A Popular Indonesian Preacher: The Significance of Aa Gymnastiar

Author(s): C. W. Watson
Source: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 11, No. 4 (Dec., 2005), pp.
773-792
Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3804047
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 A POPULAR INDONESIAN PREACHER: THE
SIGNIFICANCE OF AA GYMNASTIAR

C.W. Watson

University of Kent

Aa Gymnastiar (Gym) is a popular Indonesian Muslim preacher who seems to b

at the pinnacle of his fame. He regularly gives advice to the head of state and t
isters and yet at the same time his approach to Islam appeals to all sections of the
Muslim community. His is a familiar face in newspaper columns and above all o
vision screens; Aa Gym has a masterful command of the media. This article descri
accounts for his popularity and discusses it in terms of continuity and change in t
and decline of Muslim celebrities in Indonesia. It points out the difference betwee
and some obvious forerunners such as the scholar Hamka, and stresses that the na
Gym's appeal is new in as much as he does not come from within the circle of
tional families of Muslim ulama. He seems to draw his information as much from secular
sources of self-help manuals as from books of Sufi wisdom. Although very popular and
influential among the general circle of believers, he is regarded with some suspicion by
those who criticize his sufistic leanings and lack of an orthodox Muslim education. The
article concludes by arguing that Gym and his approach to the implementation of Muslim
precepts is more representative of the nature of Islam in Indonesia today than the activ?
ities of terrorists.

In his apologia for his decision to conduct research on Islamic preaching in

contemporary Egypt, Gaffney (1994: 3, 29) points out how Western studies of
Islam have become vulnerable to a new kind of orientalism. Arguing that
research agendas seem often to be driven by political imperatives, he suggests
that there has been an over-concentration on issues of political ideology and
political movements and that this has led to a neglect of the comparative
anthropology of Islamic institutions. The point is well taken. His book goes
on to demonstrate the usefulness of not allowing oneself to be distracted by
the concerns of political scientists and doom-laden futurologists and, instead,
of looking closely at the dynamics of change within Muslim societies, focus-
ing in particular on the way in which new knowledge is currently being gen?
erated and disseminated by new kinds of Muslim intellectuals. This approach
was later taken up and expanded in Eickelman and Anderson's path-breaking
book New media in the Muslim world (2003; first edition 1999), which sought
to illustrate the revolution in religious thinking which was taking place in
different Muslim countries as a consequence of the use made of new media
technologies.
In particular what Eickelman, Anderson, and their contributors were
arguing was that new public spheres were being created as a consequence of

? Royal Anthropological Institute 2005.

f. Roy. anthrop. Inst. (N.S.) 11, 773-792

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 774 C.W WATSON

the emergence of new p

(an ongoing dialogue be
intellectuals (those eme
scholarship). In their op
in order to perceive how
in the 'interstitial space
new media. These, they
in forms of critical th
before.
In some countries - th
communities could mak
ideas. In other countries
media such as the inter
The comparative dimen
how communities make
social and economic cir
political kaleidoscope w
change, so too does the
case than in Indonesia since Suharto's downfall in 1998.
In the Eickelman and Anderson volume Hefner (2003) documents only
case illustrating the significance of what has happened, but en passant ma
a number of useful points reminding us of the particularity of the Indone
situation. He remarks, for instance, that whereas in other Muslim count
the growth of a new intellectual Muslim discourse has largely led to radi
extremism, in Indonesia, despite appearances to the contrary and, he mig
have added, the concerns of non-specialist political observers of Indonesia,
movement ? in which Indonesia has led the modern world ? has been towards
a new moderate Islam (2003: 163, 176). The Indonesian 'street' ? if that is a
useful metaphor1 - has, in other words, been sending very different message
from what has been reported for other countries. Nevertheless, Hefner, opt
mistic as he is about the healthiness of the development of Muslim intellec
tual thinking in Indonesia, sounds a note of caution. He reminds us that civi
pluralism does not simply come into play as a consequence of the openin
up of new pluralist possibilities realized through the loosening of state con
trols of the media. The tolerance which pluralism demands is constantly con
tested and needs to be fought for, a point made more generally by Norton
in the same volume (2003: 22).
Considerations of space limited what Hefner (and Bowen in the first editio
of the book) could say about the new openness in Indonesia following
Suharto's fall. It is a complicated and lengthy business unravelling the newly
emerging discourses in terms of what was new and what was in continuity
with the recent past. Even in their extensive and well-researched monograph
Hefner (2000) and Bowen (2003) confme themselves to specific fields: i
Hefner's case this is the realpolitik of Muslim party politics and in Bowen's
is the development of new debates and new legal thinking about Muslim la
and its embeddedness within the state.
In an earlier book Bowen (1993) had looked more closely at the produc
tion of Muslim discourse in the Gayo region of Sumatra. Here there ar
obvious parallels with Gaffney's work. Both look at structures of argument

