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Viewing cable 07SURABAYA65, EAST JAVA'S CHINESE MUSLIMS: IN THE MOSQUE, ON THE STUMP AND

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07SURABAYA65 2007-10-31 09:13 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Consulate Surabaya
VZCZCXRO3862
RR RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJS #0065/01 3040913
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 310913Z OCT 07
FM AMCONSUL SURABAYA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0092
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0033
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 0084
RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY 0009
RUEHJS/AMCONSUL SURABAYA 0094
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0012
RHHMUNA/USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0031
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SURABAYA 000065 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, IRN/EAP, DRL/PHD, INL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CH ID PGOV PHUM
SUBJECT: EAST JAVA'S CHINESE MUSLIMS: IN THE MOSQUE, ON THE STUMP AND 
IN THREE LANGUAGES 
 
 
SURABAYA 00000065  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
PORTIONS OF THIS MESSAGE ARE SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  PLEASE 
PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary:  Surabaya Principal Officer and Pol/Econ 
officer attended the fifth anniversary ceremony of the 
construction of the Cheng Hoo Mosque in downtown Surabaya on 28 
October.  The event went well beyond simple ceremony and 
demonstrated the importance of the audience to business, 
politics and religion in East Java.  National and local 
political figures, the PRC Consul General and key members of the 
Sino-Indonesian business community attended the event held at 
the symbolic center of Sino-Indonesian Muslim community.  The 
four-hour event showed the importance of the Chinese community 
in Surabaya as political supporters, financiers and champions of 
pluralism among Islamic organizations. End Summary 
 
Chinese Muslims Celebrate Community 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
2.  (U) Over 2000 members of the Chinese community attended the 
October 28 event, which included musical performances, 
recitation of the Quran in Chinese, Indonesian and Arabic, and a 
succession of impassioned speeches about the history of the 
Sino-Indonesian community and its prospects for the future.  The 
event was widely covered in the Chinese and Indonesian language 
press and showed the variety of ties the Sino-Chinese Muslim 
community has forged with the East Java's political and 
religious mainstream.  One former East Java governor and at 
least two prospective gubernatorial candidates gave speeches at 
the event.  The previous Governor of East Java, Basofi Sudirman; 
the current head of Nadlatul Ulama (NU) in East Java, Ali 
Maschan Moesa; and the Secretary of East Java province Soekarwo, 
added a political campaign atmosphere to the evening. 
 
3. (SBU) The head of the national Jawa Pos news syndicate Hasyim 
Muzadi, who had recently returned from China with a transplanted 
liver, also attended.  Although he did not speak, his presence 
itself symbolized the growing significance of China as a 
destination for medical treatment by wealthy Indonesians. 
Muzadi wrote a series of articles for his paper while undergoing 
treatment in China and Jawa Pos readers are well aware of his 
experiences.  East Java Elder statesman, former Governor 
Muhammad Noer, provided his imprimatur on the event by pledging 
to buy and distribute a guide for new Muslims published in 
Chinese, Arabic, English and Indonesian by the Cheng Hoo 
Foundation.  Still a potent political force, Noer's brief public 
statement served as an iron-clad endorsement of the Mosque's 
religious and political bona fides. 
 
A Study in Triangulation--Sino-Indonesian Muslims, Politics and 
China 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
------------------------------ 
 
4.  (SBU) Every trip to the podium suggested that the road to 
East Java's Governor's mansion might increasingly run through 
Chinese Surabaya, and the Cheng Hoo Mosque.  A heavily recruited 
candidate by several political parties, East Java NU Chairman 
Ali Maschan Moesa's performance was nothing less than a stump 
speech.  Moesa appeared eager to prove his credentials as a 
religious moderate and top contender for head of the National 
NU.  Moesa stressed his opposition to an Islamic state by saying 
that the Republic of Indonesia is "the final form" of the 
country and that Muslims should not seek an Islamic state. 
Moesa continued, "I asked representatives of Hizbut Tahrir to 
show me the verse in the Holy Quran that said that there should 
be an Islamic State.  They could not do it."  Moesa repeatedly 
described the diversity of Islamic practice as integral to Islam 
in Indonesia to much applause. 
 
