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Journal of Contemporary ReligionPublication details including instructions for authors andsubscription informationhttpwwwtandfonlinecomloicjcr20

lsquoCallingrsquo and lsquoTrainingrsquo Role Innovationand Religious De-differentiation inCommercialised Indonesian IslamJulia Day HowellPublished online 02 Oct 2013

To cite this article Julia Day Howell (2013) lsquoCallingrsquo and lsquoTrainingrsquo Role Innovation and ReligiousDe-differentiation in Commercialised Indonesian Islam Journal of Contemporary Religion 283401-419 DOI 101080135379032013831650

To link to this article httpdxdoiorg101080135379032013831650

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor amp Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (theldquoContentrdquo) contained in the publications on our platform However Taylor amp Francisour agents and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy completeness or suitability for any purpose of the Content Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authorsand are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor amp Francis The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses actions claimsproceedings demands costs expenses damages and other liabilities whatsoever orhowsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with in relation to or arisingout of the use of the Content

This article may be used for research teaching and private study purposes Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction redistribution reselling loan sub-licensingsystematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden Terms ampConditions of access and use can be found at httpwwwtandfonlinecompageterms-and-conditions

lsquoCallingrsquo and lsquoTrainingrsquo Role Innovation andReligious De-differentiation in CommercialisedIndonesian Islam

JULIA DAY HOWELL

ABSTRACT This article explores parallels between emergent Islamic popular culture inthe commercial arena in Indonesia and popular religion propagated through the massmedia in Europe and North America Focusing on two emergent types of emiclydistinguished but eticly overlapping lay religious roles that of the darsquoi (lay preacher)and the lsquotrainerrsquo it shows how borrowing from globally disseminated genres ofsecular culture by Islamic lay leaders in the commercial arena in Indonesia partiallyblurs the boundaries between religiously marked and unmarked communicationsdespite the popularity there of Islamicly marked dress styles and consumables This issuggestive of a similar if partial de-differentiation of the religious and othercommunication spheres in Indonesia such as Hubert Knoblauch found in EuropeHowever as in his reading of European popular religion it does not further implyWeberian lsquodisenchantmentrsquo since leading exemplars of Indonesian Islamiccommercialised lsquopreachingrsquo and lsquotrainingrsquo such as those examined in case materialpresented here still focus consumers on the transcendent while those proselytisers yetwork to overcome the compartmentalisation of Indonesian selves in their differentiatedmodern society

Introduction

This article documents a type of eclecticism that now characterisescommercially disseminated religious communications in Indonesia the worldrsquoslargest Muslim majority country This eclecticism is the melding worked byreligious entrepreneurs in new roles of Islamic and denominationallyneutralised religious communications with strategically selected secularelements of global culture1 the immediate origins of which are primarily inNorth Atlantic countries Such cultural borrowing and blending is hereillustrated by the ministries of two financially highly successful figures whoare the best known innovators of new types of piety and personaldevelopment promotion profiles that of the silver-screen entertainerndashpreacherand the mass-audience spiritual trainer

Further the article explores parallels between emergent Islamic popularculture carried in the commercial arena in Indonesia and popular religionrecently propagated through the mass media and other commercial outlets inEurope and North America More particularly it explores the ways in whichborrowing from secular culture effects in some expressions of Indonesian

Journal of Contemporary Religion 2013

Vol 28 No 3 401ndash419 httpdxdoiorg101080135379032013831650

2013 Taylor amp Francis

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popular religious culture what Knoblauch described in his study of Europeanpopular religion as the ldquodissolution of the boundaries between hellip religiouslymarked and unmarked communicationrdquo (140)

In the West the eclectic blending of religion and secular culture is mostevident in the expanding arena of extra-ecclesial spiritualities (Heelas andWoodhead Turner) where individuals find resources to cultivate an inner lifeand sense of well-being outside formally institutionalised ChristianityReligious themes and symbols also circulate widely in secular arenas notablyin the entertainment industry but also in the healing and helping professionsThe churches most active in the popular mass media Pentecostal andevangelical ministries also heavily use popular culture to get across theirmessages wedding evangelical lyrics to popular music styles using novelsand films to dramatise their lsquorapturersquo stories and moral injunctions andbuilding Disney-style religious theme parks (Hoover) Individual lay peopleand ministries emerging from the laity with little social distance betweenpastors and their flocks are the principal innovators and propagators of theseculturally eclectic communications

Knoblauch in his study of European popular religion sees such blending ofreligious and secular culture as effecting the de-differentiation of religiouscommunications moving against the longer-term historical trend of thedifferentiation of religion and other social systems in Europe as societies theremodernised He considers this dissolution of the boundaries between religionand secular culture to be one of the characteristic features of contemporarypopular religion along with the centrality of lay people in disseminating itand its pervasive emphasis on personal experiences of non-ordinary reality orlsquogreat transcendencesrsquo

Indonesian law imposes some constraints on public religious expression aswell as on the formulation of personal religious identity but nonethelesspermits a fairly broad range of choice in religious matters to persist (Al AfganiHefner Civil Religion Howell ldquoMuslimsrdquo) Although nearly 90 of Indonesiansare Muslims Indonesians have repeatedly rejected initiatives to cast the nationas an Islamic state not only due to pressures brought by the countryrsquosChristian Hindu and other minorities but also due to the widespreadappreciation among Muslims of the diverse ways they themselves apprehendIslam and incorporate it into their lives The most recent test of thiscommitment was in 2002 when a move in the newly democratic legislature byIslamist parties to require the state to enforce Islamic law failed (Hosen)

A recent legal decision by Indonesiarsquos Constitutional Court has renewedpressure on citizens to exercise choice only within the bounds of the nationallyrecognized world religions and has even cast a shadow over the lsquofreeinterpretationrsquo of religion2 But within these limits the market for religious andspiritual renewal products is reasonably diverse On the one hand manyMuslim shoppers avidly select consumables symbolically linked to Islam andproduced in accordance with Islamic law like syariah banking productsIslamic medicines and fashions and halal holiday packages (AbdurrahmanFealy) in preference to non-religiously marked products Their purchases canbe seen to express commitment to the teachings of Islam as they understandthem and also give visible definition to the religious community the ummahOn the other hand some of the most successful commercially delivered piety

402 J D Howell

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

promotion programmes combine religious teachings with elements of secularculture to enhance their appeal and demonstrate their relevance to modern lifeThese borrowings include globally popular entertainment formats and genreslsquogrowth movementrsquo personal development techniques (cf Heelas Puttick) andconcepts from management science

In the pages that follow I document this seemingly paradoxical blurring ofreligious communications within the context of the Indonesian Islamic revivaland argue that not only is there enthusiastic marking of religion in thecommercial sphere but there is also extensive borrowing from secular culturesuggestive of religious de-differentiation in the commercial environment Ishow that this is effected in Indonesia as in Christian-heritage communities inEurope by self-styled lay people with the talents to bridge religious andsecular communication spheres This bridging is achieved again as in Europe(Knoblauch) through foregrounding the experiential dimension of the Islamictradition and linking it to concepts of lsquospiritualityrsquo circulating in the globalcultural marketplace

To illustrate the ways that religious communications3 have becomeinterwoven with secular culture I analyse two of the most popular spiritualdevelopment ministries of the last decade that of Abdullah Gymnastiar andAry Ginanjar Each exemplifies a locally (emicly) distinct type of personaldevelopment promoter Abdullah Gymnastiar is recognized as a darsquoi (preacher)and Ary Ginanjar presents himself as a lsquotrainerrsquo (an Indonesian loan wordfrom the English with much the same meaning)

While their roles are emicly distinct an etic analysis of the roleperformances of the darsquoi Gymnastiar and the trainer Ginanjar reveals them tobe nearly indistinguishable Both try to inspire personal development andimproved performance in everyday life through a renewal of religiouscommitment Both have mass-media presences through their self-help bookstapes and DVDs and their television appearances but they also both havelsquoface-to-facersquo operations in which they and their staff work directly with clientsand audiences at workshops and rallies Both present themselves as laymen(orang awam) rather than as Muslim clerics (ulama) and offer their pietyenhancement programmes through corporatised businesses as businessmenAnd both include appropriations from secular (that is religiously unmarked)global popular culture in their piety promotions These appropriations includeboth art forms (eg songs fashion set design workshop warm-ups and comicinterludes) and the popular sciences of success (notably management scienceand the psychology of personal development) that appeal especially to themiddle and upper classes of the major cities

Both moreover are talented entertainers as incongruous as this might seemfor either a preacher or a business trainer Success as a televangelist in the lastdecade has apparently depended on this as darsquoi with such talents have largelysuperseded those who were merely genial but unable to sing act tell fabulousstories or dramatically stage mass religious services for television The trainermarket is less demanding in that respect but Ginanjar illustrates the value ofsuch talents for holding a live audience in a training programme all day forseveral days Finally both lead religious services as any Muslim man of goodstanding in the community may do although this activity and the sermons

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 403

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

delivered in the course of public prayers are taken as defining a careerpreacher or darsquoi

The strong resemblance between these two types of performer (the one thedarsquoi explicitly linked to religion by its association with preaching in mosquesand the other the trainer marked as a secular professional) is in itselfevidence of the blurring of the distinction between religious and secularcommunications in the commercial sphere Further the ambiguity of thecontent of the trainerrsquos programme sometimes explicitly Islamic at other timesnon-denominationally religious or even lsquospiritualrsquo in a generic sense shows thescope for de-differentiation of religious communications that is sociallyacceptable and commercially viable in Indonesia today

Following my presentation of the two ministries that of lsquopreacherrsquo AbdullahGymnastiar and of lsquotrainerrsquo Ary Ginanjar I consider the differences in theinstitutionalisation of religion in Christian-heritage Europe and predominantlyIslamic-heritage Indonesia that are relevant for assessing the suggestion that thecultural eclecticism described here can be read as religious lsquode-differentiationrsquo

The descriptions of the ministries of these two figures are drawn fromrepeated short periods of fieldwork in Indonesia from 2004 to 2011 when Ialso gathered field data and publications on several other celebrity preachersand elite-strata spiritual training programmes The observational material onGymnastiar and Ginanjar reported here and most of the interview materialwas obtained in 2005 and 2006 when I interviewed Abdullah Gymnastiar andAry Ginanjar and members of their staff visited Gymnastiarrsquos Jakartaheadquarters and Bandung complex attended services where Gymnastiarpreached and one of Ginanjarrsquos training programmes and talked to otherparticipants at those events In May 2011 I was graciously given anotheropportunity to interview Ginanjarrsquos staff and to visit his Jakarta facilities toupdate my knowledge of their programmes with material not otherwiseavailable in bookshops on their internet site (wwwesqway1965com) or in thenews

Abdullah Gymnastiar Career darsquoi and Televangelist

Abdullah Gymnastiar (or Aa Gym [Brother Gym] as he is familiarly known)exemplifies the further evolution in the commercial arena of a figure the laylsquocallerrsquo to the faith or darsquoi that has come to the fore through the twentieth-century modernist Islamic reform movement and the associated politicalmobilisation of Muslims by reformists Talented darsquoi are now able to make acareer of preaching and figures like Aa Gym have been able to adapt theirmessages for presentation through non-religious entertainment genres personaldevelopment courses business consulting and electronic messaging Variouslycombined all of these can form the basis of lucrative businesses and catapultdarsquoi to celebrity status

Figures designated in Indonesian by the term lsquodarsquoirsquo like those in Egyptknown as dulsquoat (sing dalsquoiya) have risen to social prominence through thereligious renewal or dakwah movement The root meaning of the Indonesianword lsquodakwahrsquo is lsquoinvitationrsquo or lsquocallrsquo (to heed Godrsquos message) and the dalsquoi isliterally a lsquocallerrsquo The contemporary Indonesian usages of dakwah and darsquoi have

404 J D Howell

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

popular religious culture what Knoblauch described in his study of Europeanpopular religion as the ldquodissolution of the boundaries between hellip religiouslymarked and unmarked communicationrdquo (140)

In the West the eclectic blending of religion and secular culture is mostevident in the expanding arena of extra-ecclesial spiritualities (Heelas andWoodhead Turner) where individuals find resources to cultivate an inner lifeand sense of well-being outside formally institutionalised ChristianityReligious themes and symbols also circulate widely in secular arenas notablyin the entertainment industry but also in the healing and helping professionsThe churches most active in the popular mass media Pentecostal andevangelical ministries also heavily use popular culture to get across theirmessages wedding evangelical lyrics to popular music styles using novelsand films to dramatise their lsquorapturersquo stories and moral injunctions andbuilding Disney-style religious theme parks (Hoover) Individual lay peopleand ministries emerging from the laity with little social distance betweenpastors and their flocks are the principal innovators and propagators of theseculturally eclectic communications

Knoblauch in his study of European popular religion sees such blending ofreligious and secular culture as effecting the de-differentiation of religiouscommunications moving against the longer-term historical trend of thedifferentiation of religion and other social systems in Europe as societies theremodernised He considers this dissolution of the boundaries between religionand secular culture to be one of the characteristic features of contemporarypopular religion along with the centrality of lay people in disseminating itand its pervasive emphasis on personal experiences of non-ordinary reality orlsquogreat transcendencesrsquo

Indonesian law imposes some constraints on public religious expression aswell as on the formulation of personal religious identity but nonethelesspermits a fairly broad range of choice in religious matters to persist (Al AfganiHefner Civil Religion Howell ldquoMuslimsrdquo) Although nearly 90 of Indonesiansare Muslims Indonesians have repeatedly rejected initiatives to cast the nationas an Islamic state not only due to pressures brought by the countryrsquosChristian Hindu and other minorities but also due to the widespreadappreciation among Muslims of the diverse ways they themselves apprehendIslam and incorporate it into their lives The most recent test of thiscommitment was in 2002 when a move in the newly democratic legislature byIslamist parties to require the state to enforce Islamic law failed (Hosen)

A recent legal decision by Indonesiarsquos Constitutional Court has renewedpressure on citizens to exercise choice only within the bounds of the nationallyrecognized world religions and has even cast a shadow over the lsquofreeinterpretationrsquo of religion2 But within these limits the market for religious andspiritual renewal products is reasonably diverse On the one hand manyMuslim shoppers avidly select consumables symbolically linked to Islam andproduced in accordance with Islamic law like syariah banking productsIslamic medicines and fashions and halal holiday packages (AbdurrahmanFealy) in preference to non-religiously marked products Their purchases canbe seen to express commitment to the teachings of Islam as they understandthem and also give visible definition to the religious community the ummahOn the other hand some of the most successful commercially delivered piety

402 J D Howell

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

promotion programmes combine religious teachings with elements of secularculture to enhance their appeal and demonstrate their relevance to modern lifeThese borrowings include globally popular entertainment formats and genreslsquogrowth movementrsquo personal development techniques (cf Heelas Puttick) andconcepts from management science

In the pages that follow I document this seemingly paradoxical blurring ofreligious communications within the context of the Indonesian Islamic revivaland argue that not only is there enthusiastic marking of religion in thecommercial sphere but there is also extensive borrowing from secular culturesuggestive of religious de-differentiation in the commercial environment Ishow that this is effected in Indonesia as in Christian-heritage communities inEurope by self-styled lay people with the talents to bridge religious andsecular communication spheres This bridging is achieved again as in Europe(Knoblauch) through foregrounding the experiential dimension of the Islamictradition and linking it to concepts of lsquospiritualityrsquo circulating in the globalcultural marketplace

To illustrate the ways that religious communications3 have becomeinterwoven with secular culture I analyse two of the most popular spiritualdevelopment ministries of the last decade that of Abdullah Gymnastiar andAry Ginanjar Each exemplifies a locally (emicly) distinct type of personaldevelopment promoter Abdullah Gymnastiar is recognized as a darsquoi (preacher)and Ary Ginanjar presents himself as a lsquotrainerrsquo (an Indonesian loan wordfrom the English with much the same meaning)

While their roles are emicly distinct an etic analysis of the roleperformances of the darsquoi Gymnastiar and the trainer Ginanjar reveals them tobe nearly indistinguishable Both try to inspire personal development andimproved performance in everyday life through a renewal of religiouscommitment Both have mass-media presences through their self-help bookstapes and DVDs and their television appearances but they also both havelsquoface-to-facersquo operations in which they and their staff work directly with clientsand audiences at workshops and rallies Both present themselves as laymen(orang awam) rather than as Muslim clerics (ulama) and offer their pietyenhancement programmes through corporatised businesses as businessmenAnd both include appropriations from secular (that is religiously unmarked)global popular culture in their piety promotions These appropriations includeboth art forms (eg songs fashion set design workshop warm-ups and comicinterludes) and the popular sciences of success (notably management scienceand the psychology of personal development) that appeal especially to themiddle and upper classes of the major cities

Both moreover are talented entertainers as incongruous as this might seemfor either a preacher or a business trainer Success as a televangelist in the lastdecade has apparently depended on this as darsquoi with such talents have largelysuperseded those who were merely genial but unable to sing act tell fabulousstories or dramatically stage mass religious services for television The trainermarket is less demanding in that respect but Ginanjar illustrates the value ofsuch talents for holding a live audience in a training programme all day forseveral days Finally both lead religious services as any Muslim man of goodstanding in the community may do although this activity and the sermons

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 403

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

delivered in the course of public prayers are taken as defining a careerpreacher or darsquoi

The strong resemblance between these two types of performer (the one thedarsquoi explicitly linked to religion by its association with preaching in mosquesand the other the trainer marked as a secular professional) is in itselfevidence of the blurring of the distinction between religious and secularcommunications in the commercial sphere Further the ambiguity of thecontent of the trainerrsquos programme sometimes explicitly Islamic at other timesnon-denominationally religious or even lsquospiritualrsquo in a generic sense shows thescope for de-differentiation of religious communications that is sociallyacceptable and commercially viable in Indonesia today

Following my presentation of the two ministries that of lsquopreacherrsquo AbdullahGymnastiar and of lsquotrainerrsquo Ary Ginanjar I consider the differences in theinstitutionalisation of religion in Christian-heritage Europe and predominantlyIslamic-heritage Indonesia that are relevant for assessing the suggestion that thecultural eclecticism described here can be read as religious lsquode-differentiationrsquo

The descriptions of the ministries of these two figures are drawn fromrepeated short periods of fieldwork in Indonesia from 2004 to 2011 when Ialso gathered field data and publications on several other celebrity preachersand elite-strata spiritual training programmes The observational material onGymnastiar and Ginanjar reported here and most of the interview materialwas obtained in 2005 and 2006 when I interviewed Abdullah Gymnastiar andAry Ginanjar and members of their staff visited Gymnastiarrsquos Jakartaheadquarters and Bandung complex attended services where Gymnastiarpreached and one of Ginanjarrsquos training programmes and talked to otherparticipants at those events In May 2011 I was graciously given anotheropportunity to interview Ginanjarrsquos staff and to visit his Jakarta facilities toupdate my knowledge of their programmes with material not otherwiseavailable in bookshops on their internet site (wwwesqway1965com) or in thenews

Abdullah Gymnastiar Career darsquoi and Televangelist

Abdullah Gymnastiar (or Aa Gym [Brother Gym] as he is familiarly known)exemplifies the further evolution in the commercial arena of a figure the laylsquocallerrsquo to the faith or darsquoi that has come to the fore through the twentieth-century modernist Islamic reform movement and the associated politicalmobilisation of Muslims by reformists Talented darsquoi are now able to make acareer of preaching and figures like Aa Gym have been able to adapt theirmessages for presentation through non-religious entertainment genres personaldevelopment courses business consulting and electronic messaging Variouslycombined all of these can form the basis of lucrative businesses and catapultdarsquoi to celebrity status

Figures designated in Indonesian by the term lsquodarsquoirsquo like those in Egyptknown as dulsquoat (sing dalsquoiya) have risen to social prominence through thereligious renewal or dakwah movement The root meaning of the Indonesianword lsquodakwahrsquo is lsquoinvitationrsquo or lsquocallrsquo (to heed Godrsquos message) and the dalsquoi isliterally a lsquocallerrsquo The contemporary Indonesian usages of dakwah and darsquoi have

404 J D Howell

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

promotion programmes combine religious teachings with elements of secularculture to enhance their appeal and demonstrate their relevance to modern lifeThese borrowings include globally popular entertainment formats and genreslsquogrowth movementrsquo personal development techniques (cf Heelas Puttick) andconcepts from management science

In the pages that follow I document this seemingly paradoxical blurring ofreligious communications within the context of the Indonesian Islamic revivaland argue that not only is there enthusiastic marking of religion in thecommercial sphere but there is also extensive borrowing from secular culturesuggestive of religious de-differentiation in the commercial environment Ishow that this is effected in Indonesia as in Christian-heritage communities inEurope by self-styled lay people with the talents to bridge religious andsecular communication spheres This bridging is achieved again as in Europe(Knoblauch) through foregrounding the experiential dimension of the Islamictradition and linking it to concepts of lsquospiritualityrsquo circulating in the globalcultural marketplace

To illustrate the ways that religious communications3 have becomeinterwoven with secular culture I analyse two of the most popular spiritualdevelopment ministries of the last decade that of Abdullah Gymnastiar andAry Ginanjar Each exemplifies a locally (emicly) distinct type of personaldevelopment promoter Abdullah Gymnastiar is recognized as a darsquoi (preacher)and Ary Ginanjar presents himself as a lsquotrainerrsquo (an Indonesian loan wordfrom the English with much the same meaning)

While their roles are emicly distinct an etic analysis of the roleperformances of the darsquoi Gymnastiar and the trainer Ginanjar reveals them tobe nearly indistinguishable Both try to inspire personal development andimproved performance in everyday life through a renewal of religiouscommitment Both have mass-media presences through their self-help bookstapes and DVDs and their television appearances but they also both havelsquoface-to-facersquo operations in which they and their staff work directly with clientsand audiences at workshops and rallies Both present themselves as laymen(orang awam) rather than as Muslim clerics (ulama) and offer their pietyenhancement programmes through corporatised businesses as businessmenAnd both include appropriations from secular (that is religiously unmarked)global popular culture in their piety promotions These appropriations includeboth art forms (eg songs fashion set design workshop warm-ups and comicinterludes) and the popular sciences of success (notably management scienceand the psychology of personal development) that appeal especially to themiddle and upper classes of the major cities

Both moreover are talented entertainers as incongruous as this might seemfor either a preacher or a business trainer Success as a televangelist in the lastdecade has apparently depended on this as darsquoi with such talents have largelysuperseded those who were merely genial but unable to sing act tell fabulousstories or dramatically stage mass religious services for television The trainermarket is less demanding in that respect but Ginanjar illustrates the value ofsuch talents for holding a live audience in a training programme all day forseveral days Finally both lead religious services as any Muslim man of goodstanding in the community may do although this activity and the sermons

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 403

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

delivered in the course of public prayers are taken as defining a careerpreacher or darsquoi

The strong resemblance between these two types of performer (the one thedarsquoi explicitly linked to religion by its association with preaching in mosquesand the other the trainer marked as a secular professional) is in itselfevidence of the blurring of the distinction between religious and secularcommunications in the commercial sphere Further the ambiguity of thecontent of the trainerrsquos programme sometimes explicitly Islamic at other timesnon-denominationally religious or even lsquospiritualrsquo in a generic sense shows thescope for de-differentiation of religious communications that is sociallyacceptable and commercially viable in Indonesia today

Following my presentation of the two ministries that of lsquopreacherrsquo AbdullahGymnastiar and of lsquotrainerrsquo Ary Ginanjar I consider the differences in theinstitutionalisation of religion in Christian-heritage Europe and predominantlyIslamic-heritage Indonesia that are relevant for assessing the suggestion that thecultural eclecticism described here can be read as religious lsquode-differentiationrsquo

The descriptions of the ministries of these two figures are drawn fromrepeated short periods of fieldwork in Indonesia from 2004 to 2011 when Ialso gathered field data and publications on several other celebrity preachersand elite-strata spiritual training programmes The observational material onGymnastiar and Ginanjar reported here and most of the interview materialwas obtained in 2005 and 2006 when I interviewed Abdullah Gymnastiar andAry Ginanjar and members of their staff visited Gymnastiarrsquos Jakartaheadquarters and Bandung complex attended services where Gymnastiarpreached and one of Ginanjarrsquos training programmes and talked to otherparticipants at those events In May 2011 I was graciously given anotheropportunity to interview Ginanjarrsquos staff and to visit his Jakarta facilities toupdate my knowledge of their programmes with material not otherwiseavailable in bookshops on their internet site (wwwesqway1965com) or in thenews

Abdullah Gymnastiar Career darsquoi and Televangelist

Abdullah Gymnastiar (or Aa Gym [Brother Gym] as he is familiarly known)exemplifies the further evolution in the commercial arena of a figure the laylsquocallerrsquo to the faith or darsquoi that has come to the fore through the twentieth-century modernist Islamic reform movement and the associated politicalmobilisation of Muslims by reformists Talented darsquoi are now able to make acareer of preaching and figures like Aa Gym have been able to adapt theirmessages for presentation through non-religious entertainment genres personaldevelopment courses business consulting and electronic messaging Variouslycombined all of these can form the basis of lucrative businesses and catapultdarsquoi to celebrity status

Figures designated in Indonesian by the term lsquodarsquoirsquo like those in Egyptknown as dulsquoat (sing dalsquoiya) have risen to social prominence through thereligious renewal or dakwah movement The root meaning of the Indonesianword lsquodakwahrsquo is lsquoinvitationrsquo or lsquocallrsquo (to heed Godrsquos message) and the dalsquoi isliterally a lsquocallerrsquo The contemporary Indonesian usages of dakwah and darsquoi have

404 J D Howell

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

delivered in the course of public prayers are taken as defining a careerpreacher or darsquoi

The strong resemblance between these two types of performer (the one thedarsquoi explicitly linked to religion by its association with preaching in mosquesand the other the trainer marked as a secular professional) is in itselfevidence of the blurring of the distinction between religious and secularcommunications in the commercial sphere Further the ambiguity of thecontent of the trainerrsquos programme sometimes explicitly Islamic at other timesnon-denominationally religious or even lsquospiritualrsquo in a generic sense shows thescope for de-differentiation of religious communications that is sociallyacceptable and commercially viable in Indonesia today

Following my presentation of the two ministries that of lsquopreacherrsquo AbdullahGymnastiar and of lsquotrainerrsquo Ary Ginanjar I consider the differences in theinstitutionalisation of religion in Christian-heritage Europe and predominantlyIslamic-heritage Indonesia that are relevant for assessing the suggestion that thecultural eclecticism described here can be read as religious lsquode-differentiationrsquo

The descriptions of the ministries of these two figures are drawn fromrepeated short periods of fieldwork in Indonesia from 2004 to 2011 when Ialso gathered field data and publications on several other celebrity preachersand elite-strata spiritual training programmes The observational material onGymnastiar and Ginanjar reported here and most of the interview materialwas obtained in 2005 and 2006 when I interviewed Abdullah Gymnastiar andAry Ginanjar and members of their staff visited Gymnastiarrsquos Jakartaheadquarters and Bandung complex attended services where Gymnastiarpreached and one of Ginanjarrsquos training programmes and talked to otherparticipants at those events In May 2011 I was graciously given anotheropportunity to interview Ginanjarrsquos staff and to visit his Jakarta facilities toupdate my knowledge of their programmes with material not otherwiseavailable in bookshops on their internet site (wwwesqway1965com) or in thenews

