CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

Islam at the Margins:
The Muslims of Indochina

Edited by

OMAR FAROUK
Hiroyuki YAMAMOTO

2008

Center for Integrated Area Studies, Kyoto University
Kyoto, Japan

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

1

Contents
Preface ……………………………………………………………………3
Hiroyuki YAMAMOTO

Introduction ……………………………………………………………...5
OMAR FAROUKThe Cham Muslims in Ninh Thuan Province, Vietnam ………………7
Rie NAKAMURA

Bani Islam Cham in Vietnam ………………………………………….24
Ba Trung PHU

The Baweans of Ho Chi Minh City ……………………………………34
Malte STOKHOF

Dynamics of Faith:
Imam Musa in the Revival of Islamic Teaching in Cambodia ………59
MOHAMAD ZAIN Bin Musa

The Re-organization of Islam in Cambodia and Laos………………..70
OMAR FAROUKThe Chams and the Malay World …………………………………….86
Kanji NISHIO

Notes on the Contributors……………………………………………...94
Workshop Program …………………………………………………....96

CIAS Discussion Paper No.3
© Center for Integrated Area Studies, Kyoto University
Yoshida-Honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto-shi,
Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan
TEL: +81-75-753-9603
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E-mail: ciasjimu@cias.kyoto-u.ac.jp
http://www.cias.kyoto-u.ac.jp
March, 2008

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CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

Preface

I think it would be no exaggeration to suggest that Southeast Asian nations are booming, not only because of their rapid economic development but also because of their longexperiences of maintaining harmony and tolerance between the diverse ethnic and religious
components of their populations. The Southeast Asian Muslims, for example, once regarded as being peripheral to the world of Islam, are now becoming recognized as model
Muslim leaders with exceptional abilities to manage difficult tasks such as their own country‟s economic development, the Islamic financial system, democratization and even aeronautics. The era when we only refer to the Middle East when we speak of Islam and theMuslims has passed. Now it has to be recognized that it is crucially important to understandthe Muslims of Southeast Asia in order to fully understand current world events and future
global trends.
The joint research project on “Social Order and Relations in Muslim Populated Southeast Asia” has been conceptualized and conducted on the basis of such understanding. The
project was first initiated as a research project at the Japan Center for Area Studies (JCAS),
National Museum of Ethnology, Japan in April 2005 covering a period of three years. The
project was succeeded by the Center for Integrated Area Studies (CIAS), Kyoto University
when JCAS was reorganized into CIAS in April 2006. Together with the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) and the Graduate School of Asian and African Studies(ASAFAS) in Kyoto University, the CIAS constitutes an indispensable pillar of Area Studies in Japan.
As one of the core institutions in Japan to conduct research on Muslim populatedSoutheast Asia, we have been organizing several international workshops and symposia onvarious aspects of the subject. The International Symposium on “Bangsa and Umma: A
Comparative Study of People-Grouping Concepts in the Islamic Areas of Southeast Asia”
in May 2007, co-organized by CIAS was one such event.
However, we have to admit that one weakness in our research orientation is that wehave been focusing mainly on the Malay-Indonesian world at the expense of other areas
where significant numbers of Muslims exist such as in the countries of Indochina. This imbalance is not because we deliberately want to disregard the region or its Muslim population but rather due to the limitation of our own knowledge on the subject and unfamiliarity
with scholars working on the theme of Islam in that region. It is on account of our desire tocorrect this imbalance that an international workshop on the theme of “Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina” was conceptualized and organized. The workshop washeld on May 20, 2007 at Kyoto University and was attended by scholars of Islamic andSoutheast Asian studies from various corners of the world, including Indochina. I am surethat this workshop has had the effect of motivating many of those who participated in it tobegin to want to pursue serious and systematic research in all of Muslim populated Southeast Asia, rather than just in the Malay and Indonesian world.
Finally, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all those who attended theworkshop and participated in the discussions. We are indebted to the researchers and staff
members of CIAS and all those who assisted in organizing the workshop. Special thanks

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

3are due to Prof. Omar Farouk who brought up the idea of organizing the workshop on the
Muslims in Indochina and also took the initiative to compile and edit this report, as well as
Dr. Masako Ishii, who worked very hard to plan and organize the workshop to its successful completion. Dr. Ishii handled all the logistical arrangements of the workshop with remarkable promptness and efficiency. I also would like to acknowledge the role of Dr. Farha
Naomi Omar Farouk in helping edit this publication. It also goes without saying that without the cooperation and assistance of the above mentioned people and many others whosenames I have not mentioned, this workshop and the publication of its proceedings would
not have been possible.

Hiroyuki YAMAMOTO

4CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

Introduction

This volume is basically a documentation of the proceedings of a workshop which washeld in Kyoto, Japan on 20 May, 2007 organized by the Center for Integrated Area Studies,
Kyoto University. The workshop itself was extremely important for a couple of reasons notleast of which because of the theme that it sought to address, namely, Islam at the margins,
focusing on the Muslims of Indochina. Hitherto, the prevailing tendency in scholarship on
Islam and the Muslim world has been to continue to regard the Middle East, the birthplace ofIslam, as the central point of reference for Muslims worldwide throughout time and space.
For historical, geographical, cultural and even political reasons, Arab countries, in particular,continue to be viewed as constituting the core or center of Islam. The role of other Muslims
outside the traditional Arab historical-cultural belt, in geographical regions such as Southeast
Asia, has somehow not been fully understood or appreciated or even recognized, for thatmatter. The ethno-cultural mosaic, linguistic diversity and complex contextual realities thatcharacterize the Muslim world of Southeast Asia have really yet to be seriously and systematically examined. This is even more true in situations where the Muslims live as minorities
and where Islam exists on the margins of a variety of cultures, communities and countries.
Very little, for example, is known of the Muslims of Indochina even in respect of their basic
demographic data. The varieties and strands of Islam adopted by the Muslims of Vietnam,
Cambodia and Laos, their local and transnational networks, cultural and spiritual orientations
and peculiarities and ethnic and political ambitions and dilemmas have not really been duly
investigated and documented. The nature of their presumed marginality within the Islamic
space has also yet to be identified, explored and analyzed and their place in their respective
national polities located and explained. There is obviously a glaring gap in our knowledge
and understanding of the Muslims who are, often, generally and even mistakenly assumed to beon the fringes of Islam and the Muslim world. This is the obvious relevance of the workshop.
The fact that the workshop was held back to back with another symposium whichsought to explore the concepts of „bangsa‟ and „umma‟ in the Islamic areas of Southeast
Asia was also of great symbolic importance because although the focus of that meeting wasmore on the Malay archipelago, its discussions could not possibly be complete without also
looking at the situation in Mainland Southeast Asia including Indochina. By any reasonableyardstick surely the Muslims of Mainland Southeast Asia including Indochina constitute an
integral part of the Muslim „umma‟, whether that defined by the geographical region ofSoutheast Asia or by the global fraternity of the faithfuls. They often see themselves assuch and have also always been recognized accordingly by their co-religionists in the region and beyond. Likewise, although, the Muslims are themselves a diverse group in Indochina, as they are elsewhere, it is the Chams who constitute the backbone of the Muslim
population especially in Cambodia and Vietnam. The Chams certainly are, as they have always been since ancient times a “bangsa” in their own right. It would not therefore, be anoverstatement, to suggest that the complete history of Southeast Asia could not possibly be
written without acknowledging the proper place of „bangsa Cham’ within it.
A third factor why this workshop was special was simply the people that it brought together. The paper presenters came from different backgrounds in respect of their, ethnicity,
nationality, vocation and education. Dr. NAKAMURA was one of the first few Japanese tohave done extensive work on the Chams in Vietnam. She graduated from an American
Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

5

university and was at the time of the workshop working for an American organization in
Thailand. She has now taken up an academic post in Malaysia. Dr. Ba Trung PHU, a Vietnamese national is a Bani Islam Cham. He is a curator at the Museum of History in Ho Chi
Minh City and has done a great amount of archeological excavations on ancient Cham sites.
STOKHOF, a polyglot who also speaks Vietnamese, is a doctoral candidate in the Netherlands who has lived many long years in various parts of Southeast Asia including Vietnam.
He is now an executive with a multinational corporation with business interests in Vietnam.
MOHAMAD ZAIN Bin Musa, is a Malaysian academic who is of Cambodian Cham descent
who was born in Phnom Penh and educated in France and Malaysia. Professor N ISHIO is
one of the few Malay-speaking Japanese who has done extensive fieldwork all over the
Malay world of Southeast Asia since the 1980s. OMAR FAROUK is a Malaysian living in Japan and conducting an on-going research on the Muslims in Indochina for over a decade already. Dr. YAMAMOTO also has extensive ties with the Malay world especially Malaysia. Dr.
ISHII, who was the coordinator of the workshop has also done extensive research in thePhilippines. Professor Anthony Milner, not only graced the workshop with his presence but
also contributed significantly in the discussions with his well-framed ideas and thoughts.
The other participants who were present at the workshop, too many to mention individually,
were also scholars who have been active in the field in Southeast Asia for a long time.
Their presence and active participation in the workshop no doubt greatly enhanced its value.
Last but not least, the workshop and hence this volume, are special because of the issues that have been addressed in the various papers to try to explain the amazing complexity of the real Muslim world of Southeast Asia on the ground and the remarkable ingenuityof local Southeast Asian Muslim communities to adapt and to adjust themselves to the demands of their immediate environments to ensure their survival, presence and continued
relevance. Essentially the papers that are compiled in this volume were those that were
presented at the workshop. They have, however, subsequently been revised and updated
before being edited. But even then, they should perhaps better be regarded as papers written
for a work-in-progress publication rather than that of a definitive book.
Dr. NAKAMURA‟s absorbing paper is an attempt to understand the ethnicity of the Chamcommunities in Ninh Thuan Province by examining the dual structural principle in Chamcosmology called Awar and Ahier. Dr. Ba Trung PHU‟s paper, with helpful illustrations, seeks
to describe the role of the Bani Islam Chams and their heterodox version of indigenized Islamin Vietnam from a sociological perspective. STOKHOF‟s very interesting paper, on the other
hand, examines the Baweans of Ho Chi Minh City and their place within the wider polity,
MOHAMAD ZAIN‟s paper tries to evaluate the religious reforms that were going on in the
Cham community in Cambodia through the dynamic leadership of Imam Musa, a modernist
Muslim leader. My own paper looks at how the re-organization of Islam has been attemptedin Cambodia and to a lesser extent Laos, in the recent decade or so. Finally, Professor NISHIO‟s paper represents a preliminary attempt to examine the links between the Malay world
and Indochina from the viewpoint of commercial activities., Essentially, the main motivationof all the papers was simply to try to provide hitherto little known data on the Muslims of Indochina and to introduce new perspectives with which their role can be analyzed with a viewto stimulating interest on a subject which has apparently been neglected far too long.

OMAR FAROUK6CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

The Cham Muslims in
Ninh Thuan Province, Vietnam1
Rie NAKAMURA
Universiti Utara Malaysia

Abstract
This paper discusses the Cham communities in Ninh Thuan Province, Vietnam. The Champeople are one of 54 state recognized ethnic groups living in Vietnam. Their current population isapproximately 130,000. They speak a language which belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian language
family. In the past, they had a country called, Champa, along the central coast of Vietnam, which
was once prosperous through its involvement in maritime trade. While the largest concentration of
the Cham people in Vietnam is found in a part of the former territory of Champa, particularly Ninh
Thuan and Binh Thuan provinces, there is another group of Cham people living in the Mekong
Delta, mostly in An Giang province near the border with Cambodia. There are differences in ethnic
self-identification between these two groups of Chams living in the different localities. In general,
the Chams living in the former territory of Champa equate being Cham as being descendants ofChampa while the Chams of the Mekong Delta view being Cham as being Muslim. This paper is
an attempt to understand the ethnicity of the Cham communities in Ninh Thuan Province throughtheir religious system, particularly a dual structural principle in Cham cosmology called Awar andAhier. In this paper, I argue that the concepts of Ahier and Awar, hold the key to understanding theway their ethnicity has been constructed and reveals an interesting aspect of their world view. In
the course of the discussion, their indigenized form of Islam called Bani religion, which is peculiar
to the Cham community will be introduced.

Introduction
This paper discusses the Cham communities in Ninh Thuan province, Vietnam. The
Chams are one of 54 state recognized ethnic groups living in Vietnam. Their current population is approximately 130,000. They speak a language which belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian language family. In the past, they had a country called, Champa, along thecentral coast of Vietnam, which was once prosperous through its involvement in maritime
trade. While the largest concentration of the Chams in Vietnam is found in a part of theformer territory of Champa, that is Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan provinces, there is anothergroup of Cham people living in the Mekong Delta, mostly in An Giang province near theborder with Cambodia. There are differences in ethnic self-identification between these twogroups of Chams living in the different localities. In general, the Chams living in the former
territory of Champa equate being Cham as being descendants of Champa while the Chamsof the Mekong Delta view being Cham as being Muslim.
This paper is based on the field research I conducted in Cham villages around Phan
Rang city of Ninh Thuan province, Vietnam in 1995-1996. It is an attempt to understandthe ethnicity of the Cham communities in Ninh Thuan Province through their religious system, particularly a dual structural principle in Cham cosmology called Awar and Ahier. In
1

This paper is a revised version of my contribution to the book on My Son which is soon to be published in early2008.

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

7

this paper, I present the argument that the concepts of Ahier, and Awar, hold the key to understanding the way their ethnicity has been constructed and reveals an interesting aspect of
their world view. In the course of the discussion, their indigenized form of Islam called Bani religion, which is peculiar to the Cham community will be introduced.

Muslim people in Vietnam
The earliest records of existence of Muslim communities in South Central Vietnam arearound the 8th century. Two Arabic inscriptions found in the former territories of Champa
indicate that a Muslim community existed in modern Southern Vietnam in the latter half ofthe 10th century to the 11th century. It seems that the Muslim merchant communities existed in Champa as early as the 10th century along the coast line of central Vietnam. They
were merchants from the Middle East trading along the silk road of the sea to China. Significant numbers of Chams, whom were indigenous populations of Champa, converted toIslam in the latter half of the 15th century (P-Y Manguin, 1985). During the 19th century,
during the French colonization (1867-1954), there were various Muslim ethnic communities from French colonies, for example, the Indian people from Pondichery had a prominent
presence in Ho Chi Minh City. There are 2 major beautiful mosques in Ho Chi Minh City
built by the Indian Muslim community. In cities such as Nha Trang, Da Nang and Hai
Phong along the coastal areas, the mosques built by the Indian communities during thistime still can be seen. However, the first mosque in Ho Chi Minh City called Masjidir Rahim was built by a Malaysian and Indonesian Muslim community. Hence, the Muslim population in Vietnam has different origins, and the most numerous and prominent group incontemporary Vietnam being the Cham people.

The Cham people in Vietnam
According to the most recent National census, the population of the Cham in Vietnam
was 132,827 in 1999. In terms of population, the Cham was ranked 13th largest of the 54
ethnic groups of Vietnam. There are 2 distinct groups of Cham people in Vietnam, whentaken into consideration their place of residence, historical background and religion. The
first group lives in the south central region of Vietnam, particularly Ninh Thuan and Binh
Thuan provinces. These two provinces once formed a large province, called Thuan Hai,
which covered a similar area to the part of the kingdom of Champa known as Panduranga.
This is where the largest concentration of Cham people in Vietnam are said to be foundwith about 86,000 Cham living here2.
The second group lives in the Mekong Delta, most of them around Chau Doc city in
An Giang Province, near the border with Cambodia. About 12,000 Cham people live in thisregion3, and almost all are Sunni Muslims. The Mekong Delta Cham also live in Ho Chi
Minh City and surrounding provinces such as Dong Nai and Tay Ninh. In addition to this,approximately 20,000 Cham live in Phu Yen and Binh Dinh provinces, north of Ninh
Thuan and Binh Thuan. This particular group is called Cham Hroi, which is classified as a
sub-group of the Cham ethnic group. It is believed that the Cham Hroi were members of the
population of the kingdom of Champa, whom were left alone without contact with other2
3

8

According to 1999 National Census, the population of the Cham in Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan is 86,493.
According to 1999 National Census, the population of the Cham in An Giang and Tay Ninh provinces is 12,435.

CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

Cham communities and developed different cultural traditions from the Cham living in
Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan4.
Chams are also found in various parts of Southeast Asia, the most numerous communities being in Cambodia, where the estimated population is somewhat between 300,000 and
700,000. After the reunification of Vietnam in 1975, a number of Cham people left Vietnam for Australia, Canada, and France, USA, and other parts of the world.

The Cham people in Ninh Thuan Province
In the past, the Chams were known as skillful seamen in the Southeast Asian maritime
trade. Nowadays, however, Cham people live in villages far from the coast and no longer
build boats or sail out to the ocean. They engage in the cultivation of wet rice and growgrapes. Some raise animals such as cattle, pigs, chickens and ducks. A few villages are also
known for their handicrafts, such as textile and pottery which are mainly produced by theCham women. With the increase of domestic and international tourism in Vietnam, Chamtextiles are particularly widely marketed.
The education level of the Chams is relatively high, which is reflected in the large
numbers of Cham school teachers. There are also Cham doctors, nurses and pharmacists
working in the provincial hospitals, as well as, Cham lawyers and scholars working in Ho
Chi Minh City.
Cham society is known for its matrilineal and matrilocal system5. When couples marry,
the husband goes to his wife‟s house to live with her family. Then, when the sister of themarried woman is preparing to get married, the married couple moves out of the wife‟sparents‟ house and build a new house nearby. The children of the Cham belong to theirmothers‟ lineage and property is passed down through the female line.
The Chams of South Central Vietnam still maintain their traditional writing system,
which is called akhar thrah. This script evolved from Sanskrit. All religious texts, legends
and poems were written in akhar thrah. Nowadays, with provincial government support, aCham Language Center (Ban bien soan sach chu Cham) has been established in Phan Rang,the capital city of Ninh Thuan province. Run by Cham people, the center is responsible forpublishing the textbooks used in the Cham writing classes and for training teachers of akhar thrah.
The written script has the greatest authority over the Cham people‟s cultural knowledge. It has been previously noted that they value literature more highly than oral tradition(Blood 1981:6). Many Chams from South Central Vietnam think that if one lacks knowledge of akhar thrah, one cannot understand ilimo, culture. During my field research, I had
to revise my original plans to visit different Cham villages to collect information, and instead spend a few hours every day studying akhar thrah at the Cham Language Center.
This reflected a difference, in my understanding of Cham culture with my Cham teacher‟sinterpretation of it. I understood the culture as something observable, while my teacher understood it as something found in texts. It became clear to me that Cham intellectuals place
ultimate authority in texts. In answer to my questions, elderly Cham people often read andtranslated their books for me. This occurred often that I came to suspect that Cham intellectuals believe that the Cham culture only exists in written form.
4

According to Khong Dien, Cham Hroi was classified as a separate ethnic group by the state ethnic classificationof 1974 yet it was merged into the Cham ethnic group at the time of general census in 1979 (Khon Dien 2002:
14-15, 24-25)
5Since Cham have adapted the Vietnamese name, the Cham children take their father‟s family name, but thechildren do belong to their mother‟s lineage not the father‟s.

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

9This reliance on texts is peculiarly similar to the 19th century Orientalists‟ attitude totheir studies, described by Edward Said. The knowledge the Orientalists possessed about
the Orient came from books. The “classical Orient” – found only in texts – was considered
to be the real Orient while the modern Orient was seen in terms of problems to be solved.
In the Cham case, their intellectuals‟ textual orientation can be understood as a denial of
Cham modern cultural practices. Vietnamese government minority policies have resulted in
the loss of many Cham religious ceremonies and the modification of their rituals. They
probably see their contemporary cultural practices as impure, by comparison with the culture formerly practiced in the kingdom of Champa, which they deem genuine and truly
original. For them, real original Cham culture can thus be found only in the texts; if one isseeking “correct” cultural information about the Chams, one should learn to read the Cham
scripts.

Cham people in the Mekong Delta
The Chams in the Mekong Delta are Sunni Muslim. They do not have much attachment to Champa. Some have even denied the connection and claimed their roots in Angkor.
The Sunni Muslim Chams of the Mekong Delta tend to be seen as having lost the matrilineal and matrilocal principles, because of the influence of Islam. As a matter of fact, theirliving arrangements are ambilocal rather than strictly matrilocal. A couple‟s living arrangements often depend on their economic situation and access to the job market or education. But the basic rule remains matrilocal, as indicated by the forms of traditional wedding
rituals. The 3-day-long Cham Muslim wedding culminates on the third day when the groom
enters the house of his bride.
Religious leaders and educated Chams in the Mekong Delta speak Malay and write in
Jawi script. A small number of Chams in An Giang province that were able to read old
Cham scripts are featured in Marcel Ner‟s 1940s account of the Muslims of southern Vietnam (Ner 1942). In my experience, when I visited An Giang province in the mid 1990s, I
did not find a single book written in akhar thrah. On one incident, an old man informed methat he owned several books written in akhar thrah which he had buried to save them fromthe confusion of war. After the war was over, he dug them out and found that the texts wereno longer legible. The loss of akhar thrah among the Sunni Muslim Chams of the Mekong
Delta is often viewed by the Chams of South Central Vietnam as a loss of culture, ilimo:
the Mekong delta Chams are thus deemed to have lost their Cham authenticity. For theChams of South Central Vietnam, their ability to access and process “authentic” knowledgeof their past – of the kingdom of Champa – make them more authentic Chams.

Cham Balamon and Bani
The Cham people of South Central Vietnam have abundant ritual traditions: approximately 150 different religious ceremonies are known. There are two distinct groups ofCham in this region, if we consider their religious beliefs. One group called Balamon adheres to an indigenized form of Hinduism. They worship their gods called Po Yang andtheir deified kings, and hold their ceremonies in the ancient Champa temples in their region,
which were built between the 14th and 16th centuries. They are supposed to observe a taboo
on eating beef, and are normally cremated when they die6. They are led by a body of priests,
Halau Tamunay Ahier.
6

Those who die before age 15 years old will not be cremated. There are two small Cham Balamon villages called,
Palay Rio and Palay Bingu located next to each other at the east of one of the largest Bani villages in Ninh Thuan

10 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

The other group, called Bani adheres to an indigenized form of Islam. They worshiptheir god, Po Alwah (Allah) at their village mosque called thang muki. They are supposed
to observe food taboo on eating pork, and are buried without cremation. They are led by abody of priests, Halau Tamunay Awar.
The Cham Balamon and Bani do not live in the same villages 7. There are 22 Chamvillages in Ninh Thuan province. Of these, seven are inhabited by Bani people8. As Cham
Balamon and Bani do not share common daily life in the same village, they know little
about each other‟s customs and traditions.
The different sense of hygiene seems to separate the 2 groups, and also provides aperspective on their relative degrees of “progress”. For example, my Cham language teacher was a Bani, and his wife often invited me for lunch when I was working in her village.
She was very curious about my impressions of the Cham Balamon and often wanted toknow what they fed me in their villages. She asked if I could eat their foods. I told her that
although I was not familiar with some dishes, I had no problem eating their foods, including ceremonial dishes. She expressed her surprise in the following terms:
We (Bani) eat first and then conduct our ceremony, so our foods are fresh and clean; meanwhile theCham Balamon do the ceremony first, then eat afterwards. That is why their foods are not fresh andclean. Even though I am Cham, I don‟t dare eat Cham Balamon foods. You are not Cham, you‟re a foreigner, but you can eat their foods. You are better than me. But you need to be careful about the foodsin Cham Balamon villages. They are not clean as ours.

The Bani people‟s comments on the Cham Balamon ceremony always related to hygiene; “dirty”, “unclean”, “unsanitary” and so on. The Cham Balamon, meanwhile, often
agree with Bani criticisms of their religious practices. They admit that the Bani are moreprogressive and that their ceremonies are simpler. However, they also argue that they areunable to simplify their ceremonies as the Bani do, due to the reason that the Cham Balamon people must maintain the authentic cultural traditions inherited from the kingdom ofChampa without alternation or simplification.

Ramuwan of Bani
In order to introduce Bani religion, I will talk about their holy month of Ramuwan.
Ramuwan takes place on the exact same day of the Ramadan. However, three days before
the first day of Ramuwan, Bani people visit their grave yards. On the first day, the Bani
people from a village north of Phan Rang city go to their oldest grave yard located on thesea shore. The next day, they visit another grave yard, located at a distant field from theirvillage, and on the third and last day, they go to a grave yard near their village where theprovince. There are 3 temples (bimong) in Ninh Thuan province, where the Cham people worship deified kings, and
all Cham Balamon villages belong to one of these 3 temples. However, Palay Rio and Palay Bingu do not belong to
any of these 3 temples. The Cham Balamon from these two villages will not be cremated when they die. According
to some Cham local scholars, the people of these two villages practice a pre-Hindu religion or animism, othersargued that the people of Palay Rio and Palay Bingu are not allowed to have cremation since they are thedescendants of landless slaves. Today the people of these two villages have their lands. However, because of lack ofgood access to water resource, the villagers do not engage in wet-rice cultivation as do Chams in other villages.
According to a legend in Palay Rio and Palay Bingu, their ancestors used to live around the northern part of Hue,and for some reasons, they sailed down south and arrived at Panduranga.
7
One village called Phu Nhuan or Palay Boh Dang in the Cham language is an exception. In this village both Cham
Balamon and Bani live together. However their residence is not intermingled; the village is divided into the Cham
Balamon residential area and the Bani residential area by a narrow street cutting through the village.
8
Population of the Cham Balamon in Ninh Thuan Province is about 32,000 while the Bani is 22,000 (Sakaya
2002:39).

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

11

recently deceased are buried. The meaning of their grave yard visit is to invite their ancestral spirits back to their houses. After the 3-day grave yard visits, people make offerings tothe ancestral spirits at their house. First, they prepare an offering of a meal to all their ancestral spirits, then they make an offering to individual lineage members who have passed
away. The oldest woman of the household has the responsibility of remembering the namesof the deceased up till 7 generations and at which grave yards they are buried.
The next day, after the sunset, the Bani priests enter the mosque, and this marks the
beginning of the holy month of Ramuwan. The priests change their cloth and head cover toprepare for prayer. The priests who conduct the prayer will go outside of the mosque wherea crowd of women and some elderly men who are all dressed in white watch. After the ritual cleansing, the priests come back in and sit facing the west wall of the mosque. Candles
are lit. One of the priests stands up and moves to the corner where a drum is kept. He hits
the drum which signals the beginning of the prayer. Another priest joins him and they perform a call for prayer while facing the west wall. A woman who holds a special ritual rolecalled Muh Poh and the wife of the highest ranked priest, are the first people to pray. Then,
women, first older, then younger follow their prayer. More number of women congregate
for the prayer than men, and the men pray after the women finish praying. The women‟sparticipation in Bani religious ceremony is crucial and they hold a significant role in theirreligion.
After the prayer, the priests make a circle and greet each other. Bani people believethat it is from this day, that their ancestral spirits who visited the descendants‟ household
enter the mosque and spend the next 30 days with the priests. During the month of Ramuwan, the Bani priests stay in the mosque, away from their families. The first 3 days of Ramuwan, the priests do not go outside of the mosque, where they abstain from speaking,drinking and eating. During these 3 days, mosques are closed and lay people cannot visit
there. The lay Bani people do not observe fast, yet they are forbidden to eat meat for the
first 15 days of the month of Ramuwan. The pregnant women fast with the priests for the
first 3 days of Ramuwan. During this holy month, the Bani people must behave morally byrefraining from activities such as heavy drinking, and quarrelling. A funeral cannot be organized for the first 15 days of Ramuwan.

Ahier and Awar
Certain legends explain the origin of the Cham people‟s division into two groups, andin these legends Cham Balamon and Bani are consistently identified as Ahier and Awar.
Both words are from Arabic, with Ahier, meaning “back, behind, or after” and Awar meaning “front or before”. In the legends, Ahier denotes Cham Balamon and Awar denotes Bani.
In daily life, the Cham use these terms to differentiate between certain types of ceremony,or between people of the Cham Balamon group and those of the Bani. They also use thisdual principle in their cosmological explanations.
In the Cham lunar calendar, a month consists of 30 days. But the days are not counted
from 1 to 30; instead, the days 1 to 15 are counted twice. The first 15 days are called bingun; the second 15 days are called klam. The first bingun half of the month is denoted Ahier
while the second klam half of the month is denoted Awar. Both Cham Balamon and Bani
hold their wedding ceremonies on the Wednesday of the klam half of the month. Why
Wednesday? Wednesday is seen as a day of balance, and is thus considered to be the best
day for weddings. This notion of balance relies on the principles of Ahier and Awar. The
Cham week consists of 7 days, as in the solar calendar. The first 3 days- Sunday, Monday,
and Tuesday – are considered to be Ahier; fire and heat are attributed to these days. The last
3 days – Thursday, Friday, and Saturday – are considered to be Awar: water and cold are
12 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

attributed to them. Wednesday, on the other hand, falls between Ahier and Awar. Furthermore, the soil – representing growth and fertility – is attributed to this day, which adds to
Wednesday‟s suitability for weddings.
These principles also govern other cosmological beliefs. For instance, the upper part of
the human body, from head to navel, is called akhar and considered Ahier, while the lower
part, from navel to feet, is called tanuh riya and considered Awar. The Cham imagine thesky as the body of a human being, hunched over with the hands and feet on the ground;they thus see the part of the day from dawn until noon (the sky‟s upper body, head to navel)
as Ahier. The period from noon until sunset (the sky‟s lower body, navel to feet) is Awar.
Legends about Ahier and Awar suggest that this two-realm division is meant to bringpeace upon Cham society. One version of a legend I collected reads as follows:
A long time ago, the prophet Po Nubi Mohamat was an Ahier. At that time, the Awar became verystrong and Po Nubi Mohamat was very impressed with them. So he tried to change all the Ahier people
to become Awar. However the Ahier people opposed Po Nubi Mohamat, arguing that “in the world there
should be men and women. If we have only women, how can we maintain the world?” Thus Awar between the Ahier people and Po Nubi Mohamat broke out. They fought for seven days and seven nights.
Then Po Nubi Ichbrahim came between them as a mediator. He asked Po Nubi Mohamat, “Can you livewith only one eye, only one hand, and only one leg?” Po Nubi Mohamat did not know how to answer
this question and agreed that the rest of Ahier should remain Ahier but he himself became Awar on thisoccasion. After 7 days and 7 nights of battle, Po Nubi Mohamat felt thirsty; he brought out water bymagic and shared it with all the Ahier people, so peace between them was restored (this legend was related to me by a Cham Balamon Shaman).