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 C.W WATSON 775

and the use of metaphor

contemporary preaching
typology of preacher, saint
each works to routinize
however, to hedge his typ
is heuristically useful, one
should understand the ty
another.
Gaffney's nuanced analy
view similar phenomena i
the emergence in Indones
has achieved a national ce
skilful exploitation of the
able after 1998.
A critical appreciation ofthe success of Aa (Brother) Gym, as he is known,
offers obvious points of comparison between the Indonesian situation and
what is happening in other parts of the Muslim world, certainly in relation
to the use of new media technologies. As Gaffney (1994: 30) reminds
us, however, we need to be constantly aware of local as well as universal
features of Islamic observance; there are some characteristics unique to the
Indonesian situation that we must bear in mind. Some of these become appar?
ent when we see how much Gym is dependent on being recognized as in a
continuum with earlier nationally known Muslim preachers. Other charac?
teristics, however, relate to his possession of a sharp business acumen dis-
tinguishing him not only from his compatriots but also, as far as I can see,
from fellow preachers in other Muslim countries whose consciousness of
the economic possibilities of celebrity status has not (unlike many 'guru'
figures in other religious movements) followed the same path of economic
entrepreneurship.
In the Indonesian context I also want to take up a point that Eickelman
and Anderson (2003) stress about the creation of a public sphere. Gym's
preaching fails very much within the mould of they call 'the privatization of
religion' (by which is meant the interiorization of religious ideas and the
understanding of their applicability to seemingly secular everyday public and
domestic routines). This is the specialism of Gaffney's moralist preacher, who
exhorts the individual less to observe the strictness of ritual prescriptions or
make specific political commitments than to apply Muslim principles to
everyday practice. However common such preaching may be in other parts
of the Muslim world, until the emergence of the new media and the rise of
Aa Gym it was confined in Indonesia to local communities and was never
given a national forum.
So publicly visible is Aa Gym's presence that in fact no one with an inter?
est in Islam in Indonesia today can have failed to have been struck by his
figure. The photogenic image of the smiling bespectacled fresh face, head
wrapped Arab-style in a white turban, is ubiquitous. It is constantly on tele?
vision, available at the press of a button on numerous DVDs and videos, regu-
larly appearing in newspapers (in one of which he has not just a column but
a weekly page to himself), visible on the covers of countless books and pam-
phlets in bookshops where special display tables are set aside for his works

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776 C.W. WATSON

and works about him, an

meetings with everyone
parties in various troubl
as 'Indonesia's holy man
Indian spiritual figures
appeal in Indonesia this
distinctiveness of the m
esteem in which he is he
rivals that of holy men;
status of Aa Gym.
The Muslim religious est
On the one hand they ad
practical spirituality to t
and piety appealing to al
knowledge of Muslim sc
not been trained in any
homespun religious wisd
dotes, humorous asides,
greatly to secular politic
during the month of Ra
a huge congregation in t
Indonesian politicians, in
as he makes satirical com
elite. His appeal, then, is
lower urban middle cla
litical spectrum, even cr
advocates are Christians,
the fundamental moralit
National fame has not,
amongst whom he was
north of Bandung. The
called Daarut Tauhid (DT)
not walled off or separat
shapes and sizes serving di
down little alleyways, an
scrupulously clean in a
kebersihan ialah sebagian
is on one side of the mai
supermarket, a booksh
number of booths. Up a
modest undistinguished
the buildings behind the
Manajemen Qolbu (MQ),
offs of his various comm
and having a good solid
themes). Everywhere is
at the last count), answe
tions, and running erran
signs enunciating Aa Gym

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 C.W WATSON 777

'3Ms' - Mulai dengan dir

(Begin with small thing
(Greet people), Sapa (Tal
erly), Senyum (Smile). T
the moral teaching fou
advice texts of internat
tors to the DT bookshop
The Daarut Tauhid com
grimage and, as in all su
and commerce begin
souvenirs, and there is
and where Muslim praye
are on display. A table
pilgrims' honey. In add
DT there are small bed-
sell the usual variety
seen smoking. Catering
hood are a polyclinic an
represent a genuine con
and hygiene and better
wander around in small
are wisata rohani, spiri
peziarah, the usual word
clothing of pastel colou
designed and assemble
visits, arriving in coach
a neighbourhood group
Lampung in south Sum
and a group of middle-
like the last come to att
ing of sound business
During the pilgrimage
regular chanting and sin
humour.
The climax of the weekend is the question-and-answer period with Gym
early on Sunday morning followed immediately by a photo-shoot. The fol?
lowing account extracted from my notes of a session witnessed on 7 March
2004 is typical.