Abdullah Gymnastiar Career darsquoi and Televangelist

Abdullah Gymnastiar (or Aa Gym [Brother Gym] as he is familiarly known)exemplifies the further evolution in the commercial arena of a figure the laylsquocallerrsquo to the faith or darsquoi that has come to the fore through the twentieth-century modernist Islamic reform movement and the associated politicalmobilisation of Muslims by reformists Talented darsquoi are now able to make acareer of preaching and figures like Aa Gym have been able to adapt theirmessages for presentation through non-religious entertainment genres personaldevelopment courses business consulting and electronic messaging Variouslycombined all of these can form the basis of lucrative businesses and catapultdarsquoi to celebrity status

Figures designated in Indonesian by the term lsquodarsquoirsquo like those in Egyptknown as dulsquoat (sing dalsquoiya) have risen to social prominence through thereligious renewal or dakwah movement The root meaning of the Indonesianword lsquodakwahrsquo is lsquoinvitationrsquo or lsquocallrsquo (to heed Godrsquos message) and the dalsquoi isliterally a lsquocallerrsquo The contemporary Indonesian usages of dakwah and darsquoi have

404 J D Howell

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

their origins in Egypt in the 1920s notably in the activities of the MuslimBrotherhood Inspired by an earlier generation of modernist reformers tochallenge the exclusive authority of the ulama to interpret scripture andanxious about the secularisation and perceived moral decay of their societythe Muslim Brotherhood encouraged ordinary lay people to lsquocallrsquo their fellowMuslims to renewed religious commitment by speaking up in everyday lifesituations and by stepping forward at mosque gatherings to make theirappeals Preaching sermons became the defining practice of such lay religiousactivists but dalsquowa was not confined to formal sermonising revivalist dulsquoatmade extensive use of the mass print and later electronic media (Hirschkind)

In Indonesia darsquoi have become particularly visible since the 1970s riding themany currents of religious revival among others that of the Dewan DarsquowahIslamiyah Indonesia (DDII) and the tarbiyah movement In contemporary usagein Indonesia the term lsquodarsquoirsquo identifies people who make themselves available topreach at mosques rallies and other religious gatherings but do not claim tobe traditionally credentialed scholars of the Islamic sciences (ulama) That isthey do not hold authorisations (ijazah) from a teacher (kyai or ulama) who hashis own school to teach particular classical texts Thus even though a personknown as a darsquoi may have attended a traditionalist (Nahdlatul Ulamaaffiliated) pesantren (residential religious school under the authority of anulama) or modernist (Muhammadiyah) Islamic school the darsquoi acts as anordinary if exceptionally religiously motivated and well-informed member ofthe community

While the offering of religious services is ideally made as a gift or donationtoday payment has become more or less explicitly expected where existingfamilial or other relations of informal reciprocity do not exist Payment forpreaching can form the basis of a reliable living for a person who becomesknown as a sound and engaging preacher and who is thus invited to mosquesfar and wide to stimulate attendance and inspire the faithful Career prospectsfor such darsquoi (sometimes disparagingly called lsquoustadz komersialrsquo [commercialcleric]) have escalated as mosque organising committees have taken tocompeting with one another to book the most popular preachers especially formajor holidays and as a result may have to settle on substantial fees plusfirst-class travel and accommodation costs The responsibility whichcorporations and government departments now take for providing employeestime for religious devotions and improving their religious understandingduring office hours and at the workplace has opened another large market forcareer preachers An association of darsquoi the Ikatan Darsquoi Indonesia (IKADI)now supports the professional development of darsquoi and helps them connectwith clients

The electronic mass media have fuelled the commercialisation of preachingPreachers can rapidly develop a reputation outside their home communitiesthrough cassette and DVD recordings of their sermons and through carriage oftheir sermons and talks on radio and television In this commercial arena feesare negotiated lsquoup frontrsquo by the darsquoi or his staff and the producers Stimulatedby the expansion of commercial television and the growing enthusiasm ofIndonesian Muslims for religious guidance since the 1990s Islamicprogramming has increased as a proportion of television offerings and many

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 405

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preachers who have adapted to television have become national celebrities(Fealy Hoesterey Howell ldquoModulationsrdquo)

Abdullah Gymnastiar was a pioneer of Indonesian mega-star televangelismand exemplifies a particular type of television preacher that has come tonational prominence since the turn of the century because of an ability toincorporate secular entertainment into appeals for religious renewal Thus AaGym was followed to the top of the ratings charts by entertainerndashpreacherslike Arifin Ilham (who introduced the spectacularly produced litanies zikirakbar or mega-zikir broadcast from the grandest mosques with leadingpoliticians and celebrities in attendance) Jefry Al-Buchori popularly known aslsquoUjersquo (one of a new type of reformed but still hip bad-boy preachers whoworks simple religious morals into his interviews with youth idols) and YusufMansur (who scripts and acts in a religiously themed soap opera in additionto preaching and fundraising for religious charities like Dompet Dhuafa)These entertainerndashpreachers rapidly eclipsed scholarly but un-showmanlikefigures such as Nurcholish Madjid Quraish Shihab Nasaruddin UmarJalaluddin Rakhmat and Komaruddin Hidayat who were popular on TV inthe last decade of the twentieth century when television producers looked tocredible religious authorities to fill time slots dedicated to religious edification(Howell ldquoModulationsrdquo ldquoSalafistrdquo)

The television ministry of Abdullah Gymnastiar contrasts sharply with thatof the professor preachers Although when he was a child he and his familyhad a series of highly significant linked spiritual dreams (they all dreamed thatyoung Gymnastiar prayed with the Prophet Muhammad and his Companions)he did not get a religious school (pesantren) education The child of a militaryman keenly interested in sport (hence the name lsquoGymnastiarrsquo) he went to stateschools in his home town of Bandung in West Java It was only as a universitystudent when he started to be appreciated as a prayer leader and giver ofsermons among friends and neighbours that he was by his own account(Gymnastiar) gifted with miraculous speed learning of the essentials of theIslamic canon and took some private instruction with a famous kyai (teacher)

According to one of his biographers he had gone through a time ofconfusion about his direction in life but had found a way forward through hisunusual religious study and the sharing of his gifts with others (Solahudin)Together with some other students attracted to his preaching he started a kindof intentional urban community Daarut Tauhiid They called it a pesantrenwhich in a sense it was Although it was not established by a founderauthorised to teach by an established ulama it was like traditional pesantren aresidential community of students gathered for religious study and prayersAa Gym and his fellow students also clubbed together to run small businessesand thus helped each other make a living while some of them continued theirstudies

As Aa Gym became more popular as a preacher he developed an unusualstyle that seemed to touch many young people like himself and turn themaround Rather than lecturing on articles of faith and behaviour allowed orforbidden with numerous Quranic and Hadith citations his sermons weremodels of gentle introspection The talks encouraged his listeners to lsquopurifytheir heartsrsquo of base impulses and indiscipline He was popularising a practicemost developed in the Sufi tradition through which the bodyrsquos esoteric

406 J D Howell

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spiritual centre the heart or qolbu can be cleaned of base desires (tazkiyah alnafs) This would help them get closer to God and thereby improve theirfamily lives study and work performance

Aa Gym also did something different with the prayers he led He added tothe basic obligatory order of prayers (sholat wajib) short braces of thediscretionary litanies (zikir) to do the spiritual work recommended in hissermons of purifying the heart enabling the practitioner to feel Godrsquospresence and guidance Aa Gymrsquos distinctive highly informal style of zikirinterspersed with a kind of guided introspection (muraqabah) often movedhim and his audience to tears starting a veritable fad for this kind of publicreligious emotion (Solahudin)

So attractive was his sermonising and style of zikir-enhanced prayers thathis community grew rapidly in the latter part of the 1990s along with thenumber of invitations to preach and give religious talks at ralliesconventions and public commemorations all over the region At rallies andother personal appearances he worked his core messages into easy listeningsongs like Jagalah Hati (lsquoTend to Your Heartrsquo) which for a while topped thepopular song charts

His national prominence dates from October 2000 when he appeared withthe popular music group Sam Bimbo at Bandungrsquos festival venue theTaman Alun-Alun Then in 2001 his first invitation came to lead anationally televised commemoration of a religious holiday conducted at themonumental Istiqlal Mosque This established his reputation as a mega-stardarsquoi with live audiences of thousands and viewer audiences in the millionsAccording to James Hoesterey (96) his television ratings peaked in 2002when his Sunday afternoon programme captured 325 of all viewers Atthat time on the strength of his television celebrity status he was receiving1200 invitations a month to make personal appearances according to aTime Asia feature on lsquoIndonesiarsquos hottest Muslimrsquo (Elegant andTedjasukmana) But in 2004 he was still claiming television and radioaudiences of 60 million per week according to a Washington Post reporterand was able to command fees of US$50000 per show during the fastingmonth of Ramadan (Sipress) Moreover despite some loss of televisionmarket share his popularity as a public figure continued to rise achievingin early 2006 a 91 popular approval rating in polls consulted bypoliticians (Hoesterey 96)

Alongside his preaching and inspirational appearances on television and atrallies Aa Gym developed personal development training programmesdelivered face-to-face to contracting companies and to individual members ofthe public His key concept for the trainings lsquoManajemen Qolbursquo (lsquoHeartManagementrsquo or lsquoMQrsquo) was Islamicly coloured but not explicitly orexclusively Islamic MQ blends disciplines of classical Sufi ethical reflectionwith the disciplines of the modern workplace and effective communicationcoaching He proffered these skills in formats that were self-consciouslylsquomodernrsquo and well established in international management and personaleffectiveness training4 Thus the 2004ndash05 version of his basic how-to bookcalled Jagalah Hati Step by Step Manajemen Qolbu (lsquoTend to Your Heart Step byStep Heart Managementrsquo) offers programmes for personal development in fiveeasy-to-comprehend steps The first is lsquoGetting to Know Yourselfrsquo (assessment

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 407

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of your strengths and weaknesses and developing lsquofokusrsquo) Next comeslsquoCleansing the Heartrsquo which involves not just continual reassessment of onersquosperformance in work study and home life but being open to the criticisms ofothers and being a lsquomirror for themrsquo This is followed by lsquoGetting a Hold ofOurselvesrsquo not only by managing onersquos feelings but by managing lsquostresrsquomanaging onersquos time and being empathetic and communicating well withothers The penultimate step is lsquoBuilding Ourselves Uprsquo through believing inoneself and cultivating onersquos lsquoKredibilitasrsquo and lsquoKapabilitasrsquo That brings one(hopefully) to step five lsquoMakrifatullahrsquo (conventionally mystical gnosis)where one is at one with God in thought and action which can only belsquosuksesrsquo

The MQ training programmes bought on contract by companies broughtin from US$200 per person for larger courses for middle managers to US$300 per person for a select group of Pertamina oil executives in 2004(Sipress) By this time Gymnastiarrsquos innovative pesantren Daarut Tauhiidhad become the site not only for the MQ personal development courses butalso for massive spiritual tourism Its three-hectare site not only housedlong-term resident students (santri) but also provided hotel and cottageaccommodation for visitors eager to hear Aa Gym preach at the on-sitemosque and listen to him and his wife speak at the carefully stage-managed visitor welcoming sessions Crowds of 2000 and more werecommon on the weekends providing healthy incomes for vendors andoverflowing the three-storey mosque built to accommodate just 1000 people(Handoko)

Aa Gym remained a highly popular figure until December 2006 when hewas obliged to admit that he had taken a second wife disappointing hismiddle-class fans often estimated to be mostly female For them he and hiswife were exemplars not just of the harmonious Muslim family (keluargasakinah) but of happy monogamous marriage This became evident from thestorm of stories about women who ripped up his pictures after the news of hissecond marriage came out (Hoesterey 96) and from the Presidentrsquos suddenmove to review legislation on polygamy Gymnastiarrsquos television bookingsthinned out leaving him with none for the following Ramadan and DaarutTauhiid fell quiet Forty percent of DT staff were let go and few people otherthan resident santri attended daily prayers Mosque collections dropped to halfthe usual receipts (Handoko)

Gymnastiarrsquos business empire selling products as diverse astelecommunications and household items under his lsquoMQrsquo brand also sufferedA number of businesses associated with the brand went out of business Salesof their bottled water MQ Jernih (lsquoMQ Purersquo) dropped by 70 Nonetheless ayear after the revelations of his second marriage over 100 radio stations acrossthe country were still broadcasting his morning show his books were sellingwell and parents were still enrolling their children in Daarut Tauhiidrsquospesantren kitat (Islam short study courses) (Handoko) Five years onGymnastiar has not been restored to television stardom but remains aprominent public figure able to draw large audiences to major venues like theIstiqlal Mosque

408 J D Howell

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Ary Ginanjar Spiritual Trainer and Management Consultant

In 2001 a young Indonesian Muslim businessman and former UdayanaUniversity tourism faculty lecturer Ary Ginanjar Agustian published thelsquobestsellerrsquo book Rahasia Sukses Membangun Kecerdasan Emosi dan Spiritual ESQEmotional Spiritual Quotient (lsquoThe Secret of Success in Developing Emotionaland Spiritual Intelligence ESQ Emotional Spiritual Quotientrsquo) The bookelaborated key concepts presented in his training programmes which heoffered at their own premises to some of Indonesiarsquos largest corporationsincluding Garuda Indonesia airlines Krakatau Steel Pertamina oil companyIndonesia Power Republika Daily News and a number of governmentbureaus

Ginanjar put his spiritual training programme on the market when thecountry was still struggling to stabilise politically and economically after theAsian financial crisis of 1997 and the dissolution of former President Suhartorsquosauthoritarian regime in 1998 (cf Rudnyckyj) In the revival of the democraticparty system that followed many new Islamic parties fanned revivalist fervourand Islamic piety movements across the spectrum from marginal tomainstream from militantly Islamist Laskar Jihad to the progressive pluralistMuhammadiyah promoted the idea that their path to Islamic virtue could bethe salvation of the nation Ginanjarrsquos ESQ promised such national salvation ina promotional platform evidently well suited to one niche of the pietyimprovement market relatively well-educated middle- and upper-middle-class Indonesians participating in elite vectors of global culture especiallybusiness culture or aspiring to do so (cf Berger 3ndash6)

The key idea of Ginanjarrsquos ESQ draws directly with attribution on titles ininternational airline departure hall bookshops The first is Daniel GolemanrsquosEmotional Intelligence As explained in a flier for the ESQ Training programmesthe most significant factor in the performance of companies is the quality oftheir workforce But how to assess workforce quality Only ldquo20 [of thatcapability]rdquo the flier notes ldquois determined by the IQ [of the staff] while 80[is determined] by EQ or Emotional Intelligencerdquo5 It is possible the flierexplains to improve company performance by training the employees toimprove their lsquoemotional intelligencersquo (here citing an article by RichardBoyatzis published in 1996 in Research in Organizational Change andDevelopment 9) But the flier continues that is likely to have only limited andephemeral effect Beyond that there is a further problem working only onemotional intelligence people will still experience a lsquosplitrsquo between their workmotivation (semangat bekerja) and their spiritual motivation (semangatspiritualitas ke-Tuhanan-an) This will result in lsquosekularismersquo in both the worldlyand spiritual dimensions (kutub duniawi and kutub spiritual) Each willundermine the other with the result that people will become bored with theirwork and unreliable in carrying out their duties ldquoThe SOLUTIONrdquo is forevery individual to understand that ldquoprecisely through spiritual intelligence[we can] increase our capacity for EQrdquo and that development will continuethroughout our lives (unlike personal improvement attempted through EQalone) Ginanjarrsquos trademarked concept ESQ is then presented in thefollowing terms as strikingly more effective

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 409

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Synergising worldly rationality (EQ) with spiritual motivation (SQ) hellip anawesome synthesis (ESQ) is achieved develop[ing] perfect human character

Identifying something like worker alienation as a reason for poor companyperformances Ary then turns for his lsquoSolutionrsquo to Danah Zohar and IanMarshallrsquos concept of lsquoSQrsquo or lsquospiritual intelligencersquo In his books Ginanjardevelops the key concepts presented in the flier He is at pains to emphasisethat spirituality is lsquouniversalrsquo which he says is why scientific evidence can befound to prove its existence and basis in the human body Specifically itsphysical site is the lsquoGod Spotrsquo located in our heads Ginanjar consistently usesthe English loan word lsquospiritualrsquo and closely related Indonesian cognates likelsquospiritualitasrsquo to emphasise this universality rather than Arabic terms likelsquokerohanianrsquo or lsquokebatinanrsquo introduced into Indonesian with Islam

The importance of science as a system of knowledge embracing all humanexperience of the world and as a basis of truth assertions important inbusiness is evident particularly in the introductory segments of Ginanjarrsquostraining programmes Thus early in the four-day course for the general publicthat I attended in the Balai Sidang Jakarta (Jakarta Convention Center) in 2005Ginanjar made a PowerPoint presentation showing the high corruption ratingsof Indonesia in a global context and relating the countryrsquos corruption to itspoor rates of economic growth following the transition to democracy Thissegment concluded with statistical tables showing the greatly improvedperformance of companies that had used ESQ training

Ginanjar subtly draws on Islam however for the theory upon which hisprogramme of spiritual transformation his lsquoZero Mind Processrsquo (Eng) isbased The lsquoZero Mind Processrsquo he explained in the first day of the course is aprocess of penjernihan emosi (lsquopurificationrsquo or lsquoclarifying of the emotionsrsquo)Although this process is displaced to the lsquoGod Spotrsquo in the head it isreminiscent of the Sufi notion of the purification of the heart (tazkiyah al nafs)The exercises he uses in the training programmes also refer to Islamic ritualsand disciplines and re-gloss them with this-worldly asceticism Thus later onin the training I attended Ginanjarrsquos team led the participants in collectiverecitation of the lsquoNinety-Nine Beautiful Names of Godrsquo a popular form of zikirlitany but participants were provided with a chart of affirmations to be linkedin their thoughts with each name Towards the end of the training session hajjrituals performed by Muslim pilgrims to the holy land were also enactedschematically as games after which allegorical meanings reinforcing piety andethical behaviour in everyday life were offered by the trainers

Less subtly Ginanjar draws on Islamic eschatology to enliven participantsrsquomotivation actually to change their ways when they leave the training Hedoes this by shifting from lecturing to presenting images of Godrsquos awesomemight as revealed by astronomers and foreshadowed in passages of theQurrsquoan and by dramatising the perilous condition of the soul at death It is themost graphic and gruesome Islamic conceptions of the terrors the soul mayface that are projected in vivid images on giant projection screens backed bydeafeningly loud heavy-metal music The emotional force of this is suggestedin my notes on the dramatic arc of this section of the training programme Iattended

410 J D Howell

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The entry into this explicitly religious and indeed Islamic section of thelsquotrainingrsquo is via exquisite Hubble-telescope photographs of multi-colouredstarry nebulae We have just been convinced by the scientific literaturereviewed in a lecture that indeed spiritual development is important for ourpersonal growth and success in life Here we actually see as it were theglories of God and gasp in wonder as the sound track carries symphonicevocations of spectacular revelations We then descend via Google Earthimages down down down to earth even to Jakarta and to some smallneighbourhood here Indeed there is a God we feel and the awesometranscendent God can actually relate to us Returning gently to subduedlecture mode still with the mood music we learn that the exploration ofspace and many other scientific achievements and findings have actuallybeen predicted in the Qurrsquoan The Qurrsquoan is the most perfect word of Godand yet we hardly appreciated it We return to the images of outer space formore exhilarating revelling in Godrsquos glory But wait Have we obeyed Godrsquoslaws the voice of the compere asks us in the darkened hall Have wefulfilled our obligations Have we selfishly neglected our parents Beenunfaithful to our wives Failed to be understanding and solicitous of ourhusbands Cheated on the job Doleful music intrudes and we are remindedthat all must diendashndashand you never know when Think what happened sounexpectedly to those poor people in Aceh overwhelmed by the tsunamiThen projected on the four giant projection screens we see scenes of afuneral backed by bitter wailing on the sound track The wrapped corpse isbeing carried out to the grave under a reddened and smoky sky Themourners leave This is the fate of all Are we ready Again we return to thisscene and alas bolts of lightning strike down from the sky rending thewinding cloths and jolting the corpse again and again We behold the tortureof the unrepentant sinner in the grave The hall has become darkened tonearly pitch black and the sound system carries disembodied voices ofwailing Ary voices our fear and remorse Then he begins to lead theaudience in free-form prayers of intensely overwrought regret abasementand tearful petitioning for forgiveness The wailing carried by the soundsystems gets louder and louder now interspersed with menrsquos and womenrsquosvoices wretchedly and tearfully begging for forgiveness

After some time the music lightens the projection screens light up again thistime with beatific scenes of a Spring meadow in some temperate climatecountry with water gently bubbling along beside lush green grassForgiveness comes Orchestral sylvan strings refresh us Ary reminds us ofthe wonder of Godrsquos mercy to those who acknowledge Him and follow theguidance He has given to change their ways At last as the hall lightsbrighten we are carefully returned to our convention centre reality and makeready for the snack break

In the interlude described above Ary Ginanjar shifted from the universitylecturer-cum-business consultant role to that of a preacher asserting religioustruths and leading a theatrical dramatisation of them as an emotional primerfor prayer However he did not stay in that role for the rest of the trainingprogramme rather it was but one stance that he adopted along with othersused to facilitate a variety of training exercises enumerated in English in hisbrochure as ldquo1) Games 2) Learning Experience 3) Case Study 4) Lecturette5) Discussion [and] 6) Role Playrdquo6

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 411

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Ginanjarrsquos spiritualised personal development programmes trademarked aslsquoThe ESQ Way 165rsquo continue to be offered to businesses and individuals withspecial youth versions and lsquoalumnirsquo groups for people who have done thetraining However there have been some changes over the past half decadeThe business has grown enough to fund the construction of a 25-floorbuilding lsquoMenara 165rsquo (lsquo165 Towerrsquo) located near a major transport route inCilandak South Jakarta With its first three levels already completed thetowerrsquos two massive ballrooms now house ESQ training programmes that usedto be held in the Jakarta Convention Center and other rented venues It hastop-grade hotel facilities for attendees coming from outside the city and forlocals who wish to avoid Jakartarsquos notorious traffic A car park capable ofaccommodating 400 vehicles caters to the needs of commuters to theprogrammes and hotel guests When not in use for ESQ programmes thebuilding now earns its own rental income as a convention centre and venuefor large weddings and family celebrations When completed the tower willhave offices in the upper levels and a mosque as its peak

The healthy business income reflects the number of people who have doneESQ courses Spokespersons for the business told The Jakarta Post in 2010 thatmore than 850000 Indonesians from all over the country had done the courseas had 65000 Malaysians (Hapsari) ESQ trainers also regularly offer coursesin Singapore and occasionally for the Indonesian-speaking communities of theNetherlands and Washington DC7

Over the last few years Ginanjar has introduced additions to hisprogrammes and some format changes to earlier programmes A newprogramme especially for parents has been added to those for teens andyounger children and since 2006 the original four-day programme for thegeneral adult public has been spread over nine days The nine days aredivided into four levels of training the first lasting three days and the restlasting two days each However as explained to me by ESQrsquos Public RelationsDirector M Hasanuddin Thoyieb during a visit to the ESQ Training Center inCiputat Jakarta in May 2011 material from the original four-day programmeis still used in the revised programme but amplified with other materials8

Thoyieb also noted that the training offered to businesses is now morelsquocustomisedrsquo to the particular company For example the training forPertamina oil company is no longer called lsquoESQrsquo training but lsquo6 Crsquo trainingfocusing on values like being lsquocleanrsquo and building lsquocapacityrsquo This seems toreflect a greater emphasis in programmes offered to companies on popularpersonal development and management concepts than on specifically religiousmotivational exercises

While Ginanjarrsquos programmes for businesses and the public strongly projecthis businessman persona in 2009 on the eve of the national election heintroduced a new programme specifically for darsquoi In that programme he alsoincluded other high-profile Muslim leaders from the Department of Religionand across the spectrum of religious voluntary organisations from theNahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah to Hizbut Tahrir Ginanjar explained inhis ESQ Magazine Online that this lsquonon-politicalrsquo event was organisedspecifically to promote the unity of the ummah in the face of the factionalismthat had broken out in advance of the election In that event evidently hisESQ training for personal development was deployed not just to reinforce

412 J D Howell

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personal piety but Islamic identity And given that voters faced choices amongboth lsquoIslamicrsquo and non-denominational parties the training carried a latent ifnot manifest political significance

Darsquoi and Trainer Compared

The two figures I have introduced exemplify two different professionsdistinguished terminologically by Indonesians lsquodarsquoirsquo (preacher) and lsquotrainerrsquoBut it is evident that the attributes of these emicly distinct roles extensivelyoverlap in the cases of their best known exemplars

Both men act in effect as lsquotrainersrsquo they offer face-to-face courses and sellhow-to books that show people how to become more effective and successfulin their everyday lives Moreover their programmes of personal developmentare designed to work for anyone They draw heavily on the internationalgrowth movement literature both in content and presentation format andpurport to be scientifically based Ginanjar specifically presents the scientificbasis of his programme as proof of its universality and hence of its efficacyregardless of the practitionerrsquos religious affiliation

The non-denominational features of both menrsquos programmes have broughtin custom from non-Muslims Aa Gym was popular among non-MuslimIndonesians as well as with Muslims particularly before his second marriageand lsquoreturn to the pesantrenrsquo9 His how-to books still draw only very subtly onIslam the few Islamic terms he uses (qolbu and makrifatullah) are readilyrecognizable by any Indonesian speaker as respectively lsquoheartrsquo (with spiritualovertones) and lsquooneness with Godrsquo Other parallels to Sufi practice are notobvious to non-Muslims Ginanjar explicitly describes his training as lsquospiritualrsquorather than lsquoIslamicrsquo development (his lsquoSQrsquo) and company representativesemphasise the substantial numbers of non-Muslims who have taken hiscourses10

But one could also say that both are preachers In the past I occasionallyreferred to Ginanjar as a darsquoi when speaking to Indonesian colleagues but wascorrected Ginanjar is not a darsquoi they said because he does not make a careerof preaching in mosques Certainly ESQrsquos Indonesian-language promotionalliterature consistently refers to Ginanjar as a lsquotrainerrsquo When I asked GinanjarrsquosPublic Relations Director Thoyieb whether he should be called a darsquoi or alsquotrainerrsquo he responded somewhat ambiguously that ldquo[o]urs is a normalcompany (perusahan) an HR company hellip the materials are not only those usedby darsquoi but also related to popular management and our programmes are notlimited to Muslimsrsquo11

Nonetheless both Ginanjar and Aa Gym have infused their programmes ofpersonal development with Islamic content and clearly seek to inspire Muslimsto get closer to God and be more pious in part by adopting visible markers ofMuslim identity This is conveyed for example by their wives and femalefriends coming veiled to public events wearing long loose gowns that obscurethe female shape Both Aa Gym and Ginanjarrsquos personal growth programmesare very much part of the broader Islamic piety revival movement

Ginanjarrsquos live trainings are if anything more explicitly Islamic than AaGymrsquos The sources of religious authority upon which he calls the rituals that