The dualistic tendency in Cham cosmology was pointed out by Blood, who lived
among the Cham people for several years before 1975. Of the 2 realms in the system she
described, one belonged to the father, the other to the mother (Blood 1981:43, 48). In thelegend above, Ahier is male and Awar female. Many Cham people express a similar idea ofAhier representing men and Awar women and further explain that, to function properly, society must have Ahier and Awar. Thus Ahier exists for Awar, and Awar exists for Ahier.
The mutual dependence of the 2 realms holds the world of the Cham people together.
The Male and female attributes of Ahier and Awar have many manifestations, which
include the 2 groups‟ respective bodies of priests. For example, a local scholar of the Cham
Balamon told me the following story about the birth of his first child. After their marriage,
he and his wife were childless for some time. His mother-in-law became concerned andsent him to a nearby Bani village to ask the Bani priests for help. He brought offerings ofspecial candles and soup to the priests. They read the Qur‟an for him. He made several trips
to the Bani village, eventually he and his wife were blessed with a son, followed by 3 otherboys and 4 girls. He explained to me why his mother-in-law asked him to see the Bani
priests, and not Cham Balamon priests (the leaders of his own religion) because Cham Balamon priests symbolize men and men cannot give birth; only Bani priests, who symbolize
women, could help the couple have children.
The gendered attributes of Cham Balamon and Bani priests are also manifested in their
behavior and clothing. When Cham Balamon priests conduct ceremonies, they always sitwith crossed legs as the way Cham men sit. Bani priests sit with their feet under them andto the side, in the way Cham women sit. Priests of both groups wear white turbans with redtassels at both ends, but on top of the turban Bani priests add a cloth called khan djram. The
khan djram is an item of clothing used by Bani women; the priests wear it in the same way
as the women wear it. Bani priests shave their heads when they enter the priesthood, while
Cham Balamon priests wear long hair tied in a bun at the top of their head. When they are

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

13

conducting ceremonies, the bun is covered by a white turban without red tassels tied in a
special way which represents the male sex, a linga.
Cham Balamon

Bani

Ahier

Awar

Male

Female

Right

Left

Ahier-Awar complementarity is also expressed in number cosmology. The Chamcommunity identifies itself through a symbol called hon kan, composed of two numbers
and two figures. The symbol‟s center is a circle representing the sun, under which there is a
crescent. The number 6 is set above the sun, and the number 3 below the crescent. The sun
and the number 3 are considered Ahier, while the crescent and the number 6 are Awar. For
the Cham, the number 9 is the largest number in the script. The Ahier number 3 plus the
Awar number 6 join to form the number 9 which is the most complete number. Thus thehon kan symbol – composed of Ahier and Awar elements – represents the most complete
form of existence; unity, balance, stability and peace. In other words, when Ahier and Awar
co-exist, the world of the Cham finds unity.

hon kan

We may also pursue the idea of complementarity in the symbolism of priesthood, as
we have seen, Cham Balamon priests symbolize men and Bani priests symbolize women.
But they also bear attributes representing something from the opposite sex. The Cham Balamon priests carry a yellow rectangle bag on their shoulder which symbolizes the uterus.
The Bani priests have 3 bags, which hang from their neck down onto their back. Oneof 3 bags is slightly larger than the others, and the 2 smaller bags are tied by the same cord.
The Bani priests‟ bags symbolize the penis and testicles. These bags symbolize the acceptance, within Ahier and Awar, of their counterparts.
Janet Hoskins, who studied indigenous notions of gender and agency among the Austronesian-speaking Kodi people of the Western tip of Sumba in the lesser Sunda island
chain, argued that gender is the most consistently evoked structuring principle within this“complementary dualism” (Hoskins 1987:174). She argues that male and female, as abstract categories, provide a language for talking about ways of effective action; “male andfemale are simply used to express contrasts which may be applied recursively: Male con14 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

tains Female, Female contains Male: Inside contains the Outside, the Outside the Inside;
Black, White, White, Black” (Hoskins 1987:197).
Hoskins‟s notion of complementary dualism may be observed in Cham ceremonies.
One peculiar thing is that one can often find more Awar elements in Ahier ceremonies thanAhier elements in Awar ceremonies. For instance, during Ahier funeral rituals, Cham Balamon priests make a triangle by placing their hands above their forehead to pray to Po Nubi Eta, Po Nubi Atam and Po Nubi Mota, all of who are Awar deities. According to a Cham
Balamon priest, they have to pray to invite Awar deities to their funerals, weddings andother ceremonies, such as the celebrations held on the construction of new houses. On theseoccasions, the Cham Balamon prepare 2 different sets of areca nut and betel leaf, which areessential offerings in every religious ceremony. One is called hala kapu, which is the Ahier
set; the Awar set is called hala tam tara. While Ahier people often present both Ahier and
Awar set at their ceremonies, Awar people rarely present Awar set. The only time I observed the Bani people using Ahier set was on the occasion of a funeral.
According to Po Dharma, the strong Islamic influence in the Balamon religion was a
result of the political situation of Champa during the 17th to 19th centuries. Comparison ofold documents kept among the Cham in Ninh Thuan province with oral traditions led him
to the discovery that Awar deities were placed higher than Ahier deities in the religious
pantheon of Champa. He then came across documents on the origin of a ceremony called
Rija prong explaining why the Awar god Po Alwah took the place of the Ahier goodness Po
Inu Nugar. During that period, Champa tried to ally with military powers on the Malay Peninsula to fight against the Vietnamese, who increasingly threatened Champa. In order tomaintain these alliances, in the context of ongoing Islamization of the Malay world, it was
crucial for the court of Champa to show an interest in Islam. The replacement of Ahier deities with Awar deities in the state religious pantheon was made to meet political needs (PoDharma 1990).
Po Dharma‟s argument is a convincing explanation of the existence of more Awar
elements in the Ahier rituals. However, I would like to look more closely at the nature of
the ceremonies, in order to understand how Awar elements work in Ahier ceremonies. I
found that those Ahier ceremonies which contain Awar elements often bear meanings relating to “life” or “birth”. For example, Ahier cremations contain the meaning of rebirth in theother world. All participants in the ceremony implicitly play the different roles involved inchildbirth – including the newborn‟s parents, other relatives, godparents, midwife and so on.
The funeral continues for 4 days with a day off on the third day. On the first day, a bowl ofrice and a boiled egg are prepared for the deceased, and this meal symbolizes the meal for apregnant woman. Thus the deceased impregnates a new life in his/her body.9 When the
deceased‟s skull is saved from the flames and the 9 pieces of bones are removed from theforehead, the deceased gives birth to his/her new life in the other world. Immediately after
this ceremony – whereby the 9 pieces of bones are placed into the container, klong, a ceremony called patrip is performed; patrip symbolizes the new-born person‟s first meal in theother world.
The Cham Balamon people erect a special ceremonial house called kajan to place thebody of the deceased person and to carry out funeral ceremonies and also a small shedcalled rap. The rap is usually occupied by musicians, and by the craftsmen who make theornaments for a cremation carriage. Cham Balamon priests may not step into this rap, andsome argue that this is because the rap is Awar territory. The rap is built for Awar deity, Po
9In this symbolical context, deceased‟s actual sex seems to be disregarded.

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

15

Nubi Mohamat. Getting help from another Awar deity who holds a torch to light up the inside of the kajan, the Po Nubi Mohamat observes the sequence of the ceremony from therap. The assistant of the prophet is symbolized by a torch- like thing inside of the kajan10.
The Awar deity, Po Nubi Mohamat, is present at the Ahier funeral because the Ahier funeral contains the meaning of the rebirth. Awar here takes on a female role, giving birth andsymbolizing fertility. With both elements Awar and Ahier, the life cycle – of which a death
is a part – is complete.

Ahier and Awar amongst Bani
Up till here, I have discussed Ahier and Awar as religious distinctions between the respective groups of Cham people of the south central region. However, within the Bani
community itself, Ahier and Awar also mark differences in religious status. For the Bani,
Awar refers to the body of Bani priests, while Ahier refers to the Bani lay people who do
not enter priesthood. Thus, the Awar-Ahier opposition, as it is used within the Bani community, distinguishes between the sacred and secular in the Bani religion.
The terms Awar and Ahier, as used by the Bani people, also bear male and female
attributes. But an attempt to unravel which realm bears which gender attribute can lead toconsiderable confusion. Once, in discussion with the Bani, I repeated what I had learned ina Cham Balamon village about the male and female realms indicated by the directions rightand left in a Bani village. I had understood that a person‟s right hand belongs to the domainof Ahier, indicating the male attribute, while a person‟s left hand belongs to the female domain of Awar. This caused a big debate among the elderly men. Finally the heated exchange ended with a bland sentence articulated by a Bani priest: “Awar is male”. For theBani religious community, Awar (normally regarded as female) when used to refer to Bani
priests belong to the male realm; Ahier used in the context of Bani lay people belong to thefemale realm.
Bani lay people

Bani priests

Ahier

Awar

Female

Male

Left

Right

Being of the male realm, the Bani priests (Awar) need assistance from the female
realm11. Within the priesthood, there are 6 different ranks12, and according to a principle ofseniority, the Bani priests gradually climb up the hierarchical ladder. The highest rank is
Ong Guru, of which there is one at each mosque. During the period of my field study, theOng Guru of one Bani village passed away, but the Bani priest in line to take the positionof Ong Guru had not been promoted; the village had not had an Ong Guru for quite sometime. Without an Ong Guru, the village was unable to organize several important ceremonies, including funerals, led by the priests of their own village. The reason for this situation
10

The torch-like thing in the funeral house is called troi which indicates the prophet Po Nubi Mohamat’s assistant,Ja Tin.
11
Women and unmarried men cannot enter the Bani priesthood.
12
From high rank to the low rank; Ong Guru, Ong Imam Krah, Ong Imum tum, Ong Katip, Ong Mu Tinh and Po
Char.

16 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

was both simple, and to me unexpected. The wife of the Ong Guru candidate was very sick,lying in hospital; Bani priests can be promoted only if their wives are healthy and havegood moral conduct.
The priests‟ promotion ceremony is performed on the last day of the month of Ramuwan. On this occasion, the wives of the promoted priests wear a cloth similar to the one
they wore at the Karah ceremony, by which one enters the Bani religion. They wear as
much gold jewellery as possible, and sit in a guest house attached to the mosque to observe
the ceremony. If she is sick or menstruating at the time, she cannot attend the ceremony. Ifthey do not attend, the priests cannot be promoted. The Bani priests, as male, need assistance of the female.
The ceremonies conducted by the Bani priests require the presence of a woman, Muk
Poh. In each Bani village there is 1 or 2 Muk Poh. Most of the Bani rituals involve an offering of rice to the priests. When each household prepares the offering, an unmarried
young girl is chosen from the household to do the preparations: then, during the rituals, it is
the Muk Poh who offers the rice to the priests. Bani priests cannot conduct rituals without
the Muk Poh‟s assistance. During Friday prayers the first lay persons to pray are the Muk
Poh and wife of the Ong Guru. Their prayer acts as a signal to the other women to begin
their prayers.

Ahier Awar and Akafir:
Within the Bani community, the gender attributes of Awar and Ahier – with Awar as
male and Ahier as female – are consistent and possess their own internal logic. The reversalof the normal Ahier and Awar gender attributes within the Bani community can be explained by the contexuality of Awar – Ahier principles.
The Cham Balamon are excluded from the Ahier and Awar categories used within theBani community. They are classified instead as Akafir. This term is equivalent to the Arabic
term, Kafir, denoting non-Muslims. The terms Awar, Ahier and Akafir are, however, used
only for people belonging to the Cham ethnic group. Initially, as a Buddhist Japanese, I
thought I would be categorized as Akafir; later on, I was told that I was neither Ahier nor
Akafir but Japanese. While Muslims generally use the term Kafir without regard to a person‟s nationality or ethnic background, the Cham use these terms only within their own
ethnic boundaries.
Let me attempt to summaries the discussion so far. Firstly, when these symbols areused in the context of Cham religion as a whole, Ahier, (Cham Balamon) is male and Awar
(Bani) is female. Secondly, within the specific religion of the Bani people, the gender
attributes of Ahier and Awar are reversed; Ahier (lay people) is the female principle while
Awar (priests) is male. Thirdly, when the terms Awar and Ahier are used in conjunction
with the term Akafir as a set of three, the terms Awar and Ahier lose their male and female
symbolism. Instead, they indicate the degree to which one embraces Bani religion. To theBani, the relationship of Awar, Ahier and Akafir indicates relative distance from Po Alwah.
The Bani priests (Awar) enjoy the greatest proximity to Po Alwah, the Bani lay people(Ahier) are the next closest, and the Chan Balamon (Akafir) exist at the greatest distance.
Thus the distinction between Ahier and Awar reflects the different levels of multiple religious relationships. But in any case, when the 2 terms are used as a pair, they maintain theattributes of the male and female realms.

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

17

Cham Balamon Religion

AkafirBani Religion
Bani lay people

Bani priests

Ahier

Awar

Female

Male

Left

Right

Cham Traditional Religion
The terms Ahier and Awar are fluid. They change according to the group and its characteristics. Their meaning depends on the context in which they are used. This fluidity differentiates them from very fixed terms like Cham Balamon and Bani, and illustrates the interdependency of the 2 religions of the Cham people living in the south central region. At aglance, Cham Balamon and Bani seem like 2 completely different religions, of Hindu andIslamic origins, but they are in fact 2 different outcomes of the religion grown in the sameground. Cham Balamon religious attributes make sense only when in opposition to Bani
religious attributes, and vice – versa. For the Cham people of south central Vietnam, thisbinary principle is the dynamic that constructs their world.
Young Cham Balamon and Bani students have opportunities to meet at high schools oruniversities, but the older people, especially women, have fewer chances to communicate
with each other. Clear boundaries and differing cultural forms might seem to mark these 2groups as 2 different ethnic groups. However, when I questioned about their ethnic identity,none of the Bani people answered that they belonged to the Bani ethnic group: they simply
said that they were Cham. Neither group seems keen to articulate their differences for outsiders. The group division only matters within the ethnic group.
Relations between the 2 groups also take literary forms. Within the tradition of Chamlyric poetry, there are 3 significant poems: one of them is called Cham-Bani, and it is astory of unfulfilled love between a young Cham Balamon woman and a young Bani man.
According to Inrasara, it was written around the end of the 19th century, and became themost popular lyric poem among the Cham of Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan provinces. It relates the story of how a Cham Balamon and Bani fell in love, against the taboo of inter-religious relationship. Facing strong disapproval from her parents, the Cham Balamon
woman escaped from their house in the village and secretly went to live with the Bani man.
Later, however, she was caught by the Cham Balamon people, brought back to her village
and punished with death. During her funeral, her Bani lover jumped into the cremation fire:they were reunited in the other world (Inrasara: 1993:175-181)13.
13

In the lyrical poem, Ariya Cham-Bani, Cham Balamon is represented by a woman and Bani by a man. The Bani
man throwing himself into the funeral pile can be understood as sati committed by a man. This lyrical poem has
reversed male and female roles as I have discussed in this paper. I knew several inter-religious marriages amongst
the Cham during my field study. It was mostly between Cham Balamon women and Bani men. Though I know only
one case of Bani woman being married to Vietnamese man (Kin), I had never come across a case of Bani woman
married to a Cham Balamon man during my field research and these cases of inter-religious marriage coincide withthe relationship depicted in the poem.

18 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

Several folk songs among Cham in Ninh Thuan province broach the relationship between the Cham Balamon and the Bani. One of my Cham teachers taught me the following
song, which he often used when teaching Cham scripts to the Cham school teachers:
Cham Balamon and Bani are not separated far
Actually, since long ago, we share the same blood
Which gods created us?
You are just a grain of rice and I am just a rice-husk.

The song suggests that the 2 share the same origin, that they are different parts of thesame thing. Another song describes the pumpkin and the gourd, their vines ever tangled on
the same trellis. The pumpkin and the gourd, of course, symbolize, the Cham Balamon andBani. According to an ancient Cham text kept by a shaman, the Cham gods appear in different guises. They transform themselves from one form to another, crossing the boundaries
between the 2 religions. For instance, one of the earliest and most supreme gods of the Balamon religion, called Po Ku, transformed himself into the goddess Po Inu Nugar. Po Inu
Nugar means the universe, she is the mother goddess of Champa. She created human beingsand the kingdom of Champa. She also taught the Cham people agriculture, sericulture, andweaving. Po Inu Nugar transformed herself into Po Alwah, the supreme god of the Bani
religion. In another example, a Balamon god called Po Alwah Hu transformed himself into
the Bani Po Nubi Mohamat. But Po Alwah Hu is the name given to the god when he is in
the sky while Po Nubi Mohamat is the name given to him when he is on earth. In this way,
the Cham Balamon and the Bani deities are the same.
Cham Balamon

Bani

Po Ku  Po Inu Nugar------------

Po Alwah

Po Alwah Hu -----------------------

Po Nubi Mohamat

Despite their differences, the Cham Balamon and Bani share the same system of beliefs – “the Cham religion” – and believe in the same gods. It might appear that they believe
in separate traditions. But in actual fact, their gods are the same gods known by different
names and worshipped in different ways by 2 different groups of the Cham people. The
Cham Balamon and Bani may not know each others‟ customs and traditions well, yet they
do express that they belong to the same ethnic group.
No distinction is made between them in the way they are depicted in Vietnam today: inthis context too, they are the same ethnic group. They are, however, more often represented– in the choices made by people involved in assembling museum collections, books on minorities and other media – by the Cham Balamon. Bani people see no problem in being
identified as Cham Balamon in the public sphere. Their religious differences do not create
differences of ethnic identity. Sharing a belief system, a sense of belonging to the old
kingdom of Champa and common ancestry, both Bani and Cham Balamon assert a common
ethnicity to outsiders.
Within the ethnic group, however, a clear boundary surfaces, which temporarily disappears when they relate to outsiders? Members of the Cham ethnic group know the difference between Cham Balamon and Bani. Knowledge of this dual organization is a recognized token of membership in their society. This goes some way toward explaining why theCham in south central Vietnam often omit the Mekong Delta Cham when they talk about

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

19

the Cham in Vietnam. The Mekong Delta Cham do not share this specific knowledge, so
the south central region Cham do not acknowledge them.

Sunni Muslim Cham in Ninh Thuan province
Sunni Islam – know as Jawa by the Bani – was first introduced into Ninh Thuan province in the 1960s. The Sunni Islam converts in Ninh Thuan province claim that they belong
to the realm of Awar. Neither Bani nor Cham Balamon agree. The Sunni Islam converts arethus excluded from the Ahier and Awar dichotomy which is a defining concept for the ethnicity of the Cham in south central Vietnam. The Sunni Islam converts have, as a result,become rather marginalized among the Cham communities of Ninh Thuan.
At present, there are 4 Sunni Islam mosques in the Bani villages of Ninh Thuan province. During my field research, 70 Sunni Muslim families lived in Phuc Nhon village,
amounting to about 10 % of the population of this Bani community. In this village, I wastold that Sunni Islam had been introduced by a college student from the village. This student was studying in Can Tho city, in the Mekong Delta, when he heard about the Chamliving in a neighboring province, An Giang. Out of curiosity, the student visited the Chamin An Giang and found that the Islam they were practicing was different from the Bani Islam he knew. He returned to Phuc Nhon village and told Bani priests about the Islam practiced by the Mekong Delta Cham. None of the Bani priests knew about the Sunni Islam, butthey did not approve of the way the Mekong Delta Cham practiced Islam.
Coincidentally, around this time a group of Cham people from An Giang, including
Mufty Omal Aly and an Indian Muslim named Ismael Maulawi, visited Phuc Nhon to proselytize Islam. The student asked them the same questions he had put to the Bani priests;
clear answers were given. Some of the Bani were impressed by their profound and extensive knowledge of Islam. In 1962, 15 Sunni Islam converts asked the Bani priests to open
the mosque on a daily basis, so they could pray every day. Their request was rejected, sothey decided to build their own mosque. The mosque was completed in 1963 with financial
support form the local government, the Muslim community in Vietnam, Ismael Maulawi,an the Hiep hoi Cham Hoi giao Viet Nam, which was an association of Muslim Cham people
established in Saigon as a part of Southern Vietnam government‟s ethnic minority policy.
As Islam gained ground among the Bani, the antagonism between the converted Bani
and the remaining Bani increased. Some sympathized with the Muslim converts. Most ofthese were relatives of Sunni Islam converts, and they argued that religion should be chosen
through individual will. These sympathizers were called walai: the villagers – including thepriests – divided between the walai and anti-walai. Antagonism within Phuc Nhon village
reached its peak in 1969 to 1971. There were a few violent incidents. Sunni Islam converts
had to put up with various kinds of bullying from the Baritone elderly. A Sunni Islam person recounted that during the time of enmity, Sunni Islam converts could rely only on Allahand the local government.
The relationship between the Bani and the Sunni Islam converts softened after Vietnam reunification, when any kind of religious proselytizing was prohibited. Although Sunni
Islam proselytization among the Bani people of Ninh Thuan has remerged since the onsetof the doi moi reforms (1986), and the number of converts is slowly increasing, the violent
incidents of the past have not been repeated.
The Bani tend to see Sunni Islam converts as people who have abandoned their original religion and the Cham tradition; they are deemed to be committing a sin by neglecting
muk kay, the ancestral sprits. According to them, denying muk kay means denying oneself,
as without the ancestors one would not exist. They also criticize the converts for abandoning Bani religion to gain development and humanitarian aid from foreigners. The Sunni
20 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

Muslim in Ninh Thuan are connected to Muslim communities around the world and havereceived donations from foreign Muslim visitors, and financial aid from foreign Muslim
organizations. Because of such foreign connections, they teach English in addition to regular Qur‟anic study. I was often surprised to meet Cham students in their mosques who
spoke to me in English. The converts‟ foreign connections and access to foreign aid provoke envy among the Bani people.
The converts often become upset when they hear about such criticism from Bani
people, and argue that they converted to the Sunni Islam in order to “follow the right path”,
and not for monetary gain. One of the members of this group told me that conversion toSunni Islam and belief in Sunni Islam is a “revolution among the Chams”. They believethat the Bani religion is a degraded form of Islam and that its practice is not right. It is
steeped in superstition. It is unscientific and backward. Sunni Islam is scientific and moreadvanced. The converts often consider themselves more educated, more scientific, andmore developed than Bani people, because they understand the theology of their faith andpractice Islam “correctly”.
Furthermore, although the Chams in An Giang province have adhered to Sunni Islam
for much longer than the Chams in Ninh Thuan province, the newly-converted in Ninh
Thuan claim that they are religiously superior. They admit that the Mekong Delta Chams
can read the Qur‟an more skillfully, that they are more familiar with the religious practiceof Islam. But they also argue that the Muslim Chams of the Mekong Delta are narrow-minded and obsessed with religious practice, caring little about education. Few of theirfamilies send their children to school. According to these converts, the Mekong Delta
Chams only know how to read the Qur‟an, but they do so without understanding the meaning of it, and suffer from various superstitions caused by their lack of scientific knowledge.
Responding to the Bani people‟s criticism that they have renounced their Cham heritage, they argue that they have no intention of abandoning Cham tradition and culture: bymaintaining akhar thrah literacy and by participating in traditional ceremonies – such as
visiting their ancestors‟ graves before the holy month of Ramadan – they preserve theircultural and historical traditions, unlike the Muslim Chams in the Mekong Delta. They especially emphasize their efforts to preserve knowledge of the Cham script. They showedme signs in their mosques written in both the Arabic and Cham scripts. Someone from amosque came to my Cham language teacher‟s office to discuss how to eradicate Cham
script illiteracy amongst the Sunni Muslim. They were critical of the Mekong Delta Chams
who cannot read akhar thrah and know nothing of the history of Champa. Thus the sense of
superiority among Sunni Islam converts in Ninh Thuan towards the Mekong Delta Chams
takes more than just a religious form.
Unlike the Chams in the Mekong delta, whose ethnicity is constructed around Islam,the Muslim Chams in south central Vietnam cannot use Islam alone to construct their ethnic
identity. They need to include elements of tradition connecting them to the ancient kingdomof Champa: akhar thrah and the Cham language hold a significant place in their construction of ethnicity.

Conclusion
An ethnic classification often gives a homogenous and monolithic image to “a group”,
while in reality people‟s ethnic identity is complex and quite dynamic. Being a Cham in
Vietnam has various meanings: from being descendants of the kingdom of Champa, to being Muslim from being honest to being backward: all depends on whom one is interactingwith and in what kind of social context. The ethnic boundaries which determine the ethnic
content always need to be articulated and readjusted according to the various relationships
Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

21

to other groups, and the social context. Ethnicity is fluid and malleable. It is an “ambiguous
aspect of social life” (T. Eriksen 1993:31).
The ethnicity of the Chams in south central Vietnam has been constructed around aconnection to the past, the kingdom of Champa. Beyond their communities, they assert
their ethnicity by claiming this heritage, by making links with the ancient kingdom which
once established a civilization quite different from Vietnamese civilization and at least as
prosperous as Vietnamese civilization. They assert their respect for and preservation ofcultural traditions expressed through continued ritual practices, maintenance of cultural
knowledge including the writing system, constant searching for the origins of the Cham
culture, and a reluctance to marry non-Cham outsiders. Meanwhile, internally, their ethnicity
is demonstrated by an intricate and fluid dualism, the concept of Ahier and Awar, the maleand female realms. The fluidity of these terms illustrates the interdependency of the 2 religious groups, Cham Balamon and Bani and their construction of an ethnic identity as Cham.
Various local Cham scholars have identified Ahier and Awar as the linga and Yoni, thesacred symbols of Hinduism, the religion of Champa. Paul Mus argued that Hinduism wasprobably accepted by the population of Champa without resistance, as a result of a certain
cultural predisposition. He explained this as follows. The area from the Bay of Bengal ofIndia through Indochina, Southern China, Indonesia and other Pacific islands used to belong to a single cultural area called Monsoon Culture. In Monsoon culture, people believedin animism. Among the spirits, the spirit of the earth was one of the most important. To
worship the earth spirit – an abstract being – people erected stones at sacred places. The
erected stones were sometimes personified by heads of communities who played a significant role as links between the earth spirit and the community. In such a religious environment, the people of Monsoon Culture did not perceive the newly introduced Hindu religion
as a totally foreign practice, but rather as something familiar. Mus argued that this local religious background led to the localization of indigenization of Hinduism, or in other words
Cham Balamon religion (P. Mus 1975).
According to Tran Phuong Ky, a specialist of Champa art history, the dual principle of
the Cham people can be observed in the structure of the sanctuary at My Son14. He further
argued that the location of the 2 sanctuaries – My Son in Quang Nam province and Po Nagar in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa province – reflects certain characteristics of the cosmologicaldualism. My Son, the sanctuary for the god Siva symbolizes the father/male realm, while
Po Nagar, the sanctuary for the goddess of Po Inu Nugar symbolizes the mother/female
realm (Tran Ky Phuong and R. Nakamura 2007). My anthropological research shows that
this dual structure lies at the heart of the dynamics of identity which constructs their ethnicity and the world of Cham people in central Vietnam.

Reference
Blood, Doris (1981), „Aspects of Cham Culture‟ in Notes from Indochina on Ethnic Minority Cultures, Summer Institute of Linguistics – Museum of Anthropological Publication, No. 6, p. 11-34.
Eriksen, Thomas H. (1993), Ethnicity and Nationalism: Anthropological Perspectives, London and Boulder,
Colorado: Pluto Press.
14

Personal conversation with Tran Phuong Ky during my visit to My Son in 2005.

22 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

Hoskins, Janet (1987), „Complementarity in this World and the Next: Gender and Agency in Kodi Mortuary
Ceremonies‟ in M. Strathern (ed.), Dealing with Inequality, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p.
174-206.
Inrasara (1993), Van Hoc Cham [Cham Literature], Nha xuat ban Van hoa Dan toc Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh.
Khong Dien (2002), Population and Ethno-Demography in Vietnam, Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books.
Manguin, P-Y (1985), „The Introduction of Islam into Champa‟ Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal
Asiatic Society London 58:11, 1-28. It is a translation of the same article in Bulletin de l'Ecole Française
d'Extrême-Orient, tome 66 (1979).
Mus, Paul (1975), „India Seen from the East: Indian and Indigenous Cults in Champa‟ in Monash Papers on
Southeast Asia, No. 3, Monash University (Originally published as „Cultes indiens et indigènes au
Champa‟ in Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient, vol. XXXIII, 1933: 367-410)
Ner, Marcel (1942), „Les Musulmans de l‟Indochine française‟, in Bulletin de l’École française
d’Extrême-Orient, XLI, fasc. 2: 151-202
Po Dharma (1990), „Deux princes malais au Champa: leur rôle dans la vie socio-politique et religieuse de cepays” in Le monde indochinois et la péninsule malaise, Contribution de la Délégation française au
Deuxième Congrès International sur la Civilisation Malaise, Kuala Lumpur, p. 19-28.
Said, Edward W. (1978), Orientalism, New York: Vintage Books.
Sakaya (2003), Le Hoi cua Nguoi Cham. Nha xuat ban Van hoa Dan toc.
Tran Ky Phuong and Rie Nakamura (2007), „My Son and Pô Nagar Nha Trang Sanctuaries: in regards to thecosmological dualist cult of Champa kingdom (Central Vietnam) , in Alexandre Haende (ed.), Old Myths
and New Approaches - Interpreting Ancient Religious Sites in Southeast Asia, Monash Asia Institute,
Monash University (forthcoming).

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

23

Bani Islam Cham in Vietnam
Ba Trung PHU
Museum of Vietnam History, Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract
The Chams are an ancient ethnic group which inhabits several countries in Southeast Asia today. In Vietnam, the Chams are given official recognition as one of the 54 ethnic groups that makeup the country. Numerically, the Chams number over 131,0000 people and historically they once
had their own kingdom and illustrious civilization in Champa which overlaps with central Vietnam
today. The Chams in Vietnam may be divided into three categories, namely, the Brahmanized or
Hinduized Chams, the Bani Islam Chams and the Chams who follow orthodox Islam. Althoughthese three groups of Chams have plenty of differences between them it is their ethnic identity as
Cham that unites them as a people. In view of the uniqueness of their culture and history, there
have been many attempts to study them from many different approaches. This paper attempts to
examine the role of the Bani Islam Chams in Vietnam from the sociological perspective. Their heterodox version of indigenized Islam is very different from the orthodox Islam observed by theirethnic brethren in Southwest Vietnam as they are also distinctive from the Brahmanized or Hinduized Chams. Using appropriate illustrations, the paper tries to show that the unique and colourful
culture and life-style of the Bani Islam Chams continues to be relevant today as they have beenfrom ancient times.

Rationale
Religion is a social phenomenon which impacts on two sides of life, namely the community and the individual. Religion has existed from the dawn of civilization up till thispresent time. Religion plays a pivotal role in helping fulfill the spiritual need of believers.
Religion does not only consist of rites and rituals but also encompasses social affairs. It isable to relate to the perceived world of the afterlife (heaven and hell) as well as influence
the current living world. The activities of religion are closely associated with the life of thecommunity and the nation.
Along with the problems of the present life, religion and religious festivities have always been a major focus of research. The field of sociology is particularly keen on looking
at the various issues that the above generates. In Vietnam, the Bani Islam Cham is only asmall community. However, with the current global trend of showing a lot of interest in indigenous communities all over the world, it has come to be appreciated as somethingunique. Interestingly it is this externally-inspired interest that has brought about the rejuvenation of the community.
There are 54 different ethnic minority groups inhabiting Vietnam. These groups haveco-existed harmoniously with each other and have kept abreast with the changes of the time.
One group that is of particular interest to researchers and the international community, are
the Cham people. The Chams are an ethnic group which belongs to the Malayo–Polynesianfamily who have lived in Central Vietnam for a long time. They have had wide and extensive relations with the continent of Asia and with people from these areas. As an indigenous
people who over time gradually became exposed to waves of external influences, the Cham

24 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

people have over this long period,
created, diversified, reinvented anddeveloped their unique culture to sustain it and make it perennially relevant to the changing times.
Over time, the Cham people havesettled in many places. In the process
they began to mix with other ethnic
groups. The impact of various factors
such as the economy, society, environment and geography on the Champeople has been very deep. Today, theCham communities are represented bythree groups divided along religiouslines, namely: the Bani Islam Chams,
the Brahmanized or Hinduized Chams(Central Vietnam) and the orthodox ormainstream Cham Islam (of South
Vietnam).
In Vietnam, the Bani Islam
Chams do not ordinarily distinguishthemselves from the broader Chamcommunity. Therefore, we need totake note of the basic characteristicsof the Cham people as a religious
community and the Cham people asan ethnic community. In this sense,
the most outstanding trait of the Bani
Islam Cham is their unique lifestyle
based on their version of Islam which
is very different from that of orthodox
Map of Vietnam
Islam. This is the subject that I havechosen to address in this paper.
Up to now, most works on the Cham people have tended to ignore the Bani Islam, because they are not well-known. Thus, in this paper we aim to look at them from the sociological angle in order to develop new insights about the problem of the Cham people and theimplementation of the law of Islam especially in Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan provinces.
We hope to also use the scientific contributions of other researchers from other scientificfields in the past in our attempt to examine the role of the Bani Islam Cham in Vietnam.

