REVIEWING THE “OASE” (ORGANIZATION OF AHLULBAYT FOR SOCIAL-SUPPORT AND EDUCATION); Its Creeds, Its Activities, and a Different Color within Indonesian Shi’is

Asep Nahrul Musadad

doi:10.18784/analisa.v4i01.783

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to discuss an Indonesian Shi’i movement called OASE (Organization of Ahlulbayt for Social-support and Education). Coordinated by Emilia Renita Az, OASE marks the unique movement of Shi’i women in Indonesia, along with the existing Shi’i representative organization in the country, such as IJABI (Ikatan Jama’ah Ahlul Bait Indonesia/The All-Indonesian Assembly of Ahlulbayt Associations) and ABI (Ahlul Bait Indonesia/Indonesian Ahlulbayt). Using the perspective of social-movement, this paper seeks to capture the origin of OASE, its basic creeds, and its contribution of social activities in the Indonesian public sphere. The three-fold layers (artifact, sociofact, and mentifact) are used to explore its social works. The researcher’s engagement with the leader of OASE in a depth-interview is the method to collect the data in addition to analyze several artifact including documents, photos, and posters. The research finds several important points, including the founding of OASE as the “child” of reformasi (post-new order Indonesia), the nature of shi’i philanthropic activities as their spirit of social works through the lens of the mentioned three-fold layers, and the position of OASE among the other Indonesian Shi’i groups in the light of the international context of shi’i marja’iyya

Highlights

After the fall of New Order (Orde Baru), a term coined to identify the Soeharto regime, the second president of Indonesia, many turns of the dynamic of Indonesian Islam emerged both in discourse and movement
Using the interpretative analysis conducted from the social-movement, my aim is to explain the origin of OASE and its social activities in the public sphere as the representation of the minority group
Through the case of OASE, we find out that Indonesian Shias are not monolithic, but rather pluralistic and show such a heterogeneous character

Summary

Introduction

After the fall of New Order (Orde Baru), a term coined to identify the Soeharto regime, the second president of Indonesia (in office: 19681998), many turns of the dynamic of Indonesian Islam emerged both in discourse and movement. During the period of 1970s-1980s under the president Soeharto known as the smiling general, Indonesian Islam was largely considered to have the smiling face with the hegemony of the open-minded discourse as it was influential in the universities, the Ministry of Religious Affair, and other main Muslim institutions (Bruinessen, 2013: 2). It coincided with the New Order’s political strategy to demarcate with the Islamist sentiment suspected to stand against the state (Al Makin, 2016: 3).

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Conclusion