It is 6:45 in the morning when I arrive and the pilgrims are already seated in the lower
courtyard space, about seven hundred of them sitting under an awning and another two
hundred or so standing around the edges. A steward standing among the crowd answers
someone's query and says that altogether there are 1,500 people there that weekend.
About three-quarters of them are women and, of those, two-thirds are middle-aged. They
are talking among themselves and half-listening to the group of five young male singers
who are standing on a raised stage area in front and who, in barbershop style, are singing
catchy religious songs (nazid). On the stage there is an array of microphones and speak?
ers and a screen set under another awning. A young man acting as announcer tells them
what the next item of the programme will be and advises them to watch the screen.
The singers leave the stage and a film is shown on the screen: Aa Gym as action man,
showing him riding on his motorbike, deep-sea diving, parachuting, riding a horse, doing

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778 C. W WATSON

shooting practice. Unfortunate

ate so it is difficult to see the
out what is happening, there is
and Aa Gym appears riding a b
After setting the bicycle dow
Can you see the pictures on the
look at the screen and says som
they shout back no. He is disap
a Muslim doesn't mean you sho
the video clip. Never mind, he sa
in the crowd. Speak up, he say
pretence because I haven't heard
joint venture between myself and a m
no smoke, no noise. My son uses it
bit expensive three and a half m
You're advertising (promosi), som
Now, he says, any more questi
crowd and hand them microp
come out with their questions
Wliat is the best way to be an
That is what we must all do and n
we have learned.

How can we be good religious spe

There is a word to remember ?
have to tell people the truth; you
thing into practice). You have to g
to apply in their daily lives. S is
for your audience. Life is complicat
want simple advice. People say my
thread if the advice is complicated
otherwise they get bored. It's lik
very much when you serve it to h
the next day and again he eats it
day he doesn't eat it at all.
The crowd chuckles. Talks are li
new. Any more questions? He h
for. He notices a Catholic nun
going to be there. Do you have
and just says where she is fro
speaks to people of all religion
all religions preach the same m

Someone asks him how o

tations, and he uses the op
then says his wife will be
helpers where his wife is.
ingly reminded of a music
asides, the various pieces o
where his wife is, buildin
in the direction he is look

Being patient requires practice, he

And what about jealousy, a wom
Well you try, sometimes you can'
know I sometimes am. The other

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 C.W WATSON 779

photograph just of himself and m

ings. Laughter from the audie
pretty woman approaches hi
wearing designer spectacles an
blue robe. How are you my da
enjoy this interaction. They wer
reaches for a microphone and
gets irritated. It's not the middl
of,but the young quiet girls who
What about polygamy? someon
second wife I would imagine tha
hope I would be able to accept i
Ah you see she says she wouldn'
he says with a laugh. Now if she
it. And so the banter and the
sionally Aa breaking into a so
anecdotes about himself, m
biographies. He plays the aud
responses. There is a lot of lau
of wisdom.
I hear one serious question. There is a lot of trouble between people of different ethnic groups
and religions in Indonesia today and we are urged to be tolerant and ignore the differences; but in
this way are we not simply storing up trouble for ourselves, Don't we have to tackle the differences
head on? Isn't this a time bomb ? bom waktu ? waiting to go off? He answers this ques?
tion straight, no joking. Difference is something to be celebrated not criticized. We should enjoy
the variety which exists and learn from it. I don't see any problem. As for time bombs, if we think
there is one going to go off we should work to defuse it. No, difference is something we should be
happy with.
A few minutes later during the photo-shoot I position myself among the photo-
graphers about eight feet away from the chairs and watch as 1,500 people line up to
have their photo taken with Gym in groups of 5-10 each ofthe men shaking his hand.
Aa Gym and his wife come and take their seats. People take up their positions behind
the chairs, the photographers say 'One, two', Gym arranges his smile just in time and
they are off. After each shot the group is quickly hustled away with the men trying to
shake Gym's hand - he said earlier to the crowd that he didn't shake the hands of women
for religious reasons ? and the women are trying to touch finger tips, as in a traditional
Sundanese greeting, with his wife. Some people want him to autograph copies of his
biography, which they have bought and he obliges.
Gym and his wife occasionally glance at me but they don't say anything, at least not
until he sees me making a note in a notebook. Ah ha, he says, what sort of a journalist do
we have here? Not a journalist, I say with a smile, just an academic. An academic? Even worse,
he says, and I smile.

Short as this description of one morning session is, I hope it suggests how
any comprehensive monograph on the significance of Aa Gym in contempo?
rary national Muslim life in Indonesia would have to consider a variety of
different aspects of the phenomenology and sociology of this scene. It would
move from a close focus on Gym himself and his rhetorical style through to
an informed account of his audience. However, in line with my particular
interest here in Gym as a new style of preacher comparable with, yet differ?
ent from, Indonesian predecessors as well as counterparts in other Muslim
countries, I want to look at the way in which the national message he conveys
is a product of the fortuitous conjunction of both the availability of the new
media and a changing perception of the significance of Islam in daily life in
Indonesia today. To put the argument in context, we need to look first at