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 413

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he re-scripts for his training programmes and the religious songs used inthem are all explicitly Islamic Moreover his dramatisation of the life hereafterwhich forms the most powerful motivational tool of the training follows awell-known specifically Islamic scenario reinforcing popular fears of torturefor unrepentant sinners in the grave In contrast lsquopreacherrsquo Aa Gym buildsmotivation for personal change on the hope for intimacy with the loving andforgiving God in the here-and-now rather than on fear of Godrsquos wrath In AaGymrsquos preaching and training programmes the Creator is more immanentthan awesomely transcendent taking part in the transformation of those whoseek Him using the Sufi-inspired but Islamicly unmarked steps and formulasfor improvement that Brother Gym sets out for his clients and readers Of thetwo it is Ginanjar the trainer not Aa Gym the lsquopreacherrsquo who uses lsquohell fireand damnationrsquo to inspire piety and it is the lsquopreacherrsquo in his personaldevelopment programmes and books who consistently uses the non-denominational albeit theistic language of lsquospiritualityrsquo

Secular Borrowing as De-differentiation in Commercially Mediated PopularIslam

The extensive interweaving of secular culture in calls for piety renewal asdemonstrated above is a feature of Indonesian commercially mediated religionthat is reminiscent of the picture Knoblauch gives of European popularreligion lsquomarkedrsquo and lsquounmarkedrsquo projected through the mass media todaySo also is the prominence of lay people as promoters of piety in theIndonesian commercial sphere and the centrality of immediate spiritualexperience to those programmes of popular religious renewal

Although Indonesia is culturally distant from the North Atlantic countriesand as a post-World War II lsquonew nationrsquo has a distinctive political economyit is reasonable to attribute these similarities in popular religion to similarpressures and opportunities that shape demand as well as to locally specificchanges in opportunities for suppliers in the commercial sphere Particularlyimportant for new types of suppliers of piety promotion products has been therelease of television licences to private providers in the 1990s Similarities indemand structures in the two regions result from Indonesiarsquos capitalistdevelopment catch-up which accelerated rapidly under former PresidentSuhartorsquos New Order regime (1968ndash98) and supported a significant expansionof the secularly educated middle and upper classes In Indonesia as elsewherein modernising societies (both Muslim and non-Muslim [cf Peter]) the newMuslim middle class and elites are prepared to look to new sources ofreligious authority and inspiration The individualisation that underlies suchautonomy in religious choice-making also generates familiar social pressures towhich the providers of Indonesiarsquos Muslim personal development productsrespond the need to create a marketable persona viable in their liberalised latecapitalist economy the tensions of companionate marriages (increasinglyprevalent in Indonesia) and the challenges of more egalitarian parenthood (towhich better educated Indonesians also aspire)

The participation of well-educated Indonesian Muslims in global secularculture through their schooling in their offices and in their leisure activities

414 J D Howell

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014

has also shaped tastes and interests They expect high production values inentertainment and international best practice in business and training Pietypromotion products using the techniques and findings of the globallycirculating entertainment arts and the sciences of personal development thushave a particular appeal except to purists who read them as un-Islamicbecause of their eclecticism and association with the West Aa Gymrsquos andGinanjarrsquos success shows that such purists have less influence in Indonesiarsquoscommercial arena than those with more culturally pluralist understandings ofIslam12

Nonetheless one could object that the parallels between the two regionswith their different religious heritages are weak insofar as the starting pointsfor the purported de-differentiation of popular religion are not comparableInfluenced by certain modernist Muslim reformists of the twentieth centurymany lsquode-traditionalisedrsquo Muslims today consider Islam to be uniquely andnecessarily fused with all aspects of social life a complete social order(al-nizam al-islami) (Roy Tibi) In other words they understand Muslimsocieties to be actually andor ideally exempt from processes of socialdifferentiation that have accompanied economic development in the West andwhich social theorists have taken to be the hallmark of modernisation ErnestGellner famously formulated a scholarly justification for such lsquoIslamicexceptionalismrsquo arguing that Muslim societies can form modern states withoutseparating religious from political institutions because of the distinctivestructure of Islamrsquos religious leadership (through the ulama) and the legalframework for social life provided by its syariah However critics have shownthat the putative fusion of Islam and the state in pre-modern times isoverdrawn in such characterisations (Lapidus Eickelman and Piscatori) thatmovements aiming to conjoin religion and state can be found in Christian andHindu as well as Muslim communities (Casanova ldquoBeyondrdquo 23 HefnerldquoMultiplerdquo 90) and that in fact few Muslim states today give religiousauthorities power over the state (Beyer 183)

More nuanced comparisons of the trajectories of modernisation in Christian-and Muslim-heritage societies such as those of Jose Casanova (ldquoCivil SocietyrdquoldquoBeyondrdquo) and Beyer acknowledge the greater elaboration and importance oflsquohierocraticrsquo organisations (churches) as carriers of religious communications inpre-modern Europe and the more dispersed and informal institutionalisationof religious authority in pre-modern Muslim societies but do not see pre-modern Muslim societies as undifferentiated or immune to modern forms ofsocial differentiation Thus as Beyer shows in the last century Islamic socialmovements have been important carriers of religious reform programmes andwith the formal organisations that they precipitated have formed distinctreligious function systems within socially differentiated modern societies

Beyer rightly cites Indonesiarsquos Muhammadiyah organisation as an exampleof the specialised religious institutions that have shaped socially differentiatedmodern Muslim societies One can also point to other Islamic organisationsfounded in Indonesia in the twentieth century that have framed Islam overagainst local Islamicly infused cultures as a universal religion and the ummahas a community among other religious communities in Indonesiarsquos plural andsocially differentiated society These other Islamic organisations include thenationrsquos largest Islamic voluntary organisation the Nahdhlatul Ulama (an

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 415

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association representing ulama and their followings) numerous Islamicpolitical parties and the increasingly influential fatwa-pronouncing body theMajelis Ulama Indonesia (Indonesian Council of Ulama) Along with thebroader social movements of which they are parts these organisations functionas civil society actors seeking to influence both the rest of society and the stateand so constitute a differentiated religious function system distinct from thecountryrsquos political and other function systems It is from this vantage pointthat the comingling of religious communications and secular culture in thecommercial sphere appears as de-differentiation albeit circumscribed bymarkers like lsquospiritualitasrsquo that link the personal development programmes ofthe darsquoi and trainer ambiguously to the legally recognized religions

Recognizing that certain darsquoi and trainers incorporate secular culture intotheir ministries and effect the de-differentiation of religious communications isnot however the same thing as saying that they promote secularisation in thesense of Weberian lsquodisenchantmentrsquo of the world or the growing irrelevance ofreligious beliefs to peoplersquos lives Local critics have indeed accused theentertainerndashpreachers and other purveyors of lsquoIslam 15 minitrsquo (lsquo15-minuteIslamrsquo) of trivialising the faith and of making the faith emptied of explicitdoctrine look just like any other religion Aa Gym has responded to thesecriticisms since his painful fall in the TV ratings charts by making hispreaching (if not his how-to books) more explicitly Islamic while Ginanjarcontinues steadfastly to promote his particular conflation of religion andscience evidently without losing his ability to attract endorsements fromMuslim luminaries Drawing back from these judgments of interested partieswe can nonetheless observe as Knoblauch did of European popular religionthat although these expressions of commercial mass-mediated popular Islamin Indonesia do obscure the boundaries between the sacred and the profane(which for Durkheim separated lsquoreligionrsquo from the secular) the notions oflsquospiritualitasrsquo in the ministries of Gymnastiar and Ginanjar still serve to focusconsumers on the transcendent while they work to overcome thecompartmentalisation of Indonesian selves in their differentiated modernsociety

Julia Howell is Professor of the Sociology of Religion in the Religion and SocietyResearch Centre at the University of Western Sydney and Adjunct Professor of AsianStudies at the Griffith Asia Institute Griffith University Brisbane Australia Herrecent work on popular Indonesian Islam and contemporary Sufi revival builds on herlong-term interests in movements of religious reform and marginal religiousmovements in modernising Indonesia and Western societies CORRESPONDENCE jhowelluwseduau

NOTES

1 The concept of global culture deployed here draws on Peter Bergerrsquos refinements of the idea ofa lsquoglobal culturersquo (2ndash16) emerging in the last few decades through the information revolutionthe intensification of transnational travel and business operations and consequent increasingparticipation of people all over the world in communications of global reach While Bergeracknowledges that the region dominant in propagating these global communications is theNorth Atlantic especially the United States he pays considerable attention to lsquoalternative

416 J D Howell

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014

globalisationsrsquo (12) projecting across the world from Asia (including the Islamic world) andnon-Anglophone Europe and Latin America Like Colin Campbell Elizabeth Puttick andothers he draws attention to the way Asian religious cultures have fed into Western culturessince the Romantic period in the nineteenth century and contributed to now globallycirculating New Age spirituality and ambiguously secular themes deriving from the largelyAmerican lsquogrowth movementrsquo and broader Human Potential Movement Most of the lsquosectorsrsquoof contemporary global culture identified by Berger (lsquobusiness culturersquo lsquofaculty club culturersquoand lsquopop culturersquo) are ostensibly or predominantly secular (in the sense of not being in HubertKnoblauchrsquos terminology lsquoreligiously markedrsquo) but he counts lsquoevangelical Protestantismrsquo asactually having the most global impact He might well have given more weight to the culturalcurrents carried by numerous global Islamic reform movements

2 This is the Constitutional Courtrsquos refusal on 19 April 2010 to review Presidential Decision no1 1965 (UU No1PNPS1965) recognizing Islam Protestantism Catholicism HinduismBuddhism and Confucianism as lsquoreligionsrsquo (agama) under the Constitution of 1945 andforbidding the lsquobesmirchingrsquo and lsquo[free] interpretationrsquo of those protected religions Civil societygroups that made the request for the review object to the restriction of freedom of religioneffected by the Presidential Decision of 1965 and to the denial of diversity and change withinreligions that the Courtrsquos decision implies

3 lsquoReligious communicationsrsquo here refers to communications in what Peter Beyer identified as thereligion functional system as distinct from other functional systems of modern societies suchas the capitalist economy the sovereign state academic education positive law the media etc

4 The editorrsquos preface to the 2005 edition of Aa Gymrsquos Jagalah Hati Step by Step Manajemen Qolbuspecifically identifies these aids as international lsquobest practicersquo ldquothe concept has been madeeven more valuable by presenting it in a genuinely how to and self-help format [berformat howto dan self-help] a modern packaging that is easy for the reader to digestrdquo (vi)

5 Translated from an ESQ Leadership Center flier entitled ldquoESQ TRAINING for Corporate ampPublicrdquo distributed at a training programme attended by the author at the Jakarta ConventionCenter 3ndash7 February 2005

6 Note the similarities of these ESQ mass-audience training techniques to those used byAmerican-originated Human Potential Movement training corporations (such as WernerErhardrsquos est and Lifestream) oriented to clients in the business world (Puttick 211ndash12)

7 Interview at the ESQ Center Ciputat Jakarta in May 2011 and Amirrachman8 As described in the ESQ training programme brochure of 2011 the new four-part series starts

with lsquoESQ Basic Trainingrsquo showing the insufficiency for true happiness of mere material andemotional satisfaction achieved with the intellect (IQ) and lsquoemotional intelligencersquo (EQ) andthe need for lsquospiritual happinessrsquo developed through lsquoSQrsquo Hasanuddin Thoyieb described theBasic Training as an ldquooverview of the whole programmerdquo The next level of the programme islsquoESQ Intermediate Training 1rsquo or lsquoMission amp Character Buildingrsquo (incorporating according toThoyieb days one and two of the old programme) The third level is lsquoESQ IntermediateTraining 2rsquo or lsquoSelf-Control and Collaborationrsquo also known as lsquoSC2rsquo or lsquoSC squaredrsquoincorporating material from the former programmersquos days three and four All that is nowcapped with the fourth and final segment lsquoESQ Advanced Trainingrsquo or lsquoTotal Actionrsquo whereone learns to lsquoexecute and implementrsquo the combined IQ EQ and SQ capabilities

9 After December 2006 when revelations of his second marriage deflated his popularity Aa Gymlet it be known that he had lsquoreturned to the pesantrenrsquo that is he had begun intensely renewinghis study of Islam Thereafter his predication became more narrowly Islamic

10 See for example trainer Syamsulrsquos comments to a Jakarta Post reporter in Delft in 2008 whenhe estimated that as many as 3000 non-Muslim Indonesians had done ESQ courses(Amirrachman) Note however that some non-Muslims obliged by their employers to take acompany-based ESQ training programme complained about the Islamic bias of theprogramme

11 However he went on to emphasise the business training professionalism not only of Ginanjarbut also of the large ESQ team of lsquotrainersrsquo These auxiliary trainers now present all but two ofthe 85ndash90 events the company puts on each month even in the programmes Ginanjar doeshost other trainers step in to lead parts offering a refreshing new face style and pace Thebusiness tries to ensure that ldquono matter who presents the programme the taste is the sameevery trainer has to meet the same standards for material intonation and musicrdquo They do this

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 417

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not only through their own in-house coaching and apprenticing but also by selecting onlypeople with university degrees as prospective trainers

12 This was illustrated in Indonesian reactions to a fatwa against Ary Ginanjarrsquos ESQ trainingissued in June 2010 by a mufti for the Federal Territories of Malaysia Wan Zahidi Bin WanTeh Zahidi charged that ESQ improperly associates concepts from other religions withpassages from the Qurrsquoan in effect equating other religions with Islam (httpwwwmuftiwpgovmyv1docfatwa_esqpdf access date 3 June 2011) The offending elements identified inthe fatwa are the SQ concept whichndashndashZahidi claimedndashndashis Jewish because its author DanahZohar is Jewish and the God Spot idea which he claimed is Hindu like its authorRamachandran The fatwa further judged that ESQ encouraged lsquoliberalrsquo thinking puttingrational thinking above revelation in religious matters and following onersquos conscience ratherthan religious law The news of this fatwa quickly spread to Indonesia where it was evaluatedby the controversial semi-governmental Indonesian Council of Ulamas (MUI) Although MUIhad famously declared Indonesian lsquoliberalismrsquo (in Islamic exegesis) lsquopluralismrsquo andlsquosecularismrsquo to be deviant in 2005 MUIrsquos chairman Amhidhan told The Jakarta Post in July 2010that the diverse religious backgrounds of ESQ training participants ldquodoes not mean it embracespluralism in religionsrdquo and accepted that ESQ is ldquoa training on management and humanresources not an event to preach although there are those who convert after taking part in itrdquo(Haspari) Later KH Marsquoruf Amin also of MUI agreed telling a Malaysian news outlet thatldquoESQ is an alternative and effective methodology for dakwah (missionising)rdquo (ldquoESQ TrainingrdquoThe Star 22 February 2011) Not all Indonesian Muslim clerics consider ESQ benign howeverFor example Bernard Abdul Jabbar of the Indonesian Muslim Forum rebutted Amhidhanrsquosopinion some days later endorsing the judgments of ESQ made by Malaysian mufti Zahidi andbranding ESQ ldquoa new religion called the ESQ 1965 Wayrdquo (ldquoMUI to Reviewrdquo Jakarta Post 31July 2010) Nonetheless Zahidi did not win sufficient support either in Malaysia or inIndonesia to close down ESQ activities in those countries The fatwa committee of theMalaysian National Islamic Affairs Council like Indonesiarsquos MUI has judged that ESQ shouldbe allowed to continue operating (ldquoESQ Trainingrdquo The Star 22 February 2011)

REFERENCES

Abdurrahman Moeslim ldquoRitual Divided Hajj Tours in Capitalist Era Indonesiardquo Ed MarkWoodward Towards a New Paradigm Tempe AR Arizona State U 1996 117ndash32

Al Afghani Mohamad Mova ldquoReligious Freedom in Indonesia before and after ConstitutionalAmendmentsrdquo 2010 Social Science Research Network Available at lthttpssrncomabstract=1587256gt access date 30 April 2010

Amirrachman Alpha ldquoPersonal Growth Course Travels to the Netherlandsrdquo The Jakarta Post 12June 2008 Available at lthttpwwwthejakartapostcomnews20080612personal-growth-course-travels-netherlandshtmlgt access date 15 April 2011

Berger Peter L Many Globalizations New York Oxford UP 2002Beyer Peter Religions in Global Society London Routledge 2006Boyatzis Richard E ldquoConsequences and Rejuvenation of Competency-based Human Resource and

Organization Developmentrdquo Eds Richard W Woodman and William A Pasmore Research inOrganizatinal Change and Development Vol 9 Greenwich CN JAI P 1996 101ndash22

Campbell Colin ldquoThe Easternization of the Westrdquo Eds Bryan Wilson and Jamie Cresswell NewReligious Movements Challenge and Response London Routledge 1999 35ndash48

Casanova Jose ldquoCivil Society and Religion Retrospective Reflections on Catholicism andProspective Reflections on Islamrdquo Social Research 68 (2001) 1041ndash80

- - - ldquoBeyond European and American Exceptionalisms Towards a Global Perspectiverdquo Eds GraceDavie Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead Predicting Religion London Ashgate 2003 17ndash29

Eickelman Dale and James Piscatori Muslim Politics Princeton NJ Princeton UP 1996Elegant Simon and Jason Tedjasukmana ldquoHoly Manrdquo Time Asia 16018 4 November 2002 Available at

lthttpwwwtimecomtimeasiamagazinearticle013673501021111-38697700htmlgt accessdate 14 February 2005

ldquoESQ Training Not Deviationist Says Indonesiarsquos MUIrdquo The Star (Kuala Lumpur) 22 February2011 Available at lthttpthestarcommynewsstoryaspfile=2011222nation8110114ampsec=nationgt access date 15 April 2011

418 J D Howell

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014

preachers who have adapted to television have become national celebrities(Fealy Hoesterey Howell ldquoModulationsrdquo)

Abdullah Gymnastiar was a pioneer of Indonesian mega-star televangelismand exemplifies a particular type of television preacher that has come tonational prominence since the turn of the century because of an ability toincorporate secular entertainment into appeals for religious renewal Thus AaGym was followed to the top of the ratings charts by entertainerndashpreacherslike Arifin Ilham (who introduced the spectacularly produced litanies zikirakbar or mega-zikir broadcast from the grandest mosques with leadingpoliticians and celebrities in attendance) Jefry Al-Buchori popularly known aslsquoUjersquo (one of a new type of reformed but still hip bad-boy preachers whoworks simple religious morals into his interviews with youth idols) and YusufMansur (who scripts and acts in a religiously themed soap opera in additionto preaching and fundraising for religious charities like Dompet Dhuafa)These entertainerndashpreachers rapidly eclipsed scholarly but un-showmanlikefigures such as Nurcholish Madjid Quraish Shihab Nasaruddin UmarJalaluddin Rakhmat and Komaruddin Hidayat who were popular on TV inthe last decade of the twentieth century when television producers looked tocredible religious authorities to fill time slots dedicated to religious edification(Howell ldquoModulationsrdquo ldquoSalafistrdquo)

The television ministry of Abdullah Gymnastiar contrasts sharply with thatof the professor preachers Although when he was a child he and his familyhad a series of highly significant linked spiritual dreams (they all dreamed thatyoung Gymnastiar prayed with the Prophet Muhammad and his Companions)he did not get a religious school (pesantren) education The child of a militaryman keenly interested in sport (hence the name lsquoGymnastiarrsquo) he went to stateschools in his home town of Bandung in West Java It was only as a universitystudent when he started to be appreciated as a prayer leader and giver ofsermons among friends and neighbours that he was by his own account(Gymnastiar) gifted with miraculous speed learning of the essentials of theIslamic canon and took some private instruction with a famous kyai (teacher)

According to one of his biographers he had gone through a time ofconfusion about his direction in life but had found a way forward through hisunusual religious study and the sharing of his gifts with others (Solahudin)Together with some other students attracted to his preaching he started a kindof intentional urban community Daarut Tauhiid They called it a pesantrenwhich in a sense it was Although it was not established by a founderauthorised to teach by an established ulama it was like traditional pesantren aresidential community of students gathered for religious study and prayersAa Gym and his fellow students also clubbed together to run small businessesand thus helped each other make a living while some of them continued theirstudies

As Aa Gym became more popular as a preacher he developed an unusualstyle that seemed to touch many young people like himself and turn themaround Rather than lecturing on articles of faith and behaviour allowed orforbidden with numerous Quranic and Hadith citations his sermons weremodels of gentle introspection The talks encouraged his listeners to lsquopurifytheir heartsrsquo of base impulses and indiscipline He was popularising a practicemost developed in the Sufi tradition through which the bodyrsquos esoteric

406 J D Howell

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spiritual centre the heart or qolbu can be cleaned of base desires (tazkiyah alnafs) This would help them get closer to God and thereby improve theirfamily lives study and work performance

Aa Gym also did something different with the prayers he led He added tothe basic obligatory order of prayers (sholat wajib) short braces of thediscretionary litanies (zikir) to do the spiritual work recommended in hissermons of purifying the heart enabling the practitioner to feel Godrsquospresence and guidance Aa Gymrsquos distinctive highly informal style of zikirinterspersed with a kind of guided introspection (muraqabah) often movedhim and his audience to tears starting a veritable fad for this kind of publicreligious emotion (Solahudin)

So attractive was his sermonising and style of zikir-enhanced prayers thathis community grew rapidly in the latter part of the 1990s along with thenumber of invitations to preach and give religious talks at ralliesconventions and public commemorations all over the region At rallies andother personal appearances he worked his core messages into easy listeningsongs like Jagalah Hati (lsquoTend to Your Heartrsquo) which for a while topped thepopular song charts

His national prominence dates from October 2000 when he appeared withthe popular music group Sam Bimbo at Bandungrsquos festival venue theTaman Alun-Alun Then in 2001 his first invitation came to lead anationally televised commemoration of a religious holiday conducted at themonumental Istiqlal Mosque This established his reputation as a mega-stardarsquoi with live audiences of thousands and viewer audiences in the millionsAccording to James Hoesterey (96) his television ratings peaked in 2002when his Sunday afternoon programme captured 325 of all viewers Atthat time on the strength of his television celebrity status he was receiving1200 invitations a month to make personal appearances according to aTime Asia feature on lsquoIndonesiarsquos hottest Muslimrsquo (Elegant andTedjasukmana) But in 2004 he was still claiming television and radioaudiences of 60 million per week according to a Washington Post reporterand was able to command fees of US$50000 per show during the fastingmonth of Ramadan (Sipress) Moreover despite some loss of televisionmarket share his popularity as a public figure continued to rise achievingin early 2006 a 91 popular approval rating in polls consulted bypoliticians (Hoesterey 96)

Alongside his preaching and inspirational appearances on television and atrallies Aa Gym developed personal development training programmesdelivered face-to-face to contracting companies and to individual members ofthe public His key concept for the trainings lsquoManajemen Qolbursquo (lsquoHeartManagementrsquo or lsquoMQrsquo) was Islamicly coloured but not explicitly orexclusively Islamic MQ blends disciplines of classical Sufi ethical reflectionwith the disciplines of the modern workplace and effective communicationcoaching He proffered these skills in formats that were self-consciouslylsquomodernrsquo and well established in international management and personaleffectiveness training4 Thus the 2004ndash05 version of his basic how-to bookcalled Jagalah Hati Step by Step Manajemen Qolbu (lsquoTend to Your Heart Step byStep Heart Managementrsquo) offers programmes for personal development in fiveeasy-to-comprehend steps The first is lsquoGetting to Know Yourselfrsquo (assessment

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 407

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of your strengths and weaknesses and developing lsquofokusrsquo) Next comeslsquoCleansing the Heartrsquo which involves not just continual reassessment of onersquosperformance in work study and home life but being open to the criticisms ofothers and being a lsquomirror for themrsquo This is followed by lsquoGetting a Hold ofOurselvesrsquo not only by managing onersquos feelings but by managing lsquostresrsquomanaging onersquos time and being empathetic and communicating well withothers The penultimate step is lsquoBuilding Ourselves Uprsquo through believing inoneself and cultivating onersquos lsquoKredibilitasrsquo and lsquoKapabilitasrsquo That brings one(hopefully) to step five lsquoMakrifatullahrsquo (conventionally mystical gnosis)where one is at one with God in thought and action which can only belsquosuksesrsquo

The MQ training programmes bought on contract by companies broughtin from US$200 per person for larger courses for middle managers to US$300 per person for a select group of Pertamina oil executives in 2004(Sipress) By this time Gymnastiarrsquos innovative pesantren Daarut Tauhiidhad become the site not only for the MQ personal development courses butalso for massive spiritual tourism Its three-hectare site not only housedlong-term resident students (santri) but also provided hotel and cottageaccommodation for visitors eager to hear Aa Gym preach at the on-sitemosque and listen to him and his wife speak at the carefully stage-managed visitor welcoming sessions Crowds of 2000 and more werecommon on the weekends providing healthy incomes for vendors andoverflowing the three-storey mosque built to accommodate just 1000 people(Handoko)

Aa Gym remained a highly popular figure until December 2006 when hewas obliged to admit that he had taken a second wife disappointing hismiddle-class fans often estimated to be mostly female For them he and hiswife were exemplars not just of the harmonious Muslim family (keluargasakinah) but of happy monogamous marriage This became evident from thestorm of stories about women who ripped up his pictures after the news of hissecond marriage came out (Hoesterey 96) and from the Presidentrsquos suddenmove to review legislation on polygamy Gymnastiarrsquos television bookingsthinned out leaving him with none for the following Ramadan and DaarutTauhiid fell quiet Forty percent of DT staff were let go and few people otherthan resident santri attended daily prayers Mosque collections dropped to halfthe usual receipts (Handoko)

Gymnastiarrsquos business empire selling products as diverse astelecommunications and household items under his lsquoMQrsquo brand also sufferedA number of businesses associated with the brand went out of business Salesof their bottled water MQ Jernih (lsquoMQ Purersquo) dropped by 70 Nonetheless ayear after the revelations of his second marriage over 100 radio stations acrossthe country were still broadcasting his morning show his books were sellingwell and parents were still enrolling their children in Daarut Tauhiidrsquospesantren kitat (Islam short study courses) (Handoko) Five years onGymnastiar has not been restored to television stardom but remains aprominent public figure able to draw large audiences to major venues like theIstiqlal Mosque

408 J D Howell

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Ary Ginanjar Spiritual Trainer and Management Consultant

In 2001 a young Indonesian Muslim businessman and former UdayanaUniversity tourism faculty lecturer Ary Ginanjar Agustian published thelsquobestsellerrsquo book Rahasia Sukses Membangun Kecerdasan Emosi dan Spiritual ESQEmotional Spiritual Quotient (lsquoThe Secret of Success in Developing Emotionaland Spiritual Intelligence ESQ Emotional Spiritual Quotientrsquo) The bookelaborated key concepts presented in his training programmes which heoffered at their own premises to some of Indonesiarsquos largest corporationsincluding Garuda Indonesia airlines Krakatau Steel Pertamina oil companyIndonesia Power Republika Daily News and a number of governmentbureaus

Ginanjar put his spiritual training programme on the market when thecountry was still struggling to stabilise politically and economically after theAsian financial crisis of 1997 and the dissolution of former President Suhartorsquosauthoritarian regime in 1998 (cf Rudnyckyj) In the revival of the democraticparty system that followed many new Islamic parties fanned revivalist fervourand Islamic piety movements across the spectrum from marginal tomainstream from militantly Islamist Laskar Jihad to the progressive pluralistMuhammadiyah promoted the idea that their path to Islamic virtue could bethe salvation of the nation Ginanjarrsquos ESQ promised such national salvation ina promotional platform evidently well suited to one niche of the pietyimprovement market relatively well-educated middle- and upper-middle-class Indonesians participating in elite vectors of global culture especiallybusiness culture or aspiring to do so (cf Berger 3ndash6)

