite: there is an overall revival and growth of the major religions and besides a turn to Christianity there was over the last 100 years even a stronger growth of Islam.
On p. 329 Maarif quotes Wertheim writing about a 'pound of rice [to be given to] any child actually attending a Christian school'.  This is seen as the beginning of Rice Christians, already by order of Jan Pieterszoon Coen. (Indonesian Society in Transition, p. 201). Maarif blames me that I did write some four pages about Coen (in my Dutch Colonialism and Indonesian Islam) but did not mention this reward for a conversion. Instead, I have stressed the idea of Coen that it was impossible to convert Muslim to Christianity, especially in the Moluccas, and therefore he hoped that the VOC would send many native Dutch people to the Indies (what did not happen). I looked in the sources of Wertheim, but could not find the pound of rice. I will look further! And more will come out of reading this precious book.

Shame to you: Dutch army in Indonesia!

Many Indonesian and Dutch people still remember the 'Pronk Affair' of 1992 when Dutch Minister for International Cooperation and IGGI chair Jan Pronk uttered severe criticism to the Soeharto Government for its cruel oppression of freedom fighters and demonstrations for human rights in East Timor. More recently there is the action related to the finding and recognition of truth of the violence of the period 1965-1967 related to the beginning of the Soeharto regime after the bloody coup of 30 September 1965.
Now, however, the Dutch army itself is under attack because of increasing publications and debates about the cruelties, war crimes committed by many members of the Dutch army in the period 1946-1949 in Indopnesia. In 1969 a list of these crimes were already listed as 'excessen' to be understood as incidental transgressions of the use of violence. Two books have recvently been puiblished on this theme. One is by KITLV Director Gert Oost-Inhdië with a summary of 659 private documents (reorts, diaries, letters, published books) of former soldiers. They add many more war crimes to the list of more than one hundred cases of the 1969 report.
All kind of reactions are now coming. One is a congference, 16 november 2016 to be held in Amsterdam, Free University, under the title: The Churches and the War in Indonesia, 1945-1950. Various speakers will talk about the role of churches in this cruel process that ended colonial rule in Indonesia (with the exception of Papua).
I will give an overview of the Catholic history. There are two general considerations to be made: one if that the end of colonial rule did not so much affect directly religious relations. Dutch missionaries experienced problems, but in general they could continue their work, different from business people.
It is also interesting to see that the religious sentiments did not play an important role: it was not a fight between Muslims and Christians but between Indonesians and Duch.
UCAN, the site of information about Christians in Asia, yesterday had a report about the 'Javanese martyr', the priest Richardus Sandjaja, killed on 20 December 1948 by members of a militia which was probably Islamic of character. But in the description it was only said that they blamed him 'for cooperation with the Dutch'.

The picture above shows some people praying at the grave. It is believed that praying here may help women who want to become pregnant. There are also stories of people who saw their cancer stopped after praying at this grave in Muntilan. The Dutch who were killed at this and one other event during the perior of colonial war (one 20 December 1948,  and nine victims in Magelang on 1 November 1945. They are not officially recognised as 'martyrs' by the Catholic Church, because the process for this has been stopped.
Postscript on 3 December 2016: Yesterday the Dutch government took the decision to finance a great project for historical research about the war crimes. The project will take 6 years: the last victims will be dead probably at the end of that period. but some things put on paper properly!

Ahok, Sura 5 Al Maidah: 51 and the Sultan of Banten

Al Islam ya'lu la yu'la alaihi: 'Islam is the greatest and will not accept superiority of a non-Muslim person' is some kind of Qaidah Fiqh, a basic idea in Islamic thinking. It can be explained in very different ways. One is, that God has created human beings different: men and women, various nations and tribes (Qur'an: 49:13) and also of different religions and denominations: so, faqtabiqu bi'l khairat, we have to struggle to be the best. There is also a more restricted explanation, that Muslims should be ruled by Muslims only, not by other people.
A tricky verse of the Qur'an (5:51) forbids the Believers to take Jews and Christians as 'partners, friends, awliya' 'He among you who taketh them for friends is one of them.'
This is extended in many ways: if you are dressed like them, 'you are one of them', ... if you join their festivals, like the yaum al hubb or Valentine's Day: you are one of them. This was a fatwa that I used at the University College, to explain the structure and logic of a fatwa and how it is used to solve modern questions.
On 27 September 2016 the Chinese Christian Ahok, governor of  Jakarta visited the islands in the bay of Jakarta, Pulau Seribu and quoted this verse, because the population of the islands is strongly Muslim and Ahok has been educated in a state school where Islam was thoroughly instructed. The verse 5:51 can be explained in various ways too. Ahok wanted to state that he is a friend for Muslims, who also gave good subsidies and donations to Muslim schools, madrasah. There are new elections for local officials in 2017 coming and popularity is important and religion is again an issue. Ahok took the wrong verse or Muslims took different interpretations and Ahok was corrected and criticised by the local Muslim Council. He apologised at various occasions.
But one day later (22 October 2016) the Jakarta Post mentioned that a number of NU activists praised Ahok (Basuki Tjahaja) for his concern to understand and deal with Muslims.