Overview of the problem
The Cham people and their cultural religion have been a subject of interest which has
been studied for over one century already. For example, the rites, customs, and beliefs of
the Chams have been examined in the early XIX century. And up till now, there have been
numerous research works on this subject by scholars at home and abroad.
Works of French researchers such as A.Labussìere, Septfonts, A.Landed, andA.Bergaign, easily come to mind. One notable researcher who has made an enormous contribution to the field is E.Aymonier whose work is titled “Les Chams aø Bình Thuaän” (The
Cham people in Bình Thuaän; February, 1891). E.Aymonier said that Islam was imported
Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

25

into Champa in the early X century. Most of the Cham people that adopted Islam refused to
be assimilated into Vietnamese society. Hence, they migrated to Cambodia, Siam (Thailand) and Haûi Nam [Hainan in China] island rather than submit themselves to subjugationby the Vietnamese.
In addition, in his works such as “Islamic Cham people and their religion” (April,
1891) he described the religious rites and organizational system of the Bani Islam. He also
highlighted the life cycle rites of the Chams. However, his research was rather general andfragmented.
On the other hand, to complement more completely the study of the Cham people inVietnam, the Cham people in Cambodia have been introduced in works such as “The belief and conformability regulations of a religion of Cham people in Cambodia” by
E.Aymonier. They all practise orthodox Islam. They give up their ancestor‟s heterodox rites
and only retained selected customs and attire. According to E.Aymonier, the population of
the Cham people in Cambodia was about 10 000 with around 100 villages (paley) and mostwere well-off, living in crowded villages.
In 1906–1907, Cabaton wrote a series of articles about the Cham people and the Malays in Southern Vietnam; the Cambodian and Cham people in Phan Rang, Phan Rí. In
1941 in a monograph about Islam in Indochina, M. Ner mentioned some basic things about
the economy, society, education and religion of the Chams at a Cham village in Chaâu
Ñoác.
From the 1950s to 1975, many researchers on the Cham people began to emerge in
Vietnam such as, Nghieâm Thaåm and Nguyeãn Khaéc Ngöõ. Works such as Dorohieâm‟s“Summary of the history of the Cham”, 1974; Thaùi Vaên Kieåm‟s “The influence ofChieâm Thaønh on culture of Vietnam”; and Nguyeãn Vaên Luaän‟s “Islamic Cham people
in the Southwest of Vietnam”, 1974, were produced. The latter is a detailed description of
the manners, customs and religious rites of the Cham people in the South.
After 1975, the country has been peaceful. The prevailing conditions favoured morestudies on the Chams. Besides, with the growing interest on religious problems in the State,some scholars who had studied the Chams in the past, gradually took on a bigger research
project such as Ngoâ Vaên Doanh‟s “Champa culture”, 1994; and Maïc Ñöôøng‟s “The national problem in the Mekong Delta”.
Recently, a work entitled “Cham culture” was published by Phan Xuaân Bieân, PhanVaên Doáp and Phan An, in 1991. This was a meticulously researched work on the family,
marriage and the religious rites of the Chams. However, this was only a general work anddid not thoroughly examine the practice of the Islamic rites of the Islam Cham people.
In addition to the above, there have also been many articles which introduced the religion, rites and the relations between the Islam Cham people and the Viet people in popularmagazines as well as papers presented at scientific conferences.
On the whole, up to now, although there has been some progress on the research on theIslam Cham people, the approach adopted by most researchers, hitherto, has been to rely
primarily on historical, cultural, and ethnological perspectives. The sociological approachhas been almost totally ignored. This paper hopes to fill up the above gap.

Methods and technique of study
The general method

The general method that is used in here, is a qualitative one, combined with descriptive
and explanatory notes. The qualitative research helps us understand about the real thoughts
and feelings of the Bani Islam Cham believers. Through this method, we should be able toknow some of the delicate problems relating to religion and the nation.
26 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

The above research method which seeks to describe a fact or state of object in a verifiable way is a very objective approach. This description plays an important role in theanalysis of selected phenomena to point out their relationship with the practice of Islamic
laws.
Together with the descriptive method above there is also a need to add explanatory
notes. The two methods are always in harmony. Further explanations are always necessary
to clarify the relationships between an object and a particular phenomenon or several phenomena.
The concrete methoda.The methods of data collection and collation from available sources in the works of others
which are related or relevant relate to the problem discussed here. Findings of reports,
statistical data, and other relevant information which directly related to the problem being
studied.
b. Methods of sampling: Looking for objects which fit the characteristics and demands ofthe subject being examined, which in this case is the Islam Cham people in Ninh Thuaän,Bình Thuaän.
c. Methods of analysis and processing of information.
The method of analysing documents: in printed matters in order to extract the necessary and relevant information.

Analysis of traditional documents:
Besides using the sociological method, the paper also tries to use the historical method
especially in trying to trace the historical evolution in Vietnam of both the Bani Islam
Cham in particular and the Cham people in general, the background features of their residence, and their activities all viewed within a historical framework.
As observed above there are 54 different ethnic minority groups inhabiting the various
parts of Vietnam. These different ethnic minority groups have lived in harmony with one
another and managed to preserve their respective ways of life, adjusting and adapting themaccording to the demands of the of the times. One of the nationalities in Vietnam that has
aroused the interest of both foreign as well as local researchers is the Cham people. They
are an ethnic group belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian family and who have lived for avery long time in Central Vietnam. They have had extensive relations with many different
ethnic groups continental as well as insular Southeast Asia. For example, the Sa Huynh
culture which is considered to be the forerunner of Champa culture with relics along thecentral coastal from Quang Binh to Dong Nai was a flourishing culture. Archaeologists
have excavated and found many objects such as- earrings, silver and agate jewelry belonging to that ancient period. In ancient-medieval times there were many ancient architecturaland sculptural works which were scattered everywhere in places such as: Amaravati(Quang Binh), Indrapura (Da Nang), Vijaya (Quy Nhon), Kanthara (Nha Trang – Dak Lak),
Panturaga(Phan Rang – Dong Nai). The ancient steles, in particular, provide solid evidenceof the long history of the Cham people in the region as well as their claim to being indigenous to the area. They had an illustrious civilization which could be easily compared tomany other well known civilizations in other parts of Asia and the world. From their indigenous origins, the Cham people have evolved to acquire more complex characteristics dueto the continual waves of exogenous influences, emerging in the process as a colourful, diversified and unique culture. This was how the Bani Islam Chams have evolved in Vietnam.
According to official statistics in 1989, the population of the Cham people in Vietnam
numbered 131.282. They were primarily influenced by Indian culture and had three differIslam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

27

ent religions: Brahmanism or Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. Among these the Muslims
were divided into two branches namely the Bani Islam Cham and the Chams who practiceorthodox Islam. In the case of Buddhism, it only existed amongst the Cham royalty andprospered in Indravarman II 875 A.D. The Bani Islam of the Cham people mainly live incentral Vietnam in Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan (Phan Rang, Phan Rí), while the Cham peopleof the orthodox Islamic faith are to be found mainly in Southwest of Vietnam in An Giang,
Ho Chi Minh city, Long Khanh, Binh Phuoc. In central Vietnam, two thirds of the Chams
are followers of Brahmanism and the remaining one third are the Bani Islam group. In
Southwest Vietnam 100 percent of the Chams are Muslims of the orthodox Islamic faith.
Islam was imported into Champa in the 9th century, Ed Huber said that he found a paragraph in a history book of Sung which explains as follows: “There are also (in Champa)
many buffaloes in the mountains but people did not use them to plough. They offered them
to a deity”. When they kill a buffalo as a sacrifice, they prayed “Alla Akhar”. This expression was in order to assert and honour Allah – the only Supreme Being who Muslims must
call out in name during prayer.
Aymonier also found that in the historical books of the Cham people, one paragraph
was described as follows: “In the Mouse year, one man who has Allah‟s nature who acted
for perfection of the Champa Kingdom, yet people were dissatisfied so he donated his bodyand mind for God/Allah and lived in Mecca. After that he came back to Champa Kingdom”.
This account coincided with an archaeological excavation which found two steles in thecentral coast of Vietnam. One was dated 1039 and the other was from 1025 to 1035. Bothof them mentioned Islam but they were foreigners who lived in the central coast of Vietnam.
They were businessmen and craftsmen, and lived in groups and had a spiritual leader, who
was called an Imaam, who presided over ceremonies.
This stele document proves that the imported Islam had already entered the Champa
Kingdom in the 10th century.
Unlike the Bani Islam Cham people, the Cham people in the Southwest of Vietnam
observed the orthodox religious laws, lived fully as a community of the faithful. These
practices were based on Quranic and Islamic religious laws. This helped them observe their
spiritual activities which were centered around the Mosque (Thang Mögik) which was considered as the center for religious and political activity in the village. The Bani Islam Champeople, on the other hand do not depend on Muslim laws. They have an their own religious
law and rites which are quite different from the rites of the orthodox Muslims. These include things such as, “Karôh”, marriage (Pakhaùh) and funeral (Pathih). They only needtheir clergy to sustain their version of heterodox Islam. In the Bani Islam concept of Islamthe ordinary people could delegate the task of performing religious rites and practices totheir clergy or elders and be relieved of their individual religious obligations.

The organization of Bani Islam:
Every family chooses one or two members (a family may choose three) to represent
them and carry out the religious activities such as: marriage and funeral rites and etc. The
delegated members of the family are called “Acar”. Their mission was to recite their version of the Quran to undertake the various religious and to carry out the various religious
rites. However, although the Bani Islam clergy (or priests) and/or the delegated members of
the family are able to recite Quranic verses, they do not understand the meaning at all.
When the delegates become “Acar”, they have to obey the religious laws. If they break thelaws, they will be punished either seriously or slightly. Normally, they must apologize(Ngah païh) to Poâ Auloah‟s (Allah).
This is a complete religious system which includes people such as the following:
28 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

-

Acar
Madin – madintan
Imöm – Imömtan
Gruø

These people carry out religious laws, first and foremost of which is the weekly communal prayer and other important services.
“Acar” or “Char” is a person who has newly joined the ranks of the clergy. They are
required by law to practice and recite the Quran. They are divided to 4 grades: Jamak, Talavi, Poâ sit, Poâ prong.
“Madin” – “Madintan”: is the one who chairs ceremonies and rites, and teaches children the Quran.
“Khotip” or “Tip”: is one who delivers the Friday sermon to the Muslim congregation
every week at the mosque. “Tip”‟s mission in Bani Islam is to carry out the rites in mosques and private houses, and has no part in explaining doctrines or teachings.
“Imöm” or “Möm”: is a person who is senior and has practised for at least 15 years. He
is considered as being knowledgeable on the Bani Islam religion, is able to recite the Quranand perform all religious rites. Among these people is “Möm” – the person understands the
Quran and Islamic morals thoroughly. He is chosen to present himself before the forty
saints – called Möm Pah (Möm 40). This selection must conform to the strict regulations,particularly of the knowledge of morals and the Quran, and the acceptability of the priest(Poâ Gruø) in that area. Every year there are only one or two days of such an inauguration
where the I Möm and Poâ Gruø would come to witness.
Poâ Gruø (The witness): is a person who all the clergy and people in the village votefor. He would lead people in the mosque or hold rites in private houses, and help resolve
most problems about religious affairs and social affairs.
In every Mosque (Thang Gik), they choose a group to include Imöm, Din, Tip, Möm
that serve for three years. Their task is to communicate the views and decisions of Poâ
Gruø or marabouts to the believers.
The Bani Islam of Cham people do not observe the five pillars of Islam which orthodox Muslims must observe such as the declaration of faith to confirm their absolute confidence in Allah and Mohammad as the messenger of God; the five-times of prayers a day
and attend the observance of the obligatory Friday prayer in the mosque; the giving of zakat[religious tithes] or [alms] charity; and the need to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca at least
once in a lifetime for Muslims who have sufficient means of finance and are in good healthto do so. When a Muslim accomplishes his mission to Mecca, they will confer him the title
Haji. Almost all the Bani Islam believers do not carry out the above mentioned duties because they believe that religious affairs need only to be carried out by the marabouts (Acar)and these people represent the believers to implement their duty towards Allah. Therefore,
in respect of the implementation of their Islamic obligations, every family must have a person who is delegated to represent the whole family in its religious duties and obligations.
This person will replace the other members of the family to assume the religious duties
with Allah and carry out the practices of their customs such as in marriage and funeral rites
and etc in the family. Especially, the title the delegated member of the family is passed
from this lifetime to the next. It is clear from the above that the ordinary Bani Islam Chammembers do not at all observe the Islamic practices of orthodox Islam. In fact, even the religious leaders of the Bani Islam Cham disregard these practices. Nevertheless, what is interesting for the Bani Islam Cham is that while in the case of the orthodox Muslims themosque is supposed to be a place where believers pray five times a day and use it as a religious and political center, their mosque only opens on Fridays, in the Ramöran monthIslam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

29

(Ramödan) and only during important ceremonies of Islam. The charity which is requiredof orthodox Islam as one of its principal tenets is changed into an“exchange of rice” by theBani Islam Chams. The Islamic clergy and members in the family in the Ramöran monthgive rice in lieu of alms for the marabouts of their family.

The fasting month of Ramöwan (Ramadan):If one is a Muslim, the month of Ramadan is considered a very special month where
the observance of fasting is considered obligatory. This is part of the five main principles ofIslam.. The fasting month always makes a very strong appeal to the Muslims. The fasting
month starts from when the moon appears in the ninth month of the year in the Muslim calendar to t when it occurs again the following month. The Cham people in Southwest ofVietnam have an Islamic calendar which is prepared by Hadji Isahat which takes notes of
the holidays which coincide with the solar calendar. They therefore knowing when thefasting month starts and ends. In general, the Ramödan month is regarded as a very important month. To the Cham people in Southwest of Vietnam, all their other activities areusually stopped during the daytime and believers only resume normal life when the sun sets.
But for the Bani Islam Cham people who mainly live in Phan Rang (Pa Rang) and Phan Rí(Pa Rik), Ramödan is not considered a fasting month for everyone. It is regarded as a training month for the new religious priests or a month where offerings to the dead for Allahand the Saints of Islam are made. During this month, young priests come to the mosque to
conduct various ceremonies. Every family of a new religious leader must offer two sacrifical trays: one meal on a tray and one steamed glutinous rice and sweet soup on another tray
or in place of it, a fruit cake. Members of the new religious leader‟s family must carry therice and fruit for him. In the early part of the Ramövan month, the fifteenth day of the lunar
month and the end of fast day, all believers have to bring offerings to the mosque. This includes one meal on a tray and one sweet soup on a tray. The Bani Islam Cham people thinkthat this act demonstrates their sincerity to Allah. The mosque during the month ofRamödan becomes a center of religious activity, particularly at night. Because new religious leaders must enter the mosque to eat vegetarian dishes, their activities take place inside the mosque throughout the Ramövan month. In addition, the followers of Brahmanism
also recognize Allah and pray for Allah‟s blessing. This fact is interesting. So, during themonth of Ramödan the followers of Brahmanism also carry cakes and bananas to worshipand pray in the mosque. This practice is probably the most unique in the world specific only to the Cham people.
According to ancient documents and notables from the previous century to the XXthcentury, the mosque (Thang Gik) was made of thatch, bamboo walls and ground. In thefront of the house is placed seven flat stones for the priests to perform the ablution (washing arms and legs before holding a ceremony). Today, all the mosques of Bani Islam arebuilt with cement, tile roof and bricks. With regard to the architecture, the style of themosque of the Cham people is different from the mosques in the rest of the Muslim. But
what is interesting is that it is still directed towards the West – which is the direction of
Mecca. The end side of Mosque – the wall on the west has a corner, called “mimbar” –where priests explain the various doctrines relating to Sunna or Haji. The main religious
activities of at the Bani Islam mosques are: the fasting rite during the month of Ramödan
and the ceremonies on Friday every week, called “Sut yaâng” or “Zam at”. Therefore thereligious rites of the Bani Islam Cham are very different from those of the orthodox Muslims.
Generally speaking, the Bani Islam of the Cham people have existed for a long time.
They have always preserved their cultural and religious activities with their unique andspecific characteristics. Religious Laws had changed so much to suit the matriarchal society
30 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

of the Cham people. The appearance of the priest is specific to the Bani Islam Cham. The
above features indicate that a small part of orthodox Islam which was imported into Champa and indigenized into Cham culture, became absorbed into its folk culture, manners andcustoms. This is probably the principal factor which has made the Bani Islam Cham people
in Vietnam different from the other Muslims elsewhere in Southeast Asia and throughout
the Muslim world.

References
1. Cabaton A, Les Chams Musulmand de indochien Francaise, reve du monde musulaman 2, 1907.
2. Finot L, la religion des Chams, bulletin de ecole Francaise d‟extreme orient I, 1901.
3. Maspero,G. Le Royaume de Champa, 1909.
4. Willoughby, Jay. Muslims of Viet Nam International Journal of the Islamic and Arabic Studies 1, 1984 .

Pictures of Bani Islam Cham in Vietnam

Getting ready for the Thaon Ninh Rite (1)Thaonh Ninh Rite

Women preparing for the Thaonh Ninh Rite

Preparing for the Thaonh Ninh Rite

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

31

Preparing for the marriage ceremony

Preparing for the wedding feast

Elderly women at a wedding

Marriage ceremony

Bride and bridegroom

Female worshippers at a mosque

Mosque scene

32 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

Praying at Home

Preparing for Khotam [Circumcision]

Bani Islam Cham Funeral

Funeral procession

Prayer ritual at the ancestral graves

Visiting ancestral graves

Paying respect to the ancestral graves

Children at the ancestral graves

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

33

The Baweans of Ho Chi Minh City
Malte STOKHOF
Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Abstract
This paper is part of my PhD research at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. It focuses on thethird and fourth generation of descendants of a group of immigrants that left the Bawean Island in theJava Sea for the French Colony Indochina around 1900. This paper introduces this group of Muslims
currently living in the Center of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. The members of this religious community are transnationally active and see themselves, at one and the same time, as “orang Bawean”
or Bawean people, and as Vietnamese or even Cham, and as good Muslims. They live around one of
the first mosques built in Ho Chi Minh City informally called the “thanh duong Malai” or Malay
temple. Some 60 of its members did not have any citizenship since they day they were born in what iscurrently known as Vietnam. In 2003 these people suddenly applied for Vietnamese citizenship. This
presentation looks into the reasons for this decision and the implications it had for the Vietnamesestate officials. It deals with questions of assimilation, influences of transnational religious contacts
and the interaction between these “Baweans” and the state officials in a country that is hardly known
for its pro-active approach when it comes to matters of citizenship or religion.

Hidir and I were sitting outside the mosque in the center of Hồ Chí Minh City looking
at the Friday afternoon traffic. We were discussing his request for Vietnamese citizenship.
Smoke drifted past us. It came from the halal chicken grilled behind us in the food-stalls
erected against the mosque‟s gate and it enveloped a car with diplomatic plates as it pulledaway from the curb and into a swarm of motorcycles. Usually the Indonesian Consul-General would stay for lunch after the Friday afternoon prayer. Sometimes he would
invite one of the Muslims living around the mosque to join him for a meal because he feels
connected to these people who share his religion and his country of origin, but not today.
Hidir nodded his head at the car and commented,
He was no help to us at all when we applied for Indonesian citizenship. We told him, „In Vietnam
we are classified as aliens but no foreign country accepts us as citizens. We cannot hold land titles
or Vietnamese identity papers. We have not been accepted in universities, we have never been accepted for governmental jobs and we have not been able to leave the country legally. Still even today some of us have actively chosen not to register with the police or apply for Vietnamese citizenship. We want to ask you to help us become Indonesian citizens again.‟ But he was no help to1
us, that one .

Hidir‟s comment brings us to some of the main issues presented in this article: labelsof ethnic classification, citizenship and the ways people have tried to find a way to deal
with these labels. In this article I present the Baweans, a Sunni Muslim immigrant community in Vietnam of the western Malayo-Polynesian Austronesian language group2.
1

Interview with Hidir, June, 2005, Hồ Chí Minh City, All Interviewees‟ names have been changed for the sake ofanonymity
2
Darrell Tyron, “Proto-Austronesian and the Major Austronesian Subgroups,” The Austronesians: Historical andComparative Perspectives, (Peter Bellwood, James. J. Fox, and Darrell Tyron, Canberra: Department of

34 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

Little is known of what has become of this small migrant group in post-colonial Vietnam, even less of it is known as a Muslim minority in a security-conscious state post- 9/11.
The people in this group have lived under the Vietnamese state‟s radar screen as statelesscitizens. In 2001, sixty elderly men and women within this group decided to apply for Vietnamese citizenship. They knew that as a result, state officials would have to fit them into
the existing classificatory grid. But even in 2002, these people still had not been classified
nor did they have legal citizenship.
Charles Keyes notes, “ethnic classification has been as an instrument of power … bymodern states to fit in the “motley crowds” located on their frontiers”3. In this article I
present a case study of one of these “motley crowds”. Yet the Bawean people do not live on
geographical “frontiers”. Rather, and as they have done for the past hundred and fifty years,
they live in the central business district of the country‟s economic hub. They do, however,exist on the fringes of formal classification and in many cases they do so willingly. They
often chose for their children to remain stateless up to a certain age, as I will explain below.
This article shows that official ethnic classification as an instrument of power may
blow an authoritative tune, but that it is not always listened to. When people wish to evadesuch classification they find ways to achieve that and when they decide to make use of suchan instrument of power for their own benefit they will try and do so.
We suggest that over the past decade Vietnamese governmental institutions have become less restrictive with Muslim communities in Vietnam. Some scholars have evencalled the Vietnamese State‟s relations with its minorities relatively enlightened compared
to global standards4. This is quite remarkable if we note that in East and Southeast Asia,
relations between Muslim majorities and non-Muslim minorities (Indonesia, Malaysia) andbetween Muslim minorities and non-Muslim majorities (the Philippines, Thailand, China)
are under stress5 and often result in stricter governmental control or even abuses such as
have taken place in Pattani, in southern Thailand. In Vietnam, governmental institutions do
not actively set out to classify or control Muslim communities forcing them into the grid offifty-four formally classified ethnic groups. In the Bawean case, this tolerance almost borders on indifference, but when state agents were confronted with the Bawean request for
citizenship that Vietnamese law until then had not yet encountered, they suddenly act serviceable, even amiable. Before I present the case study I will provide some historic background information on the Bawean.

Who are the Baweans?
This article presents a case study based on fieldwork that lasted from 2000 to 2005. To
describe the community‟s experiences from their arrival in Saigon around 1880 up to thepresent, in detail goes beyond the scope of this article. They are descendants of people from
Anthropology Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1995): 17-35.
According to Tyron, the Austronesian language family is very large, with some 1200 languages and approximately
270 million speakers… It ranges from languages with tens of millions of speakers (Malay/Indonesian, Javanese,
Tagalog) to a surprisingly large number of languages with only a handful of speakers numbered in the hundreds.
Austronesian languages are spoken from Madagascar in the west to Easter Island in the east. They are spoken
almost universally in Indonesia and the Philippines, in Singapore and Malaysia, by the indigenous population of
Taiwan and by minority populations in Vietnam, Cambodia and the Mergui Archipelago off the coast of Myanmar.
3
Charles F. Keyes “„The Peoples of Asia‟: Science and politics in the classification of ethnic group in Thailand,
China, and Vietnam” Journal of Asian Studies (2002): 1163-1203, 1174
4
Terry A. Rambo, “Vietnam,” Ethnicity in Asia, Asia‟s Transformations (M. Selden, London/New York:
RoutledgeCurzon, 2002): 109-135
5
Leif Manger, Muslim Diversity: Local Islam in Global Contexts (Richmond: Curzon, 1990)

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

35

Bawean Island north of Madura in the Java Sea. These islanders came to Indochina fromthe Netherlands East Indies as early as the nineteenth century. They now form an Austronesian Sunni Muslim immigrant community in Vietnam. Their migration was firstly promptedby socio-economic motivations. They wished to escape the repressive Dutch colonial indentured labour system6. Secondly, emigration was a structural cultural element of Bawean
culture also known as merantau [emigration]7. Thirdly, their migration was indirectly the
result of their religious beliefs. Muslims, men and women, who could afford it, would travel to Mecca as pilgrims. On the way to Mecca and back, their ships would cast anchor inwhat is currently known as Singapore. Some individuals would stay on either to make somemoney before venturing on a pilgrimage or for their return home afterwards. Some travelledalong the Mekong River working for Chinese businessmen and tried to find a job in Saigon
once they arrived8. Later, during the colonial period, stories about life in Indochina where
the French Colonial Administration welcomed non-locals attracted them. As a result someBawean people travelled from what is Singapore‟s harbour today to Saigon over sea, byriver or over land.
Around 1850 some three hundred men had settled on the banks of a small branch of
the Saigon River. The newly arrived Bawean migrants constructed their first houses fromwood with thatched roofs on the banks of the river. Little is known about their life prior toand during the colonial period in Indochina. Informants recall their parents telling them
how the French officials actively provided them with a variety of jobs such as security
guards, custom officials and construction workers9. From documents still in their possession I can conclude that upon arrival in Saigon the French government officially labelledthem with the cover term Malais.
Certain branches of the colonial administration used cover-terms to structure and control the colonial society. The earlier French colonial government had such trouble classifying people that contemporary authors already complained about these inaccuracies. Malais
for example was an ethnic cover term and its intended use was for people from the areas
now known as Indonesia and Malaysia. As an ethnonym it did not describe someone‟s national or citizenship status. Confusingly enough, in many cases local officials classified
people from other areas as Malais as well. Antoine Cabaton, wrote that often state officials
made no distinction between Malais or Cham10. Marcel Ner complained that it was difficult
to get a precise count of the number of alien Muslims and Arabs living in Indochina because the statistics and regulations used by the colonial administration often added them tothe groups that were classified as Indien which also had people of Hindu persuasion.
This structural inaccurate identification and allotment of individuals to certain categories was even formalised in colonial administrative law. Different groups or congregationsof immigrants in Indochina had to fit into:
1 les Chinois: Les congrégations de Canton, Foukien, Tvhiou-Tchao, Hakas, Hainam.
2 les Indiens: celle des Musulmans et celle des Bouddhistes.
3 les Malais, les Javanais, et les Arabes
6

Malte Stokhof, Javanese in Hochiminh city today: an Aftermath of Coolie Migration in French Colonial
Vietnam? (MA Thesis: Universiteit van Amsterdam, 2002)
7
Jakob Vredenbregt, De Baweanners in hun moederland en in Singapore: Een bijdrage tot de kulturele
antropologie van zuidoost-Azie, (PhD dissertation Leiden: Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, 1968)
8
Fieldnotes, June 2001, Hochiminh City
9
Marcel Ner, “Les Musulmans de L‟Indochine Française” Bulletin de l‟École Française d‟Extreme-Orient vol.
XXXVII (1937): 152-198
10Antoine Cabaton, “Les malais de L‟ Indochine française,” Revue Indochinoise (1912): 163-171

36 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

4 les autres Asiatiques étrangers et assimilés11.

These congregations forcibly grouped people of different language-families indiscriminately together. They were based partially on the geographical area of origin such as is thecase with the first two congregations. Malais as an ethnic cover term was to play an importantpart in the lives of these people and their descendants as we shall see in greater detail later.
There were other Muslim communities in Saigon and most of them built mosquesclaiming to be the first in Saigon12. It is not clear who were actually the first to start building a mosque in Saigon. Documents found in the Archives in Hồ Chí Minh City indicatethat a congregation of Muslims from what is Pakistan and India today had received land
where they had started building a mosque even before the Bawean but it took them years tofinish the project. The Bawean claim to have built their mosque in 1885 and they may wellhave completed the construction of their mosque before the other communities13. Theirtemple was called the Chùa Mã Lai [Malay Temple] up to 1972 but as some elderly men
interviewed in 2001 recall,
We wanted to change that name because we are of Indonesian origin, not Malaysian. Around 1973
we changed the name after a major mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia14.

In the interview it was clear that the informant interpreted Mã Lai as Malaysia. With
that change of name they reaffirmed their connection with their country of origin.
The first generations tried to keep in touch with their relatives overseas either in theircountry of origin or with the people living in what is currently Singapore. As time passed
on, these contacts slowly lessened and eventually most of the relations with fellow Bawean
abroad died off. From their first arrival in 1880 to 1976 people from Bawean and other origins arrived and settled around their mosque in Saigon. Some returned.
Most of the first migrants were men and they married local and non-local Muslims.
Some married non-Muslims under the condition that they would convert to Islam. There
was also a small contingent of Javanese manual labourers in Saigon but the Bawean community did not interact with them15. Children born from marriages were considered Bawean
and if someone within the community passed away, he was buried at a cemetery in Saigon
that was in the care of a Bawean immigrant who lived on the plot with his family.
Later, during the Vietnam War President Ngô Đình Dịem‟s Regime strove for a moremonolithic Vietnamese society16. During his regime this process of forced ethnic simplification and formalisation of the indigenous population that had been started under the
French continued to be applied. Classifications of foreigners by earlier governments were
often uncritically accepted and their ethnonyms were translated into Vietnamese or English
versions. For the Bawean who decided to register, this meant that they were now no longer
11

René Deschamps, La main-d‟ Oeuvre en Indo-Chine et L‟immigration étrangère, (PhD dissertation: Université dePoitiers, 1908)
12
Marcel Ner, “Les Musulmans de L‟Indochine Française” Bulletin de l‟École Française d‟Extreme-Orient vol.
XXXVII (1937): 152-198
13
Commisariat de la Police des Ports de Saigon Cholon, 1933, Goucoch divers 2995 Note sur l‟affaire de lamosque de Saigon, Vietnam National Archives II (VNA-II), Hồ Chí Minh City. This document deals with quarrels
over money in the „Indian Mosque‟ and mentions that in 1863 the colonial government assigned land to the„Congrégation de Indiens Musulmans‟ [the congregation of Indian Muslims].
14
Interview with hakim of mosque, July, 2001, Hồ Chí Minh City
15
Malte Stokhof, Javanese in Hochiminh city today: an Aftermath of Coolie Migration in French Colonial
Vietnam? (Ma thesis: Universiteit van Amsterdam, 2002)
16
Rie Nakamura, Cham in Vietnam: Dynamics of Ethnicity, (PhD dissertation: University of Washington, 1999)

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

37

Malais, but had become Malay. It should be stressed at this point that this word was stillused as an ethnic cover term.
Around 1976, the community had around two thousand people living close or directly
next to the mosque. Based on interviews taken from 2000 to 2006, the current number ofpeople with Bawean origins is approximately two thousand. This is an estimate because it
has become increasingly difficult to count these individuals because firstly not all descendants of this group wish to be known as Bawean, secondly I cannot base our census on papers because of the lack of proper documentation or the confusing ethnonyms or nationality
stated on those documents. Another point is that not all Bawean wish to come out of thewoodwork to present themselves for a census.

