images of violence and piety in aceh 273
This image is old, and it is persistent. It has been reproduced again
and again in written sources, such as official documents, books and
newspapers, but also in visual sources, such as photographs and films,
and in ‘traditional’ art performances such as dance. It is important to
approach these images critically. They are distortions of the ways in which
people in Aceh experience their religion. They conceal the contradictions
and ambiguities that inform lived reality. They are ideological, and
often say more about political agendas than people’s everyday lives.
At the same time, however, anyone who has spent time in Aceh will
acknowledge that these stereotypes, although highly problematic in an
analytical sense, have a particular purchase in social reality. In other
words, the images of violence and piety are not just constructions created
‘on the outside’. They are present in Aceh and they must be taken into
account if we want to understand how people address the question
of ‘what it means’ to be Acehnese. Of course, images of violence and
piety do not determine people’s thoughts and actions. Yet the question
is important because it holds implications both for the way in which
we address trends in local politics (including, but not limited to, the
implementation of Islamic law), and the complex processes of social and
cultural change. This chapter traces images of violence and piety in Aceh,
asking, first, how they manifested themselves in the specific context of
Jurong in early 2010 and, second, how they are rooted in and are drawn
from the multi-interpretable, discursive strands that make up Acehnese
history.
The structure is as follows. The first chapter offers the historical
context. The second part moves to the events of 2010, focusing on the
ways in which the scarcity of official information, rumours and the village
talk revealed particular images of violence and piety. In the third part I go
back into history to trace some of these images, focusing on the myriad
meanings they have been given in different periods and by different
segments of Acehnese society. I will focus on the idea of ‘holy struggle’,
which is sometimes referred to through the Islamic concept of jihad, and
sometimes by (less sensitive) Indonesian language alternatives such as
perjuangan suci. In the conclusion I return to the problem of stereotypes
in Acehnese society.
Violence and Religion as Defining Aspects of Acehnese History
History
Islam has played a central role in the formation of Acehnese identity