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780 C. W WATSON

Gym's biography and th

Indonesian historical sett

The biograph
Born in 1962 Gym was t
apparently exercised a g
died in his early twentie
and he grew up in a mili
walk away from his pr
appear to have been inte
capacity for leadership. M
siastic entrepreneurial sp
In school he also develop
drama productions.
After being a leading
good university but had
to enter the army, follo
unsuccessful; he was not
the early 1980s he was b
ities. The turning point
a younger brother who
illness had much influen
nical school run by the m
entrepreneurial possibili
avenues for learning m
schools (pondok pesantr
vicinity of the Parahyan
seems to have come in c
of Al-Ghazali and the
Al-Iskandari, from whic
nificant dream experienc
prophet Muhammad and
tradition is considered
connotations. It is, how
made dream narratives v
from those hostile to m
criticism, Gym, in a rec
drawn from it is not th
ration it provided to him
(Gymnastiar 2003: 26). T
in his discussion of the
gift of ilmu laduni ? an
2003: 34).
The dream, the religiou
kiyai, and the spiritual
bined to make Gym inte
religiosity was channelle

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 C.W.WATSON 781

establishment while sup

religious books at the ne
in an uncle's small stall.
In 1987, the same year when he finished his formal schooling at the tech?
nical institute, Gym went on the pilgrimage to Mecca and also married. His
wife, Ninih Muthmainnah, was the granddaughter of a well-known kiya
whom he had met while attending a Qur'anic recitation competition. By
1993, however, he was beginning to build a local reputation and was inter-
viewed in the highly respected national weekly journal, Tempo. By 1998 he
was well known, and was receiving numerous invitations to preach. This could
have been an opportunity for him to enter politics, since this was a route fol?
lowed by other religious figures at the time. He deliberately eschewed that
option, however, and has consistently argued that politics, worthy profession
though it may be, is not for him.
The first formal state recognition of the status he held in the national
Muslim community was the invitation to preach in the state mosque in
December 2001. All the major politicians assembled to hear him delive
what was a fairly straightforward message calling for honesty and commit
ment but delivered with his usual verve, with lots of humour, the occasional
burst of song, and a few phrases in Sundanese. The occasion sealed his repu?
tation and he has not looked back. Since then, because of his celebrity and
the nationwide respect in which he is held, he has often participated in
informal political activities. After the bombing in Bali in 2002, for example,
he went there quickly in order to try to pre-empt possible violent reaction
against the small Muslim community on the part of the majority Hindu
Balinese. He also went to Poso in central Sulawesi, the site of some blood
clashes between Muslims and Christians, and preached in a Christian church
to members of all religious denominations. This initiative again exposed him
to attack from some Muslims, who felt that by preaching in a church h
had legitimized Christian belief (Al-Mukaffi 2003: 5). In the lead-up t
the national elections in April 2004 he visited towns near Bandung, where
he was received with what almost amounts to hysteria by excited crowd
to whom he preached that it was important that the national election
take place in a spirit of peace.4 In January 2005 he was quick to make a
visit to Aceh in the wake of the devastation caused by the tsunami. There
he made a contribution to emergency needs by supplying a portable water-
purifying unit.
Meanwhile his enterprises prosper. The DT complex is a thriving business
and in addition there is a TV production company recording his sermons and
talks and making religiously informed soap serials. There are also a publish?
ing company, a tour operating company, a business training programme, and
several other ventures, especially in the domain of information technology
about which he is very enthusiastic (see Yopi, Deny & Murman 2003). He is
still very much the family man and he and his wife present the very imag
of the ideal married couple with their seven natural children and twenty-eigh
adopted children.
All this needs to be put in context. Aa Gym, despite appearances, did not
appear out of the blue; there were predisposing factors which facilitated hi
success in capturing the moment.

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782 C.W WATSON

A context

Gym's rapid rise to fame has not gone unnoticed by Indonesian

who have tried to account for it by alluding to what they see a
social malaise and moral decline existing in Indonesia today Som
have gone further and have placed Gym in a tradition of popula
preachers stretching over the last four decades (Herry 2002: 117
significant about this period is that it corresponds to the develo
communications technology which has allowed local figure
national reputations in a way not conceived by their immediate p
It is precisely from the period of the late 1960s onwards that tele
available not only in the big cities of Indonesia but also, thanks t
lite facilities, in the villages and outermost islands, which, from t
became increasingly connected to Jakarta and urban national cult
only led to the dissemination of a popular music culture and th
tion of canned TV series - I remember a Minangkabau friend of
resident in London shaking his head in amazement telling me that
1970s they were now watching Kojak in his remote village in w
- but also provided the state with its ability to control the med
to broadcast numerous ideological messages to the nation. At th
however, television provided an opportunity for religious br
thereby introduced to the national community figures who had
had only a local reputation.
TV, however, has not been the only medium for the widespre
tion of religious homilies. Cassette technology was very quickly
for this purpose and rapidly spread throughout small towns in
the periodic markets held regularly in villages, cassettes of serm
easily available, sold well alongside the traditional religious pam
became the subjects of discussion.
The first person to benefit from this new technology w
Sumatran, Hamka, who had already acquired a national reputatio
1960s as a political figure (he was an opponent of the political dir
by Sukarno in the late 1950s and had been imprisoned by him) a
a writer of popular romantic novels in the 1930s. In the 1970s, th
vision appearances, the proliferation of popular religious magazi
widespread circulation of cassettes, Hamka came into his own, n
Muslim communities throughout the Indonesian archipelago
Malaysia, where his books sold well and where he frequently pr
Hamka's mantle was not taken up by any comparable figure aft
in 1981. By then new types of religiosity had emerged in Indon
as consequence of the changing international situation, which led
mitted Muslims to look overseas for inspiration, and partly as a
of new middle-class tendencies to participate in religious instruct
where the emphasis was on spiritual experience rather than on
religious teachings. Both trends, though in fact at variance with
contributed to making the kind of straightforward injunctio
Hamka less universally popular. None the less there were preach
make good use of expanding technological facilities and new dev
in communal attitudes and practices. One of these was Zain