Reunification of Vietnam, a Scramble for Papers
In 1976, after the Second Indochina War the newly established Socialist Republic ofVietnam gave people of non-Vietnamese nationality permission to repatriate and many who
wished to escape the new regime tried to leave the country. Those people with alien statusthat stayed behind were asked to re-register at the local police offices. From interviews I
learned that people were well aware that their future partly depended on how the new state
officials would appreciate and interpret their old identity papers. Most people had no proper
documentation and this now led to questions and concerns about the ethnic and national
categorization the new administration might have in store for them. Ahmed, an elderly
guard who claims to have worked for both the French and the Americans puts it in plain
words,We had no papers because, before, we could do without them. My parents experienced many governments, the Dutch government in Indonesia, the government of Singapore, the French, the Japanese and many different governments before the unification of Vietnam. Of course many of us did
not learn of the regulations [of various governments] for these kinds of documents. Anyway we neverintended to stay forever. We have also been through three wars and during times of war we still gavebirth or passed away, but we did not register these facts of life as we would in times of peace17

It is clear from his story that the introduction of new regulations passed some of thesepeople by. What is striking in his story is the fact that he uses the word „Indonesia‟ for whatat the time was still the Netherlands East Indies. Many informants use Indonesia to denotetheir country of origin but it should be clear that Indonesia as a country did not exist at thetime their ancestors left the Netherlands East Indies. Another important point is that heplainly states that he and his fellow Bawean did not intend to stay forever. This is a diasporic sentiment that I have found in many interviews and I will introduce further below.
As has already been mentioned, some realized that there might exist a direct link between the way people were labelled and officially classified and the possibility to leave thecountry. This resulted in a scramble for national and ethnic identities. Descendants of Bawean immigrants that had lived in Vietnam for several generations now dug up their
grandparents‟ papers from former regimes or looked for foreigners that had prayed at theirmosque to vouch for them. Some would present themselves as foreigners in the hope thatthey would be accepted as aliens by the new administration and were allowed to leave thecountry.
Some used false documents that claimed nationalities such as Arab, Indonesian, Malaysian, Yemenite, Chinese and Cambodian. Quite a few Bawean informants suggested that
17Interview with Ahmed, January 2005, Hồ Chí Minh City.

38 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

one could easily buy formal identities because many of the state officials were corrupt. This
is in line with Huynh Kim Khanh‟s piece that states that,
The regime has also tried to deal with an unexpected, yet apparently proved to be most serious,
problem that had occurred since liberation, that is, corruption and bureaucratism among revolutionary cadres. In a few months following liberation, the population of Saigon was astonished beyond
belief to discover that there were among the supposedly puritanical and morally upright communist
cadres those who willingly accepted bribes or demanded them […] There are well-known incidents
of cadres accepting bribes or even joining schemes of extortion. Other cadres gave work to unemployed prostitutes (perhaps out of humanity?)18

Some informants suggested that the state officials were just ill experienced,
Because at that time the administration had just entered, they could not differentiate, whichever
person held this or that paper he would just get that identity. The new regime only wanted to knowwhat kind of foreign resident you were, so all they did was to identify everyone according to thepapers from the old regime19.

They further explained that as a consequence many Bawean individuals were able toregister as non-Vietnamese citizens. This meant that some had passed the first hurdle on theway out of the country, but they often could not pass the second one, the consulate of theirsupposed country of origin. These institutions would not directly accept people who could notprovide all needed materials or as Scott puts it, who did not speak the „language of the state‟,
If you wish to have anything standing in law, you must have a document that officials accept asevidence of citizenship, be that document a birth certificate, passport, or identity card. The categories used by state agents are not merely means to make their environment legible; they are an authoritative tune to which most of the population must dance (Scott 1998: 76)

It was with this authoritative tune that the Indonesian Consulate rejected Bawean men
and women who could not provide documentation clearly stating the Netherlands East Indies as their country of origin. This is where the second hurdle proved too high.
To begin with, many had no papers whatsoever. If people had any documentation at all,the French Colonial Administration had in most cases provided it. As was said earlier, these
papers stated Malais as their ethnic affiliation. These papers were not accepted as proof ofbeing of Bawean origin.
If people had no proper papers, the consular officials would start looking for relatives
or ancestors in the country to vouch for these people. In most cases they could not find anyone in the country of origin to sponsor the Bawean individuals. It had become almost impossible to return to their country of origin. Many of the Bawean individuals I met suggested that up until that point they or their family had taken their return to their country oforigin as a matter of fact. They were now suddenly confronted with the realization that
there was no way back for them.
It should be stressed at this point that many of the Bawean people who lived with thisidea of a return to their country of origin belonged to a second-generation of immigrants.
These men and women had been born in Indochina and the supposed country of origin,
Bawean Island was their parents‟ place of origin not theirs. This prolonged idea of return to18
19

Huynh Kim Khanh, “Year One of Postcolonial Vietnam” Southeast Asian Affairs (1977) 4:287, 296
Interview with Ahmed, January 2005, Hồ Chí Minh City

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

39

a country that one has never visited is a phenomenon often found among diasporic communities. We will pursue this issue further below.
Other Bawean individuals decided to stay in Vietnam because they had heard rumours
about the new area of settlement in Indonesia. Mohamed remembers some of the stories
about where they would end up if they would return,
We heard from people that the Indonesian government was clearing a piece of jungle for thehome-comers close to Pontianak [West Kalimantan]. We heard that this area was hardly any good
because it was far removed from any city and lacked infrastructure. Some of the older ones here did
not want to go there because there were a lot of spirits, ghosts! Because of the Japanese, they killed
many locals right there. So many here were concerned and decided to stay20.

Those people who could not leave had to re-register at the local police offices together
with the people who had decided to stay in the first place. Not everyone did because somewere not aware of the need to re-register or did not have the funds to do so. Others decided
not to comply. They feared the new administration and wanted to stay under the radar
screen of the state. Those who did register were classified as alien citizens. Almost all Bawean who registered received an alien status in Vietnam with quốc tịch Mã Lai [Malay nationality] as their nationality.
To summarise, in the first part of this article I already mentioned that the French hadlabelled the Bawean with the ethnonym and cover term Malais. This became Malay during
the Second Indochina War under the US-backed regimes and was still used as an ethnonym.
This term was later translated into Vietnamese and resulted in the ethnic cover term Mã Lai.
However, the use of the ethnic cover Mã Lai in direct combination with the term quốc tịch[country or nationality] on formal identity papers is troublesome. It states that the holder ofsuch identity papers is a citizen of the non-existent state „Malay‟. Below, I will show how
this led to misunderstandings under Vietnam‟s current government.

Ethnic classifications in Vietnam
After the second Indochina war, for the Socialist Republic of Vietnam enhancing national integration has been a constant preoccupation and even today great emphasis isplaced on strengthening unity among the nation‟s different ethnic groups. The metaphor of
the Vietnamese nation as a single „great family‟ is frequently invoked and Kinh ethnicchauvinism officially discouraged. After the Re-unification, determining the ethnic identityof its citizens became an important state priority21. Current literature often portrays the stateas the dominant institution in society, whose political policies regulate ethnicity and increasingly shape ethnic boundaries and influence patterns of ethnic identification22. As indicated above, Charles Keyes presented ethnic classification as a State‟s instrument of power
to control people living on the fringes of society23.
When it comes to the non-migrant Vietnamese indigenous population, the state did not
fully respect the ethnic consciousness of members of ethnic groups. Charles Keyes indicates that in cases where there were disagreements between the subjective definition and
20

Interview with Mohamed, May 2005, Hồ Chí Minh City
Terry A. Rambo, “Vietnam,” Ethnicity in Asia, Asia‟s Transformations (M. Selden, London/New York:
RoutledgeCurzon, 2002): 109-135
22
Stéphane Dovert, Benoît de Tréglodé, Vietnam Contemporain. Collection Monographies Nationales (IRASECLes Indes Savantes, 2004).
23
Charles F. Keyes “„The Peoples of Asia‟: Science and politics in the classification of ethnic group in Thailand,
China, and Vietnam” (Journal of Asian Studies, 2002): 1163-1203, 1174
21

40 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

the objective definition, the ethnologists were instructed to use „scientific data‟ collectedamong people or elicited from historical records to explain to the people in question who
they were supposed to be, often imposing an identity on them in the process.
A comprehensive classification was not completed until 1979 and in 1989 anothersimilar scientific investigation was carried out reaffirming that there were (still) 54 ethnic
groups in all of Vietnam. However, as Priscilla Koh has indicated,based on the research findings of a recent investigation in several minority regions, it is likely thatthe figure is much higher than the present 54. The researchers noted that a significant number ofminority groups wanted to be reclassified as a separate or different ethnic group.24

Later on in this article I will show that in line with some of the minority groups mentioned above, Bawean individuals too went out of their way to negotiate with state officials.
They wished to be classified according to their own expectations even though these might
contrast with state criteria.
In 1976, after the Second Indochina War, the newly established Vietnamese government registered aliens at the ủy ban quân quản thành phố Sài Gòn Gia Định [the City‟s
Military Committee of Administrative Affairs]. Many Bawean men and women received
identity papers for alien citizens called „Iấi [sic] chứng nhận thương trú tạm thờI [sic]‟[temporary residency permit]. These papers had tables printed on them that were used toprovide information about a person such as family- and given names [họ và tên], sex [namnữ] and quốc tịch [citizenship‟ or „nationality25]. In this case the officials recorded Mã Lai[Malay] under the last category. The Bawean men and women had unwittingly attainedquốc tịch Mã Lai meaning Malay26 citizenship.
It is important to note here that dân tộc [ethnic affiliation] was not asked for nor was itrecorded on these documents. This term is problematic as well and has been applied ambiguously in the past,
The term dan toc Tay could refer to the Tay ethnic minority at one level, and/or a hypothetical Tay
nation and nationality on the other. Although this ambiguity was never clarified by party leaders
and academics alike, it seems that in its narrower definition, and specifically with regard to minority groups or communities, the term dan toc refers to an „ethnie‟ or ethnic group, not nation or nationality per se (at least not „nationality‟ as commonly understood, i.e. in the sense of being part ofa separate and sovereign independent nation-state)27

Under Vietnam‟s current government an ethnic label was given another role. Mã Lai
was interpreted as „being of Malaysian nationality‟ even though the word for Malaysia is
Malaixia. This confusion on how to classify this group of people has resulted in an ethnonym being reinterpreted as a nationality and being transformed into a status of foreign
citizenship. The combination of this ethnic cover term together with the formal term „nationality‟ is a contradiction. It is troublesome just like the term „of Arab nationality‟ would
be today. The term suggests that the person holding these papers in Vietnam is an alien and24

Priscilla Koh, “Persistent Ambiguities: Vietnamese Ethnology in the Doi Moi Period,” (Journal of the Southeast
Asian Studies Student Association 2004) 5: 1, 3
http://www.hawaii.edu/cseas/pubs/explore/vol5no2.html (accessed July16 2007), 5
25
Bùi Phụng, Từ Điẻn Việt Anh (Hanoi: Thế Giới, 2003)26
Bùi Phụng, Từ Điẻn Việt Anh (Hanoi: Thế Giới, 2003)
27
Priscilla Koh, “Persistent Ambiguities: Vietnamese Ethnology in the Doi Moi Period,” (Journal of the Southeast
Asian Studies Student Association 2004) 5: 1, 3 http://www.hawaii.edu/cseas/pubs/explore/vol5no2.html (accessed
July16 2007), 5

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

41

does not have Vietnamese citizenship. It implies that this individual is a citizen somewhere
else outside Vietnam. The nation indicated however does not exist.
State officials may have erroneously interpreted malais and later Mã Lai as Malaysia
or it may mean that state officials have their own idiom that differs from academic interpretations when it comes to ethnic classifications. Even in 2005 in conversations with theauthors, state officials at the local police station used quốc tịch Mã Lai [Malay nationality]and quốc tịch Malaixia [Malaysian nationality] interchangeably. In both cases they meant
Malaysian nationality. Today an ethnic cover term is still used to denote nationality and aterm signifying nationality is used to indicate ethnic origin. This may indicate that there issome confusion on how to use these terms or there is a structurally different interpretationof ethnonyms in the language of the state.
The Bawean individuals who received such papers were caught in a real Catch 22 because neither Vietnam, nor Indonesia or Malaysia accepted them as their citizens. As Aliensin Vietnam they had to re-register at the immigration office yearly until 1997. Around 1997
they suddenly received a paper called „giấy tờ chứng nhận thương trú của người nướcngoài‟ [permanent residence status for foreigners]. This also served as an identity card.
They were told that they did not have to present themselves every year anymore, but would
be contacted if deemed necessary, but they never were. Up until 2003, the Bawean individuals in this case study had no papers other than the „permanent residence status for foreigners‟ they received earlier. Officially they were alien citizens belonging to a „Malay state‟.

Interaction of the State-less with the Vietnamese State
There is not much literature on similar cases because for Vietnam, discussions of ethnicity have generally been restricted to the official minority groups and communities consisting of Vietnamese citizens. Immigrants with transnational contacts residing in the country who fall outside official ethnic classifications of the fifty-four dân tộc received less attention. We will focus on the Bawean interaction with Vietnamese state officials as bothparties try to achieve their projects.
Charles Keyes described the modern state as one that „disciplines‟; one that attempts toimpose „standard grids‟ on the diversity of both humans and nature, which it brings under
its control. State, civil society and nationalist precepts constrain processes of ethnic identification and „influence modes of ethnic organization‟. This has also been the case for the
Bawean living in Vietnam. When the state classified them as aliens they were cut off fromall jobs limited to Vietnamese citizens.
However, such decisions are not the state‟s alone to make. People like the Bawean are
perfectly capable of moving out of the state‟s gaze into so-called blind spots. In the past
many of them did not register and succeeded in living in Vietnam without any papers
whatsoever until their death. Such non-conformity has been found among other groups inVietnam as well. Oscar Salemink28 for example has written about the resistance among
Montagnards against the state‟s attempts of surveillance and discipline. To evade state control people would move to villages in remote areas. We have to keep in mind however thatthe Bawean do not live in remote mountainous areas, instead they live in the center of thecountry‟s economic hub.
For example, Bawean parents still do not automatically accept that their children are
Vietnamese upon birth. Partly because they do not want to burden their sons with army en28

Oscar Salemink, The ethnography of Vietnam‟s Central Highlanders: a historical contextualization, 1850-1990,(London/New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003)

42 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

listment but the main reason is that they still wish to hold on to what they consider to be
their original ethnic identity. When they register the birth of a child, they argue and pleadwith local authorities to leave their children‟s nationality open so that he or she can decide
what nationality he or she wishes to choose at eighteen, the age when one needs to apply
for an identity card. This shows how the Bawean are able to manipulate and limit the state‟scontrol by staying outside of the standard grids.
It is important however to note that people like the Bawean are not only capable ofliving under the state‟s radar so to speak. Below I will show that people do make themselves officially known and have themselves formally classified by Vietnamese state officials on their own terms.
Up until 2003 this group of around two thousand people had at least sixty-five individuals who had no citizenship even though they had been born in Vietnam. Their countryof origin, current-day Indonesia did not accept them as its citizens, making these people
stateless citizens. Even in 2007, these people still live around the mosque and maintain distinct religious and ethnic characteristics that set them apart from non-Muslims such as theKinh and Muslims such as the Cham alike. Ironically, according to numerous Bawean individuals they applied for Vietnamese citizenship precisely to uphold some of these ethnic
characteristics.
It is important to point out here that for them to be Bawean is to be a good Muslim anda proper Muslim goes on the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his life. For them, religion is a fundamental part of their ethnic identity. What was at stake for the group of sixty-five Bawean individuals was the fulfilment of one of their religiously inspired dreams, togo on the hajj [pilgrimage to Mecca].
They were aware that the only way they would be able to leave Vietnam and enter
Saudi Arabia was with a passport. They developed a strategy of partial participation whileat the same time preserving elements of their ethnic identity; the application for Vietnamese
citizenship in order to leave the country temporarily. We will present the process of application for citizenship in greater detail in a section further below. Now I first need to reveal
more about two important elements of Bawean ethic identity, namely diasporic narratives
and religion.

Longing for the Past: Diaspora
Mohamed is one of the sixty-five individuals who requested Vietnamese citizenship.
When I first interviewed him or others within that group I was struck by their feelings thatwould lead us to believe none of them would ever accept Vietnamese citizenship,
I was born right here at home in 1952. My father came from Bawean Island and my mother camefrom Singapore. But her parents came from Bawean too. We have lived here all our lives. Becauseof them I am proud about my ethnic origins. I often think of my parents and grandparents, it makes
me long to return to my origins. They passed away but when I think of them I remember their stories and then I miss Bawean Island and I want to go back. I can still hear my mother‟s singing and I
am ashamed that I don‟t know what the words mean anymore29.

What is of interest here are his sentiments. He mentions he misses and wishes to return
to a place he has never set foot on. This idea of return, it will be recalled, was expressed inother interviews with most of the individuals applying for Vietnamese citizenship. He even
29Interview with Mohamed, May 2001, Hồ Chí Minh City

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

43

expresses shame for not being able to understand a language he never acquired or needed in
his host country.
The Bawean I interviewed and who are presented in the case study below exhibited
typical behaviours of members of a diasporic community. They often mentioned the powerful sentiments they experience such as a longing for their roots, for the life on the Island
Bawean and its people. Memories and ideas about their origins and ideas about what itmeans to be Bawean feed this longing. In discussions, they often mentioned how theirsenses, taste, sight, smell and hearing stir up memories that bring about these strong emotions that are both based on and strengthen their ethnic identity. This idea and these strong
sentiments are phenomena often found among diasporic communities.
Robin Cohen sees a diaspora as a post-migration population entertaining imagined andactual connections with a place of origin and with people of similar cultural origins elsewhere. By “imagined” it is not meant that such connections might not be actual. Rather, theoften, strong sentiments and mental pictures according to which members of diasporas organize themselves and undertake their cultural practices are emphasized. A focus towards
the place of origin can take forms such as, cultural, religious, or economic endeavours.
During group interviews the Bawean argue amongst themselves about the content of
their grandfathers‟ or grandmothers‟ life stories that take place on the Island Bawean.
Sometimes they suddenly lash out with a pencak silat move, an Indonesian martial art theyregret not having learned from their grandfather. They demonstrate stances of dances they
saw their mothers perform. They whisper of magical powers and regret the loss of their valued keris knives they had to turn in under the Japanese occupation. They stress how theirsenses bring back memories of places and times past. The waft of a Kretek clove cigarette,the tastes and smells of ayam nướng [(sic) grilled chicken] or sate [meat grilled on woodenskewers] burning on the grill by the side of the road are no longer mere smells, but havebecome fragrances that bring out this yearning for something that their parents and grandparents instilled in them. They hum songs and congratulate each other when they hear others sing words they themselves have forgotten the meaning of. These memories and emotions affect the actions they take in daily life. An example I mentioned earlier was the renaming of their mosque to stress their relation to a mosque in Indonesia‟s capital and to
distance themselves from the ethnonym Mã Lai.
These feelings are reproduced within the family by grandparents and parents, throughstories, historical narratives told over and over again to children and among adults. Thesestories or as Charles Keyes calls them, narratives of origin, migration are also reproduced
within the wider community for example during national Indonesian festivals, sermons andinteractions with staff of the Indonesian consulate. Bawean individuals are proud of theirheritage as it sets them apart from Vietnamese in general and Cham in particular. The differences within their community are glossed over and the differences between their community and other communities around them are temporarily deepened. This is achieved
through their idiosyncratic manner of performing social-religious rituals such as circumcisions and marriages, or religio-cultural festivities such as the birthday of the prophet Mohammed and the celebration of national or transnational holidays after the independence ofIndonesia in 1945. From conversations I had with the organisers of the festivities for theprophet‟s birthday, it became clear that they experienced religious, ethnic and national
pride. Guests from other Muslim communities such as the Cham commented in interviews
that the way the Bawean went about organising that celebration was out of order. They
confided that it focused too much attention on the prophet and was a form of shirk, polytheism which is strictly forbidden in Islam. When I confronted the Bawean with this idea,

44 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

they seemed pleased almost and reacted that these were the differences between their culture and that of other communities.
Apart from feelings of pride, they also experience feelings of shame about losing certain aspects they imagine are intrinsically ethnically theirs. One such skill is to be able tospeak or sing using Bahasa Indonesia, the official Indonesian variant of Malay and thelanguage they assume their ancestors spoke. Mohamed studied the language and evenstarted an on-line course Bahasa Indonesia,
We once had a consul who was a Christian so he did not pray at the mosque, but his assistant was
really friendly and he gave a lecture at the mosque about us, our roots, about Bawean Island. It
filled us with pride and longing but we were also ashamed because he spoke in Indonesian first and
we did not understand anything he said at first. He was very surprised that people had forgotten
their own language and he offered us help to study Indonesian at the consulate. That is how I
started to learn Bahasa30.

He studied the Indonesian language for a while but did not pursue it because there
were hardly any opportunities to use these language skills. It is important however to notethat their parents did not speak Bahasa Indonesia. At the time the first Bawean left theirIsland for the French colony, Bahasa as an official language did not yet exist. It became thenational language of Indonesia not until after 1949. Before he accepted an offer from theconsulate to study Bahasa Indonesia Mohamed had never learned the language or the local
variant of Madurese that his parents may have spoken. In a sense he changes history or the
narratives of history by thinking or remembering that Bahasa Indonesia was his forefather‟s language of origin. This shows us how narratives and the roots this group of people
recalls change, and with them, the content of its ethnic identity changes. To paraphrase Liisa Malkki31, people‟s roots move, change shape, colour and grow.
These narratives, focused on a connection with their place of origin and as such they
are what Cohen defines as „imagined connections with a place of origin and with people ofsimilar cultural origins elsewhere‟. It is these perceived connections with their place of origin that have driven them to the renaming of the mosque, to entertaining warm relations
with the consulate and to the acquisition of a foreign language. These same sentiments
brought about by the narratives have led them to request citizenship at the Indonesian consulate first and to negotiate with Vietnamese state officials about the choice of their official
ethnonym.

A Case Study
It should be recognized from the outset that this case study does not present everybody‟s views within the community. Different ideas exist about religion and issues related
to ethnic identity. There exist variations between the views of the younger and older generations, between men and women, between families living around the mosque in the urban
center and the families living on the Bawean cemetery on the outskirts of the city. Youths
living around the mosque do not identify with their Bawean past the same way their parents
do and some see each other as Vietnamese Muslims. Some Bawean families have received
Cham identity papers. These people do not live around the Bawean mosque and instead
pray in a mosque run by a Cham community. They too do not identify with the same his30

Interview with Mohamed, May 2005, Hồ Chí Minh City
Liisa Malkki, “National Geographic: The Rooting of Peoples and the Territorialization of National Identity
among Scholars and Refugees,” Cultural Anthropology vol. 7 (1992): 24-44
31

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

45

toric elements that are of such importance to the people I will present below. In that sense
the community is quite heterogenic.
The people presented below are elderly men and women who on certain occasions play
an important role in the community. These people manage festivities organised for example
around the prophet Mohamed‟s birthday. It is during such happenings that the community
closes its ranks and presents a closed front, a closed ethnic Bawean boundary as it were.
The way they organise and execute such activities differs from other Muslim andnon-Muslim communities and this in turn actively adds to the pronunciation of the Bawean
identity. In short although the people introduced in the case study below do not present thewhole community, they influence and manage the way this group presents itself throughfestivities and rituals.
Although I have spoken with many individuals, I have chosen to narrate their sharedtrajectory from one individual‟s perspective. This individual has been a spokesperson for
the group and has taken the lead within this group during their citizenship application
process. In the beginning of the application process sixty-five of his fellow Bawean would
join his visits to state officials, but this proved to be impractical in the long run. Instead hecollected their files and submitted their applications along with his. The case documented
below is based on interviews with several informants, but I have decided to mainly quote
Mohamed because he experienced every step of the application process.

Mohamed’s Case
Mohamed is a fifty-five year old widower and lives with his children close to the Bawean mosque. He and his children were born in Vietnam and have lived in Vietnam since.
He has recently received Vietnamese citizenship but both his daughter and son who are under eighteen years of age do not hold official Vietnamese citizenship.
He has a lot of time on his hands and in between such activities he visits Internet cafes
to check his mail and look at Islamic sites of various sorts32. Directly after the attack on theWorld Trade Center in 2001 for example, he followed discussions about Bin Laden andcurrently he tries to keep himself informed on the War on Terror in the Middle East. He
likes to chat with fellow Muslims or takes a virtual tour around Mecca. He can spend hours
on end on the Internet playing online games or listening to Koran recitations.
Religion as a part of his ethnic repertoire is more widely documented on the Internet
than the cultural or historic facets of his ethnicity. Often the interviewees stressed the inherent connection between their origins and Islam and feelings of pride and shame,
Islam is our religion. A good Bawean is a good Muslim and that makes us different from the Vietnamese even different from many Cham. When I have prayed five times like yesterday I feel muchbetter about myself. If I forget to live properly or to pray, I feel ashamed. I want to live a good life
so I try to be close to God. When I have a chance I want to go to Mecca as well33.

From interviews with him and others I learned that this part of their ethnic identity not
only connects them with Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in theworld but connects them with Muslims on a global scale as well. Islamic religious practices
such as prayer and fasting during Ramadan [the month of fasting] and eating halal foodpromote a sense of belonging to a worldwide religious Muslim community.
32
33

http://www.islamworld.net/, http://www.islam101.com/, http://www.angelfire.com/
Interview with Mohamed, May 2005, Hồ Chí Minh City

46 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

According to Ralph Grillo, what is at stake in transnational identities is a certain degree and form of identification with an imagined „transnational‟ community such as theumma34. The Bawean realize, when performing Islam‟s rituals, that they share duties andpractices of Muslims across political borders. During sermons their imam [leader, prayer
leader] narrates Islam‟s histories and mentions Muslims in other parts of the world. Daily
discussions in people‟s homes about Muslims for example in Iraq, Afghanistan and Southern Thailand create and strengthen an imagination of an Islamic community transcending
the boundaries and borders of their local mosque.
These practices and sources of information they find in their mosque however, cannot
compete with the information they delve up from transnational interactions they develop
through the Internet. Steven Vertovec describes a transnational network as the existence ofcommunication and interactions of many kinds that members of a group undertake withothers in the homeland or elsewhere within the globalized ethnic or religious community35.
From discussions with various informants, it has become clear that the Bawean do not interact with other Bawean either in the place of origin or elsewhere. They do however increasingly use the computer to learn more about Islam.
These transnational sources of information strengthen their awareness that they arepart of a larger global religious community as well. Mohamed uses the Internet to learn
about the state of Muslim world affairs or to chat with fellow Muslims in other countries.
For him it is the only source of religious information in Vietnam besides personal narrativesof people who have returned from studies overseas or pilgrimages. His daily visits to Internet cafes connect him and others like him to a transnational religious network that forces
him to think about his stance on things not only as a human being in general, but also as a
Muslim in particular.
Benedict Anderson36 has noted that print media have had great influences on nationalism. We suggest that currently new media may well be doing the same for Islamic repertoires and narratives in Vietnam where printed matter such as secondary literature on religious issues is hard to come by. Dale Eickelman and Jon Anderson 37 emphasize how sucha new sense of collective awareness and connection among Muslims in various parts of the
globe has especially been forged through new communication technologies. Nina Smartadds that:
Such a consciousness of belonging to a world community has grown considerably in very recent
times. Even for relatively remote groups, transnational narratives “construct and negotiate the relationships between multiple identities” by tying individuals and communities into larger common
constituencies38.

Bawean individuals shape the religious repertoires of their ethnic identity by their visits to Internet cafes and chat rooms. Some of them spend several hours a day, a few days aweek on this digital gateway to global Islamic opinion, science, history, law, gossip, sermons, and popular culture such as music, movies and merchandise. They burn audio re34

Ralph Grillo, “Islam and Transnationalism” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies no. 30 (2004): 861-878
Steven Vertovec, “Conceiving and Researching Transnationalism,” Ethnic and Racial Studies (1999)22: 447-463
36
Benedict R. O. G. Anderson, Imagined communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism(London: Verso, 1983)
37
Dale Eickelman, and Jon Anderson, New media in the Muslim world: the emerging public sphere, (Indiana
University Press, Bloomington, 1999)
38
Nina Smart, “The importance of diasporas,” Migration, Diasporas and Transnationalism (Steven Vertovec and
Rob Cohen, Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 1999): 420-429
35Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

47

cordings of sermons, Quran recitations, fatwa‟s [legal experts‟ or consultants‟ written legal
opinions], Arabic language lessons and news on VCD‟s and watch them at home. They
learn about international religious scholarships and funds that sponsor Muslim pilgrimages.
They chat with fellow believers in all parts of the world about topics both religious and political. In other words, the new media wave is currently doing for their Islamic repertoires
and narratives what printed media have done for nationalism and the Bawean are actively
surfing that wave.
From interviews with many Bawean both young and old I learned that they are able toaccess every Islamic Internet site they look for. This seems surprising especially if we consider that according to some scholars the Vietnamese state tends to place religious communities under close scrutiny.
Since the September 11, 2001, assault on the World Trade Centre in New York, public
discourse has often referred to Muslim networks as fundamentalist and academics aroundthe world feared that Southeast Asian states, even those that are Islamic might develop distrust for Muslim communities or individuals. This may lead to states trying to control such
communities. According to Trần Thị Liên39 for example, religions are under real control
because of their possible effect on the masses. Religions run the risk of becoming political.
So it is to prevent religion becoming a political concurrent of the state that the state conserves its control over religious activities.
It is true that in the past Bawean and Muslim Cham communities in Hồ Chí Minh City
were visited by police for check-ups. Although such visits do not occur any more, the côngan phường [neighbourhood police] have certain contacts within the communities that aresupposed to report any „irregularities.‟ Examples of irregularities are local people planning
to organise a religious festivity without state permission or informal visits of foreign visitors from Malaysia or Saudi Arabia. These informants are also called upon to come to thepolice station for specially convened meetings, for instance, directly after September 11,
2001 to gauge the reactions of the local Muslims. It is important to stress that these contacts
work both ways, for example when in 2000, in Hồ Chí Minh City a Vietnamese
non-Muslim threw a piece of pork meat into the Nancy mosque in district one. The man
was reported and arrested. According to informants he received a sentence for seven yearsof imprisonment.
Trần Thị Liên40 suggests that the Vietnamese State carries an inborn distrust for religious communities rooted in the universal lack of sympathy socialist governments feel for
religious communities in general. But Jay Willoughby41 finds that the Vietnamese government‟s attitude toward the Muslim Cham is becoming more relaxed, partly due to Hanoi‟s good relations with Indonesia and Malaysia. His observation is supported by our interviews with both Bawean and Cham individuals in southern Vietnam.
The government allows mosques to set up independent mosque committees and to organise religious training and Arabic language classes. Muslim students study at international Muslim universities, Vietnamese Muslim delegates attend international conferences andparticipate in Quran recitation competitions in Southeast Asian countries. The last few
years an increasing number of Muslims went on pilgrimage to Mecca and two years ago theVietnamese government allowed the publication of the first bilingual Quran in Vietnamese
39Trần Thị Liên, “La question religieuse,” Vietnam Contemporain, Collection Monographies Nationales (Stéphane
Dovert, Benoît de Tréglodé, IRASEC Les Indes Savantes, 2004): 369-382
40
idem
41
Jay Willoughby, “The Cham Muslims of Vietnam,” ISIM newsletter, (Leiden, 1999)

48 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

and Arabic. At present there are 61 mosques in Vietnam and one third of them have been
repaired with international funds. New mosques are built.
I am aware of some of the internal and international discussions on Vietnamese law
when it comes to religious freedom. We do not deny that the Vietnamese State has seriously suppressed non-approved religious communities and ethno-nationalistic movements inother areas in Vietnam42. But, I do wish to point out the contrast that exists between its approach towards Muslims and other religious communities. In the past decade, as far to whatmany countries consider being the major global threat of the moment the Vietnamese government has been, comparatively, quite relaxed in their control. Mohamed for example canmove around freely and visit Internet cafes or other people‟s houses whenever he wants
without being scrutinized.
He visits the mosque every day and uses the opportunity to visit others from the community. On his visits his friends and neighbours discuss their children, grandchildren, developments at the mosque and national and international affairs. International affairs discussed are often centred on Muslims in other countries, such as the war in Iraq, Afghanistan,or the current problems in Southern Thailand.
In the past he had wanted to go on the hajj, but did not have sufficient funds for thejourney and hoped that he would be eligible for sponsorship. In 1999 Mohamed received
news that he could apply for a sponsorship from the Saudi royal family to go on the hajj.
He could not accept this funding because he did not have a passport. When in 2001 heagain heard of such a sponsorship, he decided to apply for a passport, even if that meant
accepting Vietnamese citizenship.
He knew that foreigners had to apply for citizenship at the Hồ Chí Minh City Department of Foreign Affairs at the level of Hồ Chí Minh City‟s People‟s Committee. They
would have to buy and fill in several official documents and have their knowledge of Vietnamese culture and language tested. Lastly they had to provide a document of the embassyof the country where they were currently citizens. The embassy or consulate had to put inwriting that it had been notified of its citizen‟s change of nationality and that it gave permission to do so. Only then would the Vietnamese government accept the application for
Vietnamese citizenship. However it was impossible for Mohammed and the others to provide such a document because none of the consulates accepted him and his fellow Bawean
as citizens,
I had studied the documents, you know, I studied law but could not finish it…. Anyway, so I knewthat we could not get that letter because we had no citizenship. We did not belong anywhere. Our
papers said quốc tịch Mã Lai [Malay nationality] and Malais [Malay]. Some officials here told us
we were Malaysian but I know those terms do stand for a country. Malaysia and Indonesia would
not give us such a letter…still many of us wanted to try to become Indonesian citizens again. That
is why, in the beginning I did not go to the Department of Foreign Affairs of Hồ Chí Minh City 43.

