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ABSTRACT
This study examines interreligious marriage from a legal perspective and analyses the historical and empirical evidence for it from the eastern Indonesian island of Lombok. It situates interfaith marriage at the centre of a discursive battle between religion, law, and custom (adat) and as a locus of contestation and negotiation between state, community, and religious leaders, as well as the couples involved and their extended families and communities. Building on Charles Collier's theory of ‘institutional authority’ and Saba Mahmood's ‘personal autonomy’, the article argues that issues related to interfaith marriage can be resolved through institutional authority and personal autonomy. Institutional authority constitutes an established structure of power and representation created by the state to manage its people and to serve their interests. Such authority works for, and is contested in, resolving tensions over interreligious interactions, including traditional interfaith marital elopement practised by Muslim and Hindu communities. Although Muslim–Christian relations have occasionally been unstable, interfaith unions rarely become an issue since those marriages reflect more interpersonal than intercommunal relationships, whose settlement is contingent upon personal autonomy.
Acknowledgments
This article is based on my research on Muslim–Hindu–Christian Relations on Lombok as part of the Contending Modernities Indonesian Working Groups on Authority, Community and Identity supported by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. The support does not mean that the Institute endorses views expressed in the article. I thank the Institute, its faculties, and staff – as well as my research assistants and informants in Lombok – for their support. I also thank Mun’im Sirry and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on an earlier draft. Any remaining mistakes are mine alone.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Interview with a judge at Mataram District Court, 5 April 2017.
2 Interview with an official at the DUKCAPIL of Mataram, 2 May 2017.
3 These cases are registered at Pengadilan Agama Mataram, No.407/Pdt.G/2017/PA.Mtr. and No.517/Pdt.G/2017/PA.Mtr.
4 I myself heard this story during an interreligious youth dialogue held at one of the village offices in the Gangga Subdistrict of north Lombok. Fieldnote and observation, 9 August 2016.
5 The first violence broke out in July 2017. A series of conflicts recurred despite an immediate peace agreement following the clash between the two conflicting neighbourhoods. The final peace agreement was made on September 2017. Fieldnote and observation.
6 This was stated by the secretary of the Interreligious Harmony Forum (Forum Kerukunan Umat Beragama) of north Lombok. See https://ntb.kemenag.go.id/baca/1522303200/suparlan-pr-fkub-masalah-nikah-beda-agama-dan-rumah-ibadah (accessed 2 May 2020). This statement holds true for other parts of Lombok as well, especially in the areas where the population is heterogenous, with multi-ethnic and religious backgrounds, such as Mataram, west Lombok, and north Lombok. On the issue of establishment of places of worship, see Nasir (Citation2020).
7 The document is called Kesepakatan tata cara penyelesaian permasalahan antar golongan dalam masyarakat dalam daerah tingkat i Nusa Tenggara Barat (Agreement on social conflict settlement among groups of people in the Province of West Nusa Tenggara). It is dated 1–3 February 1984, and was signed by community and religious leaders representing Muslims, Hindus, Christians, and Buddhists from all the districts in the province.
8 Fieldwork note and interview with the informant, 15 December 2018.
9 Interview with an informant from Pamenang, north Lombok, 19 April 2016. Exclusion is a very common substitute for corporal punishment. However, the length of exclusion or the type of punishment may vary from one village or family to another, depending on the community and the family concerned.
10 I often heard about this perception from my informants.
11 Another example occurred in the sub-district of Kediri, west Lombok, in 2017, when a Hindu man ‘stole’ a Muslim woman. After mediation by the village council, the elopement was cancelled and all parties peacefully complied with the decision. http://diskominfo.lombokbaratkab.go.id/kawin-selarian-beda-agama-kembali-terjadi-di-desa-jagaraga/ (accessed 1 May 2020).
12 This case is registered No. 79/PGT.B/VII/2016. Interview with the informant and fieldwork note, 30 October 2016.
13 Interview with the informant, 15 May 2017.
14 Interview with the clerk, 3 May 2016.
15 In Indonesia, ‘pastor’ (pastur) commonly refers to the religious leader of a Catholic church, while priest (pendeta) refers to Protestant religious leaders.
16 Interview with the pastor at St Antony of Padua Catholic Church, 10 May 2016.
17 Interview with the informant, a Catholic man, in Mataram, 20 April 2016.