Islamisasi di Kota Surakarta dan Sekitarnya Masa Orde Baru: Sebuah Tinjauan Awal

Abstract

This article discusses the spread of Islam in the city and the neighborhood of Surakarta, Central Java during the New Order period. The spread of Islam took place through massive Islamic religious activities, such as mass prayer. In addition, the expansion of the number of mosques and mushola (Islamic praying sites) indicates a massive expansion of the influence of Islam in the region. Based on data from newspapers and interviews with relevant informants of the time, this article found out that the spread of Islam in Surakarta was a political agenda set up by the New Order government in order to counter the remnants of Communist ideology, which was withheld by sympathizers of the then Indonesian Communist Party. This article concludes that the massive spread of Islam shaped Surakarta, which had been known as the center of syncretic Javanese culture, to become religious and the government’s fear of Communism could be reduced. However, the process also made a sharp dichotomy between Islamist-based and Javanese-based identity of the city.