What is striking in this quote is that people express the explicit wish to become Indonesian citizens again. This is troublesome because of several reasons. The first, as indicatedearlier in this article, none of them has ever been an Indonesian citizen, mainly because thatnation did not exist yet when their ancestors left for Indochina and because since its establishment it has not recognised any of the descendants still left in Vietnam up to 2007.
42

Writenet, Vietnam: Indigenous Minority Groups in the Central Highlands, (UNHCR Centre for Documentation
and Research, 5/2001)
43
Interview with Mohamed, May 2005, Hồ Chí Minh City

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

49

Another important point is that since their first settlement in what is Vietnam today,these men and women have married Muslim and non-Muslim local men and women such as
Cham, Chinese and Kinh. Although they have intermarried with communities of different
ethnic backgrounds for three generations, Mohamed and others in the Bawean group express
pride in being an ethnic group of Indonesian origin. Some still see their grandchildren asngười Chà Và. Meet for example Abdulhadi44, hakim, [judge] and a first generation descendant from Bawean immigrants. He was caretaker of the Bawean Mosque in 2001. He recalls:
I was born in Saigon in 1924 but I still consider myself an „orang Bawean‟, [Bawean man person].
Most of the người Chà Và living in Hồ Chí Minh City now are from the same area as my parents
were. Almost everybody is Bawean here around the mosque45.

The informant uses the term Người Chà Và [from Java, Malay, and Malayan46] here. I
wish to point out here that this touches one of the nerves of the problem I wish to explore-the ethnic labelling of people. Both the labels people use for their own kin and the labels
the state officials use are subject to the same phenomena: labels change through time but
more importantly they have the tendency to change instantly as well depending on the context. We wish to point out that it is far more informative to understand the dynamics behind
the acceptation or rejection of certain labels than it is to know or search for the „correct‟ or„objective‟ labels for people based for example on their place of origin.
Here Weber‟s definition of ethnic groups is useful. He sees ethnic groups as,
Those human groups that entertain a subjective belief in their common descent because of similarities of physical type or of customs or both, or because of memories of colonization and migration;
this belief must be important for group formation; furthermore it does not matter whether an objective blood relationship exists47.

Weber speaks of an ethnic community‟s subjective belief in common descent. There isno need for an existing objective blood relationship for people to feel ethnically connected.
We found this belief in Mohamed who was born in Indochina and whose mother is fromSingapore. Just as many of his fellow Bawean he grew up in the country now known as
Vietnam but he still longs for a place none of them have ever set foot in. It is this belief incommon descent fuelled by diasporic narratives that stimulated the group of elderly Bawean to first visit the Indonesian consulate in Hồ Chí Minh City.

A Visit to the Indonesian Consulate in Sarong
The group of sixty-five elderly Bawean men and women dressed in their interpretationof Bawean costumes had set off for the Indonesian consulate.
We all went to the Indonesian consulate because we feel that we are Indonesian and should haveIndonesian citizenship so that we may return to Indonesia. If that was not possible we wanted themto help us receive Vietnamese citizenship. I thought that they would help us because we maintained
good relations with the Indonesian consulate here. Sometimes our contact cooled down. It depended on which religion the consul adhered to. If he or she were Muslim, the consul along withstaff would pray here at the mosque every Friday. They would invite us to Indonesian national and44

All names are pseudonyms to protect the informants‟ identities
Interview with hakim of mosque, July, 2001, Hồ Chí Minh City46
Bùi Phụng, Từ Điẻn Việt Anh (Hanoi: Thế Giới, 2003)
47
Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Ethnicity and Nationalism (London: Pluto Press, 2002)
45

50 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

religious festivities held at the consulate. The consul and some of his co-workers have also asked
our imam to teach, to advise on family matters.
I told you that we used to have strong magic. We had a man here. He was a dukun. [sorcerer andvillage medicine man or healer]. He has performed rituals such as selamatan [Javanese ceremonialmeal] there. He has passed away now. He was very strong. He could do exorcisms. One time hehad to exorcise a spirit at the Indonesian consul‟s house. We all went and spent the afternoon andthe night at his place. This was an Indonesian spirit so he had to do it. No other nationality [sic]could help her. So that is why I went there first.
I dressed in a sarong with a batik shirt and met with the consul general. He was so surprised when I
spoke using Bahasa Indonesia. I said: „you know us, we are descendants of Bawean and we areconnected to Indonesia by blood. You pray in our Indonesian mosque and we have been in yourhouse. We feel we should become Indonesian citizens because our identity is in our blood, ourbones and in our marrow even!
They [men and women of the consulate] explained that they knew that we [the Bawean in Hồ Chí
Minh City] were of Indonesian origin, but formally they could not accept us as Indonesian citizens
under Indonesian law. „We know most of you but we cannot help you. You have lost touch withyour families in Indonesia and you have no papers proving citizenship. It hurts us but it is impossible to accept you as citizens. We will help you and write a letter to the Sở Ngoại Vụ of Hồ Chí
Minh City [Department of Foreign Affairs] explaining that you are all Bawean and of Indonesianorigin but can not be accepted as citizens of Indonesia under Indonesian law. We will ask the
Department of Foreign Affairs of Hồ Chí Minh City to help you acquire Vietnamese citizenship‟48.

In this quotation there are several important elements that come to the fore. During thepresentation of their case at the consulate the Bawean used the Indonesian language, dressed
in Indonesian attire and spoke of magic and blood to show that they are tied to Indonesia.
They also tried to tie the consular staff to themselves when they mentioned the role the imam
had played in the past. We have shown above that the use of the Indonesian language isgrounded in diasporic narratives that shape the community‟s ethnic identity. The same is thecase with the Indonesian dress and the expression of blood ties and stories of magic.
What is of interest here as well is not only the theme used during the presentation, Indonesia, but also the way it was communicated. Thomas Hylland Eriksen shows that people
are free to choose whether to over- or under-communicate their identity. Ethnic identities
cannot be completely manipulated however, not because ethnic identities are primordial
givens, but because if ethnic identities could be totally contrived, generated or administeredby state agents, groups would have chosen any identity they wanted. When Mohamed presented his case he chose the Indonesian consulate because he and the group that went withhim genuinely felt that they were of Indonesian origin and hoped to achieve Indonesian citizenship. He reminded the consular officials of their longstanding relation based on theirshared place of origin in the hope that he might get out from under the Vietnamese state‟scontrol. When this did not succeed, he changed the way he communicated his case as weshall see below.

A Reprimand at Hồ Chí Minh City’s Department of Foreign Affairs
Their first attempt had been unsuccessful and they decided to try the alternative, theywould present their case at the Hồ Chí Minh City‟s Department of Foreign Affairs. From
48

Interview with Mohamed, May 2005, Hồ Chí Minh City

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

51

then on Mohamed took it upon himself to present their case at the various administrative
offices and his fellow Bawean trusted him because of his legal studies.
When the Department of Foreign Affairs of Hồ Chí Minh City received him its employees reprimanded him for going to the Indonesian embassy first.
I knew that they would be angry so I had to be real polite you know….Oh I wore pants and a normal shirt with my pair of shoes. I spoke really politely in Vietnamese of course. So I apologizedand told them that we did not know how to do things properly and that we had only asked the Indonesian consulate for advice,…yes acting a little gullible…[laughs].
Then they asked why we wanted to become Vietnamese, I explained that in daily life, because wehold papers stating that we are foreigners we are in a real predicament. Being foreign has negatively influenced our daily interactions with the government. We cannot find work because for mostgood jobs we have to show our name documented in our hộ khẩu thường trú [family registration
book for permanent residence]. But if you do not have Vietnamese citizenship you do not have a hộkhẩu so companies and small enterprises will not accept foreigners.
Because of this we are in a real fix economically and we do hope that you will study the case. We
ask you to help us obtain Vietnamese nationality with ease. We want to have our names in a hộkhẩu thường trú. We were born in Vietnam, we grew up in Vietnam and have lived here ever since.
We use Vietnamese language in our daily lives and have received Vietnamese education. We understand Vietnamese history, culture, laws, customs and traditions and that is why we are eligible
for Vietnamese nationality49.

As we have seen in the last quote, Mohamed did not dress in Indonesian traditional
clothes and spoke Vietnamese. He stressed socio-economic reasons for his application, described how with papers stating alien status he had met difficulties with administrative
procedures and was unable to apply for jobs in most companies or small factories. He alsoemphasized that he was born and grew up in Vietnam, conversed in Vietnamese in everyday life and more importantly had received Vietnamese education and this meant that heunderstood Vietnamese history, culture, law, customs and traditions.
In contrast to his presentation at the Indonesian consulate, he downplayed the group‟s
ethnic sentiments at the Department of Foreign Affairs of Hồ Chí Minh. This is not only inline with Thomas Hylland Eriksen mentioned above, but also with George de Vos 50 who
suggests that ethnic identity is something that agents can partly ascribe to themselves. He
indicated that ethnic identity is something that can be actively manipulated in response to acertain need or context but at the same time ethnic identity also has a non-instrumental,
non-political element providing a psychological feeling of security.
Mohammed told me how the members of staff at the Department of Foreign Affairs of
Hồ Chí Minh were quiet for a moment. His words had turned their hostile approach aroundand they even complimented him on his Vietnamese Language skills. They offered him tea
and sweets and discussed his life with him. They asked him about the kinds of work he had
had, his religious beliefs and how he was housed. Eventually, they asked him to sit in the
hallway while they studied the case more carefully in private. They returned after sometime and explained they recognized this as a case that fell outside Vietnamese law.
They were used to cases where Vietnamese law fell short but they had not encountereda similar case before. They pointed out that Vietnamese law accepts everyone who applies
49

Interview with Mohamed, May 2005, Hồ Chí Minh City
Vos, G., A. de. “Ethnic Pluralism: Conflict and Accommodation”, The sociology of race and ethnicity (M. Cross,
Cheltenham, UK; Northampton, 2000): 3, 113-142.
50

52 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

for Vietnamese citizenship if he or she can live up to some of the following criteria: proficient in Vietnamese, knowledge of Vietnamese history, culture and customs, and a letterfrom ones country of current citizenship accepting the change of citizenship. This meansthat only people who already have citizenship somewhere, people who are recognized by anation outside Vietnam as its citizens, can officially give up that citizenship in order to apply for Vietnamese citizenship. The people at the Department of Foreign Affairs of Hồ Chí
Minh City understood that Mohamed could not provide them with such a letter.
After further deliberation they advised Mohamed not to follow the regular route of citizenship application because this would be a dead end for him. Instead, the department
wrote a letter to another governmental unit, the Hồ Chí Minh City Department of Legal
Affairs at the level of in Hồ Chí Minh City‟s People‟s Committee. The letter explained thesituation and requested their colleagues at the Department of Legal Affairs of Hồ Chí Minh
City to take a look at the case and to advise them on the matter. I traced one of the people atthe Department of Foreign Affairs who helped Mohamed on his way. She is a legal expert
and still remembers the case quite vividly. She machine-guns her words in a staccato northern
accent while she goes over the case she answers phones and shuffles through papers,
Our law states that people should pledge that they should give up their original nationality, if they
have one, when applying for Vietnamese citizenship. When they do not have a nationality at all,than it becomes a bit of a predicament, and that is why we solved the case of the Malays [Mã Lai]pro-actively and dynamically [linh họat]. Because, if I remember correctly, some of these people
did have papers proving that they had been born in Vietnam. These were even from before 1954,
mind you. And they had permanent residency papers for foreigners from the puppet regime. They
knew their origins but could not locate their ancestors there anymore. The Legal Department here
decided to act quickly and ask the consulate of Indonesia and Malaysia to state that these people
were not accepted as their countries' citizens. From then on it had become a case of people who had
no citizenship at all and it was then that Vietnam was prepared to accept them as its citizens. Thereyou have it. That is a way to deal with something quickly and positively. In our law we had not yet
dealt with such cases before, of people who have no citizenship. This department has definitely reported this case to the president of the country or to the Department of Justice to decide what to dowith such cases in the future. Because to have fifty-five or so people who do not have a nationality
in a city as crowded as ours, makes it really hard for the administration to govern the city51.

Her office composed the letter while Mohamed waited. The letter explained the situation and requested their colleagues at the Department of Legal Affairs of Hồ Chí Minh City
to take a look at the case and to advise them on the matter.
Joane Nagel52 suggests that the state‟s formal ascriptions of ethnic identity are themain factors in the development of ethnic identities. Our case study however suggests that
there is some room for manipulation from the citizen‟s side. It shows the negotiation between the state‟s formal ascriptions and the strong sentiments of the people it needs to classify. The state officials at the Department of Foreign Affairs hardly tried to discipline Mohamed. On the contrary, when confronted with this case that clearly falls outside Vietnamese law they were quite friendly and proved pro-active in their approach to solve the matter.
They could easily have forced him too take the regular approach or to keep his alien status.
However not all departments in the Vietnamese state apparatus are as pro-active in theirapproach.

51

Interview with lawyer at the Department of Foreign Affairs, November 2005, Hồ Chí Minh City
Joane Nagel, “Constructing Ethnicity: Creating and Recreating Ethnic Identity and Culture”, (Social Problems
1994) 41: 51-75
52

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

53

Pleading at the Department of Legal Affairs City and the Malaysian Consulate
I dressed like before, no not in a sarong, but still decent. I went over and had to wait for a long time.
There was a lot of activity and people were running around with folders. When it was my turn I met
with a young woman. She did not listen to me at all. I explained my case like before, but all sheheard was that I was a foreigner and wanted to apply for Vietnamese citizenship. So she did notunderstand the case the way the people at the other department had. She said: „you want to becomea Vietnamese national, you just go to the Department for Foreign Affairs and buy the forms justlike everybody else.‟ She closed the file and returned it to me so I left.
I knew that I had to find a different way so the next day I went to the consulate of Malaysia. I
dressed the same as before like a businessman and spoke Vietnamese. It was so funny. When they
heard my story they did know what to do. I asked them for a letter stating that firstly I was a Malaysian citizen and secondly that the Malaysian Consulate accepted my change of citizenship. They
must have thought that I was not normal [laughs] to ask for citizenship in Malaysia just to replace itwith Vietnamese citizenship53.

As he had feared, the Malaysian consulate could not provide him with such a letter
even though it was sympathetic to his case. The Department for Legal Affairs might nothave been forthcoming immediately but eventually its officials went out of their way toprovide a solution for this extraordinary case.

Relief at the Department of Legal Affairs and at the Malaysian Consulate
Mohamed now returned to Hồ Chí Minh City‟s Department of Legal Affairs and explained to another of its employees that neither the Indonesian nor the Malaysian Governments had accepted him as citizen and that as a result they did not provide him with the letterthat was required for the normal Vietnamese citizenship application for foreigners. The
employees of the Department of Legal Affairs of Hồ Chí Minh City now took an interestand they too acknowledged the difficulty of the situation. They withdrew in a back office
and after some hours of deliberation they asked him to come back the next day. The next
day they presented him with their solution. Instead of a letter of proof of foreign citizenship,
they would now also accept a letter of proof of non-citizenship. They needed a letter of the
Malaysian Consulate stating that Mohamed was not accepted as a Malaysian citizen.
He left for the consulate the next day and when he presented himself there the officials
looked pained. When he conveyed them his new request they could hardly hide the relief
they must have felt. They provided him with the needed document a month later. It statedthat the he had never been a Malaysian citizen. When he left they excused themselves for
not having been able to provide him with Malaysian citizenship.

Bargaining with the police of District 1 in Hồ Chí Minh City
Two and a half years after Mohamed had presented the letter provided by the Malaysian Consulate at the Department of Legal Affairs of Hồ Chí Minh City he received adocument stating he had achieved Vietnamese citizenship. This is extremely fast comparedto some fellow Muslims from Malaysia that had Malaysian citizenship and followed theregular trajectory for citizen application. They had waited for four years. This was a goodfirst step, but what he really needed was a passport. The first thing he arranged was a hộkhẩu, [a family registration or household register], after that he could request a thể chứng
minh nhân dân [identity card] at the office of the police of District 1. He could only put in a
53

Interview with Mohamed, May 2005, Hồ Chí Minh City

54 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

request for a Vietnamese passport if he had these other documents. When Mohamed went
to the office of the police of District 1 to apply for his identity card however, he needed tofill out a request form called a tờ khai chứng minh nhân dân, [application form for citizenship] and this was the first document that required him apart from date of birth and religious affiliation, to record his dân tộc [ethnic identity].
Up until that point, dân tộc had not been an issue in the process of citizenship application. There had been no request to fill in his dân tộc on any of the papers he had submitted.
Mohamed was aware that now that he had become a Vietnamese citizen, in this context dântộc, meant the fifty-four state sanctioned ethnic identities. He was aware that his ethnic
identity did not feature on the limited list of fifty-four, but he still wrote down „Bawean,
Indonésia‟,
An employee took one look at my application and did not even look up when he said, „Bawean,
Indonésia‟ does not belong to the ethnic possibilities.‟ I explained my predicament and the employee called one of his colleagues over. Both officers studied my application and asked if I wasreally a foreigner, „How long did you study Vietnamese? It is really very good.‟ I told them that I
had been born and raised in this country and that it was part of me. It had fed me and I knew its
customs. They expressed their surprise with the fluency of my Vietnamese once again. They askedme, „where is this Bawean located?‟ and I drew a map on a piece of paper. Then a third official, alady listened in. During the conversation she took my application and studied it. Then she said, „but
you are a Muslim aren‟t you?‟ I answered, „yes‟ and that was what she wanted to hear. She smiled,
put down my application like this and as if she had found the solution she offered, „but then you‟rejust Cham right?‟. So I pointed out that indeed most Cham were also Muslim but that I was certainly not Cham.
The lady called to the back of the office where some of her female colleagues were resting to comeout and bring out the list of ethnic minorities. Two more ladies in uniform joined the group andbrought a laminated list along. The first employee I had spoken to laid my application next to thelist and the group compared [the term] „Bawean‟ with the official list of ethnic groups in Vietnam.
They were all quiet and I wondered what they would come up with. After careful scrutiny of both
documents, one of them looked up and said that Bawean was not on the list. I said I believed hewas right and I expressed hope that they would let me use my own chosen name [ethnonym]. Oneof the ladies pointed to the list, „how about Ba Na, is that not almost the same as Bawean?‟. So I
asked them all, „would you want to be called Cham?‟ and they agreed, they would not. I explained,„my identity is part of my blood; it flows through these veins. I cannot accept someone else‟s, justlike you‟.
They discussed the matter further and one of the uniformed men asked me, „are you sure that you
cannot accept Cham?‟, but the ladies in the group told him off and one of them even hit him on his
upper arm [laughs], „how would you like to be called Hoa [ethnic Chinese]?‟ She quipped. All ofthem found that unacceptable and giggled. At last I thought of Indonésia as an option and this was
accepted after some deliberation because they said that Bawean was just too obscure, Indonésia
was better known [sic]. When my identity card was finished one of the officials asked me not toshow the card to anyone because Indonesía might get him into trouble54.

Below I present an illustration55 of the back of one of the identity cards that was provided at the police station.

54
55

Interview with Mohamed, May 2005, Hồ Chí Minh City
The signature of the official has been removed to protect the identity

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

55

A thể chứng minh nhân dân [identity card]

Priscilla Koh 56 , Rambo 57 and Salemink stress the Vietnamese government‟s
pre-occupation with the need of Vietnamese citizens to belong to one of the fifty-four designated dân tộc. Paraphrasing Salemink, the state imposes its ethnic categories on the highland population for example through identity cards58. Rambo too, mentions the identity card.
“Every citizen must belong to one of the fifty-four recognized groups with this affiliation
shown on the identity card everyone carries. No ambiguity is permitted. An individual having mixed ancestry must be assigned to only one group, normally the father‟s59”
Mohamed‟s reception at the neighbourhood police office shows us a softer side of theVietnamese state. Here it does not seem pre-occupied with strict categorization. It leaves
room for a humane approach, room for ambiguity. Mohamed presented himself with an
official document stating that he had already achieved Vietnamese citizenship. There wasno need for him to be careful about his ethnic sentiments now. That is why he pleaded withthe officials not to deny him the ethnonym that he chose as the official ethnic classification.
The group of Bawean individuals who received Vietnamese citizenship were handed a giấychứng minh nhân dân [identity card] with a dân tộc [formal ethnic affiliation] that does notfeature on the „list of fifty-four dân tộc‟, namely Indonésia.
This encounter with the local police was the first occasion when Mohamed was asked
about his religion. Up until that point he had articulated his ethnic origins at the Indonesian
consulate and he used socio-economic arguments at the Department of Internal Affairs but
on none of the occasions was he asked or did he have to state his religious affiliation. Below I look at the state‟s approach to this group‟s religious activities.

Conclusions
This article deals with what seems to be a contradiction: by becoming Vietnamese citizens these people feel they strengthened their non-Vietnamese ethnic identity. Their actions are fed by cultural-religious motives stemming from a personal interpretation of theirethnic identity. Mohamed and others explained how they express and reproduce his cultural
historic and contemporary religious narratives, influenced by experiences that are not onlyof local and national but also of transnational religious character. These experiences not
56

Priscilla Koh, “Persistent Ambiguities: Vietnamese Ethnology in the Doi Moi Period,” (Journal of the Southeast
Asian Studies Student Association 2004) 5: 1, 3http://www.hawaii.edu/cseas/pubs/explore/vol5no2.html (accessed
July16 2007), 5
57
Terry A. Rambo, “Vietnam,” Ethnicity in Asia, Asia's Transformations (M. Selden, London/New York:
RoutledgeCurzon, 2002): 109-135, 115
58
Oscar Salemink, The ethnography of Vietnam's Central Highlanders: a historical contextualization, 1850-1990,(London/New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003)
59
Idem

56 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

only change narratives but also the notions of roots he recalls and, along with that, the content of his ethnic identity changes.
The Bawean men and women did not formalise their ethnic identity and nationality
earlier because of the latent and sometimes explicitly expressed wish to return to Indonesia.
We have indicated that such sentiments are often found among diasporic communities.
They expressed the hope to return to Indonesia but without any knowledge of the languageor acquaintances this seems difficult.
From interviews I gathered that in the past the community oriented its transnational
contacts toward its homeland or toward Bawean relatives or acquaintances in other countries. In the past fifteen years, in their travels and transnational relations, the Bawean community has turned its focus away from its historical roots. They do not have these transnational relations anymore. They have intermarried with non-Bawean Muslims andnon-Muslims. They do not speak their ancestors‟ language and have never set foot on theirplace of origin. They still believe themselves to be ethnically Bawean people belonging toIndonesia.
Together with cultural and historical ethnic repertoires described above, religious ideas
and practices have become the most important marker of ethnicity and have shaped Bawean
ethnic narratives. As such Islam is presented as an intrinsic part of „being Bawean‟. Today
the Bawean community increasingly orients itself toward Muslim centres elsewhere and it
uses new ways such as chatting and cheap international calls both made possible by the Internet. If they really wanted to return to Indonesia now that they have a passport they wereable to do so. Instead they went on the hajj. Since they received a Vietnamese passport forty have been to Mecca, none have visited Indonesia.
In the case study presented the Bawean people actively dealt with different governmental institutions and governmental representatives from several states: Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam as they formalise their ethnic identity and nationality. When dealing with
Vietnamese state officials they downplayed both the diasporic ethnic and religious dimensions of their identity and even over presented their connection with the host country. Nonetheless, they did not officially let go of their status as aliens and formally became Vietnamese citizens because they wanted to assimilate to Vietnamese society. On the contrary,
they perceived it as a way to distance one self from actual Vietnamese cultural citizenship.
Instead, they wished to fulfil an ethnic religious duty that cannot be actualized locally. Đihành hương as the Bawean and Cham call the hajj is one of the 5 pillars of Islam. A loss ofIslamic practice is seen as a loss of Baweanness.
The Bawean case study balances the view that some contemporary literature on the
Vietnamese State generates. Current literature positions “motley crowds” on frontiers or in
non-urban settlement areas, but this case study presents such a crowd that exists on thefrontiers of formal classification while living in the centre of Vietnam‟s economic hub.
It also shows that official policies are not necessarily followed through on lower governmental levels. State agents did not force Mohamed into the existing formal or officialclassificatory grids in line with an oppressive uniform ideology. This shows that this ideology,
suppressing diversity for the sake of the idea of a greater Vietnamese family, is not implemented the same way everywhere, without respect to regional or population variations.
Some scholarly literature presents state classification as a state‟s hegemonic instrument,
as an instrument of state-power alone. However, ethnic classification is an instrument thatis not used by the state alone. As shown above, when people feel the need they will decide
to make use of such an instrument of power. In the past as well as in the case study presented above Mohamed has actively manipulated aspects of his ethnicity in response to hisneeds and the situations he has had to overcome. His feelings of ethnic pride have in theIslam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

57

past made him hold on to his ethnic identity choosing not to become a Vietnamese national.
Later when he needed something the Vietnamese state could provide him, he manipulated
state agencies while formally classifying his ethnic identity and in doing so he used ethnicclassification as an instrument to his benefit. This provided him with a permit that enabled
him to undertake a journey that in turn serves a non-instrumental, non-political element of
his ethnic identity. In fact most of the people who received Vietnamese citizenship are in
the autumn of their lives and they claim that this request for Vietnamese citizenship not
only influenced their life in or their functioning within Vietnamese society it also was a
preparation for life after death.
This pilgrimage provides him with a psychological feeling of security in the religious
context of an afterlife. It soothes other emotions such as longing and answers the need forreligious purpose and actualises his imagined membership to the umma. Cultural, historicand religious narratives and his religious explorations of the Internet have instilled thesefeelings in him. This case reveals how Indonésia has become a dân tộc and how Bawean
men and women became an officially registered ethnic community in order to fulfil one of
their last religious duties.
Another argument is that even after September 11, 2001 the Bawean were not investigated or restricted in any way. A reason might have been their (ex-) alien status or that theagents of the Vietnamese government just as current scholars do not consider the Bawean
and others living in urban areas as a border or frontier “motley crowd” because of lingering
geographical criteria (mountainous, close to national borders) for marginality.
Vietnamese State officials did not interfere in Bawean daily life. In the case of citizenship application, they even pro-actively helped them even though this Bawean citizenship case did not fit the existing legal formats as these only cater to people who already belong to a (foreign) country as citizens. State officials did not show the pre-occupation thatcitizens must belong to one of the fifty-four recognized groups with this affiliation shownon the identity card. They permitted ambiguity when they allowed the Bawean to choose
their own ethnonym to be documented as their dân tộc, [ethnicity], on their giấy chứng minhnhân dân their identity card. Some state institutions seem to have let go of the standard grids and have accepted, up to a point people‟s subjective ethnic identity as the official one.

List of Interviews
The author has established long-term relationships with several informants and some informants have beeninterviewed several years in a row.
interview with hakim of mosque Nuhr, July, 2001, Hồ Chí Minh City
interview with Hidir, June, 2005, Hồ Chí Minh City
interviews with Mohamed, June 2001, Hồ Chí Minh City
interviews with Mohamed, May 2005, Hồ Chí Minh City
interview with lawyer at the Department of Foreign Affairs, November 2005, Hồ Chí Minh City58 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

Dynamics of Faith:
Imam Musa in the Revival ofIslamic Teaching in Cambodia
MOHAMAD ZAIN Bin Musa
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Abstract
Born a Cambodian Cham, Ly Mousa who later became Imam Musa, left home at a tender ageof twelve to go to Bangkok, and Patani, in Siam and then to Kelantan, in Malaya, to pursue his
religious education. After returning home right after the Second World War, he married a young
girl from an influential family, and became an instant well-known religious activist not only in
Cambodia but the whole of French Indochina. A different Islamic teaching, not only in approach
but also in content, was taught, initially, in the village of his wife, to men and women, young andold. His teachings, after some time led to the breaking up of the Muslim Cham community into
Kaum Tua and Kaum Muda. By 1970, when the Cambodian civil war started, his followers had
spread from Kratie to Phnom Penh, on the eastern bank of Mekong River. The dynamism of Imam
Musa and his followers, known as Kaum Muda, created the Sangkum Ly Mousa, even before the
Sangkum Reastr Niyum was born. During some twenty years of his brave and active teaching, national primary schools were built by the Sangkum Ly Mousa in the heart of Cham villages where
Cham children could easily have access to formal education; through some organized economic
activities, his follower‟s livelihood have known some changes. This paper also briefly discloses thepresent situations of the Cham in Indochina. It discusses the ups and downs of the life of ImamMusa, how Imam Musa implanted the dynamism to the Kaum Muda Cham community and how
their ethnic identity was respected in the Buddhist Cambodian majority community, until his tragic
death in 1975, just after the Khmer Rouge take over.

Introduction
The Muslims in Cambodia are composed mainly of the Cham, Malays and a verysmall number of Arabs, Pakistanis and Kabul, the Afghans, as they are known locally. At
present no one knows exactly how many of them exist, but the number ranges from some
500,000 to 1.5 million. They live all over the country in rather small communities or big
ones. They mainly live in the eastern part of Cambodia; but since the 1980‟s, they haveopened up small hamlets, which can be found all over Cambodia. Generally, they are
known as Cham (one of the ethnics of the old kingdom of Champa), Khmer Islam,
Cham-Chvea or simply Chvea (referring to Jawa but meaning the Malays) to the locals.
Beside those living in Cambodia, the Cham-Malay are also found in Vietnam and Laos.
Since the fall of Indochina to the communist regimes, they have found shelters in Malaysia
and remote countries such as the USA, Canada, and Europe, and in Japan as well as inAustralia.
Until this present day, no one knows exactly when the Cham became Muslims. However, it was known that Islam had arrived in Champa as early as the 9th century. Thoughfrom the 14th century, Islam was part of the beliefs and religions of the Champa people.

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

59

Since then the Muslim Cham and the Malays from the Malay Peninsula, especially Kelantan and Pattani, established a very good religious relationship1. This good relationship led
to the coming of a young Champa prince, whom later became king Po Rome (1627-1651),
to Kelantan to learn Islamic teachings. The coming of young Chams to Kelantan to learn
Islamic teachings continues until this present day. And one of them was Ly Mousa, wholater was known as Imam Musa.