The key idea of Ginanjarrsquos ESQ draws directly with attribution on titles ininternational airline departure hall bookshops The first is Daniel GolemanrsquosEmotional Intelligence As explained in a flier for the ESQ Training programmesthe most significant factor in the performance of companies is the quality oftheir workforce But how to assess workforce quality Only ldquo20 [of thatcapability]rdquo the flier notes ldquois determined by the IQ [of the staff] while 80[is determined] by EQ or Emotional Intelligencerdquo5 It is possible the flierexplains to improve company performance by training the employees toimprove their lsquoemotional intelligencersquo (here citing an article by RichardBoyatzis published in 1996 in Research in Organizational Change andDevelopment 9) But the flier continues that is likely to have only limited andephemeral effect Beyond that there is a further problem working only onemotional intelligence people will still experience a lsquosplitrsquo between their workmotivation (semangat bekerja) and their spiritual motivation (semangatspiritualitas ke-Tuhanan-an) This will result in lsquosekularismersquo in both the worldlyand spiritual dimensions (kutub duniawi and kutub spiritual) Each willundermine the other with the result that people will become bored with theirwork and unreliable in carrying out their duties ldquoThe SOLUTIONrdquo is forevery individual to understand that ldquoprecisely through spiritual intelligence[we can] increase our capacity for EQrdquo and that development will continuethroughout our lives (unlike personal improvement attempted through EQalone) Ginanjarrsquos trademarked concept ESQ is then presented in thefollowing terms as strikingly more effective

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 409

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Synergising worldly rationality (EQ) with spiritual motivation (SQ) hellip anawesome synthesis (ESQ) is achieved develop[ing] perfect human character

Identifying something like worker alienation as a reason for poor companyperformances Ary then turns for his lsquoSolutionrsquo to Danah Zohar and IanMarshallrsquos concept of lsquoSQrsquo or lsquospiritual intelligencersquo In his books Ginanjardevelops the key concepts presented in the flier He is at pains to emphasisethat spirituality is lsquouniversalrsquo which he says is why scientific evidence can befound to prove its existence and basis in the human body Specifically itsphysical site is the lsquoGod Spotrsquo located in our heads Ginanjar consistently usesthe English loan word lsquospiritualrsquo and closely related Indonesian cognates likelsquospiritualitasrsquo to emphasise this universality rather than Arabic terms likelsquokerohanianrsquo or lsquokebatinanrsquo introduced into Indonesian with Islam

The importance of science as a system of knowledge embracing all humanexperience of the world and as a basis of truth assertions important inbusiness is evident particularly in the introductory segments of Ginanjarrsquostraining programmes Thus early in the four-day course for the general publicthat I attended in the Balai Sidang Jakarta (Jakarta Convention Center) in 2005Ginanjar made a PowerPoint presentation showing the high corruption ratingsof Indonesia in a global context and relating the countryrsquos corruption to itspoor rates of economic growth following the transition to democracy Thissegment concluded with statistical tables showing the greatly improvedperformance of companies that had used ESQ training

Ginanjar subtly draws on Islam however for the theory upon which hisprogramme of spiritual transformation his lsquoZero Mind Processrsquo (Eng) isbased The lsquoZero Mind Processrsquo he explained in the first day of the course is aprocess of penjernihan emosi (lsquopurificationrsquo or lsquoclarifying of the emotionsrsquo)Although this process is displaced to the lsquoGod Spotrsquo in the head it isreminiscent of the Sufi notion of the purification of the heart (tazkiyah al nafs)The exercises he uses in the training programmes also refer to Islamic ritualsand disciplines and re-gloss them with this-worldly asceticism Thus later onin the training I attended Ginanjarrsquos team led the participants in collectiverecitation of the lsquoNinety-Nine Beautiful Names of Godrsquo a popular form of zikirlitany but participants were provided with a chart of affirmations to be linkedin their thoughts with each name Towards the end of the training session hajjrituals performed by Muslim pilgrims to the holy land were also enactedschematically as games after which allegorical meanings reinforcing piety andethical behaviour in everyday life were offered by the trainers

Less subtly Ginanjar draws on Islamic eschatology to enliven participantsrsquomotivation actually to change their ways when they leave the training Hedoes this by shifting from lecturing to presenting images of Godrsquos awesomemight as revealed by astronomers and foreshadowed in passages of theQurrsquoan and by dramatising the perilous condition of the soul at death It is themost graphic and gruesome Islamic conceptions of the terrors the soul mayface that are projected in vivid images on giant projection screens backed bydeafeningly loud heavy-metal music The emotional force of this is suggestedin my notes on the dramatic arc of this section of the training programme Iattended

410 J D Howell

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ay 2

014

The entry into this explicitly religious and indeed Islamic section of thelsquotrainingrsquo is via exquisite Hubble-telescope photographs of multi-colouredstarry nebulae We have just been convinced by the scientific literaturereviewed in a lecture that indeed spiritual development is important for ourpersonal growth and success in life Here we actually see as it were theglories of God and gasp in wonder as the sound track carries symphonicevocations of spectacular revelations We then descend via Google Earthimages down down down to earth even to Jakarta and to some smallneighbourhood here Indeed there is a God we feel and the awesometranscendent God can actually relate to us Returning gently to subduedlecture mode still with the mood music we learn that the exploration ofspace and many other scientific achievements and findings have actuallybeen predicted in the Qurrsquoan The Qurrsquoan is the most perfect word of Godand yet we hardly appreciated it We return to the images of outer space formore exhilarating revelling in Godrsquos glory But wait Have we obeyed Godrsquoslaws the voice of the compere asks us in the darkened hall Have wefulfilled our obligations Have we selfishly neglected our parents Beenunfaithful to our wives Failed to be understanding and solicitous of ourhusbands Cheated on the job Doleful music intrudes and we are remindedthat all must diendashndashand you never know when Think what happened sounexpectedly to those poor people in Aceh overwhelmed by the tsunamiThen projected on the four giant projection screens we see scenes of afuneral backed by bitter wailing on the sound track The wrapped corpse isbeing carried out to the grave under a reddened and smoky sky Themourners leave This is the fate of all Are we ready Again we return to thisscene and alas bolts of lightning strike down from the sky rending thewinding cloths and jolting the corpse again and again We behold the tortureof the unrepentant sinner in the grave The hall has become darkened tonearly pitch black and the sound system carries disembodied voices ofwailing Ary voices our fear and remorse Then he begins to lead theaudience in free-form prayers of intensely overwrought regret abasementand tearful petitioning for forgiveness The wailing carried by the soundsystems gets louder and louder now interspersed with menrsquos and womenrsquosvoices wretchedly and tearfully begging for forgiveness

After some time the music lightens the projection screens light up again thistime with beatific scenes of a Spring meadow in some temperate climatecountry with water gently bubbling along beside lush green grassForgiveness comes Orchestral sylvan strings refresh us Ary reminds us ofthe wonder of Godrsquos mercy to those who acknowledge Him and follow theguidance He has given to change their ways At last as the hall lightsbrighten we are carefully returned to our convention centre reality and makeready for the snack break

In the interlude described above Ary Ginanjar shifted from the universitylecturer-cum-business consultant role to that of a preacher asserting religioustruths and leading a theatrical dramatisation of them as an emotional primerfor prayer However he did not stay in that role for the rest of the trainingprogramme rather it was but one stance that he adopted along with othersused to facilitate a variety of training exercises enumerated in English in hisbrochure as ldquo1) Games 2) Learning Experience 3) Case Study 4) Lecturette5) Discussion [and] 6) Role Playrdquo6

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 411

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Ginanjarrsquos spiritualised personal development programmes trademarked aslsquoThe ESQ Way 165rsquo continue to be offered to businesses and individuals withspecial youth versions and lsquoalumnirsquo groups for people who have done thetraining However there have been some changes over the past half decadeThe business has grown enough to fund the construction of a 25-floorbuilding lsquoMenara 165rsquo (lsquo165 Towerrsquo) located near a major transport route inCilandak South Jakarta With its first three levels already completed thetowerrsquos two massive ballrooms now house ESQ training programmes that usedto be held in the Jakarta Convention Center and other rented venues It hastop-grade hotel facilities for attendees coming from outside the city and forlocals who wish to avoid Jakartarsquos notorious traffic A car park capable ofaccommodating 400 vehicles caters to the needs of commuters to theprogrammes and hotel guests When not in use for ESQ programmes thebuilding now earns its own rental income as a convention centre and venuefor large weddings and family celebrations When completed the tower willhave offices in the upper levels and a mosque as its peak

The healthy business income reflects the number of people who have doneESQ courses Spokespersons for the business told The Jakarta Post in 2010 thatmore than 850000 Indonesians from all over the country had done the courseas had 65000 Malaysians (Hapsari) ESQ trainers also regularly offer coursesin Singapore and occasionally for the Indonesian-speaking communities of theNetherlands and Washington DC7

Over the last few years Ginanjar has introduced additions to hisprogrammes and some format changes to earlier programmes A newprogramme especially for parents has been added to those for teens andyounger children and since 2006 the original four-day programme for thegeneral adult public has been spread over nine days The nine days aredivided into four levels of training the first lasting three days and the restlasting two days each However as explained to me by ESQrsquos Public RelationsDirector M Hasanuddin Thoyieb during a visit to the ESQ Training Center inCiputat Jakarta in May 2011 material from the original four-day programmeis still used in the revised programme but amplified with other materials8

Thoyieb also noted that the training offered to businesses is now morelsquocustomisedrsquo to the particular company For example the training forPertamina oil company is no longer called lsquoESQrsquo training but lsquo6 Crsquo trainingfocusing on values like being lsquocleanrsquo and building lsquocapacityrsquo This seems toreflect a greater emphasis in programmes offered to companies on popularpersonal development and management concepts than on specifically religiousmotivational exercises

While Ginanjarrsquos programmes for businesses and the public strongly projecthis businessman persona in 2009 on the eve of the national election heintroduced a new programme specifically for darsquoi In that programme he alsoincluded other high-profile Muslim leaders from the Department of Religionand across the spectrum of religious voluntary organisations from theNahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah to Hizbut Tahrir Ginanjar explained inhis ESQ Magazine Online that this lsquonon-politicalrsquo event was organisedspecifically to promote the unity of the ummah in the face of the factionalismthat had broken out in advance of the election In that event evidently hisESQ training for personal development was deployed not just to reinforce

412 J D Howell

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personal piety but Islamic identity And given that voters faced choices amongboth lsquoIslamicrsquo and non-denominational parties the training carried a latent ifnot manifest political significance

Darsquoi and Trainer Compared

The two figures I have introduced exemplify two different professionsdistinguished terminologically by Indonesians lsquodarsquoirsquo (preacher) and lsquotrainerrsquoBut it is evident that the attributes of these emicly distinct roles extensivelyoverlap in the cases of their best known exemplars

Both men act in effect as lsquotrainersrsquo they offer face-to-face courses and sellhow-to books that show people how to become more effective and successfulin their everyday lives Moreover their programmes of personal developmentare designed to work for anyone They draw heavily on the internationalgrowth movement literature both in content and presentation format andpurport to be scientifically based Ginanjar specifically presents the scientificbasis of his programme as proof of its universality and hence of its efficacyregardless of the practitionerrsquos religious affiliation

The non-denominational features of both menrsquos programmes have broughtin custom from non-Muslims Aa Gym was popular among non-MuslimIndonesians as well as with Muslims particularly before his second marriageand lsquoreturn to the pesantrenrsquo9 His how-to books still draw only very subtly onIslam the few Islamic terms he uses (qolbu and makrifatullah) are readilyrecognizable by any Indonesian speaker as respectively lsquoheartrsquo (with spiritualovertones) and lsquooneness with Godrsquo Other parallels to Sufi practice are notobvious to non-Muslims Ginanjar explicitly describes his training as lsquospiritualrsquorather than lsquoIslamicrsquo development (his lsquoSQrsquo) and company representativesemphasise the substantial numbers of non-Muslims who have taken hiscourses10

But one could also say that both are preachers In the past I occasionallyreferred to Ginanjar as a darsquoi when speaking to Indonesian colleagues but wascorrected Ginanjar is not a darsquoi they said because he does not make a careerof preaching in mosques Certainly ESQrsquos Indonesian-language promotionalliterature consistently refers to Ginanjar as a lsquotrainerrsquo When I asked GinanjarrsquosPublic Relations Director Thoyieb whether he should be called a darsquoi or alsquotrainerrsquo he responded somewhat ambiguously that ldquo[o]urs is a normalcompany (perusahan) an HR company hellip the materials are not only those usedby darsquoi but also related to popular management and our programmes are notlimited to Muslimsrsquo11

Nonetheless both Ginanjar and Aa Gym have infused their programmes ofpersonal development with Islamic content and clearly seek to inspire Muslimsto get closer to God and be more pious in part by adopting visible markers ofMuslim identity This is conveyed for example by their wives and femalefriends coming veiled to public events wearing long loose gowns that obscurethe female shape Both Aa Gym and Ginanjarrsquos personal growth programmesare very much part of the broader Islamic piety revival movement

Ginanjarrsquos live trainings are if anything more explicitly Islamic than AaGymrsquos The sources of religious authority upon which he calls the rituals that

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 413

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he re-scripts for his training programmes and the religious songs used inthem are all explicitly Islamic Moreover his dramatisation of the life hereafterwhich forms the most powerful motivational tool of the training follows awell-known specifically Islamic scenario reinforcing popular fears of torturefor unrepentant sinners in the grave In contrast lsquopreacherrsquo Aa Gym buildsmotivation for personal change on the hope for intimacy with the loving andforgiving God in the here-and-now rather than on fear of Godrsquos wrath In AaGymrsquos preaching and training programmes the Creator is more immanentthan awesomely transcendent taking part in the transformation of those whoseek Him using the Sufi-inspired but Islamicly unmarked steps and formulasfor improvement that Brother Gym sets out for his clients and readers Of thetwo it is Ginanjar the trainer not Aa Gym the lsquopreacherrsquo who uses lsquohell fireand damnationrsquo to inspire piety and it is the lsquopreacherrsquo in his personaldevelopment programmes and books who consistently uses the non-denominational albeit theistic language of lsquospiritualityrsquo

Secular Borrowing as De-differentiation in Commercially Mediated PopularIslam

The extensive interweaving of secular culture in calls for piety renewal asdemonstrated above is a feature of Indonesian commercially mediated religionthat is reminiscent of the picture Knoblauch gives of European popularreligion lsquomarkedrsquo and lsquounmarkedrsquo projected through the mass media todaySo also is the prominence of lay people as promoters of piety in theIndonesian commercial sphere and the centrality of immediate spiritualexperience to those programmes of popular religious renewal

Although Indonesia is culturally distant from the North Atlantic countriesand as a post-World War II lsquonew nationrsquo has a distinctive political economyit is reasonable to attribute these similarities in popular religion to similarpressures and opportunities that shape demand as well as to locally specificchanges in opportunities for suppliers in the commercial sphere Particularlyimportant for new types of suppliers of piety promotion products has been therelease of television licences to private providers in the 1990s Similarities indemand structures in the two regions result from Indonesiarsquos capitalistdevelopment catch-up which accelerated rapidly under former PresidentSuhartorsquos New Order regime (1968ndash98) and supported a significant expansionof the secularly educated middle and upper classes In Indonesia as elsewherein modernising societies (both Muslim and non-Muslim [cf Peter]) the newMuslim middle class and elites are prepared to look to new sources ofreligious authority and inspiration The individualisation that underlies suchautonomy in religious choice-making also generates familiar social pressures towhich the providers of Indonesiarsquos Muslim personal development productsrespond the need to create a marketable persona viable in their liberalised latecapitalist economy the tensions of companionate marriages (increasinglyprevalent in Indonesia) and the challenges of more egalitarian parenthood (towhich better educated Indonesians also aspire)

The participation of well-educated Indonesian Muslims in global secularculture through their schooling in their offices and in their leisure activities

414 J D Howell

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has also shaped tastes and interests They expect high production values inentertainment and international best practice in business and training Pietypromotion products using the techniques and findings of the globallycirculating entertainment arts and the sciences of personal development thushave a particular appeal except to purists who read them as un-Islamicbecause of their eclecticism and association with the West Aa Gymrsquos andGinanjarrsquos success shows that such purists have less influence in Indonesiarsquoscommercial arena than those with more culturally pluralist understandings ofIslam12

Nonetheless one could object that the parallels between the two regionswith their different religious heritages are weak insofar as the starting pointsfor the purported de-differentiation of popular religion are not comparableInfluenced by certain modernist Muslim reformists of the twentieth centurymany lsquode-traditionalisedrsquo Muslims today consider Islam to be uniquely andnecessarily fused with all aspects of social life a complete social order(al-nizam al-islami) (Roy Tibi) In other words they understand Muslimsocieties to be actually andor ideally exempt from processes of socialdifferentiation that have accompanied economic development in the West andwhich social theorists have taken to be the hallmark of modernisation ErnestGellner famously formulated a scholarly justification for such lsquoIslamicexceptionalismrsquo arguing that Muslim societies can form modern states withoutseparating religious from political institutions because of the distinctivestructure of Islamrsquos religious leadership (through the ulama) and the legalframework for social life provided by its syariah However critics have shownthat the putative fusion of Islam and the state in pre-modern times isoverdrawn in such characterisations (Lapidus Eickelman and Piscatori) thatmovements aiming to conjoin religion and state can be found in Christian andHindu as well as Muslim communities (Casanova ldquoBeyondrdquo 23 HefnerldquoMultiplerdquo 90) and that in fact few Muslim states today give religiousauthorities power over the state (Beyer 183)

More nuanced comparisons of the trajectories of modernisation in Christian-and Muslim-heritage societies such as those of Jose Casanova (ldquoCivil SocietyrdquoldquoBeyondrdquo) and Beyer acknowledge the greater elaboration and importance oflsquohierocraticrsquo organisations (churches) as carriers of religious communications inpre-modern Europe and the more dispersed and informal institutionalisationof religious authority in pre-modern Muslim societies but do not see pre-modern Muslim societies as undifferentiated or immune to modern forms ofsocial differentiation Thus as Beyer shows in the last century Islamic socialmovements have been important carriers of religious reform programmes andwith the formal organisations that they precipitated have formed distinctreligious function systems within socially differentiated modern societies

Beyer rightly cites Indonesiarsquos Muhammadiyah organisation as an exampleof the specialised religious institutions that have shaped socially differentiatedmodern Muslim societies One can also point to other Islamic organisationsfounded in Indonesia in the twentieth century that have framed Islam overagainst local Islamicly infused cultures as a universal religion and the ummahas a community among other religious communities in Indonesiarsquos plural andsocially differentiated society These other Islamic organisations include thenationrsquos largest Islamic voluntary organisation the Nahdhlatul Ulama (an

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 415

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014

association representing ulama and their followings) numerous Islamicpolitical parties and the increasingly influential fatwa-pronouncing body theMajelis Ulama Indonesia (Indonesian Council of Ulama) Along with thebroader social movements of which they are parts these organisations functionas civil society actors seeking to influence both the rest of society and the stateand so constitute a differentiated religious function system distinct from thecountryrsquos political and other function systems It is from this vantage pointthat the comingling of religious communications and secular culture in thecommercial sphere appears as de-differentiation albeit circumscribed bymarkers like lsquospiritualitasrsquo that link the personal development programmes ofthe darsquoi and trainer ambiguously to the legally recognized religions

Recognizing that certain darsquoi and trainers incorporate secular culture intotheir ministries and effect the de-differentiation of religious communications isnot however the same thing as saying that they promote secularisation in thesense of Weberian lsquodisenchantmentrsquo of the world or the growing irrelevance ofreligious beliefs to peoplersquos lives Local critics have indeed accused theentertainerndashpreachers and other purveyors of lsquoIslam 15 minitrsquo (lsquo15-minuteIslamrsquo) of trivialising the faith and of making the faith emptied of explicitdoctrine look just like any other religion Aa Gym has responded to thesecriticisms since his painful fall in the TV ratings charts by making hispreaching (if not his how-to books) more explicitly Islamic while Ginanjarcontinues steadfastly to promote his particular conflation of religion andscience evidently without losing his ability to attract endorsements fromMuslim luminaries Drawing back from these judgments of interested partieswe can nonetheless observe as Knoblauch did of European popular religionthat although these expressions of commercial mass-mediated popular Islamin Indonesia do obscure the boundaries between the sacred and the profane(which for Durkheim separated lsquoreligionrsquo from the secular) the notions oflsquospiritualitasrsquo in the ministries of Gymnastiar and Ginanjar still serve to focusconsumers on the transcendent while they work to overcome thecompartmentalisation of Indonesian selves in their differentiated modernsociety

Julia Howell is Professor of the Sociology of Religion in the Religion and SocietyResearch Centre at the University of Western Sydney and Adjunct Professor of AsianStudies at the Griffith Asia Institute Griffith University Brisbane Australia Herrecent work on popular Indonesian Islam and contemporary Sufi revival builds on herlong-term interests in movements of religious reform and marginal religiousmovements in modernising Indonesia and Western societies CORRESPONDENCE jhowelluwseduau

NOTES

1 The concept of global culture deployed here draws on Peter Bergerrsquos refinements of the idea ofa lsquoglobal culturersquo (2ndash16) emerging in the last few decades through the information revolutionthe intensification of transnational travel and business operations and consequent increasingparticipation of people all over the world in communications of global reach While Bergeracknowledges that the region dominant in propagating these global communications is theNorth Atlantic especially the United States he pays considerable attention to lsquoalternative

416 J D Howell

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rsity

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014

globalisationsrsquo (12) projecting across the world from Asia (including the Islamic world) andnon-Anglophone Europe and Latin America Like Colin Campbell Elizabeth Puttick andothers he draws attention to the way Asian religious cultures have fed into Western culturessince the Romantic period in the nineteenth century and contributed to now globallycirculating New Age spirituality and ambiguously secular themes deriving from the largelyAmerican lsquogrowth movementrsquo and broader Human Potential Movement Most of the lsquosectorsrsquoof contemporary global culture identified by Berger (lsquobusiness culturersquo lsquofaculty club culturersquoand lsquopop culturersquo) are ostensibly or predominantly secular (in the sense of not being in HubertKnoblauchrsquos terminology lsquoreligiously markedrsquo) but he counts lsquoevangelical Protestantismrsquo asactually having the most global impact He might well have given more weight to the culturalcurrents carried by numerous global Islamic reform movements

2 This is the Constitutional Courtrsquos refusal on 19 April 2010 to review Presidential Decision no1 1965 (UU No1PNPS1965) recognizing Islam Protestantism Catholicism HinduismBuddhism and Confucianism as lsquoreligionsrsquo (agama) under the Constitution of 1945 andforbidding the lsquobesmirchingrsquo and lsquo[free] interpretationrsquo of those protected religions Civil societygroups that made the request for the review object to the restriction of freedom of religioneffected by the Presidential Decision of 1965 and to the denial of diversity and change withinreligions that the Courtrsquos decision implies

3 lsquoReligious communicationsrsquo here refers to communications in what Peter Beyer identified as thereligion functional system as distinct from other functional systems of modern societies suchas the capitalist economy the sovereign state academic education positive law the media etc

4 The editorrsquos preface to the 2005 edition of Aa Gymrsquos Jagalah Hati Step by Step Manajemen Qolbuspecifically identifies these aids as international lsquobest practicersquo ldquothe concept has been madeeven more valuable by presenting it in a genuinely how to and self-help format [berformat howto dan self-help] a modern packaging that is easy for the reader to digestrdquo (vi)

5 Translated from an ESQ Leadership Center flier entitled ldquoESQ TRAINING for Corporate ampPublicrdquo distributed at a training programme attended by the author at the Jakarta ConventionCenter 3ndash7 February 2005

6 Note the similarities of these ESQ mass-audience training techniques to those used byAmerican-originated Human Potential Movement training corporations (such as WernerErhardrsquos est and Lifestream) oriented to clients in the business world (Puttick 211ndash12)

7 Interview at the ESQ Center Ciputat Jakarta in May 2011 and Amirrachman8 As described in the ESQ training programme brochure of 2011 the new four-part series starts

with lsquoESQ Basic Trainingrsquo showing the insufficiency for true happiness of mere material andemotional satisfaction achieved with the intellect (IQ) and lsquoemotional intelligencersquo (EQ) andthe need for lsquospiritual happinessrsquo developed through lsquoSQrsquo Hasanuddin Thoyieb described theBasic Training as an ldquooverview of the whole programmerdquo The next level of the programme islsquoESQ Intermediate Training 1rsquo or lsquoMission amp Character Buildingrsquo (incorporating according toThoyieb days one and two of the old programme) The third level is lsquoESQ IntermediateTraining 2rsquo or lsquoSelf-Control and Collaborationrsquo also known as lsquoSC2rsquo or lsquoSC squaredrsquoincorporating material from the former programmersquos days three and four All that is nowcapped with the fourth and final segment lsquoESQ Advanced Trainingrsquo or lsquoTotal Actionrsquo whereone learns to lsquoexecute and implementrsquo the combined IQ EQ and SQ capabilities

9 After December 2006 when revelations of his second marriage deflated his popularity Aa Gymlet it be known that he had lsquoreturned to the pesantrenrsquo that is he had begun intensely renewinghis study of Islam Thereafter his predication became more narrowly Islamic

10 See for example trainer Syamsulrsquos comments to a Jakarta Post reporter in Delft in 2008 whenhe estimated that as many as 3000 non-Muslim Indonesians had done ESQ courses(Amirrachman) Note however that some non-Muslims obliged by their employers to take acompany-based ESQ training programme complained about the Islamic bias of theprogramme

11 However he went on to emphasise the business training professionalism not only of Ginanjarbut also of the large ESQ team of lsquotrainersrsquo These auxiliary trainers now present all but two ofthe 85ndash90 events the company puts on each month even in the programmes Ginanjar doeshost other trainers step in to lead parts offering a refreshing new face style and pace Thebusiness tries to ensure that ldquono matter who presents the programme the taste is the sameevery trainer has to meet the same standards for material intonation and musicrdquo They do this

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 417

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not only through their own in-house coaching and apprenticing but also by selecting onlypeople with university degrees as prospective trainers

