Sarekat Islam founded by Samanhoedi
History
Formation
The predecessor of Sarekat Islam was Sarekat Dagang Islam (Islamic Trade Association, SDI) which was based on a movement in 1909 in Batavia (today's Jakarta) and 1910 in Buitenzorg (today's Bogor), West Java. This movement was formed by a journalist Tirto Adhi Soerjo who was a member of priyayi (Javanese noble class). Tirto aimed the movement to bring together small-scale pribumi (indigenous) traders and Arab traders unified by the common Islamic religion to advance their economic interests and compete with the Chinese-Indonesian big traders. The movement was also a reaction to the intensified activities of the foreign Christian missionary in Indonesia, which strengthened the position of Islam as a rallying point of native Indonesians' struggle against the foreign encroachment. The movement sparked the interest of Samanhudi, a successful batik trader based in Surakarta. In 1911, Samanhudi founded SDI in the city of Surakarta with the help of Tirto.
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