Imam Musa
Imam Musa was born Ly Mousa or Musa Bin Ali, in the year of the Snake, or 1916 in
the Christian era. He was born in Phum (the village of) Ampil, Khum (sub-district of) Pœuh,Srok (district of) Krauch Chmar, Khet (province of) Kompong Cham, Cambodia to a farmers family. He was the eldest of seven siblings of three boys and four girls.
At a very young age he understood the living conditions of his family and the others in
his village, almost all of them were farmers. He vowed to bring his family out of poverty.
Then he left Ampil at a tender age of twelve and headed to the town of Poi Pet, near the
Cambodia-Thailand border. At Poi Pet, he helped town traders in their businesses.
After only six or seven months later, he was spotted by a Thai businessman, by thename of Hj Ismail, from Bangkok. Hj Ismail brought the young Musa to his house, adopted
him as his child and sent him to a Thai school. We are not sure how long he went to a Thai
school but we know that he spoke, wrote and read Thai fluently. His adopted father passed
away in 19872.
From Bangkok he proceeded to Patani to learn Islamic studies. As he did not getenough financial support, he started a \small business. When the Second World War started
he had already travelled quite often to Kota Bharu, Kelantan. He usually brought along withhim construction materials such as nails, zinc and cement for sale. (Aziz Chik…); On theother hand, other Cham students chose to beg for zakat (tithe) or any other forms of donation from Muslims.
Usually he would stay for long periods in Kota Bharu, where he attended the Nik Salleh pondok, in Kampung China. It was here that he met with Yusof bin Osman, Noh bin
Osman and Muhammad Zain (three uncles of the writer whom he addresses as Walong Soh,
Wangah Noh and Wawan Zain respectively) whom came here much earlier than Ly Mousa.
In Kota Bharu too he met another village mate of his, Son Ahmad who studied in a different pondok, in Melor. Later Son Ahmad became known as Imam Ahmad India, as he pursued his studies for a Masters degree in India. Son Ahmad returned home in 1956.
At the age of 29 years old, right at the end of the Second World War, Ly Mousa returned home to the elation of his family members.3 It is to be noted that by the time theyoung Mousa was studying there, the Islah movement was very active, not only in the Malay Peninsula but also in the whole Malay Archipelago.4 In the Malay Peninsula, as a resultof many young Malays who upon returning home from studying in the Middle East, set a
new development in their mode of thinking. Basically, the Islah movement is a movement
1

See Mohamad Zain Bin Musa 1994.
Pada tahun 1987, Khusyatillah telah pergi ke Bangkok dan dapat mencari rumah Hj Ismail. Beliau telahmeninggal, dan isterinya pada ketika itu, masih ada. Rumah Hj Ismail ada dalam 45 minit perjalanan kereta dariBangkok. Nama kampungnya adalah Arun Amarin.
3
Imam Musa‟s life in Patani and Kelantan is not studied here. It is a subject of another research at this point oftime.
4
Joroen Peeters 1997.
2

60 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

set up to restore the true teachings of Islam based on the Quran and Hadith. And those who
spread this teaching were called Kaum Muda.
The birth of Kaum Muda threatened the religious leadership of the old folks and someof the Malay Lords, who were practicing the Islamic teachings mixed with other beliefs
such as ancestral customs which include animism. The Kaum Muda believed that due tothis practice of the Islamic unorthodoxy, the Muslim communites were underdeveloped.
Among the fore runners of the Kaum Muda were famous personalities such as Sheikh Tahir
Jalaluddin and Muhammad Yunos.
As time passed by, many newspapers were published, the first one was al-Imam, aMalay newspaper published in Singapore in 1906. This paper appealed to the Muslim
community to follow the true path of Islamic teachings based on the Qur‟an and Hadith.
They urged the Muslim community to accept knowledge of the West which is consideredbeneficial. They also urged the community to allow women to have freedom in education
and be active in community life. Besides al-Imam, other newspapers such as Neracha,
Utusan Melayu and Lembaga Melayu were also published in Singapore. The Kaum Muda
also published a magazine al-Ikhwan in 1925 in Pulau Penang under the leadership of Syed
Sheikh al-Hadi.
The Kaum Muda struggles were not going on smoothly. Those who espoused theKaum Muda idea were strongly opposed by a group called Kaum Tua. To respond to themany articles published by the Kaum Muda, the Kaum Tua also had their own voices heard
through Lidah Benar, which was published in Klang. And to allow women to further theireducation, the first building was built and completed in 1936 to accommodate female students. This building was part of the Maahad II Ihya Assyarif, built by Ustaz Abu Bakar
al-Bakir in Gunung Semanggol, Perak in 1934.
As it has been mentioned earlier, due to the lack of documentation on the activities andwith whom the young and energetic Imam Musa associated with, we shall continue discussing the life and times of Imam Musa in his beloved homeland of Kompong Cham.
What had been preached and practiced by Imam Musa is similar to the approach andpractice by the Kaum Muda.

Imam Musa Bin Ali (1916 – 1975)5

Zainab Binti Mustafa (1929 - )At the age of 31 years old, Imam Musa married Miss Fa Nab or Zainab Binti Mustafa.
Fa Nab is from Phum Prek Krut, Khum Svay Khleang, Srok Krauch Chmar, Khet Kom5

The three photographs published here are by Courtesy of Khusyatillah Bt Musa.

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

61

pong Cham. Prek Krut is a village about five kilometers away from Phum Pœuh, the famous Imam Musa‟s natal village. Fa Nab was from an influential family. The marriage resulted in nine children, six boys and three girls. Now, Fa Nab lives in the USA with two ofher children, Kyusyatillah and Khidir. The other two living children, Khifatullah and Ihsan
are in Cambodia.

Islamic Teachings
Upon arrival in his village, Ampil, Imam Musa‟s distictness was in his dressing.
Usually, a religious man, such as an imam, a khatib or religious teachers in the whole ofIndochina, at that time, had their head shaved and wore a turban and av Jva (baju Melayu, a
Malay long sleeved shirt) as village folks wore sarong, av jva with either a kopiah (whitecap) or black songkok.
The villagefolks who initially welcomed him tried to turn away from him as in theiropinion his outlook did not show a learned religious person. He wore trousers, sometimes
even shorts, shirts, kept his hair and grew a beard. They despised him to a point that when
he felt unsafe, he kept a dog under his house, for his own protection. This again fueled
their hatred for him even more so as a dog to them is the dirtiest (najis mughallazah) of
all animals.
The breaking point of the relationship between him and the villagers was in their daily
prayers. Two traditional practices in a prayer by the old folks were the wiping of their faces
or foreheads after the 12th rukun that is after the Salam and the reading of the qunut as partof the subuh prayer. Both of these practices were not parts of Imam Musa‟s prayer, though
he sometimes read the qunut when and only it was needed.
In addition to this, Imam Musa started teaching the translation and interpretation of theholy Quran to his wife‟s village folks, men and women, old and young. These classes wereconducted almost every evening between Maghrib and the Isha prayers. The hadith werealso taught in these classes. In the meantime, he trained those who wanted to pursue theirstudies. The number of his students grew as time passed. Only when he felt they were qualified, were they allowed to teach the translation and interpretation of the Quran. And
through his diligence, up to 1970 when the Cambodian civil war started, he managed totrain a handful of them. Some of them obtained scholarships to pursue their religious education abroad.
His new method of teaching and interpretation of the Quran, which prior to this wasthought to be only the domain of special people, was well accepted by many people, fromnormal village folks to the educated and socially high-ranking personalities. To the normal
folks, some of the topics Imam Musa had introduced were unheard of before or contradictory to the five tenets of Islam. Imam Musa even taught lessons on economics and politics.
I remember him vividly teaching to the village heads who were known as hakim and imam,
who felt that their position in the society was threatened.
Following this, the Muslim community was split into two groups known as Kaum Tua
and Kaum Muda. Imam Musa was at the head of the Kaum Muda. Because of the existenceof both of these groups, the members of the community were literally broken up: somehusbands and wives were separated; some members of the same family did not speak to one
another. Imam Musa and his followers were accused of practicing deviant Islamic teachings
and kufur. All these could happen because everyone wanted to go to heaven after their
death, thus they must practice what they know to be right.
Despite all this, religious schools were slowly set up by Imam Musa in villages where
there were enough numbers of his followers. These schools consisted of a few tables andlong wooden benches set up under some houses, especially the imam‟s. In some villages
62 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

which they had access to, classes were conducted in the surau or masjid. Besides thoseso-called pondok, the first religious school was built in Phum Khbop, Khum Svay Khleang
in 1968. The building of this school could not be completed as the Cambodian civil war, or
the spill over of the second Vietnam War, started in 1970.
Some of the pondok teachers were those who were teachers before; but some others
were given the task by Imam Musa after having attained a certain level of education fromhim. As for the religious books, they were brought from Malaysia, Penang or Kelantan.
And as there were not enough copies, the lessons were hand copied and distributed to various villages.
Imam Musa‟s teachings not only spread within the confines of Srok Krauch Chmar but
also reverberated along the Mekong River, in the eastern part of Cambodia and in the wholeof Indochina, especially in the regions of Saigon and Chaudoc. As the crisis between thetwo groups, Kaum Tua and Kaum Muda grew, they decided to hold a major debate in 1955.
Imam Musa headed the Kaum Muda, and the Kaum Tua was headed by Tuan Hj Ali from
Moat Chrouk (Vietnam) assisted by a few other Tuans. This debate was seen more as acompetition between those whose sources of knowledge depended on secondary sources(Kaum Tua) against those who relied on the holy Quran and hadith (Kaum Muda).
The breaking up of families actually happened after this debate where the secondary
sources could not withstand the primary sources of Islamic teaching. And the effects of thisdebate also brought about a series of accusations against Imam Musa, some cases were police cases aimed at discrediting Imam Musa and a major accusation was one done to eliminate him permanently from the religious scene in Cambodia. This case was aimed at both
Imam Musa and Imam Ahmad India. They were both expatriated but some months later
managed to find their way home and lived until their painful death at the brutal hands of the
Khmer Rouge in 1975. He suffered all his life due to his intention to bring about the change
and introduce dynamism in the teachings of Islam to a community which did not seem toprogress according to the teachings of Islam; besides some Muslim communities seemed tovegetate all year round.

National Education
The education of the Muslim communities in Cambodia under the leadership of Imam
Musa was beyond just religious education alone. He was now convinced, of his ideas which
he had before he left his home in Phum Ampil, some forty years ago, that educatio n
could potentially bring about mobility to his community. However, this education has toinclude national or modern education. Where modern and religious education is given toboth sexes.
Imam Musa and his closest followers who included Maklong Sah (Aishah binti Wan
Mohamad), Cei Phin @ Po Phin, Hj Sos (Hakim Yusoff), Vadeur Sa and Vangah Kechik
from Phum Prek Krout and Pet Sa (Math Mousa or Musa Bin Ahmad), also from Prek
Krout but worked in Phnom Penh, held a series of discussions on how to improve the living
standard of the Muslim communities. But first they needed to form a well organised community which they named Sangkum Ly Mousa (I would translate it as Ly Mousa Solidarity)
in 1953. This organisation of Sangkum Ly Mousa was created ahead of the formation of anational political movement known as Sangkum Reastr Niyum by Norodom Sihanouk in
1955, «usually translated as People‟s Socialist Community»6.
6

D. P. Chandler 1996, A History of Cambodia, p. 188.

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

63

The Sangkum Ly Mousa built in 1955 the first primary school for the national education system, which is secular in nature, in the middle of Phum Prek Krout, where majorityof its population are Muslims. The wooden school building, a block of three class-rooms
was built with brute energy of the Muslim community, starting from cutting wood in theforest to make it into planks; sand and pebbles collected in the Mekong river, just opposite
their houses, and of course donations from well-to-do individuals. The second block ofanother three class-rooms was built later. The Krauch Chmar district education officer, Mr.
Uom Kek, who later became a well-loved headmaster and teacher of the Sangkum Ly Mousa Primary School, approved the application for the school. He was one of my beloved
teachers.
The first Sangkum Ly Mousa Primary School teachers were Cham picked by Imam
Musa himself. Only after a short time later, qualified teachers were sent to the school by thegovernment, all of them native of the district of Krauch Chmar. Their salaries were paid by
the government; and the school was administered under the education system of Cambodia.
Following that success, a few more primary schools were built by the Sangkum Ly Mousa,
one each in the Khum Kompong Ro, Prek Sandai (Chœutéal Phloueh in Khmer) in Srok
Chhlong, Khet Kratie. Many young Cham children were sent to the school without any
more fear by the parents as it was believed before that sending Cham children (meaning
Muslim) to national schools, the children would become Khmer (meaning not Muslim ofKufar). In the 1970s many had reached the university level and left the country for further
education overseas.

EconomyAs an individual, Imam Musa was a fisherman, like many others living along the Mekong river. He used drifting nets as a means to catch fish. He also had a medium size motor
boat which he hired for transporting goods. He did not own any piece of farm land like hisfather did.
For the community, his economic plan was about to become reality by the year 1970.
But it was too late and just a dream for him and many others. By early 1960‟s, the Sangkum
Ly Mousa, built up a fund, Baitulmal (treasury), where a family member of the Sangkum
contribute 800 Riels (around 20USD) per year. Those who could not afford the sum would
go and collect sand or pebbles from the Mekong river to sell. By 1963 two points of sale
had been established, one in Prêk Bak (srok Krauch Chmar) and the other one was at
Chruoy Cham (in Chœutéal Phloueh).
By late 1960‟s, the Sangkum Ly Mousa started to buy paddy fields in the village ofMakh, Srê Véal in the district of Prêk Kâk village not far away from Svay Kléang and on
the opposite side of the Mekong River. In the late 1960s, the paddy fields could produce
enough for the yearly need of some 10 teachers. The quantity of the paddy produced wasabout 200 thang7 per year. The teachers whom benefited from the program were those in
Khum Svay Khleang (in the province of Kompong Cham), Phum Thmei and Kompong Ro(both in the province of Kratie).
The money to buy those paddy fields came from contributions of his followers and donations by sympathisers. To the question of why he started the economic reform very muchlater? The answer is very simple. First the community was generally poor. And secondly hebelieved that if the people did not have the conviction, and did not understand the importanceof collective work, it was futile to explain the idea to them. And this took many years of his
7

1 thang = 15kg of rice.

64 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

precious leadership life. And to carry out the economic reform it had to start from things thatthe participants (villagers) understood; as we knew that the people of the districts were individual farmers or fishermen and never worked collectively before. And the process had to go
through education first, as what was being done. And by education it meant that it had to
combine religious education to the modern education which included mathematics, sciences,
history, geography etc… That was the reason why the first national primary schools werebuilt at the heart of the Muslim community villages of his followers so that the young foundit easy to go to school and parents too felt secure in sending their children there.

Legacy of Imam Musa in Indochina
As mentioned earlier, the Muslims in Indochina were mainly descendants of the kingdom of Champa. Due to so many reasons, mainly the long process of the nam-tien, the displaced Cham had founded their villages in the kingdom of Cambodia, including Tayninh
and Chaudoc, formerly known as
The Malay-Cham
Settlements
in Indochina
The Malay-Cham
Settlements in IndochinaRong Damrei and Moat Chrouk, in
Khmer 8 . They are also found in
CHI NA
Vientiane, Laos.
After 1993, in Cambodia, theMuslims started to build new villages in almost every part of Cambodia
Hanoi
in search of better living. The migraGOLF
20
tion from their home villages to othLuang PrabangOFer parts of Cambodia was mainly
HAI NANTONKIN
due to economic reasons. When it
was hard to earn a living in their villages, the people started moving out
Vien Chanin search for a better livelihood
elsewhere. This movement of theCham Muslim communities within
T HAI LA ND
Cambodia could easily be done asthey were considered as part and15
15parcel of the whole Cambodian
community. On the contrary, in
Vietnam, since 1975 life does not
CAM B O DI A
seem to be that easy.
In Vietnam after 1975, newland reforms were introduced. The
GOLF
OF
effects are more predominant in the
Phnom Penh
S I AMhighlands where other Champa ethHo Chi MinhCity
nic communities, such as the Rade,10
10
Cru and the Jerai, live. This culmiN
SOUTH
nated in the 2003-04 event whereC H I NAS EA
many met with death and some sur0
100 km
vived to tell their stories9. The Muslim Cham live in the regions of Ho
105

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ek

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Battambang

Phu Yenp
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PursatKratieBuon Mathuot

Kompong Chhnang

Kompong Cham
Thbaung Khmun

Cap Varella

Nha Trang

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Kompong Som

Phan Rang

Tanh Linh

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Ham Tam105© Mohamad Zain Musa8
9

See Mohamad Zain Bin Musa 1990 and Mak Phœun 2003.
See www.aitpn.org, www.persecuton.org.

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

65

Chi Minh City, An Giang and Tayninh and the regions known as their ancestor‟s lands. In
Laos, the Muslim community is rather small. Their concentration is in Vientiane.
In Cambodia, after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, every Cambodian, including theCham people, started to find their way back to their villages. Upon reaching their villages
they started to rebuild their lives together by picking up bits and pieces left off after the
Khmer Rouge regime. Besides rebuilding their own family, they concentrated on renovating, and later in some villages, building new mosques or musallah, where which they immediately looked for someone who could barely read the Qur‟an to teach their young. Donations poured in. Islam is important to them as it is believed and history has taught themso, that the identity of the community survives because of Islam, which differentiate themfrom the majority of the population who are mainly Buddhist. Islam is the core of their unity and identity. For the Muslims in Indochina, everything evolves around the teachings andtheir practice of Islam. They have started once again from Zero10. Copies of the Qu‟ran
were needed11.
Even though Kaum Muda and Kaum Tua could not be identified in Indochina, especially in Cambodia, Imam Musa‟s students and followers who survived the Pol Pot regime,
still practiced the dynamics of faith propagated by Imam Musa‟s Kaum Muda. Children,whenever and wherever possible, were immediately sent to schools. And a new breed ofyoung graduates from the Middle East, once again, brought in the new dynamism in the interpretation and application of the Islamic faith, a trend which has seen the refusal of someparents to send their children to some Islamic schools.12

Conclusion
Imam Musa was a man of vision. With all his sincerity, he sacrificed his entire life
working for Islamic causes by first improving their education, religious and modern education. He brought many changes to the Muslim society in Cambodia, in terms of the understanding of Islam, the teachings and the practices of Islam, and most importantly the application of the Islamic faith.
The teaching of Islam is notabout rituals and blind belief but it teaches us to understand as we all know that
there were so many verses
in the holy Qu‟ran, which
put forward things, ideas,
concepts of living in theform of questions. This
world is the bridge to the
future. And as an individual,
in the words of his own
daughter, Khusyatillah, andI personally believe so as
well, he was a caring person.
Imam Musa and his family (early 1970s)

10See François Ponchaud 1977.
See Mohamad Zain Bin Musa and Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abd. Rahman 2003, chapter 7: The cham in
Cambodia after the Pol Pot regime.
12
See chapter 8 of Mohamad Zain Bin Musa and Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abd. Rahman 2006.
11

66 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

This caringness has brought about unity and solidarity within the community. As a father
and an Imam, he was very honest and truthful. He strongly believed in himself. He was arole model for so many younger generations who wanted to emulate him. The faith hetaught us has brought the dynamism into the whole society. He was the envy of many of his
contemporaries.

RererenceBooks and articles:
Cabaton, Antoine 1906. “Notes sur l‟Islam dans l‟Indochine française” in Revue du Monde Musulman, publ.
par La Mission Scientifique du Maroc, Paris, Vol.I, No.I, p. 27-49.
Cabaton, Antoine 1907. “Les Chams musulmans dans l‟Indo-Chine française” in Revue du Monde Musulman,
publ. par La Mission Scientifique du Maroc, Paris, Vol.II, No.VI, p.129-180
Chandler, David P. 1996, A History of Cambodia. 2nd Edition, Boulder: Westview Press. 288 p.
Ismail Hussein, P.B. Lafont dan Po Dharma (Penyt.). Mohamad Zain Bin Musa (Penterjemah). 1995. Dunia
Melayu dan Dunia Indocina. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
Joroen Peeters 1997. Kaum Tuo-Kaum Mudo. Perubahan Religius di Palembang 1821-1942. Jakarta: INIS. 264 p.
Mohamad Zain Bin Musa 1990. Contributions à l'histoire du Panduranga (Campa) (la fuite de Po ci bri).
Thesis at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, IVth Section at the Sorbonne, Paris. 267 p.
Mohamad Zain Bin Musa 1991. “Kehadiran orang Melayu dan orang Cam di Kemboja hingga awal abad ke
XIX” dalam Jebat. No 19. Bangi: UKM. p. 3-13.
Mohamad Zain Bin Musa 1994. “Masyarakat Melayu-Cam dan Kelantan dilihat dari sudut agama” in Warisan Kelantan, No. XIII, Kota Bharu: Perbadanan Muzium Negeri Kelantan. p. 33-48.
Mohamad Zain Bin Musa 2004. “Islam as Understood and Practiced by the Muslims in Indochina” in Islamiyyat. Jil. 25, No. 1. 2004M/1425 H. Bangi: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. p. 45-60.
Mohamad Zain Bin Musa and Nabir Hj Abdullah (Edt.) 2005. Masyarakat Cam Dalam Dunia Melayu. Bangi:
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Mohamad Zain Bin Musa and Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abd. Rahman 2003. Masyarakat Cam Sepanjang
Zaman. 2003. Kuala Lumpur: Ikatan Ahli-ahli Arkeologi Malaysia.
Mohamad Zain Bin Musa and Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abd. Rahman 2006. The Cham Community Through
The Ages. Kuala Lumpur: Ikatan Ahli-ahli Arkeologi Malaysia. 215 p.; 3 maps; 70 Photographs.
Mak Phoeun 2003. “Notes sur les premiers établissements des Cam et des Malais dans les provinces deChau-doc et de Tay-ninh (Sud du Vietnam)”. A chapter in Péninsule indochinoise et Monde malais(Relations historiques et culturelles). Po Dharma and Mak Phoeun (Edt.). Kuala Lumpur: Ministry of
Culture, Arts and Tourisme Malaysia dan Ecole Française d‟Extrême-Orient. p. 75-98.
Ner, Marcel, 1941. Les musulmans de l'Indochine française in BEFEO, t. XLI, p. 151-200 + pl. XXI-XXVI, 1
map.

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

67

Po Dharma 1989. “Peranan Kelantan dalam pergerakan Islam du Campa 1833-1834” in Warisan Kelantan.
No. VIII. p. 79-88. Kota Baru: Perbadanan Muzium Negeri Kelantan.
Ponchaud, F. 1977. Cambodge année zéro. Document. Paris: Julliard.
Roff, William R. 1967. Sejarah surat-surat khabar Melayu. Pulau Penang: Saudara Sdn Bhd. 41 p.
Roff, William R. 1967. The Origins of Malay Nationalism. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press. XX +297 p.
Taufik Abdullah 1971. Schools and Politics: The Kaum Muda Movement in west Sumatra (1927-1933). Ithaca,
N.Y.: Cornell University. 257 p.

Interviews:
A. Aziz Bin Chik
Imam Musa‟s student
Born in 1944 (63 yrs old), in Phum Prek Krut, Khum Svay Khleang, Srok Krauch Chmar, Khet Kompong
Cham, Cambodia.
Former Cambodian Army Officer in the Lon Nol regime.
Now living in Muar, Malaysia.
Fa Nab (Zainab Binti Mustafa)
Imam Musa‟s wife.
Born in 1929 (78 yrs old), in Phum Prek Krut, Khum Svay Khleang, Srok Krauch Chmar, Khet Kompong
Cham, Cambodia.
Now living with her daughter in the USA.
Khusyatillah Binti Musa
Imam Musa‟s daughter.
Born in 1959 (48 yrs old), in Phum Prek Krut, Khum Svay Khleang, Srok Krauch Chmar, Khet Kompong
Cham, Cambodia.
Now living in the USA.
Ly Imweur
Born in 1953 (54 yrs old), in Phum Ambil, Khum Pœuh, Srok Krauch Chmar, Khet Kompong Cham.
Imam Musa‟s student.
Survived the Khmer Rouge regime.
Now, Entrepreneur, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Nasrullah Bin Ahmad
Son of Imam Ahmad India
Born in 1973 (36 yrs old)
Keep very close contact with the family if Ust Azhari, a pondok mate of his father
B.A. (usulluddin) from Al-Azhar university, Egypt (2000)
Now living in Cambodia
Hj Nik Sulaiman Hj Wan Nor
A follower and student of Imam Musa
Born in 1947 (60 yrs old), in Phum Prek Krut, Khum Svay Khleang, Srok Krauch Chmar, Khet Kompong
Cham, Cambodia.
Now living in Nibong Tebal, Pulau Penang, Malaysia.
Hjh Rafeah Hj Osman
A follower of Imam Musa and a contemporary of FA Nab

68 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

Born in 1933 (74 yrs old), in Phum Prek Krut, Khum Svay Khleang, Srok Krauch Chmar, Khet Kompong
Cham, Cambodia.
Now living in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia.
Zakaryya Adam
Born in 1950, in Phum Khpob, Khum Svay Khleang, Srok Krauch Chmar, Khet Kompong Cham.
Imam Musa‟s student.
Presently a politician, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

69

The Re-organization of Islamin Cambodia and LaosOMAR FAROUKHiroshima City University

Abstract
The main objective of this paper is to examine the role of Islam in present-day Cambodia andLaos. Specifically, the paper tries to focus on how the re-organization of Islam in Cambodia has
been negotiated and how that process has affected the role of the Muslims in the contemporary
Cambodian polity. The paper begins with a discussion of the profile of the Muslims and then goesto examine the various contexts that the Muslims have had to cope with in recent Cambodian history such as the two decades of civil war, the intervention of the United Nations and the re-introductionof democracy in Cambodia. Subsequently, the nature of Islamic reconstruction in post-1993 Cambodia
will be analyzed. In the case of Laos, only a brief examination of the profile of the Muslim community will be made. It will be obvious in the paper that the role of Islam in Cambodia and to alesser extent Laos, has been very much determined by contextual factors which may have little to
do with Islam but the internal religious motivation of the Muslims has also been significant to impel them to reorganize themselves using Islam as the basis. For Cambodia particularly, the reorganization of Islam is not only attributable to the structural changes that have taken place in the
kingdom since 1993 but has also been driven by the phenomenon of Islamic revivalism.

1.Introduction.
The role of the Muslims in Cambodia and Laos has not been fully appreciated or understood even though they have been part of these countries for a very long time. Hitherto
there is only a dearth of works on Islam and the Muslims in that part of Mainland Southeast
Asia. Philip Taylor‟s most recent work, “Cham Muslims of the Mekong Delta: Place andMobility in the Cosmopolitan Periphery” is a notable exception but even then its focus is on
the Mekong delta region of Vietnam rather than that which encompasses Cambodia andLaos as well. There are other minor works which try to document the history of the Chams
like the volume entitled The Cham Community Through the Ages written by Mohammed
Zain Musa and Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abdul Rahman, but they are still far and few inbetween. The paucity of academic literature on the Muslims in Indochina is obvious.
In my earlier papers on the Muslims in Cambodia I have tried to highlight this problem[Omar:1998]. In my first paper on the Muslims in Cambodia I identified four reasons forthis unsatisfactory state of affairs which are namely, (1) research on Islam and the Muslims
in Cambodia has not been systematically developed; (2) there is a dearth of published materials on the subject; (3) there is still some considerable confusion as to who the Muslims
in Cambodia are and as the Chams constitute the overwhelming majority of the Muslims in
Cambodia, there is a tendency to use the term Muslim and Cham synonymously as if theymean the same thing thereby excluding the range of other Muslim ethnic groups who also
constitute an essential part of the larger Muslim community; and, finally (4) probably due
to the research bias of academics the esoteric preoccupation with the Chams, for example,
had led to a growing interest on Chamic research internationally at the expense of trying to

70 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

understand the overall role of Islam in Cambodia. Chamic research too is also not just confined to Muslim Chams but also involves non-Muslim Chams. Research on the Chams may
indeed help provide useful information on their religious profile in Cambodia but that information alone will not be adequate to explain the comprehensive role of Islam in Cambodia which certainly goes beyond the Cham community. The situation is even worse in thecase of Laos as there hardly has been any serious publication on the role of the Muslims
and to this day even basic data on them is either hard to get hold of or hardly reliable.
There definitely is a need for more research and more work to be done on this theme.
This paper constitutes a very preliminary and modest attempt to provide some basic information on the subject with a view to stimulating discussion on it. The main objective of thispaper is to trace and evaluate the role of Islam in Cambodia and Laos in the last decade orso particularly following the end of the Cold War. For Cambodia especially the role of Islam will be assessed in the context of the post-UNTAC reconstruction era. Specifically, thepaper will focus on how the re-organization of Islam in Cambodia has been negotiated andhow that process has affected its Muslim population. The paper begins with a discussion of
the profile of the Muslims in Cambodia. The paper then examines the various contexts that
the Muslims have had to cope with such as the two decades of civil war, the intervention of
the United Nations and the re-introduction of democracy in Cambodia. The nature of Islamic reconstruction in post-1993 Cambodia will also be analyzed. The paper will try toargue that the re-organization of Islam in Cambodia is not only a function of the structuralchanges that have taken place in Cambodia but is also a consequence of the phenomenon ofIslamic revivalism in the kingdom itself. In the case of Laos, there are obvious structurallimitations for the Muslims besides the fact that numerically they are also a very small
group. Thus, the paper will merely confine itself to profiling the Muslim community in
Laos and highlighting the manner in which Islam has been negotiated to reconcile the needsof the Muslim community with the demands of the communist state.