12 This was illustrated in Indonesian reactions to a fatwa against Ary Ginanjarrsquos ESQ trainingissued in June 2010 by a mufti for the Federal Territories of Malaysia Wan Zahidi Bin WanTeh Zahidi charged that ESQ improperly associates concepts from other religions withpassages from the Qurrsquoan in effect equating other religions with Islam (httpwwwmuftiwpgovmyv1docfatwa_esqpdf access date 3 June 2011) The offending elements identified inthe fatwa are the SQ concept whichndashndashZahidi claimedndashndashis Jewish because its author DanahZohar is Jewish and the God Spot idea which he claimed is Hindu like its authorRamachandran The fatwa further judged that ESQ encouraged lsquoliberalrsquo thinking puttingrational thinking above revelation in religious matters and following onersquos conscience ratherthan religious law The news of this fatwa quickly spread to Indonesia where it was evaluatedby the controversial semi-governmental Indonesian Council of Ulamas (MUI) Although MUIhad famously declared Indonesian lsquoliberalismrsquo (in Islamic exegesis) lsquopluralismrsquo andlsquosecularismrsquo to be deviant in 2005 MUIrsquos chairman Amhidhan told The Jakarta Post in July 2010that the diverse religious backgrounds of ESQ training participants ldquodoes not mean it embracespluralism in religionsrdquo and accepted that ESQ is ldquoa training on management and humanresources not an event to preach although there are those who convert after taking part in itrdquo(Haspari) Later KH Marsquoruf Amin also of MUI agreed telling a Malaysian news outlet thatldquoESQ is an alternative and effective methodology for dakwah (missionising)rdquo (ldquoESQ TrainingrdquoThe Star 22 February 2011) Not all Indonesian Muslim clerics consider ESQ benign howeverFor example Bernard Abdul Jabbar of the Indonesian Muslim Forum rebutted Amhidhanrsquosopinion some days later endorsing the judgments of ESQ made by Malaysian mufti Zahidi andbranding ESQ ldquoa new religion called the ESQ 1965 Wayrdquo (ldquoMUI to Reviewrdquo Jakarta Post 31July 2010) Nonetheless Zahidi did not win sufficient support either in Malaysia or inIndonesia to close down ESQ activities in those countries The fatwa committee of theMalaysian National Islamic Affairs Council like Indonesiarsquos MUI has judged that ESQ shouldbe allowed to continue operating (ldquoESQ Trainingrdquo The Star 22 February 2011)

REFERENCES

Abdurrahman Moeslim ldquoRitual Divided Hajj Tours in Capitalist Era Indonesiardquo Ed MarkWoodward Towards a New Paradigm Tempe AR Arizona State U 1996 117ndash32

Al Afghani Mohamad Mova ldquoReligious Freedom in Indonesia before and after ConstitutionalAmendmentsrdquo 2010 Social Science Research Network Available at lthttpssrncomabstract=1587256gt access date 30 April 2010

Amirrachman Alpha ldquoPersonal Growth Course Travels to the Netherlandsrdquo The Jakarta Post 12June 2008 Available at lthttpwwwthejakartapostcomnews20080612personal-growth-course-travels-netherlandshtmlgt access date 15 April 2011

Berger Peter L Many Globalizations New York Oxford UP 2002Beyer Peter Religions in Global Society London Routledge 2006Boyatzis Richard E ldquoConsequences and Rejuvenation of Competency-based Human Resource and

Organization Developmentrdquo Eds Richard W Woodman and William A Pasmore Research inOrganizatinal Change and Development Vol 9 Greenwich CN JAI P 1996 101ndash22

Campbell Colin ldquoThe Easternization of the Westrdquo Eds Bryan Wilson and Jamie Cresswell NewReligious Movements Challenge and Response London Routledge 1999 35ndash48

Casanova Jose ldquoCivil Society and Religion Retrospective Reflections on Catholicism andProspective Reflections on Islamrdquo Social Research 68 (2001) 1041ndash80

- - - ldquoBeyond European and American Exceptionalisms Towards a Global Perspectiverdquo Eds GraceDavie Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead Predicting Religion London Ashgate 2003 17ndash29

Eickelman Dale and James Piscatori Muslim Politics Princeton NJ Princeton UP 1996Elegant Simon and Jason Tedjasukmana ldquoHoly Manrdquo Time Asia 16018 4 November 2002 Available at

lthttpwwwtimecomtimeasiamagazinearticle013673501021111-38697700htmlgt accessdate 14 February 2005

ldquoESQ Training Not Deviationist Says Indonesiarsquos MUIrdquo The Star (Kuala Lumpur) 22 February2011 Available at lthttpthestarcommynewsstoryaspfile=2011222nation8110114ampsec=nationgt access date 15 April 2011

418 J D Howell

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ay 2

014

spiritual centre the heart or qolbu can be cleaned of base desires (tazkiyah alnafs) This would help them get closer to God and thereby improve theirfamily lives study and work performance

Aa Gym also did something different with the prayers he led He added tothe basic obligatory order of prayers (sholat wajib) short braces of thediscretionary litanies (zikir) to do the spiritual work recommended in hissermons of purifying the heart enabling the practitioner to feel Godrsquospresence and guidance Aa Gymrsquos distinctive highly informal style of zikirinterspersed with a kind of guided introspection (muraqabah) often movedhim and his audience to tears starting a veritable fad for this kind of publicreligious emotion (Solahudin)

So attractive was his sermonising and style of zikir-enhanced prayers thathis community grew rapidly in the latter part of the 1990s along with thenumber of invitations to preach and give religious talks at ralliesconventions and public commemorations all over the region At rallies andother personal appearances he worked his core messages into easy listeningsongs like Jagalah Hati (lsquoTend to Your Heartrsquo) which for a while topped thepopular song charts

His national prominence dates from October 2000 when he appeared withthe popular music group Sam Bimbo at Bandungrsquos festival venue theTaman Alun-Alun Then in 2001 his first invitation came to lead anationally televised commemoration of a religious holiday conducted at themonumental Istiqlal Mosque This established his reputation as a mega-stardarsquoi with live audiences of thousands and viewer audiences in the millionsAccording to James Hoesterey (96) his television ratings peaked in 2002when his Sunday afternoon programme captured 325 of all viewers Atthat time on the strength of his television celebrity status he was receiving1200 invitations a month to make personal appearances according to aTime Asia feature on lsquoIndonesiarsquos hottest Muslimrsquo (Elegant andTedjasukmana) But in 2004 he was still claiming television and radioaudiences of 60 million per week according to a Washington Post reporterand was able to command fees of US$50000 per show during the fastingmonth of Ramadan (Sipress) Moreover despite some loss of televisionmarket share his popularity as a public figure continued to rise achievingin early 2006 a 91 popular approval rating in polls consulted bypoliticians (Hoesterey 96)

Alongside his preaching and inspirational appearances on television and atrallies Aa Gym developed personal development training programmesdelivered face-to-face to contracting companies and to individual members ofthe public His key concept for the trainings lsquoManajemen Qolbursquo (lsquoHeartManagementrsquo or lsquoMQrsquo) was Islamicly coloured but not explicitly orexclusively Islamic MQ blends disciplines of classical Sufi ethical reflectionwith the disciplines of the modern workplace and effective communicationcoaching He proffered these skills in formats that were self-consciouslylsquomodernrsquo and well established in international management and personaleffectiveness training4 Thus the 2004ndash05 version of his basic how-to bookcalled Jagalah Hati Step by Step Manajemen Qolbu (lsquoTend to Your Heart Step byStep Heart Managementrsquo) offers programmes for personal development in fiveeasy-to-comprehend steps The first is lsquoGetting to Know Yourselfrsquo (assessment

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 407

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

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014

of your strengths and weaknesses and developing lsquofokusrsquo) Next comeslsquoCleansing the Heartrsquo which involves not just continual reassessment of onersquosperformance in work study and home life but being open to the criticisms ofothers and being a lsquomirror for themrsquo This is followed by lsquoGetting a Hold ofOurselvesrsquo not only by managing onersquos feelings but by managing lsquostresrsquomanaging onersquos time and being empathetic and communicating well withothers The penultimate step is lsquoBuilding Ourselves Uprsquo through believing inoneself and cultivating onersquos lsquoKredibilitasrsquo and lsquoKapabilitasrsquo That brings one(hopefully) to step five lsquoMakrifatullahrsquo (conventionally mystical gnosis)where one is at one with God in thought and action which can only belsquosuksesrsquo

The MQ training programmes bought on contract by companies broughtin from US$200 per person for larger courses for middle managers to US$300 per person for a select group of Pertamina oil executives in 2004(Sipress) By this time Gymnastiarrsquos innovative pesantren Daarut Tauhiidhad become the site not only for the MQ personal development courses butalso for massive spiritual tourism Its three-hectare site not only housedlong-term resident students (santri) but also provided hotel and cottageaccommodation for visitors eager to hear Aa Gym preach at the on-sitemosque and listen to him and his wife speak at the carefully stage-managed visitor welcoming sessions Crowds of 2000 and more werecommon on the weekends providing healthy incomes for vendors andoverflowing the three-storey mosque built to accommodate just 1000 people(Handoko)

Aa Gym remained a highly popular figure until December 2006 when hewas obliged to admit that he had taken a second wife disappointing hismiddle-class fans often estimated to be mostly female For them he and hiswife were exemplars not just of the harmonious Muslim family (keluargasakinah) but of happy monogamous marriage This became evident from thestorm of stories about women who ripped up his pictures after the news of hissecond marriage came out (Hoesterey 96) and from the Presidentrsquos suddenmove to review legislation on polygamy Gymnastiarrsquos television bookingsthinned out leaving him with none for the following Ramadan and DaarutTauhiid fell quiet Forty percent of DT staff were let go and few people otherthan resident santri attended daily prayers Mosque collections dropped to halfthe usual receipts (Handoko)

Gymnastiarrsquos business empire selling products as diverse astelecommunications and household items under his lsquoMQrsquo brand also sufferedA number of businesses associated with the brand went out of business Salesof their bottled water MQ Jernih (lsquoMQ Purersquo) dropped by 70 Nonetheless ayear after the revelations of his second marriage over 100 radio stations acrossthe country were still broadcasting his morning show his books were sellingwell and parents were still enrolling their children in Daarut Tauhiidrsquospesantren kitat (Islam short study courses) (Handoko) Five years onGymnastiar has not been restored to television stardom but remains aprominent public figure able to draw large audiences to major venues like theIstiqlal Mosque

408 J D Howell

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Ary Ginanjar Spiritual Trainer and Management Consultant

In 2001 a young Indonesian Muslim businessman and former UdayanaUniversity tourism faculty lecturer Ary Ginanjar Agustian published thelsquobestsellerrsquo book Rahasia Sukses Membangun Kecerdasan Emosi dan Spiritual ESQEmotional Spiritual Quotient (lsquoThe Secret of Success in Developing Emotionaland Spiritual Intelligence ESQ Emotional Spiritual Quotientrsquo) The bookelaborated key concepts presented in his training programmes which heoffered at their own premises to some of Indonesiarsquos largest corporationsincluding Garuda Indonesia airlines Krakatau Steel Pertamina oil companyIndonesia Power Republika Daily News and a number of governmentbureaus

Ginanjar put his spiritual training programme on the market when thecountry was still struggling to stabilise politically and economically after theAsian financial crisis of 1997 and the dissolution of former President Suhartorsquosauthoritarian regime in 1998 (cf Rudnyckyj) In the revival of the democraticparty system that followed many new Islamic parties fanned revivalist fervourand Islamic piety movements across the spectrum from marginal tomainstream from militantly Islamist Laskar Jihad to the progressive pluralistMuhammadiyah promoted the idea that their path to Islamic virtue could bethe salvation of the nation Ginanjarrsquos ESQ promised such national salvation ina promotional platform evidently well suited to one niche of the pietyimprovement market relatively well-educated middle- and upper-middle-class Indonesians participating in elite vectors of global culture especiallybusiness culture or aspiring to do so (cf Berger 3ndash6)

The key idea of Ginanjarrsquos ESQ draws directly with attribution on titles ininternational airline departure hall bookshops The first is Daniel GolemanrsquosEmotional Intelligence As explained in a flier for the ESQ Training programmesthe most significant factor in the performance of companies is the quality oftheir workforce But how to assess workforce quality Only ldquo20 [of thatcapability]rdquo the flier notes ldquois determined by the IQ [of the staff] while 80[is determined] by EQ or Emotional Intelligencerdquo5 It is possible the flierexplains to improve company performance by training the employees toimprove their lsquoemotional intelligencersquo (here citing an article by RichardBoyatzis published in 1996 in Research in Organizational Change andDevelopment 9) But the flier continues that is likely to have only limited andephemeral effect Beyond that there is a further problem working only onemotional intelligence people will still experience a lsquosplitrsquo between their workmotivation (semangat bekerja) and their spiritual motivation (semangatspiritualitas ke-Tuhanan-an) This will result in lsquosekularismersquo in both the worldlyand spiritual dimensions (kutub duniawi and kutub spiritual) Each willundermine the other with the result that people will become bored with theirwork and unreliable in carrying out their duties ldquoThe SOLUTIONrdquo is forevery individual to understand that ldquoprecisely through spiritual intelligence[we can] increase our capacity for EQrdquo and that development will continuethroughout our lives (unlike personal improvement attempted through EQalone) Ginanjarrsquos trademarked concept ESQ is then presented in thefollowing terms as strikingly more effective

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 409

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Synergising worldly rationality (EQ) with spiritual motivation (SQ) hellip anawesome synthesis (ESQ) is achieved develop[ing] perfect human character

Identifying something like worker alienation as a reason for poor companyperformances Ary then turns for his lsquoSolutionrsquo to Danah Zohar and IanMarshallrsquos concept of lsquoSQrsquo or lsquospiritual intelligencersquo In his books Ginanjardevelops the key concepts presented in the flier He is at pains to emphasisethat spirituality is lsquouniversalrsquo which he says is why scientific evidence can befound to prove its existence and basis in the human body Specifically itsphysical site is the lsquoGod Spotrsquo located in our heads Ginanjar consistently usesthe English loan word lsquospiritualrsquo and closely related Indonesian cognates likelsquospiritualitasrsquo to emphasise this universality rather than Arabic terms likelsquokerohanianrsquo or lsquokebatinanrsquo introduced into Indonesian with Islam

The importance of science as a system of knowledge embracing all humanexperience of the world and as a basis of truth assertions important inbusiness is evident particularly in the introductory segments of Ginanjarrsquostraining programmes Thus early in the four-day course for the general publicthat I attended in the Balai Sidang Jakarta (Jakarta Convention Center) in 2005Ginanjar made a PowerPoint presentation showing the high corruption ratingsof Indonesia in a global context and relating the countryrsquos corruption to itspoor rates of economic growth following the transition to democracy Thissegment concluded with statistical tables showing the greatly improvedperformance of companies that had used ESQ training

Ginanjar subtly draws on Islam however for the theory upon which hisprogramme of spiritual transformation his lsquoZero Mind Processrsquo (Eng) isbased The lsquoZero Mind Processrsquo he explained in the first day of the course is aprocess of penjernihan emosi (lsquopurificationrsquo or lsquoclarifying of the emotionsrsquo)Although this process is displaced to the lsquoGod Spotrsquo in the head it isreminiscent of the Sufi notion of the purification of the heart (tazkiyah al nafs)The exercises he uses in the training programmes also refer to Islamic ritualsand disciplines and re-gloss them with this-worldly asceticism Thus later onin the training I attended Ginanjarrsquos team led the participants in collectiverecitation of the lsquoNinety-Nine Beautiful Names of Godrsquo a popular form of zikirlitany but participants were provided with a chart of affirmations to be linkedin their thoughts with each name Towards the end of the training session hajjrituals performed by Muslim pilgrims to the holy land were also enactedschematically as games after which allegorical meanings reinforcing piety andethical behaviour in everyday life were offered by the trainers

Less subtly Ginanjar draws on Islamic eschatology to enliven participantsrsquomotivation actually to change their ways when they leave the training Hedoes this by shifting from lecturing to presenting images of Godrsquos awesomemight as revealed by astronomers and foreshadowed in passages of theQurrsquoan and by dramatising the perilous condition of the soul at death It is themost graphic and gruesome Islamic conceptions of the terrors the soul mayface that are projected in vivid images on giant projection screens backed bydeafeningly loud heavy-metal music The emotional force of this is suggestedin my notes on the dramatic arc of this section of the training programme Iattended

410 J D Howell

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The entry into this explicitly religious and indeed Islamic section of thelsquotrainingrsquo is via exquisite Hubble-telescope photographs of multi-colouredstarry nebulae We have just been convinced by the scientific literaturereviewed in a lecture that indeed spiritual development is important for ourpersonal growth and success in life Here we actually see as it were theglories of God and gasp in wonder as the sound track carries symphonicevocations of spectacular revelations We then descend via Google Earthimages down down down to earth even to Jakarta and to some smallneighbourhood here Indeed there is a God we feel and the awesometranscendent God can actually relate to us Returning gently to subduedlecture mode still with the mood music we learn that the exploration ofspace and many other scientific achievements and findings have actuallybeen predicted in the Qurrsquoan The Qurrsquoan is the most perfect word of Godand yet we hardly appreciated it We return to the images of outer space formore exhilarating revelling in Godrsquos glory But wait Have we obeyed Godrsquoslaws the voice of the compere asks us in the darkened hall Have wefulfilled our obligations Have we selfishly neglected our parents Beenunfaithful to our wives Failed to be understanding and solicitous of ourhusbands Cheated on the job Doleful music intrudes and we are remindedthat all must diendashndashand you never know when Think what happened sounexpectedly to those poor people in Aceh overwhelmed by the tsunamiThen projected on the four giant projection screens we see scenes of afuneral backed by bitter wailing on the sound track The wrapped corpse isbeing carried out to the grave under a reddened and smoky sky Themourners leave This is the fate of all Are we ready Again we return to thisscene and alas bolts of lightning strike down from the sky rending thewinding cloths and jolting the corpse again and again We behold the tortureof the unrepentant sinner in the grave The hall has become darkened tonearly pitch black and the sound system carries disembodied voices ofwailing Ary voices our fear and remorse Then he begins to lead theaudience in free-form prayers of intensely overwrought regret abasementand tearful petitioning for forgiveness The wailing carried by the soundsystems gets louder and louder now interspersed with menrsquos and womenrsquosvoices wretchedly and tearfully begging for forgiveness

After some time the music lightens the projection screens light up again thistime with beatific scenes of a Spring meadow in some temperate climatecountry with water gently bubbling along beside lush green grassForgiveness comes Orchestral sylvan strings refresh us Ary reminds us ofthe wonder of Godrsquos mercy to those who acknowledge Him and follow theguidance He has given to change their ways At last as the hall lightsbrighten we are carefully returned to our convention centre reality and makeready for the snack break

In the interlude described above Ary Ginanjar shifted from the universitylecturer-cum-business consultant role to that of a preacher asserting religioustruths and leading a theatrical dramatisation of them as an emotional primerfor prayer However he did not stay in that role for the rest of the trainingprogramme rather it was but one stance that he adopted along with othersused to facilitate a variety of training exercises enumerated in English in hisbrochure as ldquo1) Games 2) Learning Experience 3) Case Study 4) Lecturette5) Discussion [and] 6) Role Playrdquo6

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 411

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Ginanjarrsquos spiritualised personal development programmes trademarked aslsquoThe ESQ Way 165rsquo continue to be offered to businesses and individuals withspecial youth versions and lsquoalumnirsquo groups for people who have done thetraining However there have been some changes over the past half decadeThe business has grown enough to fund the construction of a 25-floorbuilding lsquoMenara 165rsquo (lsquo165 Towerrsquo) located near a major transport route inCilandak South Jakarta With its first three levels already completed thetowerrsquos two massive ballrooms now house ESQ training programmes that usedto be held in the Jakarta Convention Center and other rented venues It hastop-grade hotel facilities for attendees coming from outside the city and forlocals who wish to avoid Jakartarsquos notorious traffic A car park capable ofaccommodating 400 vehicles caters to the needs of commuters to theprogrammes and hotel guests When not in use for ESQ programmes thebuilding now earns its own rental income as a convention centre and venuefor large weddings and family celebrations When completed the tower willhave offices in the upper levels and a mosque as its peak

The healthy business income reflects the number of people who have doneESQ courses Spokespersons for the business told The Jakarta Post in 2010 thatmore than 850000 Indonesians from all over the country had done the courseas had 65000 Malaysians (Hapsari) ESQ trainers also regularly offer coursesin Singapore and occasionally for the Indonesian-speaking communities of theNetherlands and Washington DC7

Over the last few years Ginanjar has introduced additions to hisprogrammes and some format changes to earlier programmes A newprogramme especially for parents has been added to those for teens andyounger children and since 2006 the original four-day programme for thegeneral adult public has been spread over nine days The nine days aredivided into four levels of training the first lasting three days and the restlasting two days each However as explained to me by ESQrsquos Public RelationsDirector M Hasanuddin Thoyieb during a visit to the ESQ Training Center inCiputat Jakarta in May 2011 material from the original four-day programmeis still used in the revised programme but amplified with other materials8

Thoyieb also noted that the training offered to businesses is now morelsquocustomisedrsquo to the particular company For example the training forPertamina oil company is no longer called lsquoESQrsquo training but lsquo6 Crsquo trainingfocusing on values like being lsquocleanrsquo and building lsquocapacityrsquo This seems toreflect a greater emphasis in programmes offered to companies on popularpersonal development and management concepts than on specifically religiousmotivational exercises

While Ginanjarrsquos programmes for businesses and the public strongly projecthis businessman persona in 2009 on the eve of the national election heintroduced a new programme specifically for darsquoi In that programme he alsoincluded other high-profile Muslim leaders from the Department of Religionand across the spectrum of religious voluntary organisations from theNahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah to Hizbut Tahrir Ginanjar explained inhis ESQ Magazine Online that this lsquonon-politicalrsquo event was organisedspecifically to promote the unity of the ummah in the face of the factionalismthat had broken out in advance of the election In that event evidently hisESQ training for personal development was deployed not just to reinforce

412 J D Howell

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personal piety but Islamic identity And given that voters faced choices amongboth lsquoIslamicrsquo and non-denominational parties the training carried a latent ifnot manifest political significance

Darsquoi and Trainer Compared

The two figures I have introduced exemplify two different professionsdistinguished terminologically by Indonesians lsquodarsquoirsquo (preacher) and lsquotrainerrsquoBut it is evident that the attributes of these emicly distinct roles extensivelyoverlap in the cases of their best known exemplars

Both men act in effect as lsquotrainersrsquo they offer face-to-face courses and sellhow-to books that show people how to become more effective and successfulin their everyday lives Moreover their programmes of personal developmentare designed to work for anyone They draw heavily on the internationalgrowth movement literature both in content and presentation format andpurport to be scientifically based Ginanjar specifically presents the scientificbasis of his programme as proof of its universality and hence of its efficacyregardless of the practitionerrsquos religious affiliation

The non-denominational features of both menrsquos programmes have broughtin custom from non-Muslims Aa Gym was popular among non-MuslimIndonesians as well as with Muslims particularly before his second marriageand lsquoreturn to the pesantrenrsquo9 His how-to books still draw only very subtly onIslam the few Islamic terms he uses (qolbu and makrifatullah) are readilyrecognizable by any Indonesian speaker as respectively lsquoheartrsquo (with spiritualovertones) and lsquooneness with Godrsquo Other parallels to Sufi practice are notobvious to non-Muslims Ginanjar explicitly describes his training as lsquospiritualrsquorather than lsquoIslamicrsquo development (his lsquoSQrsquo) and company representativesemphasise the substantial numbers of non-Muslims who have taken hiscourses10

But one could also say that both are preachers In the past I occasionallyreferred to Ginanjar as a darsquoi when speaking to Indonesian colleagues but wascorrected Ginanjar is not a darsquoi they said because he does not make a careerof preaching in mosques Certainly ESQrsquos Indonesian-language promotionalliterature consistently refers to Ginanjar as a lsquotrainerrsquo When I asked GinanjarrsquosPublic Relations Director Thoyieb whether he should be called a darsquoi or alsquotrainerrsquo he responded somewhat ambiguously that ldquo[o]urs is a normalcompany (perusahan) an HR company hellip the materials are not only those usedby darsquoi but also related to popular management and our programmes are notlimited to Muslimsrsquo11

Nonetheless both Ginanjar and Aa Gym have infused their programmes ofpersonal development with Islamic content and clearly seek to inspire Muslimsto get closer to God and be more pious in part by adopting visible markers ofMuslim identity This is conveyed for example by their wives and femalefriends coming veiled to public events wearing long loose gowns that obscurethe female shape Both Aa Gym and Ginanjarrsquos personal growth programmesare very much part of the broader Islamic piety revival movement

Ginanjarrsquos live trainings are if anything more explicitly Islamic than AaGymrsquos The sources of religious authority upon which he calls the rituals that

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 413

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he re-scripts for his training programmes and the religious songs used inthem are all explicitly Islamic Moreover his dramatisation of the life hereafterwhich forms the most powerful motivational tool of the training follows awell-known specifically Islamic scenario reinforcing popular fears of torturefor unrepentant sinners in the grave In contrast lsquopreacherrsquo Aa Gym buildsmotivation for personal change on the hope for intimacy with the loving andforgiving God in the here-and-now rather than on fear of Godrsquos wrath In AaGymrsquos preaching and training programmes the Creator is more immanentthan awesomely transcendent taking part in the transformation of those whoseek Him using the Sufi-inspired but Islamicly unmarked steps and formulasfor improvement that Brother Gym sets out for his clients and readers Of thetwo it is Ginanjar the trainer not Aa Gym the lsquopreacherrsquo who uses lsquohell fireand damnationrsquo to inspire piety and it is the lsquopreacherrsquo in his personaldevelopment programmes and books who consistently uses the non-denominational albeit theistic language of lsquospiritualityrsquo

Secular Borrowing as De-differentiation in Commercially Mediated PopularIslam

The extensive interweaving of secular culture in calls for piety renewal asdemonstrated above is a feature of Indonesian commercially mediated religionthat is reminiscent of the picture Knoblauch gives of European popularreligion lsquomarkedrsquo and lsquounmarkedrsquo projected through the mass media todaySo also is the prominence of lay people as promoters of piety in theIndonesian commercial sphere and the centrality of immediate spiritualexperience to those programmes of popular religious renewal

Although Indonesia is culturally distant from the North Atlantic countriesand as a post-World War II lsquonew nationrsquo has a distinctive political economyit is reasonable to attribute these similarities in popular religion to similarpressures and opportunities that shape demand as well as to locally specificchanges in opportunities for suppliers in the commercial sphere Particularlyimportant for new types of suppliers of piety promotion products has been therelease of television licences to private providers in the 1990s Similarities indemand structures in the two regions result from Indonesiarsquos capitalistdevelopment catch-up which accelerated rapidly under former PresidentSuhartorsquos New Order regime (1968ndash98) and supported a significant expansionof the secularly educated middle and upper classes In Indonesia as elsewherein modernising societies (both Muslim and non-Muslim [cf Peter]) the newMuslim middle class and elites are prepared to look to new sources ofreligious authority and inspiration The individualisation that underlies suchautonomy in religious choice-making also generates familiar social pressures towhich the providers of Indonesiarsquos Muslim personal development productsrespond the need to create a marketable persona viable in their liberalised latecapitalist economy the tensions of companionate marriages (increasinglyprevalent in Indonesia) and the challenges of more egalitarian parenthood (towhich better educated Indonesians also aspire)

The participation of well-educated Indonesian Muslims in global secularculture through their schooling in their offices and in their leisure activities

414 J D Howell

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has also shaped tastes and interests They expect high production values inentertainment and international best practice in business and training Pietypromotion products using the techniques and findings of the globallycirculating entertainment arts and the sciences of personal development thushave a particular appeal except to purists who read them as un-Islamicbecause of their eclecticism and association with the West Aa Gymrsquos andGinanjarrsquos success shows that such purists have less influence in Indonesiarsquoscommercial arena than those with more culturally pluralist understandings ofIslam12