5. (SBU) On 29 October, local media reported that two factions 
within East Java NU would decide Moesa's fate at a November 4 NU 
conference. One faction, centered in far eastern East Java, 
wants to maintain NU's nominal political neutrality and is 
opposed to Moesa.  The second group, from western East Java 
supports Moesa and the idea of a more politically active 
chairmanship.   Moesa has told members of the Consulate 
privately that he would prefer to serve as the national Chairman 
of NU than as the Governor of East Java, but he has not ruled 
out a run for the governor's mansion. 
 
6.  (SBU) By contrast Soekarwo, a candidate for East Java 
Governor from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), exhorted the 
 
SURABAYA 00000065  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
audience at the Cheng Hoo Mosque to invest in the development of 
East Java.  (Note: As sitting Secretary of the Province of East 
Java, Soekarwo is currently third in line after the Governor and 
Vice Governor).  By appealing directly to the perceived wealth 
of the Sino-Indonesian community, and using the now derogatory 
term "Cina" (instead of the preferred "Tionghua" for China), it 
appears Soekarwo's understanding of the sensitivities of the 
Sino-Indonesian community might need early retooling. 
Sensitivity remains high toward mainstream Indonesian 
stereotypes of Sino-Indonesians as rich tycoons.  Once 
persecuted by Soeharto regime as a supposed fifth column for the 
Communist Party of China, Sino-Indonesians have now become a 
valued bridge to the vast economic markets the PRC. 
 
The Symbolism of Cheng Hoo 
------------------------------------- 
 
7.  (SBU) The 15th century Chinese navigator Cheng Hoo (also 
spelled Zheng He) was sent by the Ming imperial court on a 
series of trading missions.  His travels continue to be strong 
emblems, not just of the arrival of Islam to Indonesia, but also 
of the beginning of Chinese trade with Java.  Cheng Hoo is a 
source of pride and a symbol of the Mosque's role as a bridge 
between the two cultures, the head of the Cheng Hoo Mosque 
foundation took pains to add nuance to the view of 
Sino-Indonesians toward China: "China is our motherland, but 
Indonesia is our homeland."  The Chinese Consul General, Fu 
Shuigen, speaking in Chinese without interpretation, avoided 
discussion of Islam altogether and focused on the achievements 
of Cheng Hoo and his value as a symbol of peaceful Chinese and 
Indonesian trade ties.  In discussions with Cheng Hoo foundation 
officers, we learned that students from China were studying 
Islam at schools associated with the Cheng Hoo Mosque and that 
more than one delegation of Islamic leaders from East Java had 
traveled to China in order to visit Muslim communities. 
 
8.  (SBU) Despite the apparent sense of camaraderie at this 
event, tensions between the ethnic Chinese and ethnic Javanese 
Muslim communities persists.  Relations between both 
Sino-Indonesians and other ethnicities and between 
Sino-Indonesian Muslims and the non-Muslim majority in their own 
ethnic community are easily strained.  Abdul Chalim Muhammad 
Zein, head advisor to several Islamic boarding schools and 
member of the Cheng Hoo Foundation, told us that the design of 
the Cheng Hoo Mosque was a source of friction between Surabaya's 
conservative Muslim majority and their Sino-Indonesian Muslim 
counterparts.  Many felt its pagoda structure un-Islamic. 
Friction also occurred early on within the surrounding 
Sino-Indonesian neighborhood.  Many non-Muslim neighbors 
complained that the call to prayer broadcast from the 
loudspeakers in the Mosque was too loud and the volume was 
subsequently lowered.  Struggling to maintain credibility and 
authenticity in both communities is a persistent challenge to 
the Cheng Hoo community. 
 
U.S. ConGen Remarks Well Received 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
9.  (U) In remarks given in Indonesian, Surabaya's Principal 
Officer stressed the close relationship enjoyed by the Consulate 
and the Muslim community in Surabaya.  She highlighted a series 
of events hosted by the Consulate during Ramadan and spontaneous 
applause greeted several lines of the speech.  Reaction was 
particularly strong during the Principal Officer's mention of 
the importance of religious pluralism to both the United States 
and Indonesia.  Local Chinese language press reports highlighted 
the close relations with the Consulate and noted that Consulate 
Surabaya's annual Iftars for the local Muslim community during 
Ramadan, "strengthened understanding and recognition between 
Muslims of Chinese and other ethnicities and advanced mutual 
unity and friendship." 
MCCLELLAND