2. Profile of the Muslims in Cambodia.
According to the 1993 Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia Buddhism is theofficial religion of the country but freedom of religion is guaranteed. The Constitution also
advocates parliamentary democracy as Cambodia‟s political system. The position of Islamin Cambodia today has to be seen in this context. It is both the constitutional guarantee of
religious freedom as well as the electoral strength of the Muslims that have enabled the reorganization of Islam to take place to give it a more tangible, public and positive role within
the new Cambodia. At the same time it also has to be acknowledged that for at least a few
centuries Islam has been an integral feature of Cambodia although for a variety of reasons
this has not been fairly reflected in the existing academic literature. In an important sense
its impact has been so significant that it has emerged to become the irreducible and definitive element of Cham ethnic identity in Cambodia. All Chams in Cambodia are Muslims
although not all Muslims are necessarily Cham. The centrality of Islam in the lives of the
Muslims in Cambodia, Cham or otherwise, who constitute a significant numerical, historical, cultural and religious minority is easily identifiable.
The Muslims in Cambodia today are however characterized by diversity. Essentiallythey are represented by various categories of people including Chams, Chveas, Khmers,
Indians and Arabs. The Chams are indeed the most important ethnic category because they
are not only the most numerous but also are generally accepted as being synonymous with
the Muslim community, constituting literally, its backbone. But even the Chams are basically represented by two major groups, namely the Cham Shariat [i.e. Chams who observe

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

71

the Sharia, or Islamic law in the Shafiee tradition of Islam] and the Jahed or “Kaum Hakekat”, also known as “Kaum Jumaat” or “Cham Bani” who have a rather superficial Islamic
identity. It is the Cham Shariat, however, which is the dominant and dynamic group. The
principal denominators of their identity are basically knowledge of the Cham language,
continued practice of Cham culture, a common Cham ethnic ancestry and a strong sense of
attachment to orthodox Islam. As indicated above, their Islamic identity has become an inseparable part of their ethnic identity. There is also a third group which is still in a very
nascent state of formation and this is the group primarily consisting of members of the
Jahed community who are beginning to move towards the Ahmadiya version of Islam.
The Chvea or Jva is another important ethnic group within the Muslim community.
The term Chvea or Jva, is actually closer to Jawi, which has been more commonly used as
the equivalent of Malay with a strong Islamic connotation. The term Chvea in the context
of Cambodia is used to refer to Malays in a generic sense. According to Po Dharma, there
are actually three categories of Malays, namely Jva Krapi, Jva Iyava and Jva Melayu. Jva(Chvea) Krapi refers to Jva Kerbau which indicates Malays who are from Sumatra including those from Aceh and Minangkabau. Jva (Chvea) Iyava specifically refers to Malays
from the island of Java while Jva (Chvea) Melayu refers to those from the Malay Peninsula.
[Po Dharma n.d: 9] Besides the Chams, the Chveas are the most numerous although interms of percentage they are still a very small group. The Khmers are also a very significant
group within the national Muslim community because they constitute the natural link between Islam and the indigenous Khmer culture and demonstrate the affinity that can develop between Islam and practically every ethnic or indigenous group.
Interestingly as the Muslims become more empowered educationally, economicallyand politically the latent religious schisms within the broader Muslim society have begun tore-emerge. The most obvious traditional division within the Muslim community has been
between the Jaheds or the heteredox Muslims and the Cham Shariat, or the orthodox Muslims. But recently there have also been other groups such as the Ahmadiya sect, the Wahhabis and even the Jamaat Tabligh, which have been consolidating their respective constituencies, thereby contributing to internal religion frictions within the Muslim community.
There are various estimates of the Muslim population in Cambodia today. The percentage of Muslims in relation to the total population of the kingdom is usually stated to bearound 4 to 5 percent. As the population of Cambodia today is estimated to be at least 13.5
million, there could be as many as 650,000 Muslims in Cambodia. The Secretary of State in
the Ministry of Cults and Religions, Mr. Zakariyya Adam, suggests a slightly lower figureof just above a half million people but admits that it is very difficult to verify the authenticity of whatever figure that is given at the moment. Probably a better way of gauging thenumerical presence of the Muslims in Cambodia is to look at the distribution of mosques
throughout the kingdom. In the early 1990s when the reconstruction of Islam in Cambodia
had just begun it was generally believed that there were about one hundred mosques in existence throughout the kingdom but as of 2007, according to the latest Mosque List, thenumber of mosques throughout the kingdom has exceeded four hundred and this figure
does not include the scores of suraus or mussallas that usually perform lesser functions
compared to the mosques. In addition to this there are also more than 300 madrasas or Quranic schools spread over 315 villages throughout the kingdom of Cambodia. What is obviously significant is the fact that these religious institutions, from mosques to Islamic
schools are to be found in practically all the provinces in Cambodia from Phnom Penh to
Rattanakiri, and Preah Vihea to Preah Sihanouk. The largest concentration of mosques occurs in Kg. Cham which has over 148 mosques. This also means that the largest concentration of Muslims occurs in Kg. Cham. It is no wonder that the present Deputy Governor of
72 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

the province, Sem Sokprey, is a Muslim. The next largest concentration of Muslims is to befound in Kg. Chnang, which has over 42 mosques. The deputy governor of the Kg. Chnang
province, Saleh Sen, is also a Muslim indicating. The numerical as well as the politicalstrength of the Muslims is again reflected here. The capital city, Phnom Penh, has a total of
12 mosques.
Culturally, the Muslims can be fairly easily identified by their practice of Islam but
linguistically, although among the Chams the Cham language continues to be the principal
medium of practical communication, almost without exception all the Chams can also
speak Khmer without difficulty. Language code-switching seems to be a common practiceamong the Chams and also the Muslims. Many Chams also learn Malay, which is perceived
as a language of religious instruction although they may have only limited speaking ability.
The Muslims in Cambodia therefore generally tend to be bi-lingual if not multi-lingual.
Occupationally the overwhelming majority of the Muslims in Cambodia are either fishermen or farmers. A significant component of the Muslim population though is engaged
in either vendoring or cattle-rearing. A small number is employed in factories, the service
sector or as government servants. There is also a very small group of Muslims engaged in
trade and commerce. There is a noticeably large number of Muslim economic migrants
working abroad especially in Malaysia and Thailand. Within Cambodia, unemployment
among the Muslims is also very high. By and large, the majority of the Muslims in Cambodia appear to be socio-economically disadvantaged.
Educationally, many madrasas or Islamic schools have been built and the traditional
Islamic educational system revived. Muslim children in Cambodia are generally enrolled
both in Islamic religious schools as well as the secular national schools where they will divide their time almost equally. Students who opt for religious education study both at night
and in the daytime. It is also common now for Muslim children to the Quran school orTa‟hafiz which specializes in training its students to memorize by heart the whole Quran.
Thus, it is not uncommon to find young Cambodian Muslim children who can recite theQuran through memory. There is also a tendency for students in the religious school system
to want to go abroad especially to Pattani in Thailand or Kelantan in Malaysia to pursue
further their religious studies. Many madrasas in Cambodia follow the curriculum of the
Malaysian religious school system. Some Cambodian Muslim children even aspire to go to
the Middle East if they can acquire funding. Since the 1990s there has also been a proliferation of educational institutions to cater to the needs of the Muslim children of Cambodia.
Nevertheless, despite the growing emphasis given to education by Muslim leaders andNGOs, in terms of infrastructure, facilities, textbooks, teachers, curricula and teaching methods, the situation is still far from satisfactory.
The case of Ummul Qura, an Islamic school with one of the best infrastructures in
Cambodia whose medium of instruction was principally Arabic, illustrates the educational
and political dilemma facing the Muslims. This school was set up in 1998 with generous
Saudi funding and was officially opened by Prime Minister, Hun Sen himself, a symbolicact which not only the highest recognition of Islam by the state but also the harmonious
state of relations between the Muslims and their non-Muslim counterparts and politicalmasters. The opening ceremony was launched with great fanfare and drew a lot of publicity
in the local as well s international media. Its teaching staff comprised mostly foreign Muslim teachers from a variety of countries in the Middle East as well as Southeast Asia. Since
it had very good boarding facilities it was able to cater to students from all over the kingdom. Although the student population was overwhelmingly Muslim, a good number of
non-Muslims students especially those from the remote provinces, were also enrolled. The

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

73

school also functioned as a feeder institution preparing its graduates for university education abroad especially in the Middle East.
The Ummul Qura school had emerged to become the talking point of the Muslims in
Cambodia as they were perceived to be directly helping the new generation of Muslims in
Cambodia for their educational empowerment. Following the war on terror which waslaunched by President Bush, in 2003 just before an international conference which wasscheduled to be attended by the U.S. Secretary of State then, Colin Powell was held in
Phnom Penh, the Ummul Qura school was closed by the Cambodian government, twenty-eight of its foreign teachers expelled from the country within 72 hours and three expatriate teachers were accused of being members of the international terrorist organization,
Jemaah Islamiyah [JI].
The harsh action of the government was extremely unpopular with the vast majority of
the Muslims and created a serious crisis of confidence in the Muslim leadership at that time.
To neutralize the ire of the Muslims and prevent a political crisis, the government almost
immediately handed over the Ummul Qura school to the Mufti of Cambodia to take over its
administration. In view of the problem of logistics and funding, the local Muslim leadership
under the Mufti could not revive the school immediately. When this happened very muchlater, the school was not able to restore its former status. The credibility of the government
and the United States was seriously undermined by this development. Although dislocationof the Ummul Qura affected drastically the confidence and hope of the Cambodian Muslims at that time, eventually this was made up by various friendly gestures by the UnitedStates Embassy in Phnom Penh to try to repair the damage that was done. Among otherthings, Muslim leaders would be invited for „iftar‟ or breaking of the fast ceremony during
Ramadhan with the American Ambassador and members of the Muslim diplomatic corps inPhnom Penh. The U.S. Embassy also began supporting financially and materially many
projects undertaken by the Muslim NGOs in Cambodia to uplift the conditions of the Muslims. This Ummul Qura episode is a stark reminder of the vulnerability of the Muslims toattack not only by outsiders but also by its own government.

3. The Different Contexts.

The role of the Muslims in Cambodia has been primarily a function of the different
contexts with which they have had to exist in. The civil war years were the most discordant,
disruptive and destructive for the Muslims. The absence of peace created a situation where
the Muslims, like the rest of the Cambodian population were not able to lead normal lives.
Beginning from the decade of the 1970s Muslims began to be uprooted and dislocated fromtheir homes and villages all over Cambodia culminating in the period of Khmer Rouge rule
under Pol Pot when they became one of the primary targets of the genocidal policies of theregime. There have been various estimates of the number of Muslims killed during this period but many Muslim sources insist that as many as half a million of them had been exterminated as a consequence of the genocide. Ben Kiernan, however, offers a much smaller
estimate of about 70,000 Muslims killed. But what was less disputed was the phenomenonof tens of thousands of Cambodian Muslims having to flee their country to seek refuge inneighbouring countries. The turmoil that ensued following the overthrow of the Khmer
Rouge regime by the Vietnamese military at the end of 1978 and the beginning of 1979 did
not improve the situation very much although the post-Khmer Rouge period witnessedsome measure of the rehabilitation of the Muslims under the patronage of the Vietnam-backed Cambodian Communist Party, the situation was far from normal and the Muslims continued to live in a state of anxiety and with lots of uncertainties. In the meanwhile
74 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

the civil war in Cambodia continued. The Vietnamese-installed regime of Cambodia wasrefused recognition by the ASEAN and the United Nations, which instead recognized the
Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea [CGDK] which was a lose coalition of
all the parties opposed to Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia. It was not until the intervention of the United Nations in Cambodia following the end of the Cold War and thewithdrawal of Vietnamese troops from Cambodia that the situation began to change dramatically for Cambodia and its Muslim population.
It was the establishment of UNTAC [United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia] that marked an important watershed in the recent history of Cambodia. UNTAC had
created the conducive conditions for the political reconstruction of Cambodia, which in turn,facilitated the rehabilitation of Islam in the kingdom. It was this development that had
enabled the re-assertion of the political role of the Muslims both through traditional channels as well as the democratic platform to take place within the reconstructed polity. In addition to this, the creative use of external Muslim sympathy and support has also helped the
local Muslims to reorganize Islam in Cambodia not only to make it more relevant to theirpractical needs but also to give it greater visibility to demonstrate its affinity with the state.
The 1991 Paris Agreements, and in particular, the creation of UNTAC led to theemergence of a conducive climate for the re-emergence of Islam on the national scene. This
happened in four ways. First, the presence of UN soldiers and civilian personnel from Muslim countries such as Indonesia, Egypt and Malaysia, helped create new channels of contacts and cooperation between the dislocated local Cambodian Muslims and the sympathetic UN Muslim soldiers and officials. This was the crucial period in which the patronage andsympathy of the UN Muslim soldiers helped restore the confidence and morale of the Muslims. Second, in fulfillment of one of the essential provisions of the Paris Agreements,
many Muslim refugees too began returning to their homes or villages Cambodia. The reconstruction of Muslim villages, under the protection of UNTAC, was undertaken. Third,
many well-educated and well-connected Muslim refugees who had fled to Malaysia, UnitedStates and other Western countries were persuaded to return home to help in the processof the democratic and economic reconstruction of Cambodia. Their return and their subsequent role helped provide a new focus of Islamic leadership in Cambodia. And finally, theholding of democratic national elections in May 1993 under the auspices of the United Nations, conferred on the Muslims an electoral role which instantly made them a significant
electoral group, whose support was sought by all the candidates, especially in areas where
Muslim voters were dominant or present.
Following the elections, the promulgation of a new constitution and the formation of
the first government in the post- UNTAC era, the role of the Muslims became further
strengthened with the co-option of a number of leading personalities into the government.
Beyond that, in attempting to seek foreign investment and assistance to stimulate the economic recovery of the country the government of Prince Ranaridh, was impelled by political considerations to move closer to countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore to
avoid being over dependent on its big neighbours, Thailand and Vietnam. The role of Indonesia and Malaysia correspondingly became a significant factor in the economic reconstruction of Cambodia. Indonesia, for example, initiated a major Rural Development Programme to help Cambodia rebuild its rural infrastructure. Indonesia too, is one of the countries supporting the Angkor Restoration Project. Both Indonesia and Malaysia also invested
heavily in Cambodia helping to bring in the much-needed foreign capital. Although theseaid projects and business investments are not directly tied to any policy requirements, they
have had the implicit effect of making the government more sensitive to the special needsof the Cambodian Muslims as a minority group. Conversely, Muslim businessmen andIslam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

75

government officials from Indonesia and Malaysia as well as other countries from the region as well as outside have also on their own accord been very positive and helpful towards their Muslim brethren in Cambodia.
The emergence of an expatriate Muslim community in Phnom Penh, with the setting
up of many Malaysian companies and business houses and other forms of investments has
also helped create new channels of contacts between the Cambodian Muslims and their foreign counterparts. Muslim Embassies and Muslim officials of international organizations inPhnom Penh too have been very forthcoming in handing out assistance to the Muslims of
Cambodia. The open political system which Cambodia enjoys at the moment guaranteeing
freedom of expression, movement and association has also helped to enable the local Muslims to organize themselves institutionally to promote Islam and the interests of the Muslims.
The 1993 Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia upholds fundamental humanrights which include the freedom of religious belief and worship. 1 It was with this liberal
spirit that the reconstruction of the Cambodian polity was undertaken in the post-conflict
period. The role of Islam in Cambodia which had been severely displaced during the turbulent years of the nation‟s civil war began to be rehabilitated. The Muslims of Cambodia,
who had suffered greatly as a consequence of the political upheaval in Cambodia, especially during Pol Pot‟s regime which targeted them for extermination, have, in the process begun to emerge as one of the main beneficiaries of the new Cambodia. The political recognition and space that they began to acquire in the first few years of the new democratic era
were very promising. It was in this period that the reconstruction and re-organization of Islam was undertaken in an unprecedented way.
In the post-1993 constitutional era, the Muslims enjoyed political representation in
Cambodia which even appeared disproportionate to their numbers. There were Muslims in
all the major political parties in Cambodia. The Minister of Education, Youth and Sports in
the Coalition Cabinet then, Toh Lah, was a Muslim. There were two Under Secretaries who
were Muslims including one who was the Under Secretary of the Ministry of Cult and Religion. There were three Muslim Members of Parliament representing the different politicalgroupings in the country. There was also a significant number of Muslims working as parliamentary support staff for several senior Members of Parliament. The secretary of the
Speaker of Parliament, for example, was also a Muslim.
After the 1998 general elections, the Muslims continued to be well represented in public office representing the different political parties in Cambodia. This trend, no doubt
showed that the Muslims were indeed already accepted as a national minority within Cambodia whose numbers and political role seemed to matter. Perhaps on account of this theMuslims in Cambodia today enjoy a much higher public visibility compared to any time in
the past.
The commune council election in 2002 which sought to establish a decentralized system of governance through the creation of democratically- elected councils in each of
Cambodia‟s 1621 communes helped to empower the Muslims throughout the kingdom as
they are to be found in all the provinces of Cambodia and exist in concentrated numbers inseveral of them.
Subsequently, following the general election of 2003, under the premiership of Hun
Sen, they have continued to be well represented in government as well as in parliament.
There are now three Secretaries of State in the present Cabinet, two of whom are in the1

For detailed provisions of the Constitution see The Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia 1993 published in
Phnom Penh. It contains 14 Chapters and 139 Articles.

76 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

Ministry of Cults and Religions and the third in the Ministry of Labour and Vocational
Training. In addition to this there are also four Undersecretaries of State, one each in the
Office of the Council of Ministers, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Women. The first ever Muslim ambassador to serve in the
post-conflict government of Cambodia has been appointed to Brunei Darussalam. There are
six Members of Parliament representing the Cambodian People‟s Party, FUNCINPEC andthe Sam Rainsy Party. There are also two Muslim Senators representing the Cambodian
People‟s Party and the FUNCINPEC respectively. Due to the democratic development in
Cambodia the Muslims, by and large, have become politically active especially at thegrass-roots level as well as in the political party level. There seems to be a special relationship developed through the political patronage system between the Muslims and the Prime
Minister, Hun Sen and his Cambodian People‟s Party and coalition government although
the Muslims are also represented in other political parties.

4. The Nature of Islamic Reconstruction.
The rehabilitation of Islam in Cambodia would not have been possible without thedividend of peace that the modern kingdom enjoyed in the post-UNTAC era. The restoration of peace in Cambodia made possible the return of Islam to the kingdom. This process,however, has also been partly helped by the phenomenon of Islamic Revivalism which has
characterized the situation in much of Southeast Asia. Although Islam in Cambodia had, formuch of its existence there, adapted itself to the local contexts its external links remained.
Cambodian Muslims continued to look beyond their homeland for religious inspiration,
education and contacts. The haj was one institution that helped Cambodian Muslims establish an important channel of communication with the Muslim world. Another importantvenue of contact was through education. It was common practice for Cambodian Muslims
to send some of their bright young men to study in the Islamic educational centres in theregion, such as those in Pattani and Kelantan or even those in the Middle East such us
Mecca or Cairo. The existence of Cham villages or emigrants in areas outside Cambodia,
such as in Thailand or Malaysia, has also helped keep alive important social and family
contacts between Muslims within Cambodia and those living outside of the country.
In an important sense, the Muslims in Cambodia, although insulated in some otherways from the outside Muslim world continued to constitute a part of a loose and informalinternational Muslim network that was in existence for a long time. But before their dislocation within Cambodia, the nature of their contacts with the outside Muslim world, significant though it may be, was still essentially limited. In most cases these contacts weremaintained at their initiative. Outside initiative to link up with them, for various reasons,was either very limited or did not exist at all. This partly explains the fact that very little
was really known about the Muslim communities in Cambodia by their co-religionists
elsewhere. And it was also this factor that led to the perpetuation of the deviant practices ofIslam among some of the more insulated sections of the Muslim community in Cambodia
such as the Cham Jahed.
The civil war in Cambodia and especially the carnage committed by the Khmer Rougeon the Muslims between 1975 and 1979, which led to an exodus of Muslim refugees acrossinto neighbouring countries paradoxically had the unintended effect of highlighting theirplight to the outside world. This development helped the Cambodian Muslims in at least
two ways. First, many were resettled abroad in countries such as Malaysia, United Statesand France, and in their new homes they found new economic and educational opportunities for their self-improvement, something which escaped them even in their homeland.

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Second, many who had fled to safety in the refugee camps in Thailand or Laos and Vietnam,
continued to be involved in varying ways in the developments that were unfolding in
Cambodia. This, for example, was what made it possible for a leader like Mat Ly, [a senior
member of the Cambodian People's Party until his recent death], who had fled to Vietnam
to return to Cambodia after the Vietnamese invasion of the country to work for the Vietnamese-installed regime in Phnom Penh to basically look after the interests of his
co-religionists. Although religion was never given a high profile place in the
post-Democratic Kampuchea period, the rehabilitation of Islam in Cambodia, albeit in avery nominal way, actually began in this period. It was during this period that many of thedisplaced Muslims began to return to their villages, a phenomenon which immediately led
to the reconstruction of mosques, which constituted the focal point of Muslim communal
life. Likewise, Cambodian Muslim refugees in Laos and various parts of Northeastern
Thailand, actually played an important role in promoting Islam in these non-traditional
areas of Islam.
The relative peace that Cambodia was now able to enjoy has made it possible for Muslims to regroup and reorganize themselves communally. One of the most obvious consequences of this was the remarkable growth in the population of the Muslims in Cambodia.
It was in this context of a fast-growing Muslim population that the reconstruction of Islam
has been undertaken. The process of reconstruction itself has manifested itself in a variety
of ways. The Muslims have become very active in Cambodian civil society recently. Mostof the Muslim NGOs were formed in the post-conflict era and practically all of them havebeen involved in soliciting foreign funds to support their activities in the kingdom. Many ofthese organizations have also tried to link up with INGOs to coordinate their activities.
Some of the most active Muslim NGOs include the Highest Council For Islamic Religious
Affairs in Cambodia, the Cambodian Islamic Centre, the Cambodian Muslim Development
Foundation, Cambodian Islamic Women Development Association, the Cambodian Islamic
Development Association, the Cambodian Islamic Association, the Cambodian Muslim
students Association (CAMSA), Islamic Medical Association of Cambodia (IMAC) and theCambodian Islamic Welfare Association. Muslim INGOs which are active in Cambodia
include WAMY Charity Organization, World Islamic Call Society, International Islamic
Relief Organization (IIRO) and Muslim Aid. Since March 12, 2004, Radio Sap Cham or
the Voice of Cham, has been on the air with a view to “reaching out to and connecting(with) the Cham Muslim community and Cham diasporas as well as maintaining and preserving the Cham linguistic and cultural identity.”
It is through the above organizations that funds from foreign as well as local sources
have been solicited for distribution to their respective national constituencies, usually tosupport repair work or the reconstruction or completely new construction of mosques ormadrasah (religious-school) in the local villages. Donations have been forthcoming frominternational Muslim organizations, Muslim Embassies as well as individual foreign donors
and Cambodian Muslims who now live abroad. The Malaysian and Indonesian Embassies,
for example, have been very generous in supporting mosque reconstruction efforts in
Cambodia.
The Islamic International Relief Organization, on the other hand, has been active inproviding assistance to build toilets and ablution facilities in mosques all over Cambodia
while the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been providing generators tothese mosques to facilitate power supply. Individual Arab donors have also contributed generously towards projects involving the construction of new mosques. The Dubai Mosquein Phnom Penh, for example, which is now easily the biggest mosque in Cambodia, built on

78 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

the premises of a building that used to be a dancing restaurant, was undertaken with funding from two wealthy Dubai Arab businessmen.
The Muslims, especially the Chams, who had fled Cambodia as refugees, brought
Cambodian Islam with them. This, for example, explains the emergence of Cham mosquesin areas where there were none before in the country and in places abroad such as in Vientiane, Laos and Santa Anna in the United States. In Malaysia, a large number of Cambodian
Muslims were resettled in the East Coast States of Kelantan and Trengganu, and havequickly assimilated into Malay society. By and large, they now appear almost indistinguishable from Malays. Nonetheless, especially for the Cham Muslims, a shared sense ofcollective historical memory seems to prevail among them. Perhaps it was partly this factor
that has brought about the emergence of a loose Cham transnational network beyond thepolitical boundaries of Cambodia.
The various Cambodian Muslim Associations mentioned above have also been organizing the pilgrimage of selected individuals to Mecca every year. In addition to this, scholarships from several Muslim governments, like Malaysia, tenable at universities abroad fora range of subjects have also been offered to many Cambodian Muslim students. A wealthy
Turk businessman had also sponsored a number of Muslim students for their studies in
Turkey. The Samakhum Kuwait has established a large and modern school for Muslim orphans in Phnom Penh. The Cambodian Muslim Development Association has started acomputer school in Phnom Penh, which is open to both Muslims and non-Muslims. It has alarge enrollment of not only Muslim students but also some non-Muslim students as well.
The Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank supplied large copies of the Quran and otherrelated religious literature to Muslims throughout Cambodia. In fact, even Japanese aid
agencies, made generous donations to the Muslims through the Ministry of Cult and Religious Affairs to support school projects as well as Islamic books distribution schemes. The
generous support given to Islamic projects in Cambodia by many quarters coupled with anactive national Muslim leadership had helped reinvigorate Islam in the kingdom. This canbe seen not only in the growing number of mosques and religious schools in Cambodia but
also the frequency and variety of Islamic religious programmes sponsored and supported by
the community. Probably, the most important aspect of this renewal of Islam in Cambodia
is the attempt to create a national organizational network of mosque officials throughout thecountry. The Khana Chuol Kapuol Islam Kampuchea rendered into Arabic as Mufti, thehighest officially-recognized authority on Islam in the kingdom, is now democraticallyelected for a five-year term. In February 1994, the name Sheikhul Islam Kampuchea wasused to designate this post which was called Changwang Islam Kampuchea in Khmer but
from 1996 it has been changed to Khana Chuol Kapuol Islam Kampuchea or Mufti. This
election for this post is undertaken at a special meeting of the country's Imams specificallycalled for this purpose. Although technically this practice has not yet been legislated into
law the Under Secretary of State of the Ministry of Cult and Religions determines the procedures and regulations pertaining to the elections and supervises it thus giving it official
sanction. But the office of the Mufti and the national socio-religious network that it has
tried to create is very much a civil society movement. The energy that Muslim civil society
acquires seems to be tapped from and through Islamic religious sources. Islam has beencreatively used to create an ostensibly cohesive national Muslim community under the leadership of an officially-sanctioned Mufti.
While the above structural and formal organizational changes have been extremely
important in the overall reconstruction of Islam in Cambodia, these have also been adequately complemented by the systematic and frequent spiritual inspiration that they havereceived from a number of quarters. The jamaah tabligh movement is easily one of theIslam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

79

most important sources of spiritual influence for the Cambodian Muslims. Tabligh groups
from many countries including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan have been frequently organizing trips to Muslim villages in Cambodia no matter how
remote these places were in order to demonstrate the spirit of Islamic brotherhood to theirCambodian counterparts. They would normally stay in any one place no more than threenights holding various religious activities to draw the participation of the locals and to
re-affirm their commitment and faith to Islam. Their continual presence, which was unprecedented in the pre-conflict days in Cambodia, has had the effect of drawing the Cambodian Muslims closer to Islam and the Muslim world. In fact, under the leadership ofImam Suleiman Ibrahim, who has been the head of the jamaah tabligh movement in Cambodia since the post-UNTAC era, regular tabligh activities have been regularly undertaken
and his markaz tabligh in Kompong Cham is recognized as one of the most active in theSoutheast Asian region holding annual gatherings which draw tens of thousands of people
from all over Cambodia and beyond.
Another extremely important source of religious inspiration for the Cambodian Muslims is Malaysian Islam. The Malaysian Government has been very supportive of Islam in
Cambodia and has been directly and indirectly involved in promoting Islam along its ownlines. Many mosque-building projects in Cambodia are supported not only by the Malaysian Government but more importantly Malaysian NGOs and individual philanthropists.
Religious training and instruction have also been offered by Malaysia to the Cambodian
Muslim leaders. In April 1995, for example, with the support of Pusat Islam (Prime Minister's Department, Malaysia) and RISEAP, the first ever national seminar for Imams in
Cambodia was held in Kampong Cham drawing about 300 participants nation-wide. The
main aim of the seminar was to improve the way the Islam is organized in Cambodia. Following this event, more religious seminars and classes have been organized with the assistance of human and financial resources from Malaysia. Malay religious texts now find their
way to most of the mosques in Cambodia and Malaysian-trained Islamic teachers have been
active in promoting Islam. Malay is now taught in practically every madrasah or mosque-school in Cambodia, although this may not be a completely a new trend as it used to be
for a long time the language of Islam in the region. What is important to note here is that,
Islam in Cambodia has been reconstructed in the image of orthodox Islam that is practisedin Malaysia.
Perhaps another significant development in the reconstruction of Islam in Cambodia is
the growing relevance of Khmerization. As Muslims try to develop a national posture in
Cambodia it is inevitable that there will be a greater effort to identify with the State. The
Khmer language, which is the national language will certainly grow in importance among
the Muslims. In fact, even now it has emerged as the principal medium of official communication for the Muslims, including the Chams. Most mosques in Cambodia too now deliver
the Friday sermon in Khmer although routine announcements may be made in the Chamlanguage. The attempt to translate the Quran into the Khmer language and the attempt now
being undertaken to come up with a common Friday sermon for all the mosques in the nation in the Khmer language are compelling signs of the Khmerization process accompanying the reconstruction of Islam. The increasing number of conversions to Islam among the
Khmer too is bound to stimulate further the re-orientation of Islam towards Khmer.

5. Islam in Laos.
Islam has had a long association with the area that now constitutes modern Laos but
unlike its neighbours, China, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and even Vietnam, numeri-

80 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

cally, culturally, politically and economically, the Muslims are not a significant community.
Although there was a period of time in the 1960s and early 1970s when there was a noticeable presence of the Muslims in various parts of Laos the emergence of a communist system and an authoritarian system of government had caused many of them especially the
Haw Chinese to migrate overseas. The urban centres of Vientianne and Luang Prabang too
had a visible Muslim presence before which has been disappearing in the last decade or so.
The 1991 Constitution of the Lao People‟s Democratic Republic, amended in 2003, provides for the freedom of religion and it is this provision that gives Islam a legal presence. Itis estimated that about 40 percent of the Laotian population adopts Theravada Buddhism,
Nonetheless, the practice of all religions, including Buddhism, is severely controlled although there was an attempt to relax some of the more restrictive rules pertaining to the religious practices of the minorities. The political constraints that exist in Laos on all religious groups have contributed to constrict the role of Islam in the country.
In terms of numbers, it is almost impossible to even give an estimate of the Muslim
population in Laos but various sources, including Encylopedia Britannica speculate that the
Muslims make up about 1 percent of the total population of Laos which should come toabout 50,000 as Laos now has a population of 5 million people. This is likely to be an inflated figure but even if it is accurate, in terms of visibility, Islam hardly makes an impression in Laos. But what is known is that like Muslim communities elsewhere in the region,
the Muslims in Laos come from a diverse cultural and ethnic background. The biggest
group is the Chin Haw or Chinese Muslims whose population has been declining very fast.
The second group is made up of the South Asian Muslims usually from either India, Pakistan or Afghanistan. The third group is made up of the Chams and basically constitute refugees who fled Cambodia during the civil war especially against the backdrop of their persecution by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouges. The fourth group is represented by any one of
the indigenous ethnic groups in Laos who converted to Islam due to intermarriage with
Muslims. Finally, there is also a very small population of other Muslims from a variety ofcountries.
In view of its geographical location Laos has been subjected to Islamic contacts or influence from a number of countries such as Thailand, China, India and Pakistan, Cambodia
and Malaysia and the Middle East. But it is also geography that has insulated Muslim
communities from each other. In view of the mountainous terrain of Laos and the difficulty of communication from one region to another, Muslim groups have tended to develop
autonomously except in the urban areas where there is more interaction between the various
groups. But even then, the two mosques in Vientiane, for example, the Azhar Mosque and
the Jami‟ Mosque are polarized along ethnic lines, the former being basically a Chammosque and the latter an Indian Mosque. The Azhar Mosque is also Sunni while the Jami‟
Mosque is Hanafi. The Indian/Pakistani Muslims in Vientiane, despite being a minutecommunity, are also polarized further according to their nationalities as they are
represented by the Indian and the Pakistani Association respectively. Because of its contiguity with Thailand, Laos has overlapping ties with it, be it commercial, trading, educational or family. It is within the context of this broader framework of Thai-Lao relations
that Muslims from Thailand have tried to develop their own relations with the Laotians.
The Thai-Lao connection has been the most developed historically and the Thai Muslims
have used this channel to find their niche. Interestingly too, the South Asian and other Muslims, for reasons of convenience also use Thailand to enter Laos. This phenomenon has had
the effect of constantly revitalizing the Islamic links not only between Laos and Thailand
but also between South Asia and Laos through Thailand.

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81

Notwithstanding the existence of the above channels of contacts between the Muslims
in Laos and their counterparts in Thailand and beyond, in view of the political restrictions
that have been in place in communist Laos for over three decades already, the developmentof Islam has simply been stifled. Even the Chinese Muslims who could be considered as
closest to being indigenous in Laos, have seen their role being dislocated or undermined bypolitical developments. They have not only declined in numbers but have become less visible. The Chams in Laos have mostly acquired Laotian nationality but are fully aware of
their foreign origin and therefore tend to be very docile. There have been in the recent years
a growing number of Laotian Muslim students who went to study abroad at the Islamic International University in Kuala Lumpur and it is possible that they may want to change theway Islam is organized in Laos but in as long as the contextual constraints remain in place,
it is very unlikely that this is going to take place soon. It is more likely that for quite sometime to come Islam in Laos will continue to be perceived and practiced as a minority tradition that needs to be constantly monitored by the state.