Nonetheless one could object that the parallels between the two regionswith their different religious heritages are weak insofar as the starting pointsfor the purported de-differentiation of popular religion are not comparableInfluenced by certain modernist Muslim reformists of the twentieth centurymany lsquode-traditionalisedrsquo Muslims today consider Islam to be uniquely andnecessarily fused with all aspects of social life a complete social order(al-nizam al-islami) (Roy Tibi) In other words they understand Muslimsocieties to be actually andor ideally exempt from processes of socialdifferentiation that have accompanied economic development in the West andwhich social theorists have taken to be the hallmark of modernisation ErnestGellner famously formulated a scholarly justification for such lsquoIslamicexceptionalismrsquo arguing that Muslim societies can form modern states withoutseparating religious from political institutions because of the distinctivestructure of Islamrsquos religious leadership (through the ulama) and the legalframework for social life provided by its syariah However critics have shownthat the putative fusion of Islam and the state in pre-modern times isoverdrawn in such characterisations (Lapidus Eickelman and Piscatori) thatmovements aiming to conjoin religion and state can be found in Christian andHindu as well as Muslim communities (Casanova ldquoBeyondrdquo 23 HefnerldquoMultiplerdquo 90) and that in fact few Muslim states today give religiousauthorities power over the state (Beyer 183)

More nuanced comparisons of the trajectories of modernisation in Christian-and Muslim-heritage societies such as those of Jose Casanova (ldquoCivil SocietyrdquoldquoBeyondrdquo) and Beyer acknowledge the greater elaboration and importance oflsquohierocraticrsquo organisations (churches) as carriers of religious communications inpre-modern Europe and the more dispersed and informal institutionalisationof religious authority in pre-modern Muslim societies but do not see pre-modern Muslim societies as undifferentiated or immune to modern forms ofsocial differentiation Thus as Beyer shows in the last century Islamic socialmovements have been important carriers of religious reform programmes andwith the formal organisations that they precipitated have formed distinctreligious function systems within socially differentiated modern societies

Beyer rightly cites Indonesiarsquos Muhammadiyah organisation as an exampleof the specialised religious institutions that have shaped socially differentiatedmodern Muslim societies One can also point to other Islamic organisationsfounded in Indonesia in the twentieth century that have framed Islam overagainst local Islamicly infused cultures as a universal religion and the ummahas a community among other religious communities in Indonesiarsquos plural andsocially differentiated society These other Islamic organisations include thenationrsquos largest Islamic voluntary organisation the Nahdhlatul Ulama (an

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 415

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association representing ulama and their followings) numerous Islamicpolitical parties and the increasingly influential fatwa-pronouncing body theMajelis Ulama Indonesia (Indonesian Council of Ulama) Along with thebroader social movements of which they are parts these organisations functionas civil society actors seeking to influence both the rest of society and the stateand so constitute a differentiated religious function system distinct from thecountryrsquos political and other function systems It is from this vantage pointthat the comingling of religious communications and secular culture in thecommercial sphere appears as de-differentiation albeit circumscribed bymarkers like lsquospiritualitasrsquo that link the personal development programmes ofthe darsquoi and trainer ambiguously to the legally recognized religions

Recognizing that certain darsquoi and trainers incorporate secular culture intotheir ministries and effect the de-differentiation of religious communications isnot however the same thing as saying that they promote secularisation in thesense of Weberian lsquodisenchantmentrsquo of the world or the growing irrelevance ofreligious beliefs to peoplersquos lives Local critics have indeed accused theentertainerndashpreachers and other purveyors of lsquoIslam 15 minitrsquo (lsquo15-minuteIslamrsquo) of trivialising the faith and of making the faith emptied of explicitdoctrine look just like any other religion Aa Gym has responded to thesecriticisms since his painful fall in the TV ratings charts by making hispreaching (if not his how-to books) more explicitly Islamic while Ginanjarcontinues steadfastly to promote his particular conflation of religion andscience evidently without losing his ability to attract endorsements fromMuslim luminaries Drawing back from these judgments of interested partieswe can nonetheless observe as Knoblauch did of European popular religionthat although these expressions of commercial mass-mediated popular Islamin Indonesia do obscure the boundaries between the sacred and the profane(which for Durkheim separated lsquoreligionrsquo from the secular) the notions oflsquospiritualitasrsquo in the ministries of Gymnastiar and Ginanjar still serve to focusconsumers on the transcendent while they work to overcome thecompartmentalisation of Indonesian selves in their differentiated modernsociety

Julia Howell is Professor of the Sociology of Religion in the Religion and SocietyResearch Centre at the University of Western Sydney and Adjunct Professor of AsianStudies at the Griffith Asia Institute Griffith University Brisbane Australia Herrecent work on popular Indonesian Islam and contemporary Sufi revival builds on herlong-term interests in movements of religious reform and marginal religiousmovements in modernising Indonesia and Western societies CORRESPONDENCE jhowelluwseduau

NOTES

1 The concept of global culture deployed here draws on Peter Bergerrsquos refinements of the idea ofa lsquoglobal culturersquo (2ndash16) emerging in the last few decades through the information revolutionthe intensification of transnational travel and business operations and consequent increasingparticipation of people all over the world in communications of global reach While Bergeracknowledges that the region dominant in propagating these global communications is theNorth Atlantic especially the United States he pays considerable attention to lsquoalternative

416 J D Howell

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014

globalisationsrsquo (12) projecting across the world from Asia (including the Islamic world) andnon-Anglophone Europe and Latin America Like Colin Campbell Elizabeth Puttick andothers he draws attention to the way Asian religious cultures have fed into Western culturessince the Romantic period in the nineteenth century and contributed to now globallycirculating New Age spirituality and ambiguously secular themes deriving from the largelyAmerican lsquogrowth movementrsquo and broader Human Potential Movement Most of the lsquosectorsrsquoof contemporary global culture identified by Berger (lsquobusiness culturersquo lsquofaculty club culturersquoand lsquopop culturersquo) are ostensibly or predominantly secular (in the sense of not being in HubertKnoblauchrsquos terminology lsquoreligiously markedrsquo) but he counts lsquoevangelical Protestantismrsquo asactually having the most global impact He might well have given more weight to the culturalcurrents carried by numerous global Islamic reform movements

2 This is the Constitutional Courtrsquos refusal on 19 April 2010 to review Presidential Decision no1 1965 (UU No1PNPS1965) recognizing Islam Protestantism Catholicism HinduismBuddhism and Confucianism as lsquoreligionsrsquo (agama) under the Constitution of 1945 andforbidding the lsquobesmirchingrsquo and lsquo[free] interpretationrsquo of those protected religions Civil societygroups that made the request for the review object to the restriction of freedom of religioneffected by the Presidential Decision of 1965 and to the denial of diversity and change withinreligions that the Courtrsquos decision implies

3 lsquoReligious communicationsrsquo here refers to communications in what Peter Beyer identified as thereligion functional system as distinct from other functional systems of modern societies suchas the capitalist economy the sovereign state academic education positive law the media etc

4 The editorrsquos preface to the 2005 edition of Aa Gymrsquos Jagalah Hati Step by Step Manajemen Qolbuspecifically identifies these aids as international lsquobest practicersquo ldquothe concept has been madeeven more valuable by presenting it in a genuinely how to and self-help format [berformat howto dan self-help] a modern packaging that is easy for the reader to digestrdquo (vi)

5 Translated from an ESQ Leadership Center flier entitled ldquoESQ TRAINING for Corporate ampPublicrdquo distributed at a training programme attended by the author at the Jakarta ConventionCenter 3ndash7 February 2005

6 Note the similarities of these ESQ mass-audience training techniques to those used byAmerican-originated Human Potential Movement training corporations (such as WernerErhardrsquos est and Lifestream) oriented to clients in the business world (Puttick 211ndash12)

7 Interview at the ESQ Center Ciputat Jakarta in May 2011 and Amirrachman8 As described in the ESQ training programme brochure of 2011 the new four-part series starts

with lsquoESQ Basic Trainingrsquo showing the insufficiency for true happiness of mere material andemotional satisfaction achieved with the intellect (IQ) and lsquoemotional intelligencersquo (EQ) andthe need for lsquospiritual happinessrsquo developed through lsquoSQrsquo Hasanuddin Thoyieb described theBasic Training as an ldquooverview of the whole programmerdquo The next level of the programme islsquoESQ Intermediate Training 1rsquo or lsquoMission amp Character Buildingrsquo (incorporating according toThoyieb days one and two of the old programme) The third level is lsquoESQ IntermediateTraining 2rsquo or lsquoSelf-Control and Collaborationrsquo also known as lsquoSC2rsquo or lsquoSC squaredrsquoincorporating material from the former programmersquos days three and four All that is nowcapped with the fourth and final segment lsquoESQ Advanced Trainingrsquo or lsquoTotal Actionrsquo whereone learns to lsquoexecute and implementrsquo the combined IQ EQ and SQ capabilities

9 After December 2006 when revelations of his second marriage deflated his popularity Aa Gymlet it be known that he had lsquoreturned to the pesantrenrsquo that is he had begun intensely renewinghis study of Islam Thereafter his predication became more narrowly Islamic

10 See for example trainer Syamsulrsquos comments to a Jakarta Post reporter in Delft in 2008 whenhe estimated that as many as 3000 non-Muslim Indonesians had done ESQ courses(Amirrachman) Note however that some non-Muslims obliged by their employers to take acompany-based ESQ training programme complained about the Islamic bias of theprogramme

11 However he went on to emphasise the business training professionalism not only of Ginanjarbut also of the large ESQ team of lsquotrainersrsquo These auxiliary trainers now present all but two ofthe 85ndash90 events the company puts on each month even in the programmes Ginanjar doeshost other trainers step in to lead parts offering a refreshing new face style and pace Thebusiness tries to ensure that ldquono matter who presents the programme the taste is the sameevery trainer has to meet the same standards for material intonation and musicrdquo They do this

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not only through their own in-house coaching and apprenticing but also by selecting onlypeople with university degrees as prospective trainers

12 This was illustrated in Indonesian reactions to a fatwa against Ary Ginanjarrsquos ESQ trainingissued in June 2010 by a mufti for the Federal Territories of Malaysia Wan Zahidi Bin WanTeh Zahidi charged that ESQ improperly associates concepts from other religions withpassages from the Qurrsquoan in effect equating other religions with Islam (httpwwwmuftiwpgovmyv1docfatwa_esqpdf access date 3 June 2011) The offending elements identified inthe fatwa are the SQ concept whichndashndashZahidi claimedndashndashis Jewish because its author DanahZohar is Jewish and the God Spot idea which he claimed is Hindu like its authorRamachandran The fatwa further judged that ESQ encouraged lsquoliberalrsquo thinking puttingrational thinking above revelation in religious matters and following onersquos conscience ratherthan religious law The news of this fatwa quickly spread to Indonesia where it was evaluatedby the controversial semi-governmental Indonesian Council of Ulamas (MUI) Although MUIhad famously declared Indonesian lsquoliberalismrsquo (in Islamic exegesis) lsquopluralismrsquo andlsquosecularismrsquo to be deviant in 2005 MUIrsquos chairman Amhidhan told The Jakarta Post in July 2010that the diverse religious backgrounds of ESQ training participants ldquodoes not mean it embracespluralism in religionsrdquo and accepted that ESQ is ldquoa training on management and humanresources not an event to preach although there are those who convert after taking part in itrdquo(Haspari) Later KH Marsquoruf Amin also of MUI agreed telling a Malaysian news outlet thatldquoESQ is an alternative and effective methodology for dakwah (missionising)rdquo (ldquoESQ TrainingrdquoThe Star 22 February 2011) Not all Indonesian Muslim clerics consider ESQ benign howeverFor example Bernard Abdul Jabbar of the Indonesian Muslim Forum rebutted Amhidhanrsquosopinion some days later endorsing the judgments of ESQ made by Malaysian mufti Zahidi andbranding ESQ ldquoa new religion called the ESQ 1965 Wayrdquo (ldquoMUI to Reviewrdquo Jakarta Post 31July 2010) Nonetheless Zahidi did not win sufficient support either in Malaysia or inIndonesia to close down ESQ activities in those countries The fatwa committee of theMalaysian National Islamic Affairs Council like Indonesiarsquos MUI has judged that ESQ shouldbe allowed to continue operating (ldquoESQ Trainingrdquo The Star 22 February 2011)

REFERENCES

Abdurrahman Moeslim ldquoRitual Divided Hajj Tours in Capitalist Era Indonesiardquo Ed MarkWoodward Towards a New Paradigm Tempe AR Arizona State U 1996 117ndash32

Al Afghani Mohamad Mova ldquoReligious Freedom in Indonesia before and after ConstitutionalAmendmentsrdquo 2010 Social Science Research Network Available at lthttpssrncomabstract=1587256gt access date 30 April 2010

Amirrachman Alpha ldquoPersonal Growth Course Travels to the Netherlandsrdquo The Jakarta Post 12June 2008 Available at lthttpwwwthejakartapostcomnews20080612personal-growth-course-travels-netherlandshtmlgt access date 15 April 2011

Berger Peter L Many Globalizations New York Oxford UP 2002Beyer Peter Religions in Global Society London Routledge 2006Boyatzis Richard E ldquoConsequences and Rejuvenation of Competency-based Human Resource and

Organization Developmentrdquo Eds Richard W Woodman and William A Pasmore Research inOrganizatinal Change and Development Vol 9 Greenwich CN JAI P 1996 101ndash22

Campbell Colin ldquoThe Easternization of the Westrdquo Eds Bryan Wilson and Jamie Cresswell NewReligious Movements Challenge and Response London Routledge 1999 35ndash48

Casanova Jose ldquoCivil Society and Religion Retrospective Reflections on Catholicism andProspective Reflections on Islamrdquo Social Research 68 (2001) 1041ndash80

- - - ldquoBeyond European and American Exceptionalisms Towards a Global Perspectiverdquo Eds GraceDavie Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead Predicting Religion London Ashgate 2003 17ndash29

Eickelman Dale and James Piscatori Muslim Politics Princeton NJ Princeton UP 1996Elegant Simon and Jason Tedjasukmana ldquoHoly Manrdquo Time Asia 16018 4 November 2002 Available at

lthttpwwwtimecomtimeasiamagazinearticle013673501021111-38697700htmlgt accessdate 14 February 2005

ldquoESQ Training Not Deviationist Says Indonesiarsquos MUIrdquo The Star (Kuala Lumpur) 22 February2011 Available at lthttpthestarcommynewsstoryaspfile=2011222nation8110114ampsec=nationgt access date 15 April 2011

418 J D Howell

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of your strengths and weaknesses and developing lsquofokusrsquo) Next comeslsquoCleansing the Heartrsquo which involves not just continual reassessment of onersquosperformance in work study and home life but being open to the criticisms ofothers and being a lsquomirror for themrsquo This is followed by lsquoGetting a Hold ofOurselvesrsquo not only by managing onersquos feelings but by managing lsquostresrsquomanaging onersquos time and being empathetic and communicating well withothers The penultimate step is lsquoBuilding Ourselves Uprsquo through believing inoneself and cultivating onersquos lsquoKredibilitasrsquo and lsquoKapabilitasrsquo That brings one(hopefully) to step five lsquoMakrifatullahrsquo (conventionally mystical gnosis)where one is at one with God in thought and action which can only belsquosuksesrsquo

The MQ training programmes bought on contract by companies broughtin from US$200 per person for larger courses for middle managers to US$300 per person for a select group of Pertamina oil executives in 2004(Sipress) By this time Gymnastiarrsquos innovative pesantren Daarut Tauhiidhad become the site not only for the MQ personal development courses butalso for massive spiritual tourism Its three-hectare site not only housedlong-term resident students (santri) but also provided hotel and cottageaccommodation for visitors eager to hear Aa Gym preach at the on-sitemosque and listen to him and his wife speak at the carefully stage-managed visitor welcoming sessions Crowds of 2000 and more werecommon on the weekends providing healthy incomes for vendors andoverflowing the three-storey mosque built to accommodate just 1000 people(Handoko)

Aa Gym remained a highly popular figure until December 2006 when hewas obliged to admit that he had taken a second wife disappointing hismiddle-class fans often estimated to be mostly female For them he and hiswife were exemplars not just of the harmonious Muslim family (keluargasakinah) but of happy monogamous marriage This became evident from thestorm of stories about women who ripped up his pictures after the news of hissecond marriage came out (Hoesterey 96) and from the Presidentrsquos suddenmove to review legislation on polygamy Gymnastiarrsquos television bookingsthinned out leaving him with none for the following Ramadan and DaarutTauhiid fell quiet Forty percent of DT staff were let go and few people otherthan resident santri attended daily prayers Mosque collections dropped to halfthe usual receipts (Handoko)

Gymnastiarrsquos business empire selling products as diverse astelecommunications and household items under his lsquoMQrsquo brand also sufferedA number of businesses associated with the brand went out of business Salesof their bottled water MQ Jernih (lsquoMQ Purersquo) dropped by 70 Nonetheless ayear after the revelations of his second marriage over 100 radio stations acrossthe country were still broadcasting his morning show his books were sellingwell and parents were still enrolling their children in Daarut Tauhiidrsquospesantren kitat (Islam short study courses) (Handoko) Five years onGymnastiar has not been restored to television stardom but remains aprominent public figure able to draw large audiences to major venues like theIstiqlal Mosque

408 J D Howell

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Ary Ginanjar Spiritual Trainer and Management Consultant

In 2001 a young Indonesian Muslim businessman and former UdayanaUniversity tourism faculty lecturer Ary Ginanjar Agustian published thelsquobestsellerrsquo book Rahasia Sukses Membangun Kecerdasan Emosi dan Spiritual ESQEmotional Spiritual Quotient (lsquoThe Secret of Success in Developing Emotionaland Spiritual Intelligence ESQ Emotional Spiritual Quotientrsquo) The bookelaborated key concepts presented in his training programmes which heoffered at their own premises to some of Indonesiarsquos largest corporationsincluding Garuda Indonesia airlines Krakatau Steel Pertamina oil companyIndonesia Power Republika Daily News and a number of governmentbureaus

Ginanjar put his spiritual training programme on the market when thecountry was still struggling to stabilise politically and economically after theAsian financial crisis of 1997 and the dissolution of former President Suhartorsquosauthoritarian regime in 1998 (cf Rudnyckyj) In the revival of the democraticparty system that followed many new Islamic parties fanned revivalist fervourand Islamic piety movements across the spectrum from marginal tomainstream from militantly Islamist Laskar Jihad to the progressive pluralistMuhammadiyah promoted the idea that their path to Islamic virtue could bethe salvation of the nation Ginanjarrsquos ESQ promised such national salvation ina promotional platform evidently well suited to one niche of the pietyimprovement market relatively well-educated middle- and upper-middle-class Indonesians participating in elite vectors of global culture especiallybusiness culture or aspiring to do so (cf Berger 3ndash6)

The key idea of Ginanjarrsquos ESQ draws directly with attribution on titles ininternational airline departure hall bookshops The first is Daniel GolemanrsquosEmotional Intelligence As explained in a flier for the ESQ Training programmesthe most significant factor in the performance of companies is the quality oftheir workforce But how to assess workforce quality Only ldquo20 [of thatcapability]rdquo the flier notes ldquois determined by the IQ [of the staff] while 80[is determined] by EQ or Emotional Intelligencerdquo5 It is possible the flierexplains to improve company performance by training the employees toimprove their lsquoemotional intelligencersquo (here citing an article by RichardBoyatzis published in 1996 in Research in Organizational Change andDevelopment 9) But the flier continues that is likely to have only limited andephemeral effect Beyond that there is a further problem working only onemotional intelligence people will still experience a lsquosplitrsquo between their workmotivation (semangat bekerja) and their spiritual motivation (semangatspiritualitas ke-Tuhanan-an) This will result in lsquosekularismersquo in both the worldlyand spiritual dimensions (kutub duniawi and kutub spiritual) Each willundermine the other with the result that people will become bored with theirwork and unreliable in carrying out their duties ldquoThe SOLUTIONrdquo is forevery individual to understand that ldquoprecisely through spiritual intelligence[we can] increase our capacity for EQrdquo and that development will continuethroughout our lives (unlike personal improvement attempted through EQalone) Ginanjarrsquos trademarked concept ESQ is then presented in thefollowing terms as strikingly more effective

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 409

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Synergising worldly rationality (EQ) with spiritual motivation (SQ) hellip anawesome synthesis (ESQ) is achieved develop[ing] perfect human character

Identifying something like worker alienation as a reason for poor companyperformances Ary then turns for his lsquoSolutionrsquo to Danah Zohar and IanMarshallrsquos concept of lsquoSQrsquo or lsquospiritual intelligencersquo In his books Ginanjardevelops the key concepts presented in the flier He is at pains to emphasisethat spirituality is lsquouniversalrsquo which he says is why scientific evidence can befound to prove its existence and basis in the human body Specifically itsphysical site is the lsquoGod Spotrsquo located in our heads Ginanjar consistently usesthe English loan word lsquospiritualrsquo and closely related Indonesian cognates likelsquospiritualitasrsquo to emphasise this universality rather than Arabic terms likelsquokerohanianrsquo or lsquokebatinanrsquo introduced into Indonesian with Islam

The importance of science as a system of knowledge embracing all humanexperience of the world and as a basis of truth assertions important inbusiness is evident particularly in the introductory segments of Ginanjarrsquostraining programmes Thus early in the four-day course for the general publicthat I attended in the Balai Sidang Jakarta (Jakarta Convention Center) in 2005Ginanjar made a PowerPoint presentation showing the high corruption ratingsof Indonesia in a global context and relating the countryrsquos corruption to itspoor rates of economic growth following the transition to democracy Thissegment concluded with statistical tables showing the greatly improvedperformance of companies that had used ESQ training

Ginanjar subtly draws on Islam however for the theory upon which hisprogramme of spiritual transformation his lsquoZero Mind Processrsquo (Eng) isbased The lsquoZero Mind Processrsquo he explained in the first day of the course is aprocess of penjernihan emosi (lsquopurificationrsquo or lsquoclarifying of the emotionsrsquo)Although this process is displaced to the lsquoGod Spotrsquo in the head it isreminiscent of the Sufi notion of the purification of the heart (tazkiyah al nafs)The exercises he uses in the training programmes also refer to Islamic ritualsand disciplines and re-gloss them with this-worldly asceticism Thus later onin the training I attended Ginanjarrsquos team led the participants in collectiverecitation of the lsquoNinety-Nine Beautiful Names of Godrsquo a popular form of zikirlitany but participants were provided with a chart of affirmations to be linkedin their thoughts with each name Towards the end of the training session hajjrituals performed by Muslim pilgrims to the holy land were also enactedschematically as games after which allegorical meanings reinforcing piety andethical behaviour in everyday life were offered by the trainers

Less subtly Ginanjar draws on Islamic eschatology to enliven participantsrsquomotivation actually to change their ways when they leave the training Hedoes this by shifting from lecturing to presenting images of Godrsquos awesomemight as revealed by astronomers and foreshadowed in passages of theQurrsquoan and by dramatising the perilous condition of the soul at death It is themost graphic and gruesome Islamic conceptions of the terrors the soul mayface that are projected in vivid images on giant projection screens backed bydeafeningly loud heavy-metal music The emotional force of this is suggestedin my notes on the dramatic arc of this section of the training programme Iattended

410 J D Howell

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The entry into this explicitly religious and indeed Islamic section of thelsquotrainingrsquo is via exquisite Hubble-telescope photographs of multi-colouredstarry nebulae We have just been convinced by the scientific literaturereviewed in a lecture that indeed spiritual development is important for ourpersonal growth and success in life Here we actually see as it were theglories of God and gasp in wonder as the sound track carries symphonicevocations of spectacular revelations We then descend via Google Earthimages down down down to earth even to Jakarta and to some smallneighbourhood here Indeed there is a God we feel and the awesometranscendent God can actually relate to us Returning gently to subduedlecture mode still with the mood music we learn that the exploration ofspace and many other scientific achievements and findings have actuallybeen predicted in the Qurrsquoan The Qurrsquoan is the most perfect word of Godand yet we hardly appreciated it We return to the images of outer space formore exhilarating revelling in Godrsquos glory But wait Have we obeyed Godrsquoslaws the voice of the compere asks us in the darkened hall Have wefulfilled our obligations Have we selfishly neglected our parents Beenunfaithful to our wives Failed to be understanding and solicitous of ourhusbands Cheated on the job Doleful music intrudes and we are remindedthat all must diendashndashand you never know when Think what happened sounexpectedly to those poor people in Aceh overwhelmed by the tsunamiThen projected on the four giant projection screens we see scenes of afuneral backed by bitter wailing on the sound track The wrapped corpse isbeing carried out to the grave under a reddened and smoky sky Themourners leave This is the fate of all Are we ready Again we return to thisscene and alas bolts of lightning strike down from the sky rending thewinding cloths and jolting the corpse again and again We behold the tortureof the unrepentant sinner in the grave The hall has become darkened tonearly pitch black and the sound system carries disembodied voices ofwailing Ary voices our fear and remorse Then he begins to lead theaudience in free-form prayers of intensely overwrought regret abasementand tearful petitioning for forgiveness The wailing carried by the soundsystems gets louder and louder now interspersed with menrsquos and womenrsquosvoices wretchedly and tearfully begging for forgiveness

After some time the music lightens the projection screens light up again thistime with beatific scenes of a Spring meadow in some temperate climatecountry with water gently bubbling along beside lush green grassForgiveness comes Orchestral sylvan strings refresh us Ary reminds us ofthe wonder of Godrsquos mercy to those who acknowledge Him and follow theguidance He has given to change their ways At last as the hall lightsbrighten we are carefully returned to our convention centre reality and makeready for the snack break

In the interlude described above Ary Ginanjar shifted from the universitylecturer-cum-business consultant role to that of a preacher asserting religioustruths and leading a theatrical dramatisation of them as an emotional primerfor prayer However he did not stay in that role for the rest of the trainingprogramme rather it was but one stance that he adopted along with othersused to facilitate a variety of training exercises enumerated in English in hisbrochure as ldquo1) Games 2) Learning Experience 3) Case Study 4) Lecturette5) Discussion [and] 6) Role Playrdquo6

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 411

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Ginanjarrsquos spiritualised personal development programmes trademarked aslsquoThe ESQ Way 165rsquo continue to be offered to businesses and individuals withspecial youth versions and lsquoalumnirsquo groups for people who have done thetraining However there have been some changes over the past half decadeThe business has grown enough to fund the construction of a 25-floorbuilding lsquoMenara 165rsquo (lsquo165 Towerrsquo) located near a major transport route inCilandak South Jakarta With its first three levels already completed thetowerrsquos two massive ballrooms now house ESQ training programmes that usedto be held in the Jakarta Convention Center and other rented venues It hastop-grade hotel facilities for attendees coming from outside the city and forlocals who wish to avoid Jakartarsquos notorious traffic A car park capable ofaccommodating 400 vehicles caters to the needs of commuters to theprogrammes and hotel guests When not in use for ESQ programmes thebuilding now earns its own rental income as a convention centre and venuefor large weddings and family celebrations When completed the tower willhave offices in the upper levels and a mosque as its peak

The healthy business income reflects the number of people who have doneESQ courses Spokespersons for the business told The Jakarta Post in 2010 thatmore than 850000 Indonesians from all over the country had done the courseas had 65000 Malaysians (Hapsari) ESQ trainers also regularly offer coursesin Singapore and occasionally for the Indonesian-speaking communities of theNetherlands and Washington DC7

