Chapter 8 - The Localization of Islam in Insular Southeast Asia

Summary

Cheng Ho's historic maritime ventures to the Western Ocean from 1405 to 1433 brought about many changes in Southeast Asia including the rapid development of Islam and the mushrooming of Hanafite Chinese Muslim communities in insular Southeast Asia. His death and Ming's abrupt maritime withdrawal in 1433 marked the beginning of another new era in Southeast Asian history. It paved the way for more cultural changes in the region in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This chapter reviews the impact of Ming's policy shift on the geopolitics and Islamization process in the region. The chapter also explores the crises within Chinese society in Java and Sumatra created by the devastating shockwave from Cheng Ho's departure. Diverse responses given by different groups of Chinese communities to the crises revealed at least three models of adaptation which will be analysed in the context of acculturation processes. The consequences had added a new dimension to the localization of Islam in Java. How Sino-Islam integrated with a Javanese Islam that is highly influenced by the Javanese tradition, Buddhist-Hindu culture and Sufism will also be scrutinized.

CHANGING GEOPOLITICS AND CHINESE SOCIETY IN JAVA IN POST-CHENG HO ERA

The tribute relations between Southeast Asian states and Ming China and the geopolitics in the region in post-Cheng Ho era from 1433 to 1500, as well as the occupation of Malacca by the Portugese and the rise of the port cities in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, had significant influence on the development of the Chinese society in the Malay Archipelago. The reactions of the Hanafite Chinese Muslims and non-Muslim Chinese especially, to the changing world around them provide an insight into the acculturation process in the context of social and religious realignments.

The Ming court's maritime interest had been waning towards the end of Emperor Yongle's reign. The sixth voyage from 1421 to 1422 was the last mission dispatched by Yongle, who passed away two years later. The seventh and also the last voyage took place nine years later in 1431–33 during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. By then Cheng Ho was already sixty years of age and he passed away in Calicut at the tail end of that voyage. Since 1422, voices against maritime expeditions were on the rise in the Ming court.