6. Conclusion.
It is obvious from the foregoing analysis that the vicissitudes of Islam in Cambodia
and Laos have been primarily a function of the contexts it is in. It was the outbreak of civil
war that had dislocated Islam from Cambodia. In fact the genocidal policies of the Khmer
Rouges were intended to annihilate the Muslims completely from Cambodia in the name ofpursuing national homogenization. It was the peaceful resolution of the Cambodian conflictthat had not only restored the role of Islam in Cambodia but also given it new energy, dynamism and direction, which is unprecedented in its long history in Cambodia. Democraticrule which demands respect for fundamental human rights and the principles of participatory politics has also given the Muslims a tangible political role in the reconstructed Cambodian polity. The emphasis on market economy as well as the need to attract foreign assistance and investment has also impelled the leaders of Cambodia to be responsive to thewider implications of their policies on minorities. The Muslims, as the second largest religious community in Cambodia have benefited from this benevolent policy. The role ofcountries like Malaysia and Indonesia and the international Muslim community and organizations has also considerably helped the process of the social, economic and spiritual reconstruction of the Muslim communities in Cambodia. The commitment of the Cambodian
Muslims to Islam became reinvigorated and there is visible evidence of a revival of Islam in
Cambodia. The growing contacts between the Muslims in Cambodia and Malaysia in recent
years have brought Malaysian influence to bear on Islam in Cambodia, making it increasingly indistinguishable from the orthodox Islam practised in Malaysia. The political, economic and educational empowerment of the Muslims in Cambodia have helped themgreatly in their desire and efforts to reorganize Islam in a way that will make them respectable as a community. The emergence of Muslim civil society in Cambodia has facilitatedthe systematic development of Islam in the kingdom beyond mosques and schools. New
Muslim NGOs and Islamic institutions like the office of the Mufti, the Islamic Centre of
Cambodia, the Royal Advisory Committee for Islam have emerged to cater to the needs of
the Cambodian Muslim community. As this whole process has its own political dynamics it
is also inevitable that latent tensions and schisms will also surface as the Muslims acquire
greater public visibility. In contrast, the role of Islam in Laos, is unlikely to change verymuch as long as the broader context within which it has to operate remains restrictive.

82 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

References
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2001 – 15 February 2002. Bangkok: ANFREL, 2002.
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1983 [1981]. Kampuchea: Balance of Survival. revised edition. Bangkok: D.D. Books.

Chandler, David P. 1992. Brother Number One A Political Biography of Pol Pot. Chiangmai: Silkworm
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______________ 1994[1992]. A History of Cambodia. Second edition. Chiangmai: Silkworm Books.
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Chang Pao-Min 1985. Kampuchea Between China and Vietnam. Singapore: Singapore University Press, National University of Singapore.
Chunakara, Mathews George, (ed.) 1994. Indochina Today: A Consultation on Emerging Trends. Hong Kong:
CCA-WCC Indochina Programme, Christian Conference of Asia.
Collins, William A. 1996. “The Chams of Cambodia” in Interdisciplinary Research on Ethnic Groups inCambodia. Final Draft Reports. Phnom Penh, Cambodia: Center for Advanced Study. pp. 1 - 107.
Doyle, Michael W., 1995. UN Peacekeeping in Cambodia: UNTAC’s Civil Mandate. Boulder and London:
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Etcheson, Craig, 1984. The Rise and Demise of Democratic Kampuchea. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.
Evans, Grant. 1998. The Politics of Ritual and Remembrance: Laos Since 1975. Chiangmai: Silkworm Books.
Funston, John, ed. 2001. Government and Politics in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast AsianStudies.
Haji Hassan Po Klong 1995. “Masyarakat Islam di Campa” dalam Tamadun Melayu, Jilid Tiga, disunting
oleh Ismail Hussein, A. Aziz Deraman dan Abd. Rahman Al-Ahmadi. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa
dan Pustaka, pp. 1238 - 1267.
Heder, Steve and Ledgerwood, Judy (eds.) 1996. Propaganda, Politics and Violence in Cambodia: Democratic Transition under United Nations Peace-keeping. New York and London: M. E. Sharpe.
Hildebrand, George C. and Porter, Gareth, 1976. Cambodia: Starvation and Revolution. New York and London: Monthly Review Press.
Jennar, Raoul M. 1995. The Cambodian Constitutions (1953-1993). Bangkok and Cheney: White Lotus.
Kiernan, Ben. 1997 [1996]. The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer
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____________ 1988. “Orphans of Genocide: The Cham Muslims of Kampuchea under Pol Pot” in Bulletinof Concerned Asian Scholars, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec.,1988), pp. 2 - 33.
Kiljunen, Kimmo,(ed.) 1984. Kampuchea: Decade of the Genocide. London: Zed Books Ltd..
Lafont P.B. 1995. Hubungan Kelautan dan Perdagangan antara Indocina dengan Semenanjung Tanah Melayu(Abad ke-15 hingga ke-17) dalam Tamadun Melayu, Jilid Tiga, disunting oleh Ismail Hussein, A. Aziz
Deraman dan Abd. Rahman Al-Ahmadi. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, pp. 1132 - 1146.
Mak Phoen 1994. “The Cham Community in Cambodia from the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Century” Proceedings of the Seminar on Champa held at the University of Copenhagen on May 23, 1987. translated
from the original in French by Huynh Dinh Te. Rancho Cordova: Southeast Asia Community Resource
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Al-Ahmadi. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, pp. 1268 - 1289.
__________1995.[II] “Masyarakat Cam Islam di Kemboja pada Abad ke-15 hingga Abad ke-19:Penetapan dan
Penglibatan Mereka dalam Sistem Politik Khmer” dalam Ismail Hussein, P.B. Lafont dan Po Dharma,
editor, Dunia Melayu dan Dunia Indocina. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, pp.86- 99.
__________1995.[III] “Masyarakat Melayu di Kemboja (Dari Akhir Abad ke-16 hingga Zaman Pemerintahan
Raja Islam Ramadhipati I)” dalam Ismail Hussein, P.B. Lafont dan Po Dharma, editor, Dunia Melayu
dan Dunia Indocina. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, pp.100 - 122.
Mohammed Zain Musa and Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abdul Rahman, 2006. The Cham Community Throughthe Ages. Bangi: Universisti Kebangsaan Press.
Mya Than and Tan, Joseph L.H. ed. 1997. Laos’ Dilemmas and Options: The Challenge of Economic Transition in the 1990s. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Nik Mohamed Nik Mohd. Salleh 1995. “Campa dan Dunia Melayu” dalam Tamadun Melayu, Jilid Tiga, disunting oleh Ismail Hussein, A. Aziz Deraman dan Abd. Rahman Al-Ahmadi. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan
Bahasa dan Pustaka, pp. 1061 - 1094.
Omar Farouk Bajunid “The Reconstruction of Islam in Cambodia” in Seiji Imanaga, ed. An Empirical Surveyof Muslim Network in Northeastern Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, Monbusho, Japan,1998, pp.1-80.
____________________ “The Place of Jawi in Contemporary Cambodia” in The Journal of Sophia AsianStudies, No. 20, 2002, pp.123-148.
____________________ “The Muslim Minority in Contemporary Politics” in Hiroshima Journal of International Studies, No.8, July 2002, pp.1-14.
Po Dharma n.d. “Catatan Orang Melayu di Indochina”, Kuliah Budaya, Bahagian Kebudayaan, Kementerian
Kebudayaan dan Pelancongan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur.
Ragos-Espinas, M. 1984. Democratic Kampuchea: 1975-1978.
versity of the Philippines.

Diliman, Quezon City: Asian Center, Uni-

Shawcross, William 1985 [1984]. The Quality of Mercy: Cambodia, Holocaust and Modern Conscience.
Bangkok: DD Books.
Stuart-Fox, Martin. 1996. Buddhist Kingdom, Marxist State: The Making of Modern Laos, Bangkok, Cheney:
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Taylor, Phillip, 2007. Cham Muslims of the Mekong Delta: Place and Mobility in the Cosmopolitan Periphery.
Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Vickery, Michael, 1986. Kampuchea: Politics, Economics and Society. Boulder and London: Frances PinterLimited and Lynne Rienner Publications Inc.
_____________, 1984. Cambodia: 1975-1982. Boston, MA.: South End Press.
Ysa Osman 2002. Oukoubah: Justice for the Cham Muslims under the Democratic Kampuchea Regime. Documentation Series No. 2. Phnom Penh:. Documentation Center of Cambodia.
______________, 2006. The Cham Rebellion: Survivors’ Stories from the Villages. Documentation Series
No.9. Phnom Penh:. Documentation Center of Cambodia.

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85

The Chams and the Malay World
Kanji NISHIO
National Defense Academy, Japan

Abstract
There has been a lot of interest on the Malay world in the recent years but there is still a lackof conceptual clarity as to what the term really means. This has fueled an interesting debate as to
how it should be conceptualized and approached. In Japan, although different approaches have been
attempted, the Southeast Asian maritime world perspective seems to be prevalent. This paper will try
to examine the link between the Malay world and Indochina from the viewpoint of commercial activities. The first section will discuss the role of the Chams in the early modern Malay World. I would
like to assess the profile of the Chams in this period. The second section of the paper will, in contrast,
examine the activities of the Malays in Champa and Cambodia. In the final section, I would like tohighlight some information on the Chams in contemporary Malaysia based on my preliminary survey, which seems to suggest a recurring theme in the history of the Malay world.

Introduction
Over the past few decades, scholarly concern with the Malay world has been growing.
For Malay scholars in Malaysia, the Malay world is undoubtedly one of the most important
subjects of study. While using the term “dunia Melayu”, they try to clarify the historicalinfluence of Malay culture in Southeast Asia1 Particularly, with regard to their imagined
vision of the Malay world, Islam is given a definitive place as demonstrated in the book entitled Islamic Civilization in the Malay world (Mohd. Taib Osman 1997).
Although western scholars rather like to use such terms as “alam Melayu” and “Malayness”, they also share an interest in the Malay world2. Nevertheless, their focus has been
more to explain the political systems or political cultures of the pre-colonial period3. However, some recent studies have begun to focus attention on the developments in the Malay
world and the shift in ethnic identity in the early modern period. Such a tendency, in particular, is clearly reflected in some of the articles contained in the book Contesting Malayness:
Malay Identity Across Boundaries (Barnard 2004).4.
Interest in the Malay world has also been growing in Japan, although scholars there
approach the subject from different angles, that is mostly from the viewpoint of the Southeast Asian maritime world. The renowned Japanese anthropologist, Tachimoto Narifumi
has discussed the culture of this maritime world in a case study of Bugis immigrant society
in the Malay Peninsula. The “Nusantara culture” that he describes is characterized by migration of the diaspora type, commercial-orientation, and networking (Tachimoto 1998).
5
Historians rather tend to focus attention on port-polity in the early modern period. Consi1

As for a discussion of “dunia Melayu”, see, for example, Mohd. Yusof Hasan 1991.
As for “alam Melayu”, see Milner 1982 and for further details of “Malayness”, see Barnard 2004.
3
See, for example, Reid & Castles 1975 and Milner, A.C. 1982.
4
See, for example, Reid & Castles 1975 and Milner, A.C. 1982.
5
The “port-polity” is a concept on pre-colonial states of Southeast Asia. Its main features are as follows: (1) Portand capital city merged into a single urban complex at the river mouth. (2) Agrarian and trade activities should beviewed as complementary features of inter-regional cohesion and regional integration rather than as internally and2

86 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

dering the coastal port-inland and local-international relations, Hirosue Masashi points out
the roles played by rulers and immigrants as mediators either connecting or separating two
different societies (Hirosue 1996, Hirosue 1999; Hirosue 2004). Nishio Kanji discusses thehistorical developments of the political culture of the maritime people, in particular theiridea of contract, in the early modern Malay world (Nishio 1995, Nishio 2001a, Nishio
2001b, Nishio 2003, Nishio 2004). Hayase Shinzo, on the other hand, discusses the differences within maritime Southeast Asia by examining specific cases in its eastern region(Hayase 2003).
As stated above, contemporary scholars have been concerned with the Malay world
even though they have been looking at it from many different aspects. The growing interestin maritime activities, in particular, presents us with a chance to consider the interactions
and similarities between mainland and insular Southeast Asia. New concepts like “maritime
Southeast Asia” and “port-polity” have encouraged us to pursue those subjects of study.
However, it seems that the potential of the studies in those directions have not really been
fully realized yet. For example, as far as Malay studies is concerned, only few scholars
have tried to understand the links between the Malay world and that of Indochina althoughsome Malay scholars in Malaysia have often argued that the concept of the Malay world
naturally includes some parts of Indochina. Hitherto, to some extent, the cultural and thepolitical exchanges between Indochina and the Malay world have already been discussed,
in several studies6. Notwithstanding this development, very little is actually known about
the other, and perhaps more significant aspects of their interactions.
This paper will approach the link between the Malay world and Indochina from theviewpoint of commercial activities. The first section will discuss a few points on the Chams
in the early modern Malay World. The second section will consider the Malay activities inChampa and Cambodia. In the final section, based on my preliminary survey, I would liketo present some information on the Chams in contemporary Malaysia.

1. The Chams in the Malay World
The Malay equivalent for Cham is “Cam” and for Champa is “Campa.” I checked
these terms in the Malay court histories (hikayat). These terms are not present in most of
the Malay court histories. For example, the Hikayat Raja Pasai underlines his relations
with foreign states or people from places such as Jawa, Siam, China, India and the Middle
East (HRP: 12-17, 21, 23-24, 26-29, 36, 37, 40, 43, 46, 47, 50, 59), but this work does not
mention either the Chams or Champa.
In contrast, the Sejarah Melayu contains some stories on the Chams and Champa. The
Sejarah Melayu suggests that the Cham sea captains from Champa (nakhoda Campa) had
high standing in Melaka as important traders (SM: 124; Brown 1970: 45, 217). Moreover,
the Sejarah Melayu describes the origin of the Cham community in Melaka. According tothis work, after the defeat of Champa by the King of Kuci (Vietnamese), two Cham princes
escaped from Champa with their followers. These two princes were known as Indera Berma Syah and Syah Palembang. While Syah Palembang went to Aceh, Indera Berma Syahreached Melaka. Indera Berma Syah was well treated by Sultan Mansur Syah who asked
him to convert to Islam. Indera Berma Syah consented and he was appointed a minister(Menteri). The Sejarah Melayu says that all the Champa Melaka (the Chams in Melaka)
externally oriented divergent forces. (3) Rulers take active part in prosperity of port-polities (Kathirithamby-Wells& Villiers 1990: 1-13).
6
See, for example, Ismail Hussein, Lafont & Po Dharma 1995.

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

87

were his descendants (SM: 193-95; Brown 1970: 101-03). In short, this story states that theCham community in Melaka dates back to the reign of Sultan Mansur Syah (r. 1459-77).
Considering the history of the Cham-Malay relations, Danny Wong Tze Ken states thatthe fall of Vijaya in 1471 marked the beginning of the change in the relations between the
Chams and the Malay world. He goes on to suggest that the period from 1471 to 1693 wascharacterized by the exodus of Chams from Champa following the occupation of their homeland (Wong 2006: 6)7. Therefore, there is considerable validity in the story on the originof the Cham community in Melaka. As mentioned above, the Hikayat Raja Pasai does not
mention either the Chams or Champa. However, the main reason for this is likely that the
migration of the Chams to the Melaka Strait area occurred from 1471 onward.
It should be noted that the Cham exodus was an event that occurred almost during thesame period as the “Age of Commerce (1450-1680)”, which is claimed by A. Reid (Reid
1988 & 1993). It is quite likely that the Cham diaspora played a very important role in establishing trade links between the Melaka Strait area and Indochina. In fact, as I have already mentioned earlier that the Cham sea captains were well treated in Melaka. The Sejarah Melayu mentions a Cham sea captain called Saidi Ahmad who stayed in Pahang. Afterreaching Pahang, Hang Nadim of Melaka made great friends with Saidi Ahmad. Saidi Ahmad gave all the details of Pahang to Hang Nadim. Then, Saidi Ahmad helped Hang Nadim
to carry out his secret mission there. At last, Saidi Ahmad sailed off for Melaka to send
Hang Nadim (SM: 238-41; Brown 1970: 139-41).
An interesting point is that the Cham sea captain was much more informed about thevassal state of Melaka than any Malay subject of Melaka was at that point of time. This
story suggests that the Cham sea captain took an active part in trade between the Malay
states and Indochina. This view is supported by the Portuguese record that states that thetrade network between the Malay Peninsula and Cambodia developed in the latter half ofthe 15th century (Pires 1966: 223). Therefore, it is not unreasonable to think that the Cham
diaspora had a close connection with the development of Melaka in “the Age of Commerce.”
Finally, I would like to add that we could find many traces of the Cham-Malay relations in the northern Malay state, Kelantan. Names of places such as Pengkalan Chepa(Cham jetty) and Kampung Chepa (Cham village) can be found there. The term “Champa”
was also associated with various products such as costume, textile, hair decoration, weapon,
8
and paddy . It was believed that a mosque in Kampung Laut was built by the Cham sailors
who frequented Kelantan. Furthermore, according to the Hikayat Kelantan, the royal familyof the present-day Kelantan sultanate originated from a state known as Kebayat Negara or
Kembayat Negara, which is believed to be Champa (Wong 2006: 13).

2. The Malays in Indochina
2.1 Champa

As the 13th century Venetian, Marco Polo states in his travels, Champa was famous for
its forest products like agalloch (or eaglewood) (Polo 1971 vol.2: 144). On his way from
Pasai to China, the 14th century traveler, Ibn Battuta stopped at a state called Tawalisi,
which was considered to be Champa (Ibn Battuta 2001: 410, 427-29). According to his tra7

Danny Wong Tze Ken divides the historical links between the Chams and the Malays into four phases as follows:(1) Early Links Before 1471, (2) Between Fall of Vijaya in 1471 and Defeat of 1692, (3) From 1693 to 1835 whenChampa was a Tributary State of Vietnam, (4) From 1835 to Present Day (Wong 2006: 2).
8
There were costume named tanjak Chepa and textile named sutra Chepa and kain Chepa. Moreover, there were
keris Chepa (Cham dagger), padi Chepa (Cham paddy) and sanggul Chepa (Cham hair decoration) in Kelantan.

88 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

vels, the ruler of Champa exerted great power like Chinese emperors and had many junks.
He states that people of Champa were not Muslim (Ibn Battuta 2001: 410).
However, Ibn Battuta describes a few interesting points about a charming Cham princess. This Cham princess was familiar with both the Arabic and the Turkish language. She
spoke to Ibn Battuta in the Arabic and the Turkish language and she could write in the
Arabic language. When Ibn Battuta announced that he came from India, the Cham princess
said that India was famous for pepper (Ibn Battuta 2001: 413). It is noteworthy that although she was not a Muslim, the Cham princess mastered the languages of West Asia andhad a knowledge of Indian products. Her story reveals that the rulers of port-polities inSoutheast Asia paid much attention in establishing trans-regional trade networks (See footnote 4).
French missionary records mentioned that during thirty years prior to the fall ofChampa to the Nguyen in 1692, there were many Malay scribes in the court of Champa.
Several French missionaries wrote letters saying that the Malay missionaries were also
there and their main task was to propagate the Islamic faith to the Chams. It is likely thatthese Malays were involved in the Cham struggle against the Vietnamese encroachments
into Cham territories, resulting in several anti-Vietnamese movements (Wong 2006: 12).
French records show that bahasa Melayu (the Malay language) functioned as a lingua
franca even in mainland Southeast Asia. Another important point is that French records
suggest that the Malays played an important role in the Islamization of the Chams in
9Champa . These facts also suggest the close links between the Malays and the Chams ofChampa.
2.2 Cambodia

The flow of the Chams from Champa into Cambodia occurred after the fall of Vijaya
in 1471. As mentioned in the previous section, trade links between the Malay world andCambodia grew from the latter half of the 15th century. A French traveler, G. Tachard statesthat the Malay migration to Cambodia increased during this period. Moreover, his record
shows that the Malay set-up close cooperation with the Chams (Choisy & Tachard 1991:
430-34).
Spanish records also contain interesting information on the Malay activities in Cambodia. According to A. Morga, in the late 16th century, the Malays grew to be a powerful military force in Cambodia. The Malay force went to Champa and carried out military operations there. A Malay leader who had a title of Laksamana (admiral) extended his powerwith the support of the ruler‟s mother and court dignitaries. Then, he banished foreign
people such as the Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese from the state. This Malay Laksamana came to exercise great power and he coped with every matter of the state (Morga
1966: 138-39, 144, 176, 247-49). A. Reid points out that the Malay Laksamana was anobleman (orang kaya) from Johor (Reid 1993: 188).
On the other hand, the Dutch documented that the Malays were engaged in trade activities. In the early 17th century, Intse [Encik] Lanagh Patanee [Patani] from Patani worked asa guide and interpreter in Cambodia. He led the Dutch to Laos (Kersten 2003: 6). Moreover,
F. Valentijn states that by the early 18th century, the Malay language was used in the Cambodian court (Valentijn 1724: 44). These facts show the following two points. First, thecontact between Cambodia and the Malay world became much closer in the 17th century.
9

The Cham classic entitled Nai Mai Mang Makah (The Princess from Kelantan) tells of the story of a princessfrom Kelantan who was trying to convert the Cham ruler to Islam. Although the event was not dated, Po Dharma
and Gerard Moussay assume that the event took place between the fall of Champa to the Vietnamese in 1692 and
1771 when the Tayson rebellion occurred (Po Dharma, Moussary & Abdul Karim 2000: 29-30).

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina

89

Second, the Malay world had already extended its trade network to Laos in the early 17th
century. In fact, Malay shippers were the principle rivals of the VOC (the Dutch East India
Company) in providing Indian cloth to Cambodia in exchange for benzoin, deer skin, andlacquer (Reid 1993: 189).
We should note that the Cambodian ruler allowed the Malays to enter its inland area.
This is quite different from the case of the Malay port-polities, because the Malay rulers
prohibited foreign merchants from making direct contacts with the inland people who were
engaged in producing and collecting trading items (Hirosue 1996). On this point, Endostresses the significance of the Malay- Cham links in Cambodia. He states that the Malay
were able to approach the inland area with the help of the Chams who kept in close contact
with the people there (Endo 2006: 2). Endo also points out that the Malays played a similarrole with the Chams. He adds that the Cambodia Chronicle (Brah Raj Bansavatar) does notmake a clear distinction between the Malays and the Chams (Endo 2006: 2).
In 1644, the ruler of Cambodia, Ramadhipati embraced Islam and adopted the title ofSultan Ibrahim. He established a replica of a Malay court on the Mekong. The reason forthis dramatic event is that the ruler needed allies against the Dutch. As a result, Sultan Ibrahim retained the throne of Cambodia longer than any of his Buddhist predecessors since theprevious century (Reid 1993: 189, 190). His conversion shows that the Malays were an influential group in 17th century Cambodia. Such a close connection between Cambodia andthe Malay world is reflected in thestory of Daeng Kamboja (the 3 rd Bugis Yang Dipertuan
Muda [vice-ruler] of Johor-Riau), which is described in the 19th century Malay history, theTuhfat al-Nafis (Hooker 1991: 182-83; Raja Ali Haji ibn Ahmad 1982: 45-46).

3. The Case of Contemporary Kuala Lumpur
Recently, Malaysia seems to be spotlighted as a major tourist destination by the Arabpeople. Many Arab tourists can be seen in the numerous shopping districts of Kuala Lumpur. The period from July to September, in particular, may be said to be “musim Arab” (theseason of the Arabs).
With reference to this trend, new restaurants and shops have made their debut andopened. One example is kedai minyak wangi (perfume shop) which deals with kayu gaharu(agalloch or eaglewood). Last year, there were several kedai minyak wangi along Bukit
Bintang Street in Kuala Lumpur. However, the number of kedai minyak wangi has increased during this span of one year. Now, more than ten shops can be found there.
Most of the above shops seem to be managed by Arabs. However, I found one shop,
which is managed by a Cham Muslim family. This Cham family moved from Cambodia to
Malaysia about twenty years ago. According to this Cham family, their kedai minyak wangi
deals with eaglewood from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Cambodia.
We may say that recently the tradition of nakhoda Campa is being revived in a newstyle. The link between the Cham and the Malay world is not only an event in the remote
past but also an ongoing event up to the present-day.

Conclusion
So far, this paper has considered trade links between the Malay world and Indochina
by focusing attention on the activities of the Chams and the Malays. The discussion of thispaper can be summed up as follows.
(1) The Cham diaspora after 1471 A.D. took an active part in establishing trade links between the Melaka Strait area and Indochina. They had a close connection with the development of Melaka in the “Age of Commerce.”
90 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3

(2) In the early modern period, the Malays established close links with Champa. The Malay
language functioned as a lingua franca in both courts of Champa and Cambodia. It is
probable that the Malays played an important role in the Islamization of the Chams ofChampa.
(3) In Cambodia, the Malay- Cham link dates back to the latter half of the 15th century. In
the 17th century, commercial relations between Cambodia and the Malay world becamemuch closer and the Malay trade network extended to Laos with the support of theChams. The Malays also played a prominent role in military affairs.
(4) The role of the Chams to connect Indochina with the Malay world continues to be relevant today and can certainly be seen in present-day Malaysia.

Abbreviations
DBP: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka
HRP: Jones, R. (ed.) 1987 Hikayat Raja Pasai. Petaling Jaya: Penerbit Fajar Bakti.
JMBRAS: Journal of the Malayan/Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society
JSEAS: Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
KL: Kuala Lumpur
MBRAS: The Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society
OUP: Oxford University Press
SM: Cheah, Boon Kheng (ed.) & Abdul Rahman Haji Ismail (transcribed.) 1998 Sejarah Melayu, the Malay
Annals. KL: MBRAS.

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Notes on the Contributors
MOHAMAD ZAIN Bin Musa
MOHAMAD ZAIN Bin Musa was born in 1951 in Cambodia of Cham descent. He is now a Malaysian national and is an Associate Professor in History at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He is a
graduate of the EPHE (IVth Section), Sorbonne and is fluent in Cham, Khmer, Malay, French andEnglish. He is a Cham specialist and has published many articles, ranging from the early history of
the Kingdom of Champa through the recent history of the Cham displacement caused by the Communist victory in Indochina in 1975. His two books, Masyarakat Cam Sepanjang Zaman and The
Cham Community Through the Ages, were recently published as a joint-work with Prof. Dato‟ Dr.
Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abd Rahman. His works also include translations from French articles
which were published Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka of Malaysia. He is now working on a book on the
Chams in Malaysia and carrying out a research on the Socio-economic conditions of the Chams in
Cambodia.

Rie NAKAMURA
Dr. NAKAMURA is one of the pioneering Japanese scholars in the field of Cham studies in Vietnam.
She has done extensive research on the Chams in Vietnam. She holds a Ph.D. from the Departmentof Anthropology, University of Washington. Her doctoral dissertation was on the Chams of Vietnam. She has also written many academic articles on the subject and presented papers at numerous
academic conferences. She worked as a program officer at the Toyota Foundation in Japan before
assuming the post of a regional coordinator at the Open Society Institute in Thailand. She is currently a lecturer at the College of Law, Government and International Studies in Universiti Utara
Malaysia., Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia.

Kanji NISHIO
Dr. NISHIO is a professor at the Department of Humanities, School of Humanities and Social
Sciences, National Defense Academy, Japan. He obtained his Ph.D in History from the Universityof Tokyo. He has been doing field research in the Malay world of Southeast Asia since the late1980s. He has been associated with several universities in Malaysia, such as the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur and Universiti Malaysia Sabah and Japan in various capacities. A prolificresearcher, he has published many articles on various aspects of the Malay world and is now acknowledged as a leading authority in that field in Japan.

OMAR FAROUKDr. OMAR FAROUK graduated with a First Class Honours in History from the University of Malaya
in 1975 and subsequently obtained a Ph.D degree in Politics and Government from the Universityof Kent in Canterbury, England. He taught for many years at the University of Malaya before his
appointment as a full professor at Hiroshima City University in Japan in 1994. He has also held visiting positions at Kyoto University and Leiden University, and has been associated with a numberof other foreign universities in various capacities. He has been doing research on Islam in Southeast
Asia for over thirty years and has published extensively on the subject. Since 1995 he has been particularly focusing his research on the Muslims in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

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Ba Trung PHU
Dr. PHU is the Curator of the Museum of Vietnam History in Ho Chi Minh City while concurrently
holding the post of the Director, Center for Research and Promotion of Ethnic Minority Cultures,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He has a Ph.D in Anthropology from the University of Social Sciencesand Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam. The title of his Ph.D. thesis is “The Cham‟s marriage
and family.” A Bani Islam Cham himself, he is known by his Muslim name as Ibrahim Phu. He is
Vietnamese by nationality and Cham by ethnicity. Dr. PHU has been lecturing on the various aspects
of Cham culture and the art history of Champa for more than 18 years. He has also published a major work on Cham marriage and family in Vietnamese.

Malte STOKHOF
Mr. STOKHOF, a Dutch national, is a PhD candidate at the Vrije University in Amsterdam, working
on the little-known Bawean diaspora in Vietnam. He has mapped the Austronesian /Muslim communities in southern Vietnam during his 12 months stay there in 2001. Because of his linguistic
skills (fluency in Vietnamese and Indonesian) he was able to do research among these bi-lingual
groups in Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand. He lived in Indonesia for thirteen years, andstudied Indonesian at the University of Leiden for 1 year. He has also studied Vietnamese for 2
years (University of Leiden 1 year and National University of Hanoi 1 year). He has conducted
fieldwork interviews among Muslims in Northern and in Southern Vietnam. During fieldwork hedeveloped contacts with Cham and Bawean communities and has become very familiar with thereligious life and daily practices among Vietnam‟s Muslims.

Hiroyuki YAMAMOTO
Dr. YAMAMOTO holds a Ph.D in Arts and Sciences (Area Studies) from the Graduate School of Arts
and Sciences, University of Tokyo, where he graduated in 2003. He specializes on the modern history of Sabah, Malaysia and its neighboring areas. Prior to his current appointment as Associate
Professor at the Center for Integrated Area Studies (CIAS), Kyoto University, he had held various
appointments including Visiting Research Associate at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS)in Sabah, Malaysia; Lecturer at Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia; Research Associate at the
University of Tokyo and Associate Professor at the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan.
He has done a lot of field research in Sabah and other areas in Malaysia and has published numerous works.

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Workshop program
Kyoto University
Center for Integrated Area Studies
International Workshop on the theme:

Islam at the Margins: The Muslims of Indochina.
20 May 2007.

Venue – Center for Integrated Area Studies, Kyoto University
9:00 – 9:10 a.m. –Registration and administrative briefing

9:10 – 9:20 a.m. –Welcoming remarks by Professor Hiroyuki YAMAMOTO

9:20 – 9:30 a.m. –Introduction of participantsSession 1 – Moderator: OMAR FAROUK

9:30 – 10:10 a.m. – Rie NAKAMURA, “The Cham Muslims in Ninh Thuan Province, Vietnam”
10:10 – 10:30 a.m. – Coffee-break
10:30 – 11:10 a.m. – Ba Trung PHU, “Bani Islam Cham in Vietnam”
11:10 – 11:50 a.m. – Malte STOKHOF, “The Baweans of Ho Chi Minh City”
11:50 – 12:30 p.m. – Discussion

Session 2 – Moderator: Hiroyuki YAMAMOTO
2:00 – 2:40p.m. –MOHAMAD ZAIN Bin Musa, “Dynamics of Faith: Imam Musa in the Revival of Islamic Teaching in Cambodia”

2:40 – 3:20 p.m. –OMAR FAROUK, “The Re-organization of Islam in Cambodia and Laos”

3:20 – 3:40 p.m. –Coffee-break

4:00 – 4.40 p.m. –Kanji NISHIO “The Chams and the Malay World”

4.40 – 6.00p.m. –Discussion

96 CIAS Discussion Paper No.3