Over the last few years Ginanjar has introduced additions to hisprogrammes and some format changes to earlier programmes A newprogramme especially for parents has been added to those for teens andyounger children and since 2006 the original four-day programme for thegeneral adult public has been spread over nine days The nine days aredivided into four levels of training the first lasting three days and the restlasting two days each However as explained to me by ESQrsquos Public RelationsDirector M Hasanuddin Thoyieb during a visit to the ESQ Training Center inCiputat Jakarta in May 2011 material from the original four-day programmeis still used in the revised programme but amplified with other materials8

Thoyieb also noted that the training offered to businesses is now morelsquocustomisedrsquo to the particular company For example the training forPertamina oil company is no longer called lsquoESQrsquo training but lsquo6 Crsquo trainingfocusing on values like being lsquocleanrsquo and building lsquocapacityrsquo This seems toreflect a greater emphasis in programmes offered to companies on popularpersonal development and management concepts than on specifically religiousmotivational exercises

While Ginanjarrsquos programmes for businesses and the public strongly projecthis businessman persona in 2009 on the eve of the national election heintroduced a new programme specifically for darsquoi In that programme he alsoincluded other high-profile Muslim leaders from the Department of Religionand across the spectrum of religious voluntary organisations from theNahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah to Hizbut Tahrir Ginanjar explained inhis ESQ Magazine Online that this lsquonon-politicalrsquo event was organisedspecifically to promote the unity of the ummah in the face of the factionalismthat had broken out in advance of the election In that event evidently hisESQ training for personal development was deployed not just to reinforce

412 J D Howell

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personal piety but Islamic identity And given that voters faced choices amongboth lsquoIslamicrsquo and non-denominational parties the training carried a latent ifnot manifest political significance

Darsquoi and Trainer Compared

The two figures I have introduced exemplify two different professionsdistinguished terminologically by Indonesians lsquodarsquoirsquo (preacher) and lsquotrainerrsquoBut it is evident that the attributes of these emicly distinct roles extensivelyoverlap in the cases of their best known exemplars

Both men act in effect as lsquotrainersrsquo they offer face-to-face courses and sellhow-to books that show people how to become more effective and successfulin their everyday lives Moreover their programmes of personal developmentare designed to work for anyone They draw heavily on the internationalgrowth movement literature both in content and presentation format andpurport to be scientifically based Ginanjar specifically presents the scientificbasis of his programme as proof of its universality and hence of its efficacyregardless of the practitionerrsquos religious affiliation

The non-denominational features of both menrsquos programmes have broughtin custom from non-Muslims Aa Gym was popular among non-MuslimIndonesians as well as with Muslims particularly before his second marriageand lsquoreturn to the pesantrenrsquo9 His how-to books still draw only very subtly onIslam the few Islamic terms he uses (qolbu and makrifatullah) are readilyrecognizable by any Indonesian speaker as respectively lsquoheartrsquo (with spiritualovertones) and lsquooneness with Godrsquo Other parallels to Sufi practice are notobvious to non-Muslims Ginanjar explicitly describes his training as lsquospiritualrsquorather than lsquoIslamicrsquo development (his lsquoSQrsquo) and company representativesemphasise the substantial numbers of non-Muslims who have taken hiscourses10

But one could also say that both are preachers In the past I occasionallyreferred to Ginanjar as a darsquoi when speaking to Indonesian colleagues but wascorrected Ginanjar is not a darsquoi they said because he does not make a careerof preaching in mosques Certainly ESQrsquos Indonesian-language promotionalliterature consistently refers to Ginanjar as a lsquotrainerrsquo When I asked GinanjarrsquosPublic Relations Director Thoyieb whether he should be called a darsquoi or alsquotrainerrsquo he responded somewhat ambiguously that ldquo[o]urs is a normalcompany (perusahan) an HR company hellip the materials are not only those usedby darsquoi but also related to popular management and our programmes are notlimited to Muslimsrsquo11

Nonetheless both Ginanjar and Aa Gym have infused their programmes ofpersonal development with Islamic content and clearly seek to inspire Muslimsto get closer to God and be more pious in part by adopting visible markers ofMuslim identity This is conveyed for example by their wives and femalefriends coming veiled to public events wearing long loose gowns that obscurethe female shape Both Aa Gym and Ginanjarrsquos personal growth programmesare very much part of the broader Islamic piety revival movement

Ginanjarrsquos live trainings are if anything more explicitly Islamic than AaGymrsquos The sources of religious authority upon which he calls the rituals that

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 413

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he re-scripts for his training programmes and the religious songs used inthem are all explicitly Islamic Moreover his dramatisation of the life hereafterwhich forms the most powerful motivational tool of the training follows awell-known specifically Islamic scenario reinforcing popular fears of torturefor unrepentant sinners in the grave In contrast lsquopreacherrsquo Aa Gym buildsmotivation for personal change on the hope for intimacy with the loving andforgiving God in the here-and-now rather than on fear of Godrsquos wrath In AaGymrsquos preaching and training programmes the Creator is more immanentthan awesomely transcendent taking part in the transformation of those whoseek Him using the Sufi-inspired but Islamicly unmarked steps and formulasfor improvement that Brother Gym sets out for his clients and readers Of thetwo it is Ginanjar the trainer not Aa Gym the lsquopreacherrsquo who uses lsquohell fireand damnationrsquo to inspire piety and it is the lsquopreacherrsquo in his personaldevelopment programmes and books who consistently uses the non-denominational albeit theistic language of lsquospiritualityrsquo

Secular Borrowing as De-differentiation in Commercially Mediated PopularIslam

The extensive interweaving of secular culture in calls for piety renewal asdemonstrated above is a feature of Indonesian commercially mediated religionthat is reminiscent of the picture Knoblauch gives of European popularreligion lsquomarkedrsquo and lsquounmarkedrsquo projected through the mass media todaySo also is the prominence of lay people as promoters of piety in theIndonesian commercial sphere and the centrality of immediate spiritualexperience to those programmes of popular religious renewal

Although Indonesia is culturally distant from the North Atlantic countriesand as a post-World War II lsquonew nationrsquo has a distinctive political economyit is reasonable to attribute these similarities in popular religion to similarpressures and opportunities that shape demand as well as to locally specificchanges in opportunities for suppliers in the commercial sphere Particularlyimportant for new types of suppliers of piety promotion products has been therelease of television licences to private providers in the 1990s Similarities indemand structures in the two regions result from Indonesiarsquos capitalistdevelopment catch-up which accelerated rapidly under former PresidentSuhartorsquos New Order regime (1968ndash98) and supported a significant expansionof the secularly educated middle and upper classes In Indonesia as elsewherein modernising societies (both Muslim and non-Muslim [cf Peter]) the newMuslim middle class and elites are prepared to look to new sources ofreligious authority and inspiration The individualisation that underlies suchautonomy in religious choice-making also generates familiar social pressures towhich the providers of Indonesiarsquos Muslim personal development productsrespond the need to create a marketable persona viable in their liberalised latecapitalist economy the tensions of companionate marriages (increasinglyprevalent in Indonesia) and the challenges of more egalitarian parenthood (towhich better educated Indonesians also aspire)

The participation of well-educated Indonesian Muslims in global secularculture through their schooling in their offices and in their leisure activities

414 J D Howell

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has also shaped tastes and interests They expect high production values inentertainment and international best practice in business and training Pietypromotion products using the techniques and findings of the globallycirculating entertainment arts and the sciences of personal development thushave a particular appeal except to purists who read them as un-Islamicbecause of their eclecticism and association with the West Aa Gymrsquos andGinanjarrsquos success shows that such purists have less influence in Indonesiarsquoscommercial arena than those with more culturally pluralist understandings ofIslam12

Nonetheless one could object that the parallels between the two regionswith their different religious heritages are weak insofar as the starting pointsfor the purported de-differentiation of popular religion are not comparableInfluenced by certain modernist Muslim reformists of the twentieth centurymany lsquode-traditionalisedrsquo Muslims today consider Islam to be uniquely andnecessarily fused with all aspects of social life a complete social order(al-nizam al-islami) (Roy Tibi) In other words they understand Muslimsocieties to be actually andor ideally exempt from processes of socialdifferentiation that have accompanied economic development in the West andwhich social theorists have taken to be the hallmark of modernisation ErnestGellner famously formulated a scholarly justification for such lsquoIslamicexceptionalismrsquo arguing that Muslim societies can form modern states withoutseparating religious from political institutions because of the distinctivestructure of Islamrsquos religious leadership (through the ulama) and the legalframework for social life provided by its syariah However critics have shownthat the putative fusion of Islam and the state in pre-modern times isoverdrawn in such characterisations (Lapidus Eickelman and Piscatori) thatmovements aiming to conjoin religion and state can be found in Christian andHindu as well as Muslim communities (Casanova ldquoBeyondrdquo 23 HefnerldquoMultiplerdquo 90) and that in fact few Muslim states today give religiousauthorities power over the state (Beyer 183)

More nuanced comparisons of the trajectories of modernisation in Christian-and Muslim-heritage societies such as those of Jose Casanova (ldquoCivil SocietyrdquoldquoBeyondrdquo) and Beyer acknowledge the greater elaboration and importance oflsquohierocraticrsquo organisations (churches) as carriers of religious communications inpre-modern Europe and the more dispersed and informal institutionalisationof religious authority in pre-modern Muslim societies but do not see pre-modern Muslim societies as undifferentiated or immune to modern forms ofsocial differentiation Thus as Beyer shows in the last century Islamic socialmovements have been important carriers of religious reform programmes andwith the formal organisations that they precipitated have formed distinctreligious function systems within socially differentiated modern societies

Beyer rightly cites Indonesiarsquos Muhammadiyah organisation as an exampleof the specialised religious institutions that have shaped socially differentiatedmodern Muslim societies One can also point to other Islamic organisationsfounded in Indonesia in the twentieth century that have framed Islam overagainst local Islamicly infused cultures as a universal religion and the ummahas a community among other religious communities in Indonesiarsquos plural andsocially differentiated society These other Islamic organisations include thenationrsquos largest Islamic voluntary organisation the Nahdhlatul Ulama (an

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 415

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014

association representing ulama and their followings) numerous Islamicpolitical parties and the increasingly influential fatwa-pronouncing body theMajelis Ulama Indonesia (Indonesian Council of Ulama) Along with thebroader social movements of which they are parts these organisations functionas civil society actors seeking to influence both the rest of society and the stateand so constitute a differentiated religious function system distinct from thecountryrsquos political and other function systems It is from this vantage pointthat the comingling of religious communications and secular culture in thecommercial sphere appears as de-differentiation albeit circumscribed bymarkers like lsquospiritualitasrsquo that link the personal development programmes ofthe darsquoi and trainer ambiguously to the legally recognized religions

Recognizing that certain darsquoi and trainers incorporate secular culture intotheir ministries and effect the de-differentiation of religious communications isnot however the same thing as saying that they promote secularisation in thesense of Weberian lsquodisenchantmentrsquo of the world or the growing irrelevance ofreligious beliefs to peoplersquos lives Local critics have indeed accused theentertainerndashpreachers and other purveyors of lsquoIslam 15 minitrsquo (lsquo15-minuteIslamrsquo) of trivialising the faith and of making the faith emptied of explicitdoctrine look just like any other religion Aa Gym has responded to thesecriticisms since his painful fall in the TV ratings charts by making hispreaching (if not his how-to books) more explicitly Islamic while Ginanjarcontinues steadfastly to promote his particular conflation of religion andscience evidently without losing his ability to attract endorsements fromMuslim luminaries Drawing back from these judgments of interested partieswe can nonetheless observe as Knoblauch did of European popular religionthat although these expressions of commercial mass-mediated popular Islamin Indonesia do obscure the boundaries between the sacred and the profane(which for Durkheim separated lsquoreligionrsquo from the secular) the notions oflsquospiritualitasrsquo in the ministries of Gymnastiar and Ginanjar still serve to focusconsumers on the transcendent while they work to overcome thecompartmentalisation of Indonesian selves in their differentiated modernsociety

Julia Howell is Professor of the Sociology of Religion in the Religion and SocietyResearch Centre at the University of Western Sydney and Adjunct Professor of AsianStudies at the Griffith Asia Institute Griffith University Brisbane Australia Herrecent work on popular Indonesian Islam and contemporary Sufi revival builds on herlong-term interests in movements of religious reform and marginal religiousmovements in modernising Indonesia and Western societies CORRESPONDENCE jhowelluwseduau

NOTES

1 The concept of global culture deployed here draws on Peter Bergerrsquos refinements of the idea ofa lsquoglobal culturersquo (2ndash16) emerging in the last few decades through the information revolutionthe intensification of transnational travel and business operations and consequent increasingparticipation of people all over the world in communications of global reach While Bergeracknowledges that the region dominant in propagating these global communications is theNorth Atlantic especially the United States he pays considerable attention to lsquoalternative

416 J D Howell

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rsity

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014

globalisationsrsquo (12) projecting across the world from Asia (including the Islamic world) andnon-Anglophone Europe and Latin America Like Colin Campbell Elizabeth Puttick andothers he draws attention to the way Asian religious cultures have fed into Western culturessince the Romantic period in the nineteenth century and contributed to now globallycirculating New Age spirituality and ambiguously secular themes deriving from the largelyAmerican lsquogrowth movementrsquo and broader Human Potential Movement Most of the lsquosectorsrsquoof contemporary global culture identified by Berger (lsquobusiness culturersquo lsquofaculty club culturersquoand lsquopop culturersquo) are ostensibly or predominantly secular (in the sense of not being in HubertKnoblauchrsquos terminology lsquoreligiously markedrsquo) but he counts lsquoevangelical Protestantismrsquo asactually having the most global impact He might well have given more weight to the culturalcurrents carried by numerous global Islamic reform movements

2 This is the Constitutional Courtrsquos refusal on 19 April 2010 to review Presidential Decision no1 1965 (UU No1PNPS1965) recognizing Islam Protestantism Catholicism HinduismBuddhism and Confucianism as lsquoreligionsrsquo (agama) under the Constitution of 1945 andforbidding the lsquobesmirchingrsquo and lsquo[free] interpretationrsquo of those protected religions Civil societygroups that made the request for the review object to the restriction of freedom of religioneffected by the Presidential Decision of 1965 and to the denial of diversity and change withinreligions that the Courtrsquos decision implies

3 lsquoReligious communicationsrsquo here refers to communications in what Peter Beyer identified as thereligion functional system as distinct from other functional systems of modern societies suchas the capitalist economy the sovereign state academic education positive law the media etc

4 The editorrsquos preface to the 2005 edition of Aa Gymrsquos Jagalah Hati Step by Step Manajemen Qolbuspecifically identifies these aids as international lsquobest practicersquo ldquothe concept has been madeeven more valuable by presenting it in a genuinely how to and self-help format [berformat howto dan self-help] a modern packaging that is easy for the reader to digestrdquo (vi)

5 Translated from an ESQ Leadership Center flier entitled ldquoESQ TRAINING for Corporate ampPublicrdquo distributed at a training programme attended by the author at the Jakarta ConventionCenter 3ndash7 February 2005

6 Note the similarities of these ESQ mass-audience training techniques to those used byAmerican-originated Human Potential Movement training corporations (such as WernerErhardrsquos est and Lifestream) oriented to clients in the business world (Puttick 211ndash12)

7 Interview at the ESQ Center Ciputat Jakarta in May 2011 and Amirrachman8 As described in the ESQ training programme brochure of 2011 the new four-part series starts

with lsquoESQ Basic Trainingrsquo showing the insufficiency for true happiness of mere material andemotional satisfaction achieved with the intellect (IQ) and lsquoemotional intelligencersquo (EQ) andthe need for lsquospiritual happinessrsquo developed through lsquoSQrsquo Hasanuddin Thoyieb described theBasic Training as an ldquooverview of the whole programmerdquo The next level of the programme islsquoESQ Intermediate Training 1rsquo or lsquoMission amp Character Buildingrsquo (incorporating according toThoyieb days one and two of the old programme) The third level is lsquoESQ IntermediateTraining 2rsquo or lsquoSelf-Control and Collaborationrsquo also known as lsquoSC2rsquo or lsquoSC squaredrsquoincorporating material from the former programmersquos days three and four All that is nowcapped with the fourth and final segment lsquoESQ Advanced Trainingrsquo or lsquoTotal Actionrsquo whereone learns to lsquoexecute and implementrsquo the combined IQ EQ and SQ capabilities

9 After December 2006 when revelations of his second marriage deflated his popularity Aa Gymlet it be known that he had lsquoreturned to the pesantrenrsquo that is he had begun intensely renewinghis study of Islam Thereafter his predication became more narrowly Islamic

10 See for example trainer Syamsulrsquos comments to a Jakarta Post reporter in Delft in 2008 whenhe estimated that as many as 3000 non-Muslim Indonesians had done ESQ courses(Amirrachman) Note however that some non-Muslims obliged by their employers to take acompany-based ESQ training programme complained about the Islamic bias of theprogramme

11 However he went on to emphasise the business training professionalism not only of Ginanjarbut also of the large ESQ team of lsquotrainersrsquo These auxiliary trainers now present all but two ofthe 85ndash90 events the company puts on each month even in the programmes Ginanjar doeshost other trainers step in to lead parts offering a refreshing new face style and pace Thebusiness tries to ensure that ldquono matter who presents the programme the taste is the sameevery trainer has to meet the same standards for material intonation and musicrdquo They do this

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 417

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not only through their own in-house coaching and apprenticing but also by selecting onlypeople with university degrees as prospective trainers

12 This was illustrated in Indonesian reactions to a fatwa against Ary Ginanjarrsquos ESQ trainingissued in June 2010 by a mufti for the Federal Territories of Malaysia Wan Zahidi Bin WanTeh Zahidi charged that ESQ improperly associates concepts from other religions withpassages from the Qurrsquoan in effect equating other religions with Islam (httpwwwmuftiwpgovmyv1docfatwa_esqpdf access date 3 June 2011) The offending elements identified inthe fatwa are the SQ concept whichndashndashZahidi claimedndashndashis Jewish because its author DanahZohar is Jewish and the God Spot idea which he claimed is Hindu like its authorRamachandran The fatwa further judged that ESQ encouraged lsquoliberalrsquo thinking puttingrational thinking above revelation in religious matters and following onersquos conscience ratherthan religious law The news of this fatwa quickly spread to Indonesia where it was evaluatedby the controversial semi-governmental Indonesian Council of Ulamas (MUI) Although MUIhad famously declared Indonesian lsquoliberalismrsquo (in Islamic exegesis) lsquopluralismrsquo andlsquosecularismrsquo to be deviant in 2005 MUIrsquos chairman Amhidhan told The Jakarta Post in July 2010that the diverse religious backgrounds of ESQ training participants ldquodoes not mean it embracespluralism in religionsrdquo and accepted that ESQ is ldquoa training on management and humanresources not an event to preach although there are those who convert after taking part in itrdquo(Haspari) Later KH Marsquoruf Amin also of MUI agreed telling a Malaysian news outlet thatldquoESQ is an alternative and effective methodology for dakwah (missionising)rdquo (ldquoESQ TrainingrdquoThe Star 22 February 2011) Not all Indonesian Muslim clerics consider ESQ benign howeverFor example Bernard Abdul Jabbar of the Indonesian Muslim Forum rebutted Amhidhanrsquosopinion some days later endorsing the judgments of ESQ made by Malaysian mufti Zahidi andbranding ESQ ldquoa new religion called the ESQ 1965 Wayrdquo (ldquoMUI to Reviewrdquo Jakarta Post 31July 2010) Nonetheless Zahidi did not win sufficient support either in Malaysia or inIndonesia to close down ESQ activities in those countries The fatwa committee of theMalaysian National Islamic Affairs Council like Indonesiarsquos MUI has judged that ESQ shouldbe allowed to continue operating (ldquoESQ Trainingrdquo The Star 22 February 2011)

REFERENCES

Abdurrahman Moeslim ldquoRitual Divided Hajj Tours in Capitalist Era Indonesiardquo Ed MarkWoodward Towards a New Paradigm Tempe AR Arizona State U 1996 117ndash32

Al Afghani Mohamad Mova ldquoReligious Freedom in Indonesia before and after ConstitutionalAmendmentsrdquo 2010 Social Science Research Network Available at lthttpssrncomabstract=1587256gt access date 30 April 2010

Amirrachman Alpha ldquoPersonal Growth Course Travels to the Netherlandsrdquo The Jakarta Post 12June 2008 Available at lthttpwwwthejakartapostcomnews20080612personal-growth-course-travels-netherlandshtmlgt access date 15 April 2011

Berger Peter L Many Globalizations New York Oxford UP 2002Beyer Peter Religions in Global Society London Routledge 2006Boyatzis Richard E ldquoConsequences and Rejuvenation of Competency-based Human Resource and

Organization Developmentrdquo Eds Richard W Woodman and William A Pasmore Research inOrganizatinal Change and Development Vol 9 Greenwich CN JAI P 1996 101ndash22

Campbell Colin ldquoThe Easternization of the Westrdquo Eds Bryan Wilson and Jamie Cresswell NewReligious Movements Challenge and Response London Routledge 1999 35ndash48

Casanova Jose ldquoCivil Society and Religion Retrospective Reflections on Catholicism andProspective Reflections on Islamrdquo Social Research 68 (2001) 1041ndash80

- - - ldquoBeyond European and American Exceptionalisms Towards a Global Perspectiverdquo Eds GraceDavie Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead Predicting Religion London Ashgate 2003 17ndash29

Eickelman Dale and James Piscatori Muslim Politics Princeton NJ Princeton UP 1996Elegant Simon and Jason Tedjasukmana ldquoHoly Manrdquo Time Asia 16018 4 November 2002 Available at

lthttpwwwtimecomtimeasiamagazinearticle013673501021111-38697700htmlgt accessdate 14 February 2005

ldquoESQ Training Not Deviationist Says Indonesiarsquos MUIrdquo The Star (Kuala Lumpur) 22 February2011 Available at lthttpthestarcommynewsstoryaspfile=2011222nation8110114ampsec=nationgt access date 15 April 2011

418 J D Howell

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Ary Ginanjar Spiritual Trainer and Management Consultant

In 2001 a young Indonesian Muslim businessman and former UdayanaUniversity tourism faculty lecturer Ary Ginanjar Agustian published thelsquobestsellerrsquo book Rahasia Sukses Membangun Kecerdasan Emosi dan Spiritual ESQEmotional Spiritual Quotient (lsquoThe Secret of Success in Developing Emotionaland Spiritual Intelligence ESQ Emotional Spiritual Quotientrsquo) The bookelaborated key concepts presented in his training programmes which heoffered at their own premises to some of Indonesiarsquos largest corporationsincluding Garuda Indonesia airlines Krakatau Steel Pertamina oil companyIndonesia Power Republika Daily News and a number of governmentbureaus

Ginanjar put his spiritual training programme on the market when thecountry was still struggling to stabilise politically and economically after theAsian financial crisis of 1997 and the dissolution of former President Suhartorsquosauthoritarian regime in 1998 (cf Rudnyckyj) In the revival of the democraticparty system that followed many new Islamic parties fanned revivalist fervourand Islamic piety movements across the spectrum from marginal tomainstream from militantly Islamist Laskar Jihad to the progressive pluralistMuhammadiyah promoted the idea that their path to Islamic virtue could bethe salvation of the nation Ginanjarrsquos ESQ promised such national salvation ina promotional platform evidently well suited to one niche of the pietyimprovement market relatively well-educated middle- and upper-middle-class Indonesians participating in elite vectors of global culture especiallybusiness culture or aspiring to do so (cf Berger 3ndash6)

The key idea of Ginanjarrsquos ESQ draws directly with attribution on titles ininternational airline departure hall bookshops The first is Daniel GolemanrsquosEmotional Intelligence As explained in a flier for the ESQ Training programmesthe most significant factor in the performance of companies is the quality oftheir workforce But how to assess workforce quality Only ldquo20 [of thatcapability]rdquo the flier notes ldquois determined by the IQ [of the staff] while 80[is determined] by EQ or Emotional Intelligencerdquo5 It is possible the flierexplains to improve company performance by training the employees toimprove their lsquoemotional intelligencersquo (here citing an article by RichardBoyatzis published in 1996 in Research in Organizational Change andDevelopment 9) But the flier continues that is likely to have only limited andephemeral effect Beyond that there is a further problem working only onemotional intelligence people will still experience a lsquosplitrsquo between their workmotivation (semangat bekerja) and their spiritual motivation (semangatspiritualitas ke-Tuhanan-an) This will result in lsquosekularismersquo in both the worldlyand spiritual dimensions (kutub duniawi and kutub spiritual) Each willundermine the other with the result that people will become bored with theirwork and unreliable in carrying out their duties ldquoThe SOLUTIONrdquo is forevery individual to understand that ldquoprecisely through spiritual intelligence[we can] increase our capacity for EQrdquo and that development will continuethroughout our lives (unlike personal improvement attempted through EQalone) Ginanjarrsquos trademarked concept ESQ is then presented in thefollowing terms as strikingly more effective

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 409

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Synergising worldly rationality (EQ) with spiritual motivation (SQ) hellip anawesome synthesis (ESQ) is achieved develop[ing] perfect human character

Identifying something like worker alienation as a reason for poor companyperformances Ary then turns for his lsquoSolutionrsquo to Danah Zohar and IanMarshallrsquos concept of lsquoSQrsquo or lsquospiritual intelligencersquo In his books Ginanjardevelops the key concepts presented in the flier He is at pains to emphasisethat spirituality is lsquouniversalrsquo which he says is why scientific evidence can befound to prove its existence and basis in the human body Specifically itsphysical site is the lsquoGod Spotrsquo located in our heads Ginanjar consistently usesthe English loan word lsquospiritualrsquo and closely related Indonesian cognates likelsquospiritualitasrsquo to emphasise this universality rather than Arabic terms likelsquokerohanianrsquo or lsquokebatinanrsquo introduced into Indonesian with Islam

The importance of science as a system of knowledge embracing all humanexperience of the world and as a basis of truth assertions important inbusiness is evident particularly in the introductory segments of Ginanjarrsquostraining programmes Thus early in the four-day course for the general publicthat I attended in the Balai Sidang Jakarta (Jakarta Convention Center) in 2005Ginanjar made a PowerPoint presentation showing the high corruption ratingsof Indonesia in a global context and relating the countryrsquos corruption to itspoor rates of economic growth following the transition to democracy Thissegment concluded with statistical tables showing the greatly improvedperformance of companies that had used ESQ training

Ginanjar subtly draws on Islam however for the theory upon which hisprogramme of spiritual transformation his lsquoZero Mind Processrsquo (Eng) isbased The lsquoZero Mind Processrsquo he explained in the first day of the course is aprocess of penjernihan emosi (lsquopurificationrsquo or lsquoclarifying of the emotionsrsquo)Although this process is displaced to the lsquoGod Spotrsquo in the head it isreminiscent of the Sufi notion of the purification of the heart (tazkiyah al nafs)The exercises he uses in the training programmes also refer to Islamic ritualsand disciplines and re-gloss them with this-worldly asceticism Thus later onin the training I attended Ginanjarrsquos team led the participants in collectiverecitation of the lsquoNinety-Nine Beautiful Names of Godrsquo a popular form of zikirlitany but participants were provided with a chart of affirmations to be linkedin their thoughts with each name Towards the end of the training session hajjrituals performed by Muslim pilgrims to the holy land were also enactedschematically as games after which allegorical meanings reinforcing piety andethical behaviour in everyday life were offered by the trainers

