Feudalism and Islam in South East Asia - Essay Example

?Islam and Feudalism Question To answer the first question, we shall start with the definition of feudalism and carry on from that point onwards. Following is the definition of Feudalism: “form of political and social organization typical of Western Europe from the dissolution of Charlemagne's empire to the rise of the absolute monarchies. The term feudalism is derived from the Latin feodum, for "fief," and ultimately from a Germanic word meaning "cow," generalized to denote valuable movable property. Although analogous social systems have appeared in other civilizations, the feudalism of Europe in the Middle Ages remains the common model of feudal society.” Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central europe and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market economy and new forms of agrarian contract. Manorialism was characterized by the vesting of legal and economic power in a lord, supported economically from his own direct landholding and from the obligatory contributions of a legally subject part of the peasant population under his jurisdiction. These obligations could be payable in several ways, in labor (the French term corvee is conventionally applied), in kind or, on rare occasions, in coin. The feudal society was constructed for one reason: security. The nobles wanted the security of maintaining control over their far-reaching kingdoms, so they were forced to delegate power to local control. The peasants wanted security from marauders and barbarians from neighboring lands. They also wanted security from invading armies. And thus the development of the feudal system and the fief structure was almost inevitable. However, all this came at the great expense of the common man. He gave up many freedoms for his security. The question we ask you is: Was it worth it? It was a form of society where the peasants and other workers, labourers were given land in return to the services they gave to the kingdom. There is a need for the existence of Feudalism as it keeps the government of Malaysia in check. Through feudalism the government is able to distinguish the need of the people in a very efficient manner and also help the citizens rise through the barriers in their lives. Two major developments that changed Malay history occurred beginning in the 13th and 14th centuries. The first was the arrival of Islam, and the second was the rise of the great port city of Malacca on the southwestern coast of Malay peninsular. The islamic faith arrived on the shores of what are now the states of Kedah, Perak, Kelantan, and terengganu, from around the 12th century. The earliest archaeological evidence of islam from the Malay peninsula is an inscribed stone dating from the 14th century. By the 15th century, the Malacca sultanate whose hegemony reached over much of the western Malay archipelago, became the center of Islamization in the east. The Malaccan tradition was transmitted onwards and fostered a vigorous ethos of Malay identity. It was during this era that the Islamic faith became closely identified with Malay society and played a significant role in defining the Malay identity. Established by the Malay ruler Parameswara, the sultanate of malacca was first a hindu kingdom. The introduction of the Islamic faith is attributed to have arisen originally out of a political allegiance with the Chinese Ming dynasty to safeguard Parameswara’s empire from enemy attacks. This accord suggests that during the trade activities that followed, the arrival of the Chinese-Muslim admiral Zheng Ho brought the seeds of Islam to Malacca and it is through contact with Zheng Ho that Parameswara converted to Islam in 1414 and took up the title of “Sultan” and proclaimed himself as the Sultan Of Malacca. He also changed his name to Iskandar Shah. The rulers’ acceptance of islam made the new religion popular among the masses and a popular surge in the rise of conversion started to take place. The appeal of Islam was so strong that the Sultanate's arch rival, Majapahit converted in 1447. The rise of Islam was so momentous that within a half century of it’s introduction in the malay archipelago islam swept across the dominant hindu religion into the confines of the Javanese island of Bali where it still holds strong. Considering how in over a thousand years, Buddhism and Hinduism were barely able to make a dent east of Borneo, for Islam to travel the length of the archipelago from Sumatra to the Moluccas in under two centuries is a remarkable fact. As a religion, Islam had popular appeal. The Hindu and Buddhist religions had been used primarily to grant divine authority to the rule of the Rajas. Islam offered its converts a personal salvation. The sufis who formed muslim missions for the spreading of islam to these new lands had a great role to play in garnering popular appeal for the religion. Islam was also carried forward by the mercantile community and it’s profit driven mobility into the interiors of the archipelago. The landed Hindu-Buddhist Rajas were content in letting trade come to them and then taxing it as it passed through their ports. Lacking a fixed land base, the Islamic merchants followed commercial instincts knowing that the best profits on the trade were waiting to be made at source. This trail of conversions led them directly to the spices. Perhaps most importantly, Islam brought with it the inventions of gunpowder, firearms and cannon. Recalling how the Sultan of Malacca accepted the new faith and how quickly others followed this lead, access to these new weapons and the added advantage in warfare may have been restricted to the faithful. The religion's rapid progress and rise through the islands could have been, at least in part, an arms race. The eventual advent of the Portuguese and British in 1606 was one of the first setbacks to the system of sultanates in the indinesian archipelago. Entering as mere traders onto the indonesian cultural scene the colonial system of regency and residency as means of control over the various sultanates gradualy undermined the power of the sultans in action. Over time apart from the Sultanate of Johor all other sultanates fell prey to this system of siphoning power off to the colonial rulers by instatement of Regents. The sultans became only stamps in official proceedings, symbols to placate the populace and officiate as ceremonial heads. The signs of displeasure with the state of government emerged first in the form of Indies Social Democratic Association (in Dutch: Indische Sociaal-Democratische Vereeniging, ISDV). ISDV was constituted essentially by the 85 members of the two Dutch socialist parties, SDAP and SDP, residing in the Dutch East Indies. The Dutch members of the ISDV introduced Marxist ideas to educated Indonesians looking for ways to oppose colonial rule. In the early twentieth century the rising interest and growing enthusiasm in a free indonesia rapidly picked up support. Led by leaders like Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta the people broke into a revolution that demanded a free indonesia and freedom from the colonial rule of the Dutch. With popular support behind them the islamist and communist parties also participated in the revolution and took on erstwhile sultanates. Across the country, people rose up against traditional aristocrats and village heads and attempted to exert popular ownership of land and other resources. The majority of the