Muslim Minahasans with Roots in Java: The People of Kampung Jawa Tondano

Abstract

In the middle of the regency of Minahasa, almost a thousand miles away from Central Java lies Kampung Jawa Tondano. Founded by a small group of Javanese Muslims exiled for political reasons by the Dutch, it has now been in existence for just over 150 years. In spite of its name, and its origins, its inhabitants do not today speak, and indeed for many years have not spoken, the Javanese language. And although its chief founder is a semi-official national hero, whose name is a household word all over Java, the community does not think of itself as Javanese. Yet it remains sharply demarcated from the surrounding society, with a strong sense of corporate identity, not Javanese but Islamic. Why, over many generations, this community was not assimilated into the larger society of Menadonese North Sulawesi, and why it lost its Javaneseness while maintaining its Islamic-ness, are the questions to which this essay is addressed.