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 C.W.WATSON 783

(b. 1951),7 associated w

Persatuan Pemhangunan
Hamka, not from the rel
Jakarta, he was conversa
He was also able to devel
These two figures, Ham
as the forerunners of Gy
to mention - perhaps be
dents among their audie
historical continuity wit
predisposed religious con
Zainuddin. The tradition
as the standard by whic
his earliest experiences
standing orator with an
oped was, even then, not
an older figure in the na
Sarekat Islam, an anti-co
had admired in his yout
style of dalang, Javane
(Anderson 1972: 12, fn.
perfection in the 1950
Churchill's well-known
despite the fact that for
ship was suppressed by S
Reference to Tjokroami
nuity with the emergen
ities have been well docum
twentieth centuries. Da
that, although he was th
and his theatre of opera
second and third decades
characteristics in the res
Benda 1972 [1965]; Sarton
popular support for Suka
spective. There is, of cou
millenarianism to accoun
from such analyses is a s
indeed the Indonesian pu
be, influenced by strong
natural sanction.10
A further and perhaps
older traditions is the ex
religious scholars (kiya
(Zamakhsyari 1982) and
quoted article, act as 'cu
tion and the political elit
We can now see how G
nication, and his use of

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784 C.W WATSON

emulation of not only

past but also the styles
century He too has the
(sederhana) rules by wh
honed oratorical manne
great effect. The organ
pesantren of the Daarut
revolutionary, structur
one might well conclud
matter of degree, and
forwardly to the develo
lutionized the potential
Reasonable as such a co
at what distinguishes G
the argument of histor
not a traditional kiyai
genealogical anteceden
2003: 118). He does not
which has up till now b
as a scholar, nor has he
tional pesantren.12 Gym
scholarship as his prede
and the familiarity wit
tial attributes of the kiy
developed two differen
The first strategy is t
claiming, or at least no
obtained his wisdom in
prophets presence estab
through statements of
for religious instruction
within a few months. T
divinely privileged with
religious knowledge and
both because, I think
extremes, he risks find
sia) ? the state-sponsore
the less, his experience of
their way into the lite
about his special gifts.
The second strategy a
implicitly asserting tha
ars of the past but in f
altogether. This traditio
its principal intention
engagement with the w
action, the two routes
and by the traditional
offering, what might b

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 C.W.WATSON 785

within the bounds of ort

ness which appeals to his
Through these two strat
claims to religious author
filment by engaging wit
public imagination. To ill
ranging appeal, let me gi
sional management prac
culture of companies tod
training sessions are held
Manajemen Qolhu in th
2003: 56-8). Among the c
recorded as making use o
Rail Company, and the
Ridwan 2001: 27). At the
along modern lines and
practical business advice a
simple moral principles o
Clearly this combination
personal morality pays of
tary remarks about how
risen after attending suc
of these training sessions.
play a major role in tack
ness practice is of course
ment holds Gym's MQ in
attached to these new i
different as it is from what is available elsewhere.
Gym's immediate following would seem to be those of middle-age in the
urban middle class. Civil servants, teachers, and small and medium business
entrepreneurs come to the DT complex with realistic expectations not that
they will receive instant religious revelation but that they will receive good
wholesome advice of a spiritual and practical kind and have something to
relate when they return home. This constituency has expanded thanks to
Gym's entrepreneurial skills and in particular to his awareness of the impor?
tance of modern communications technology. Through TV, cassettes, CDs,
videos, and the print media, he has been able not only to extend his appeal
upwards socially (evidenced by his address to political leaders in the Istiqlal
mosque and the way he has subsequently become a focus of attention for
government ministers and foreign ambassadors) but also downwards, reaching
to the urban and rural poor. These persons do not have the means to become
wisata rohani but can listen to cassettes of his talks and derive from them the
same kind of benefit of 'inculcating perceptual habits' that Hirschkind
describes (2002: 551) with regard to Egyptian audiences of cassette-recorded
sermons.

