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.Moreover, because religious matters were not so easily defined in isolation, many areas, particularly law and education, were handled in other government departments.The ensuing discussion attempts to describe the effect of government policy regardless of the ministry involved.Also, alongside Muslim identification or lack of identification with nation-states within the region, the participation of Muslims in their politi-4Fed_159-240 10/29/06 10:29 AM Page 168168Nation-States and Civil Values (1945–2000)cal systems was equally important.When elections were held, Muslims were able to vote in the national elections of every state in the Muslim Zone and were able to become members of whatever councils, parliaments, or offices that were contested by election.But more was at issue than merely voting and sitting as representatives, as we shall see.The openness of any political system to including Muslims in administrative positions at various levels, becoming teachers in the school and university systems, and eventually persons of influence and decision-makers was important as well.Muslim Majority StatesIndonesiaThe Return of Dutch ColonialismWhen the Dutch attempted to reassert authority over the former East Indies after World War II there was Indonesian resistance.On August 17, 1945, the Republic of Indonesia proclaimed independence and sent paramilitary units to occupy as much territory as possible given the constraints of manpower.It was successful in establishing political control over some areas of Java and in several outlying areas, such as Aceh.Muslim paramilitary units trained during the Japanese period, the Army of God (Hizbullah) and the Martyrs of God (Sabillah), formed part of that armed force.Realizing that the earlier colonial system could not be reimposed, the Dutch adopted a new strategy in which a series of states consisting of regions within the archipelago were created with Dutch leadership.That ploy was successful for nearly three years, but by late 1949 the Dutch were forced by international pressure to pass sovereignty over to a United States of Indonesia, which consisted of the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch-created states.The following year most of the Dutch-created states disbanded and relinquished political control of their territories to the republic, putting an end to Dutch colonial presence in the Southeast Asian region, except for the area of West New Guinea.That territory was passed to Indonesia in a later agreement in 1962.During this short period of four and a half years between the declaration of independence and passage of sovereignty, several developments occurred that affected the Indonesian Muslim community.In the first instance, a ministry of religion was established in 1945 in the republican area of control and its early work dealt mostly with recording marriages, with local registrars being located at the prominent mosques in key cities and towns.In 1948 the ministry took on its wider mission of handling a religious court system, supervising Muslim education, setting standards for general worship, and assisting in the repair and building of houses of worship.Given the unsettled conditions of the revolution, this wider mission was implemented only in part—little was done with the pilgrimage, for exam-4Fed_159-240 10/29/06 10:29 AM Page 169Muslim Majority States169ple—and it was not until the next era that the general work of the ministry became a reality.In a second development Indonesian associations and organizations revived, many with specific Muslim purposes.The Muhammadiyah and the Nahdatul Ulama–NU associations continued as they had in the late colonial and Japanese periods, and they were joined by numerous others, which organized women, students, labor, intellectuals, and other groups in Muslim society.The most important Muslim organization of the time was the Indonesian Muslims’ Consultative Council, Masjumi, an umbrella political union modeled after the Muslim federation organized during the Japanese period.Party membership was general among Muslims and attempts were made to create unified Muslim political goals, but common aims were elusive [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]