Another recent case of Musim sensitivity for non-Muslim officials is the nomination of the head of police in Banten, Listyo Sigit Prabowo, a Catholic. This nomination is contested by several Muslim groups, including the leadership of MUI-Banten, the Indonesian Muslim Council, Banten chapter.  They stated that traditionally Banten has been a Muslim sultanate (although not surviving until today like the much more liberal Yogyakarta). So, this Banten identity should request that the local government shoulod be dominated by Muslims only.

5 October 2016 was the great day for the inauguration this Listyo Sigit Prabowo in Banten as the head of police (it is also the Day of the Indonesian Army).

Cornelis de Bruin 1652-1727

Cornelis de Bruijn was a Dutch artist, painter, and traveller. I came across him in the preparation for CMR, the great project on the biblographical history of Muslim Christian Relations. He made two long trips to the East. The first trip took more than twenty years: 1672-1693 when he went through Italy  to Turkey, then to Syria and Egypt, coming back through Venice for perfection of his drawing and painting. He had not much money, so earned his living by making portraits, selling antiquities.

In my memory the sphynx of Cairo looks much different and the pyramids are broader, but it is a nice drawing.
The second trip began in 1701 when Cornelis de Bruijn first went to Russia, especially the city of Moscow, then to Persia where he concentrated on the runes of Persepolis. From 24/2 until 25/8 1706 he stayed in Batavia, from where he returned to Persia and Russia and aarived in the Hague on 10 October 1708.
He was not well versed in linguages and spoke Latin, Italian, but no Eastern language. His sojourn in Syria, Egypt and Persia did not give much as to Muslim-Christian relations. From Batavia he made a trip of some two weeks to Bantam where he had to nice meetings with the Sultan. They are in pages 361-400 of his second book: Cornelis de Bruins reizen over Moskovië, door Persie en Indië.. (Amsterdam 1711, reprint 1714 is on the Internet).
During his visit in Bantam he describes mostly the town, flowers, fruits, all kind of people and the many ladies at the court: not only there were four official, quite a few unofficial wives, a female army and many female assistant, some 850 in servioce of the sultan zodat het er grimmelt van de vrouw (such that is is squirming with ladies in the palace).

The kings tells much about the present condition and the past of his sultanate, which was pagan until 300 years ago. Some names of rulers are mentioned. The king asked to foreign guest also some religious questions: especially about the age of the world. How long ago was the creation according to the Christians? And how long will it last until the Day of Judgment? According to the drawing it was not a talk in a quiet atmosphere: an translator between them and also quite a few ladies serving with food and ladies dancing for entertainment. Pages 375-385 are about his visit to Bantam, most of it in two long talks with the sultan. The ruler showed him also the palace, small rooms for many of the ladies, also a place where they had to take of their shoes, 'because of the sacredness of the place'.  But no special and profound interreligious contact. And this is the reasom why the Bruijn will not make it to the volumes of the CMR Project, but it was some fun to read about this non-political, non-economic visit.

Judas, Jesus and stories of a dog

Simon Rae has sent me from Dunedin in New Zealand a book in return for something I sent him. It is the book by C.K. Stead My Name was Judas. It is nice reading because it is written by a poet, a professor of literature. It depicts the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth through the eyes of Judas, a friend in his youth. Single son fo rich parents while Jesus grew up in a poor family with many children in the crowded and small house. In a nice setting it has much bibliocal archaeology and history. On p. 30 he writes about the Romans in Palestine: The soldiers who had served a long time in our region were very unpleasant, as if they'd learned to dislike the local population whom they regarded as ungrateful, unwashed and potentially rebellious. The more recent arrivals, especially if they were young, were friendlier. I wondered whether this is true. In the other colony, the Dutch East Indies, the totok or full-blood white new arrival is often cosidered as someone who is still embedded in the European culture. The indo or Eurasian could be closer to the 'native' population but  in fact was a  distinct category.

Sent walking by their teachers the two young boys Judas and Jesus meet a  pack of wild dogs. Judas was afraid, Jesus not, or at least, he was calm. Jusad took his staff and chased them away, hitting one dog so serious that he lay wounded. He finished him with a blow to the head.
This reminded me one of the Muslim stories of Jesus as retold by Tarif Khalidi in his beautiful book, The Muslim Jesus. Jesus and the pupils came along a dead dog. The disciples said 'How foul is his stench!' Jesus said 'How white are his teeth!' He said this in order to teach them a lesson- namely tot forbid slander. (no 127 out of 303, page 122).