Gym's source of spiritual wisdom is Islam and conse

reference are familiar quotations from the Qur'an and
tions of the Prophet). Beyond these basic reference
sources of Muslim knowledge, principally, it wou

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786 C.W WATSON

presented in anecdotal a
unconventionality in w
Islamic scholarship and
contemporary living in
emphasis on simple rule
stone, which leads to
Muslim wisdom and pla
by Eickelman and And
However, before we ca
where ultimately his co
final comparison, name
activists in Indonesia w
positions for more act
comes closest to Aa Gy
Sejahtera - People's Just
the most successful of
putting across an image
people s welfare. A stro
shows affmities with Gy
is its espousal of moder
if the Muslim communi
it lacks at present and
The PKS is a movemen
modernist revival move
turies, of which the stil
ential leader H.A. Dahlan
also sees today's Turkish
nation prompting the m
of defensiveness toward
science and technology a
with these perceptions i
ism. Ultimately, these r
make progress is by rev
comitant value judgemen
the Prophet and his co
those who are labelled
injunction to follow lite
while at the same time
technology is absurd ?
porary life - and betray
Their opinions,17 howev
Contrast, then, these t
headed by young urban
obvious differences are
that Western influence
be checked nor from th
to be found either in a
a radical neo-rationalism
his Sufi-inclined ment

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 C.W. WATSON 787

economic change. He embr

of professionalism, but im
science and culture made
without the latter. The la
tremists, only definable i
night-clubs, casinos, and
degradation not as being a
of practices that can emer
cumstances. He holds that
that there is no solution i
tion for him lies in a careful and continual rehearsal of moral debate and rea?
soning in which individuals constantly carry out their own introspection. In
his opinion the way forward lies not out there in some form of political action
but in the creation of a climate of moral reasoning and its application to
immediate daily life.

Conclusion

The year 1998 was clearly critical for Indonesia in a number of way
fall opened up the way for a new wave of democratization for
opposition had been pressing for a number of years. With the ne
ties for communication opened up came a sudden expansion of
sphere and of the roles played there by secular and religious group
logical sophistication was already in existence before that, but it
the new political climate of freedom of expression which em
consequence of the liberalization swiftly announced by Habibi
successor, that this know-how could demonstrate its potential. Not
new TV channels quickly established which were not under
control of the government but there was a sudden flowering of th
newspapers and journals formerly banned under Suharto re-emerg
ones flooded the market. A new range of publications appeared t
time, including a new genre, the Indonesian romantic Muslim no
Tempo, 21 March 2005: ll).18 Independent of political develop
internet, which had always been less susceptible to government in
grew in strength with the spread of internet cafes and the linkin
communities of politically aware netters. As Hefner (2003) has de
was also in 1998 that one of the first groups to make effective u
new technology was a militant Muslim organization. It was in thi
that Aa Gym began to be known beyond the neighbourhood
Bandung.
In relation to the rest of the Muslim world there is at first sight nothing
unusual in the emergence of a person like Aa Gym. He is, it would seem,
simply another representative of what has become a fairly common phenom?
enon, an influential Muslim figure whom the tide of modernization and the
availability of new technology have allowed to communicate with a mass audi?
ence, and who has thus displaced the traditional figure of religious authority
whom the umat (Muslim community) would have looked to in the past as
the sole source of religious wisdom. Even within Indonesia, a country where

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 788 C.W WATSON

the state control of I

countries, there might
with a line of influentia
Looked at more closely
in the manner in which
matter of scale, though
greater and more dispar
a question of having cr
same time having not f
diate contact. In this re
Anderson, borrowing f
'contemporaries beyon
interaction of the members of these communities, where it sometimes
becomes difficult to distinguish form from content, new understandings of the
significance of Islam in the practicalities of daily life and in solving, or at
least coming to terms with, domestic and professional problems are being
exchanged. Aa Gym's is very much an interstitial space between the traditional
preaching of religious authorities, who have emphasized and continue to
emphasize with ever-increasing vigilance ? for example in relation to the con?
sumption of halal foods ? the proper observance of religious ritual, and the
sophisticated dialogues of Muslim intellectuals who debate the appropriate-
ness of hermeneutic approaches to the interpretation of the Qur'an.
From outside Indonesia Gym's novelty appears to lie in the astute way in
which he reaches an extraordinarily wide spectrum of the population and
seems able to so without appearing in any way threatening to established
interests, excepting perhaps some traditional and anti-Sufistic religious author?
ities. In addition, and this is perhaps where he differs most from his counter-
parts in other areas of the Muslim world, he appears to be incorporating a
new strand of global outreach into religious understanding. Homespun moral
advice is combined with immediate practical instruction on good manage?
ment practice. The situating of business management and practice within a
moral and theologically inspired code of conduct has long been a familiar
element in discussions of the practice of everyday life in the Western Chris?
tian world. What we are seeing in Indonesia in the person of Gym is the con-
textualization of an idea of religious praxis designed to infuse Muslim personal
and professional life in Indonesia. Hand in hand with the verbal advice comes
the spectacular demonstration through his own business empire that the
system works.
Gym's success, then, is attributable to the conjuncture of a number of dif?
ferent circumstances. His mastery of the resources of the new media, from
comic books to videos and from television to the press, in addition to his
command of the mimbar (pulpit) in the mosque, was his principal asset in
the rise to celebrity status. Over the past few years it has been his skills in
business and management which seem to have been responsible for increas?
ing his range of influence and sustaining it so dramatically.
Observing Gym's career, then, prompts one to reflect more closely on the
nature of the global Muslim community. What is happening in Indonesia
seems closely aligned to what is occurring elsewhere in the Muslim world. A
new sense of what it is to be religious is being forged. To believe, as we are