social revolutions ended quickly; in most cases the challenges to the social order were quashed. Violence was one of the many lessons learned during the Japanese occupation, and figures identified as 'feudal', including kings, regents, or simply the wealthy, were often attacked, sometimes beheaded, and rape became a weapon against 'feudal' women. The final blow to the sultans was in the form of post independence ‘anti feudal’ policies that aimed to consolidate power in the hands of republican hands. Although the sultanates have now been demolished and absorbed into the mainstream and rulers that once governed now hold ordinary jobs long-dormant sultanates are being revived all over Indonesia.Figures such as the sultan of Bima and the king of Kupang have always been respected as informal local leaders. The sultanates today are mere weekend sultans ruling in the name of cultural harmony and presiding over functions. A stark opposite to their former glory. With the advent of Islam, the whole structure of Malaysia changed as strict Sharia laws were brought into place for practice. The people of Malaysia did accept to the norms of Islam rule and they were satisfied that a religion like Islam which is tolerant to the needs of the people and understanding in a way shall help them live the spiritual life and also achieve their goals and bring them closer to God. Islam was a major catalyst in transforming the society of the Malay people. Before the advent of Islam there were quite a lot of issues and family problems which the society witness. There were not a lot of strong opinions or laws to protect the right of the people and it was felt that the people were not spiritually happy or satisfied with the way their lives were going. However, things changed and took a positive recourse after the introduction of Islam in Malaysia. Islamic Struggle in Malaysia The struggle of Islam in Malaysia was a long drawn struggle against evil and negativity. The rise of Islam came about in Malaysia due to the dynamic circumstances which prevailed locally in the country. The religion had an advantage from the issues which plagued the nation in the 70’s. Such issues were not to be resolved amicably and therefore it was pertinent that a religion like Islam which practiced and preached peace would eventually lift the shackles off negativity in Malaysia. Traditionally speaking Malay people were Hindus. However, on a later point of time they converted to Islam and became Muslims. The conversion took place around the 13th century. This took place in many ways. One of the ways was the conversion of the King. In this fashion the King propagated the idea of Islam to its people and converted since he believed in the idea of Islam. Another way of conversion was the trade with Arab and Persians. As we all know that when two countries trade with each other they share a lot more than goods but more importantly they share their culture with the people of the different countries. This is the same case over here as the Malay people mixed with the Arabs and Persians and took Islam from that point as they intermingled with each other, including the societies. Sufism entered Malaysia and it transformed the people in a different way. This was the spiritual way in which people followed Islam. It was not an easy ride for Islam as the propagators had to struggle a lot to distribute their ideologies to the people in a peaceful manner. Sufism is considered to be the most peaceful fashion in which Islam was propagated and spread to other parts of the country. Culturally speaking, the Malay people are essentially very strong rooted with their inherent culture. Islamic influence played a heavy role in defining the culture of the country. It is true that Malaysia takes back a lot of diversity from the advent of Islam, but more so due to the fact that the religion has been the guiding light of the people of Malaysia. The struggle for political supremacy also played its role in the developing of the religion. The scholars of Islam had to face immense struggle to propagate the religion with full effect. The scholars had to face a lot of skepticism from the public and saw a downturn with respect to the way scholars tried to save the religion from the tyranny of the Sultans. The Sultans were demonic rulers who did not listen to the needs of the people and ruled according to their own beliefs and rituals. Among the scholars there was a huge rage to overturn the power of the Sultans in Malaysia. There was a lot of hue and cry over the way the Sultans have been running the country and the need was felt to dismantle the Government of Sultans. The Sultans were basically barbaric rulers who did not go by the rules of the book. They took to themselves as the messengers of God and propounded the beliefs that they were the ultimate law of the land and their word was also the final word of the God. Islam made its advent in Malacca which was a Hindu establishment until that time. “Prior to European colonization, the Malacca sultanate was based on the naval prowess of Orang Laut sailors in alliance with Malay rulers. However, other Orang Asli were captured and enslaved by Malays, and Orang Asli used to be referred to as sakai, meaning slave, or by the derogatory expression, semang. The Orang Asli remained largely isolated until the middle of the nineteenth century and were able to maintain control over parts of the interior of the Malaysian peninsula, as they had little economic or strategic interest to colonial authorities. During the 1950s insurgency known as the Emergency however, communist (and ethnic Chinese) guerrillas often fled to the mountainous areas inhabited by the Orang Asli, some of whom cooperated with the guerrillas because of their traditional hostility towards Malays. The British established fortified settlements, often with health clinics or schools, to resettle the Orang Asli and isolate them from communist contact. A Department of Aborigines was created, which, after independence, eventually became the Department of Orang Asli Affairs. Official government policy is to convert the community to Islam.” “From the 1960s, the Malaysian government began a policy of 'integration' which meant steps to modernize the Orang Asli by introducing cash-crop agriculture (and discouraging traditional hunter-gathering and nomadic activities), education (mainly in the Malay language), and replacing traditional leaders by government-appointed headmen.” The Malacca sultanate was the first sultanate of its kind. It was the sultanate which was first in line when the country got influenced with Islam. It adopted Islam the first time and through this sultanate did the religion spread to the other parts of the country. After the district of Malacca accepted Islam, the religion spread to the other parts along with the influence of the people of Malacca. Malacca pioneered in the distribution of the religion of Islam, after which the sultanate grew in power. Once that happened then the country got accustomed to the religion and Islam made it foray slowly in the country. Works Cited: http://library.thinkquest.org/10949/fief/hifeudal.html http://www.ualberta.ca/~vmitchel/rev7.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Indonesia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_National_Revolution http://www.insideindonesia.org/edition-78/return-of-the-sultans-2607244 http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/49749ce85.html Read More