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 C.W. WATSON 789

frequently being encourag

of being a Muslim is leadin
civilization is simply wron
the Muslim world are usin
new technologies in ways
forms of identification wi
the practicalities of every
combined with other deve
support for the institution

NOTES

This article is based on long acquaintance with Indonesia but in particula

visits in 2003 and a period of observation in Indonesia between January an
both years my work was funded by awards from the British Academy: in 2003
from the Academy's Southeast Asia Committee, and in 2004 from the Small
tee. I should like to thank both committees and the British Academy in gener
ing to support research like mine in a climate where many research fundin
it impractical to support small individual projects of this kind.
1 Norton is rightly critical of this use of the word 'street', arguing that as
refer to mass public opinion in Muslim countries it is the kind of stereoty
sounding television performers' (2003: 20) that betrays rather than reveals real
2 For a particularly sharp criticism which accuses Aa Gym of being over-inf
mystic ideas, see Al-Mukaffi (2003). For a reply to this criticism, see Zulkarna
3 The information on which this brief summary is based is taken pr
Gymnastiar (2003) and Herry (2002), but also draws on remarks made by Gym
4 The headline of a newspaper report of a recent visit made to the town of T
'Warga Tasik Histeris Sambut Aa Gym' - 'The Citizens of Tasik Give Aa Gy
Welcome' (Pikiran Rakyat, 13 March 2004).
5 Several comments on Aa Gym's rise to fame are usefully collected in He
28). Herry (2002: 133) mentions an early Australian National University Ph.D
'The workshop for morality: the Islamic creativity of pesantren DaarutTauhid in
by Dindin Solahudin (1996), to which unfortunately I have not had access.
6 One or two small points need to be added here. Hamka, as a Sumatra
Sumatra where Malay ? the basis of Indonesian ? is widely spoken, had a flu
the national language and was thus able to convey his message throughout
Furthermore he had also been a journalist and a politician and was well prac
use of communications facilities. However, precisely because he was Sumatr
ernist tradition in which he was brought up was very different from the relig
of village Java, outside the cities he never achieved as much popularity in Jav
where. For details of Hamka's life and a critical appraisal some years after
study of Hadler (1998), Noer (1979) and the chapter on Hamka in Watson (
7 For a comprehensive biographical account of Zainuddin see Mahfudh, M
(1994). For some recent details see the magazine, Sabili (2003: 178 f.).
8An illustration ofthe continuing admiration shown for Sukarno s oratory i
recent field experience. When I was in Kerinci in central Sumatra in the su
went to interview the leader of the local PKS, a Muslim political party with n
of Sukarno. I was surprised to hear on entering his house the playing of a
of Sukarno's speeches and to be told what a marvellous orator he was.
9See Patricia Herbert's useful account (1982) ofthe famous Hsaya San reb
Burma for an interpretation which challenges Benda (1972 [1965]) and is a th
ing of the model's emphasis on the salience of popular folk belief and its re
Burmese Buddhist monkhood.
10 Exemplifying this point is an item in the press describing how the leadership of t
(Nadhlatul Ulama, Council of Ulama, the most influential of all religious organizatio

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 790 C.W WATSON

Indonesia, with its heartland

former Minister of Security,
candidate. The item reads:

Namun sebelum menetapkan SBY sebagai capres, sesuai kelaziman yang berlaku di kalan
gan kiyai, SBY 'dipal' atau dilihat secara spiritual dulu pakai keris. 'Yang ahli 'ngepal' calon
pemimpin ini adalah Kiai Idris dari ponpes Lirboyo. Nanti saya carikan keris. Kerisny
harus Nogo Sosro sabuk Inten.Yang punya keris ini adalah Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono
Nanti saya akan pinjam. Mudah-mudahan boleh,' kata Kiai Cholil.
(Nevertheless before confirming SBY as presidential candidate, according to the pre-
vailing convention which the kyai keep, SBY will be 'dipal [tested?] or first examined spir?
itually with the aid of a keris [Indonesian special knife].The specialist in testing leadership
candidates is Kiai Idris from the pondok pesantren Lirboyo. I shall be obtaining the keris. It
has to be the Nogo Sosro Sabuk Inten [the name given to this special sacral keris].The owner
of it is Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono. I shall be borrowing it. Hopefully I shall be allowed
to,' said Kiai Cholil) (Pikiran Rakyat, 13 March 2004: 14).

11 That role of mediation is still an important one, as the lead-up to the 2004 electio
demonstrated when the leaders of the largest political parties chased each other around
rural religious schools (pesantren) in order to win popular support (Kompas, 3 March 2004: 6
12 This, incidentally, is the major difference between him and the comparable archety
figure, Shaykh Uthman, whom Gaffney describes as a 'preacher as advocate of religiou
mspired modernity' (1994: 209).
13 Religious views which challenge orthodoxy are characterized as heretical cults - alir
tersesat ? on a fairly regular basis, corresponding in fact to the frequency of the emergence
rather strange exclusivist sects (see Hartono 2002; 2003).
14 A caveat has to be entered here. The world of the kiyai, too, is rapidly changing and th
is also within the pesantren a move to participate in the social life of neighbouring village co
munities and to introduce new management skills and modern technology. For a recent acad
emic account of the world of the pesantren, which takes as its point of departure Geertz's art
of forty-five years ago, see Turmudi (2004). The new ideal pesantren and the ideal kiyai are w
portrayed in the fictional persona of the computer literate Kiyai H. Basyar in the serial Ar
Bersilangan, which ran in the newspaper Republika in the first half of 2004.
1:>Such alternatives to mainstream religious currents have become relatively commonplace
Indonesia in recent years, again largely as a product of the spread of communications techn
logy. Leo Howe (2001: 210-35) has pointed out, for example, how the Sai Baba and H
Krishna sects have taken a strong hold in Bali in recent years, and he links their growth bo
to the 'desire for a more satisfying religious life' (2001: 201) and to a disenchantment with o
cial Balinese Hinduism (Agama Hindu-Bali), which is perceived as entrenching hierarchy
consolidating existing political structures of power.
16 The engagement in business and commercial activities and the prestige of such activiti
is not of course new in itself, and Islam has from its inception been a this-worldly religion
that respect. The involvement of modernist Indonesian Muslims in the new commercial opp
tunities of the twentieth century is also well documented (see, e.g., Geertz 1983: 56
The novelty of Gym's approach is the introduction of a more systematized and professi
business ethic, imported from Western models, which is very different from the laissezfai
commercial practices of the past. This combination of sound business practice wi
spiritual experience is what distinguishes Gym's followers from those of Sai Baba in Bali. H
(2001: 201) seems to argue that, for the latter, it is almost exclusively the spiritual relig
experience which inspires them, although he does note that for some there are econom
benefits (2001: 174).
17 A good account of the controversies which have now arisen around the view of the
erals - in particular concerning a controversial article by Ulil Abshar-Abdalla, 'Menyegar
kembali pemahaman Islam' ('Putting some life back again into Islamic understanding') wh
appeared in Kompas (18 November 2002) - are to be found in Ulil et al. (2003). See a
Hefner s description (2003: 164-75) of the Laskar Jihad and the thinking of its leader, Jafar Um
Talib. For an excellent recent account in Indonesian of the Indonesian Salafi movement,
Jamhari & Jajang (2004).
18 For more on Islamic books and publishers during this period see Watson (2005).

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 C.WWATSON 791

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Daily Newspapers
Kompas (Jakarta)

Koran Tempo (Jakarta)

Pikiran Rakyat (Bandung)

Republika (Jakarta)

Un predicateur celebre en Indonesie : le role d'Aa

Gymnastiar
Resume

Aa Gymnastiar (Gym) est un predicateur musulman indonesien, dont la celebrite semble

avoir aujourd'hui atteint son apogee. Regulierement consulte par les dirigeants du pays, il
prone pourtant une approche de l'islam qui lui vaut l'adhesion de toutes les classes de la
communaute musulmane indonesienne. Hote recurrent des journaux et surtout de la televi?
sion, Aa Gym sait remarquablement bien se servir des media. L'auteur decrit et explique sa
popularite et en discute du point de vue de la continuite et du changement dans l'avene-
ment et le declin des celebrites musulmanes en Indonesie. II met en lumiere la difference
entre Gym et certains de ses grands predecesseurs, comme le lettre Hamka, et souligne que
l'attrait de Gym a cela de nouveau qu'il n'est pas issu des families traditionnelles d'oulem
musulmans. Son enseignement semble autant inspire de sources seculaires telles que les
manuels de developpement personnel que de recueils de sagesse soufie. Bien que tres pop
ulaire et influent parmi les croyants, il suscite la mefiance de ceux qui critiquent son incli
nation pour le soufisme et son manque d'instruction musulmane orthodoxe. L'article s'achev
par la these que Gym et l'idee qu'il professe de l'application des preceptes musulmans so
plus representatifs de ce qu'est vraiment l'islam moderne en Indonesie que ne le sont l
activites des terroristes.

C.W. Watson teaches in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kent. His
doctoral work was carried out in Kerinci in Sumatra. He has recently completed a second
book on Indonesian autobiography and is currently doing research on contemporary Muslim
politics in Indonesia.

Department of Anthropology, Eliot College, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NS, UK.
c. w. watson (cbkent. ac. uk

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