Less subtly Ginanjar draws on Islamic eschatology to enliven participantsrsquomotivation actually to change their ways when they leave the training Hedoes this by shifting from lecturing to presenting images of Godrsquos awesomemight as revealed by astronomers and foreshadowed in passages of theQurrsquoan and by dramatising the perilous condition of the soul at death It is themost graphic and gruesome Islamic conceptions of the terrors the soul mayface that are projected in vivid images on giant projection screens backed bydeafeningly loud heavy-metal music The emotional force of this is suggestedin my notes on the dramatic arc of this section of the training programme Iattended

410 J D Howell

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The entry into this explicitly religious and indeed Islamic section of thelsquotrainingrsquo is via exquisite Hubble-telescope photographs of multi-colouredstarry nebulae We have just been convinced by the scientific literaturereviewed in a lecture that indeed spiritual development is important for ourpersonal growth and success in life Here we actually see as it were theglories of God and gasp in wonder as the sound track carries symphonicevocations of spectacular revelations We then descend via Google Earthimages down down down to earth even to Jakarta and to some smallneighbourhood here Indeed there is a God we feel and the awesometranscendent God can actually relate to us Returning gently to subduedlecture mode still with the mood music we learn that the exploration ofspace and many other scientific achievements and findings have actuallybeen predicted in the Qurrsquoan The Qurrsquoan is the most perfect word of Godand yet we hardly appreciated it We return to the images of outer space formore exhilarating revelling in Godrsquos glory But wait Have we obeyed Godrsquoslaws the voice of the compere asks us in the darkened hall Have wefulfilled our obligations Have we selfishly neglected our parents Beenunfaithful to our wives Failed to be understanding and solicitous of ourhusbands Cheated on the job Doleful music intrudes and we are remindedthat all must diendashndashand you never know when Think what happened sounexpectedly to those poor people in Aceh overwhelmed by the tsunamiThen projected on the four giant projection screens we see scenes of afuneral backed by bitter wailing on the sound track The wrapped corpse isbeing carried out to the grave under a reddened and smoky sky Themourners leave This is the fate of all Are we ready Again we return to thisscene and alas bolts of lightning strike down from the sky rending thewinding cloths and jolting the corpse again and again We behold the tortureof the unrepentant sinner in the grave The hall has become darkened tonearly pitch black and the sound system carries disembodied voices ofwailing Ary voices our fear and remorse Then he begins to lead theaudience in free-form prayers of intensely overwrought regret abasementand tearful petitioning for forgiveness The wailing carried by the soundsystems gets louder and louder now interspersed with menrsquos and womenrsquosvoices wretchedly and tearfully begging for forgiveness

After some time the music lightens the projection screens light up again thistime with beatific scenes of a Spring meadow in some temperate climatecountry with water gently bubbling along beside lush green grassForgiveness comes Orchestral sylvan strings refresh us Ary reminds us ofthe wonder of Godrsquos mercy to those who acknowledge Him and follow theguidance He has given to change their ways At last as the hall lightsbrighten we are carefully returned to our convention centre reality and makeready for the snack break

In the interlude described above Ary Ginanjar shifted from the universitylecturer-cum-business consultant role to that of a preacher asserting religioustruths and leading a theatrical dramatisation of them as an emotional primerfor prayer However he did not stay in that role for the rest of the trainingprogramme rather it was but one stance that he adopted along with othersused to facilitate a variety of training exercises enumerated in English in hisbrochure as ldquo1) Games 2) Learning Experience 3) Case Study 4) Lecturette5) Discussion [and] 6) Role Playrdquo6

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 411

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Ginanjarrsquos spiritualised personal development programmes trademarked aslsquoThe ESQ Way 165rsquo continue to be offered to businesses and individuals withspecial youth versions and lsquoalumnirsquo groups for people who have done thetraining However there have been some changes over the past half decadeThe business has grown enough to fund the construction of a 25-floorbuilding lsquoMenara 165rsquo (lsquo165 Towerrsquo) located near a major transport route inCilandak South Jakarta With its first three levels already completed thetowerrsquos two massive ballrooms now house ESQ training programmes that usedto be held in the Jakarta Convention Center and other rented venues It hastop-grade hotel facilities for attendees coming from outside the city and forlocals who wish to avoid Jakartarsquos notorious traffic A car park capable ofaccommodating 400 vehicles caters to the needs of commuters to theprogrammes and hotel guests When not in use for ESQ programmes thebuilding now earns its own rental income as a convention centre and venuefor large weddings and family celebrations When completed the tower willhave offices in the upper levels and a mosque as its peak

The healthy business income reflects the number of people who have doneESQ courses Spokespersons for the business told The Jakarta Post in 2010 thatmore than 850000 Indonesians from all over the country had done the courseas had 65000 Malaysians (Hapsari) ESQ trainers also regularly offer coursesin Singapore and occasionally for the Indonesian-speaking communities of theNetherlands and Washington DC7

Over the last few years Ginanjar has introduced additions to hisprogrammes and some format changes to earlier programmes A newprogramme especially for parents has been added to those for teens andyounger children and since 2006 the original four-day programme for thegeneral adult public has been spread over nine days The nine days aredivided into four levels of training the first lasting three days and the restlasting two days each However as explained to me by ESQrsquos Public RelationsDirector M Hasanuddin Thoyieb during a visit to the ESQ Training Center inCiputat Jakarta in May 2011 material from the original four-day programmeis still used in the revised programme but amplified with other materials8

Thoyieb also noted that the training offered to businesses is now morelsquocustomisedrsquo to the particular company For example the training forPertamina oil company is no longer called lsquoESQrsquo training but lsquo6 Crsquo trainingfocusing on values like being lsquocleanrsquo and building lsquocapacityrsquo This seems toreflect a greater emphasis in programmes offered to companies on popularpersonal development and management concepts than on specifically religiousmotivational exercises

While Ginanjarrsquos programmes for businesses and the public strongly projecthis businessman persona in 2009 on the eve of the national election heintroduced a new programme specifically for darsquoi In that programme he alsoincluded other high-profile Muslim leaders from the Department of Religionand across the spectrum of religious voluntary organisations from theNahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah to Hizbut Tahrir Ginanjar explained inhis ESQ Magazine Online that this lsquonon-politicalrsquo event was organisedspecifically to promote the unity of the ummah in the face of the factionalismthat had broken out in advance of the election In that event evidently hisESQ training for personal development was deployed not just to reinforce

412 J D Howell

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personal piety but Islamic identity And given that voters faced choices amongboth lsquoIslamicrsquo and non-denominational parties the training carried a latent ifnot manifest political significance

Darsquoi and Trainer Compared

The two figures I have introduced exemplify two different professionsdistinguished terminologically by Indonesians lsquodarsquoirsquo (preacher) and lsquotrainerrsquoBut it is evident that the attributes of these emicly distinct roles extensivelyoverlap in the cases of their best known exemplars

Both men act in effect as lsquotrainersrsquo they offer face-to-face courses and sellhow-to books that show people how to become more effective and successfulin their everyday lives Moreover their programmes of personal developmentare designed to work for anyone They draw heavily on the internationalgrowth movement literature both in content and presentation format andpurport to be scientifically based Ginanjar specifically presents the scientificbasis of his programme as proof of its universality and hence of its efficacyregardless of the practitionerrsquos religious affiliation

The non-denominational features of both menrsquos programmes have broughtin custom from non-Muslims Aa Gym was popular among non-MuslimIndonesians as well as with Muslims particularly before his second marriageand lsquoreturn to the pesantrenrsquo9 His how-to books still draw only very subtly onIslam the few Islamic terms he uses (qolbu and makrifatullah) are readilyrecognizable by any Indonesian speaker as respectively lsquoheartrsquo (with spiritualovertones) and lsquooneness with Godrsquo Other parallels to Sufi practice are notobvious to non-Muslims Ginanjar explicitly describes his training as lsquospiritualrsquorather than lsquoIslamicrsquo development (his lsquoSQrsquo) and company representativesemphasise the substantial numbers of non-Muslims who have taken hiscourses10

But one could also say that both are preachers In the past I occasionallyreferred to Ginanjar as a darsquoi when speaking to Indonesian colleagues but wascorrected Ginanjar is not a darsquoi they said because he does not make a careerof preaching in mosques Certainly ESQrsquos Indonesian-language promotionalliterature consistently refers to Ginanjar as a lsquotrainerrsquo When I asked GinanjarrsquosPublic Relations Director Thoyieb whether he should be called a darsquoi or alsquotrainerrsquo he responded somewhat ambiguously that ldquo[o]urs is a normalcompany (perusahan) an HR company hellip the materials are not only those usedby darsquoi but also related to popular management and our programmes are notlimited to Muslimsrsquo11

Nonetheless both Ginanjar and Aa Gym have infused their programmes ofpersonal development with Islamic content and clearly seek to inspire Muslimsto get closer to God and be more pious in part by adopting visible markers ofMuslim identity This is conveyed for example by their wives and femalefriends coming veiled to public events wearing long loose gowns that obscurethe female shape Both Aa Gym and Ginanjarrsquos personal growth programmesare very much part of the broader Islamic piety revival movement

Ginanjarrsquos live trainings are if anything more explicitly Islamic than AaGymrsquos The sources of religious authority upon which he calls the rituals that

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 413

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he re-scripts for his training programmes and the religious songs used inthem are all explicitly Islamic Moreover his dramatisation of the life hereafterwhich forms the most powerful motivational tool of the training follows awell-known specifically Islamic scenario reinforcing popular fears of torturefor unrepentant sinners in the grave In contrast lsquopreacherrsquo Aa Gym buildsmotivation for personal change on the hope for intimacy with the loving andforgiving God in the here-and-now rather than on fear of Godrsquos wrath In AaGymrsquos preaching and training programmes the Creator is more immanentthan awesomely transcendent taking part in the transformation of those whoseek Him using the Sufi-inspired but Islamicly unmarked steps and formulasfor improvement that Brother Gym sets out for his clients and readers Of thetwo it is Ginanjar the trainer not Aa Gym the lsquopreacherrsquo who uses lsquohell fireand damnationrsquo to inspire piety and it is the lsquopreacherrsquo in his personaldevelopment programmes and books who consistently uses the non-denominational albeit theistic language of lsquospiritualityrsquo

Secular Borrowing as De-differentiation in Commercially Mediated PopularIslam

The extensive interweaving of secular culture in calls for piety renewal asdemonstrated above is a feature of Indonesian commercially mediated religionthat is reminiscent of the picture Knoblauch gives of European popularreligion lsquomarkedrsquo and lsquounmarkedrsquo projected through the mass media todaySo also is the prominence of lay people as promoters of piety in theIndonesian commercial sphere and the centrality of immediate spiritualexperience to those programmes of popular religious renewal

Although Indonesia is culturally distant from the North Atlantic countriesand as a post-World War II lsquonew nationrsquo has a distinctive political economyit is reasonable to attribute these similarities in popular religion to similarpressures and opportunities that shape demand as well as to locally specificchanges in opportunities for suppliers in the commercial sphere Particularlyimportant for new types of suppliers of piety promotion products has been therelease of television licences to private providers in the 1990s Similarities indemand structures in the two regions result from Indonesiarsquos capitalistdevelopment catch-up which accelerated rapidly under former PresidentSuhartorsquos New Order regime (1968ndash98) and supported a significant expansionof the secularly educated middle and upper classes In Indonesia as elsewherein modernising societies (both Muslim and non-Muslim [cf Peter]) the newMuslim middle class and elites are prepared to look to new sources ofreligious authority and inspiration The individualisation that underlies suchautonomy in religious choice-making also generates familiar social pressures towhich the providers of Indonesiarsquos Muslim personal development productsrespond the need to create a marketable persona viable in their liberalised latecapitalist economy the tensions of companionate marriages (increasinglyprevalent in Indonesia) and the challenges of more egalitarian parenthood (towhich better educated Indonesians also aspire)

The participation of well-educated Indonesian Muslims in global secularculture through their schooling in their offices and in their leisure activities

414 J D Howell

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014

has also shaped tastes and interests They expect high production values inentertainment and international best practice in business and training Pietypromotion products using the techniques and findings of the globallycirculating entertainment arts and the sciences of personal development thushave a particular appeal except to purists who read them as un-Islamicbecause of their eclecticism and association with the West Aa Gymrsquos andGinanjarrsquos success shows that such purists have less influence in Indonesiarsquoscommercial arena than those with more culturally pluralist understandings ofIslam12

Nonetheless one could object that the parallels between the two regionswith their different religious heritages are weak insofar as the starting pointsfor the purported de-differentiation of popular religion are not comparableInfluenced by certain modernist Muslim reformists of the twentieth centurymany lsquode-traditionalisedrsquo Muslims today consider Islam to be uniquely andnecessarily fused with all aspects of social life a complete social order(al-nizam al-islami) (Roy Tibi) In other words they understand Muslimsocieties to be actually andor ideally exempt from processes of socialdifferentiation that have accompanied economic development in the West andwhich social theorists have taken to be the hallmark of modernisation ErnestGellner famously formulated a scholarly justification for such lsquoIslamicexceptionalismrsquo arguing that Muslim societies can form modern states withoutseparating religious from political institutions because of the distinctivestructure of Islamrsquos religious leadership (through the ulama) and the legalframework for social life provided by its syariah However critics have shownthat the putative fusion of Islam and the state in pre-modern times isoverdrawn in such characterisations (Lapidus Eickelman and Piscatori) thatmovements aiming to conjoin religion and state can be found in Christian andHindu as well as Muslim communities (Casanova ldquoBeyondrdquo 23 HefnerldquoMultiplerdquo 90) and that in fact few Muslim states today give religiousauthorities power over the state (Beyer 183)

More nuanced comparisons of the trajectories of modernisation in Christian-and Muslim-heritage societies such as those of Jose Casanova (ldquoCivil SocietyrdquoldquoBeyondrdquo) and Beyer acknowledge the greater elaboration and importance oflsquohierocraticrsquo organisations (churches) as carriers of religious communications inpre-modern Europe and the more dispersed and informal institutionalisationof religious authority in pre-modern Muslim societies but do not see pre-modern Muslim societies as undifferentiated or immune to modern forms ofsocial differentiation Thus as Beyer shows in the last century Islamic socialmovements have been important carriers of religious reform programmes andwith the formal organisations that they precipitated have formed distinctreligious function systems within socially differentiated modern societies

Beyer rightly cites Indonesiarsquos Muhammadiyah organisation as an exampleof the specialised religious institutions that have shaped socially differentiatedmodern Muslim societies One can also point to other Islamic organisationsfounded in Indonesia in the twentieth century that have framed Islam overagainst local Islamicly infused cultures as a universal religion and the ummahas a community among other religious communities in Indonesiarsquos plural andsocially differentiated society These other Islamic organisations include thenationrsquos largest Islamic voluntary organisation the Nahdhlatul Ulama (an

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 415

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association representing ulama and their followings) numerous Islamicpolitical parties and the increasingly influential fatwa-pronouncing body theMajelis Ulama Indonesia (Indonesian Council of Ulama) Along with thebroader social movements of which they are parts these organisations functionas civil society actors seeking to influence both the rest of society and the stateand so constitute a differentiated religious function system distinct from thecountryrsquos political and other function systems It is from this vantage pointthat the comingling of religious communications and secular culture in thecommercial sphere appears as de-differentiation albeit circumscribed bymarkers like lsquospiritualitasrsquo that link the personal development programmes ofthe darsquoi and trainer ambiguously to the legally recognized religions

Recognizing that certain darsquoi and trainers incorporate secular culture intotheir ministries and effect the de-differentiation of religious communications isnot however the same thing as saying that they promote secularisation in thesense of Weberian lsquodisenchantmentrsquo of the world or the growing irrelevance ofreligious beliefs to peoplersquos lives Local critics have indeed accused theentertainerndashpreachers and other purveyors of lsquoIslam 15 minitrsquo (lsquo15-minuteIslamrsquo) of trivialising the faith and of making the faith emptied of explicitdoctrine look just like any other religion Aa Gym has responded to thesecriticisms since his painful fall in the TV ratings charts by making hispreaching (if not his how-to books) more explicitly Islamic while Ginanjarcontinues steadfastly to promote his particular conflation of religion andscience evidently without losing his ability to attract endorsements fromMuslim luminaries Drawing back from these judgments of interested partieswe can nonetheless observe as Knoblauch did of European popular religionthat although these expressions of commercial mass-mediated popular Islamin Indonesia do obscure the boundaries between the sacred and the profane(which for Durkheim separated lsquoreligionrsquo from the secular) the notions oflsquospiritualitasrsquo in the ministries of Gymnastiar and Ginanjar still serve to focusconsumers on the transcendent while they work to overcome thecompartmentalisation of Indonesian selves in their differentiated modernsociety

Julia Howell is Professor of the Sociology of Religion in the Religion and SocietyResearch Centre at the University of Western Sydney and Adjunct Professor of AsianStudies at the Griffith Asia Institute Griffith University Brisbane Australia Herrecent work on popular Indonesian Islam and contemporary Sufi revival builds on herlong-term interests in movements of religious reform and marginal religiousmovements in modernising Indonesia and Western societies CORRESPONDENCE jhowelluwseduau

NOTES

1 The concept of global culture deployed here draws on Peter Bergerrsquos refinements of the idea ofa lsquoglobal culturersquo (2ndash16) emerging in the last few decades through the information revolutionthe intensification of transnational travel and business operations and consequent increasingparticipation of people all over the world in communications of global reach While Bergeracknowledges that the region dominant in propagating these global communications is theNorth Atlantic especially the United States he pays considerable attention to lsquoalternative

416 J D Howell

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rsity

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014

globalisationsrsquo (12) projecting across the world from Asia (including the Islamic world) andnon-Anglophone Europe and Latin America Like Colin Campbell Elizabeth Puttick andothers he draws attention to the way Asian religious cultures have fed into Western culturessince the Romantic period in the nineteenth century and contributed to now globallycirculating New Age spirituality and ambiguously secular themes deriving from the largelyAmerican lsquogrowth movementrsquo and broader Human Potential Movement Most of the lsquosectorsrsquoof contemporary global culture identified by Berger (lsquobusiness culturersquo lsquofaculty club culturersquoand lsquopop culturersquo) are ostensibly or predominantly secular (in the sense of not being in HubertKnoblauchrsquos terminology lsquoreligiously markedrsquo) but he counts lsquoevangelical Protestantismrsquo asactually having the most global impact He might well have given more weight to the culturalcurrents carried by numerous global Islamic reform movements

2 This is the Constitutional Courtrsquos refusal on 19 April 2010 to review Presidential Decision no1 1965 (UU No1PNPS1965) recognizing Islam Protestantism Catholicism HinduismBuddhism and Confucianism as lsquoreligionsrsquo (agama) under the Constitution of 1945 andforbidding the lsquobesmirchingrsquo and lsquo[free] interpretationrsquo of those protected religions Civil societygroups that made the request for the review object to the restriction of freedom of religioneffected by the Presidential Decision of 1965 and to the denial of diversity and change withinreligions that the Courtrsquos decision implies

3 lsquoReligious communicationsrsquo here refers to communications in what Peter Beyer identified as thereligion functional system as distinct from other functional systems of modern societies suchas the capitalist economy the sovereign state academic education positive law the media etc

4 The editorrsquos preface to the 2005 edition of Aa Gymrsquos Jagalah Hati Step by Step Manajemen Qolbuspecifically identifies these aids as international lsquobest practicersquo ldquothe concept has been madeeven more valuable by presenting it in a genuinely how to and self-help format [berformat howto dan self-help] a modern packaging that is easy for the reader to digestrdquo (vi)

5 Translated from an ESQ Leadership Center flier entitled ldquoESQ TRAINING for Corporate ampPublicrdquo distributed at a training programme attended by the author at the Jakarta ConventionCenter 3ndash7 February 2005

6 Note the similarities of these ESQ mass-audience training techniques to those used byAmerican-originated Human Potential Movement training corporations (such as WernerErhardrsquos est and Lifestream) oriented to clients in the business world (Puttick 211ndash12)

7 Interview at the ESQ Center Ciputat Jakarta in May 2011 and Amirrachman8 As described in the ESQ training programme brochure of 2011 the new four-part series starts

with lsquoESQ Basic Trainingrsquo showing the insufficiency for true happiness of mere material andemotional satisfaction achieved with the intellect (IQ) and lsquoemotional intelligencersquo (EQ) andthe need for lsquospiritual happinessrsquo developed through lsquoSQrsquo Hasanuddin Thoyieb described theBasic Training as an ldquooverview of the whole programmerdquo The next level of the programme islsquoESQ Intermediate Training 1rsquo or lsquoMission amp Character Buildingrsquo (incorporating according toThoyieb days one and two of the old programme) The third level is lsquoESQ IntermediateTraining 2rsquo or lsquoSelf-Control and Collaborationrsquo also known as lsquoSC2rsquo or lsquoSC squaredrsquoincorporating material from the former programmersquos days three and four All that is nowcapped with the fourth and final segment lsquoESQ Advanced Trainingrsquo or lsquoTotal Actionrsquo whereone learns to lsquoexecute and implementrsquo the combined IQ EQ and SQ capabilities

9 After December 2006 when revelations of his second marriage deflated his popularity Aa Gymlet it be known that he had lsquoreturned to the pesantrenrsquo that is he had begun intensely renewinghis study of Islam Thereafter his predication became more narrowly Islamic

10 See for example trainer Syamsulrsquos comments to a Jakarta Post reporter in Delft in 2008 whenhe estimated that as many as 3000 non-Muslim Indonesians had done ESQ courses(Amirrachman) Note however that some non-Muslims obliged by their employers to take acompany-based ESQ training programme complained about the Islamic bias of theprogramme

11 However he went on to emphasise the business training professionalism not only of Ginanjarbut also of the large ESQ team of lsquotrainersrsquo These auxiliary trainers now present all but two ofthe 85ndash90 events the company puts on each month even in the programmes Ginanjar doeshost other trainers step in to lead parts offering a refreshing new face style and pace Thebusiness tries to ensure that ldquono matter who presents the programme the taste is the sameevery trainer has to meet the same standards for material intonation and musicrdquo They do this

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 417

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not only through their own in-house coaching and apprenticing but also by selecting onlypeople with university degrees as prospective trainers

12 This was illustrated in Indonesian reactions to a fatwa against Ary Ginanjarrsquos ESQ trainingissued in June 2010 by a mufti for the Federal Territories of Malaysia Wan Zahidi Bin WanTeh Zahidi charged that ESQ improperly associates concepts from other religions withpassages from the Qurrsquoan in effect equating other religions with Islam (httpwwwmuftiwpgovmyv1docfatwa_esqpdf access date 3 June 2011) The offending elements identified inthe fatwa are the SQ concept whichndashndashZahidi claimedndashndashis Jewish because its author DanahZohar is Jewish and the God Spot idea which he claimed is Hindu like its authorRamachandran The fatwa further judged that ESQ encouraged lsquoliberalrsquo thinking puttingrational thinking above revelation in religious matters and following onersquos conscience ratherthan religious law The news of this fatwa quickly spread to Indonesia where it was evaluatedby the controversial semi-governmental Indonesian Council of Ulamas (MUI) Although MUIhad famously declared Indonesian lsquoliberalismrsquo (in Islamic exegesis) lsquopluralismrsquo andlsquosecularismrsquo to be deviant in 2005 MUIrsquos chairman Amhidhan told The Jakarta Post in July 2010that the diverse religious backgrounds of ESQ training participants ldquodoes not mean it embracespluralism in religionsrdquo and accepted that ESQ is ldquoa training on management and humanresources not an event to preach although there are those who convert after taking part in itrdquo(Haspari) Later KH Marsquoruf Amin also of MUI agreed telling a Malaysian news outlet thatldquoESQ is an alternative and effective methodology for dakwah (missionising)rdquo (ldquoESQ TrainingrdquoThe Star 22 February 2011) Not all Indonesian Muslim clerics consider ESQ benign howeverFor example Bernard Abdul Jabbar of the Indonesian Muslim Forum rebutted Amhidhanrsquosopinion some days later endorsing the judgments of ESQ made by Malaysian mufti Zahidi andbranding ESQ ldquoa new religion called the ESQ 1965 Wayrdquo (ldquoMUI to Reviewrdquo Jakarta Post 31July 2010) Nonetheless Zahidi did not win sufficient support either in Malaysia or inIndonesia to close down ESQ activities in those countries The fatwa committee of theMalaysian National Islamic Affairs Council like Indonesiarsquos MUI has judged that ESQ shouldbe allowed to continue operating (ldquoESQ Trainingrdquo The Star 22 February 2011)

REFERENCES

Abdurrahman Moeslim ldquoRitual Divided Hajj Tours in Capitalist Era Indonesiardquo Ed MarkWoodward Towards a New Paradigm Tempe AR Arizona State U 1996 117ndash32

Al Afghani Mohamad Mova ldquoReligious Freedom in Indonesia before and after ConstitutionalAmendmentsrdquo 2010 Social Science Research Network Available at lthttpssrncomabstract=1587256gt access date 30 April 2010

Amirrachman Alpha ldquoPersonal Growth Course Travels to the Netherlandsrdquo The Jakarta Post 12June 2008 Available at lthttpwwwthejakartapostcomnews20080612personal-growth-course-travels-netherlandshtmlgt access date 15 April 2011

Berger Peter L Many Globalizations New York Oxford UP 2002Beyer Peter Religions in Global Society London Routledge 2006Boyatzis Richard E ldquoConsequences and Rejuvenation of Competency-based Human Resource and

Organization Developmentrdquo Eds Richard W Woodman and William A Pasmore Research inOrganizatinal Change and Development Vol 9 Greenwich CN JAI P 1996 101ndash22

Campbell Colin ldquoThe Easternization of the Westrdquo Eds Bryan Wilson and Jamie Cresswell NewReligious Movements Challenge and Response London Routledge 1999 35ndash48

Casanova Jose ldquoCivil Society and Religion Retrospective Reflections on Catholicism andProspective Reflections on Islamrdquo Social Research 68 (2001) 1041ndash80

- - - ldquoBeyond European and American Exceptionalisms Towards a Global Perspectiverdquo Eds GraceDavie Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead Predicting Religion London Ashgate 2003 17ndash29

Eickelman Dale and James Piscatori Muslim Politics Princeton NJ Princeton UP 1996Elegant Simon and Jason Tedjasukmana ldquoHoly Manrdquo Time Asia 16018 4 November 2002 Available at

lthttpwwwtimecomtimeasiamagazinearticle013673501021111-38697700htmlgt accessdate 14 February 2005

ldquoESQ Training Not Deviationist Says Indonesiarsquos MUIrdquo The Star (Kuala Lumpur) 22 February2011 Available at lthttpthestarcommynewsstoryaspfile=2011222nation8110114ampsec=nationgt access date 15 April 2011

418 J D Howell

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014

Synergising worldly rationality (EQ) with spiritual motivation (SQ) hellip anawesome synthesis (ESQ) is achieved develop[ing] perfect human character

Identifying something like worker alienation as a reason for poor companyperformances Ary then turns for his lsquoSolutionrsquo to Danah Zohar and IanMarshallrsquos concept of lsquoSQrsquo or lsquospiritual intelligencersquo In his books Ginanjardevelops the key concepts presented in the flier He is at pains to emphasisethat spirituality is lsquouniversalrsquo which he says is why scientific evidence can befound to prove its existence and basis in the human body Specifically itsphysical site is the lsquoGod Spotrsquo located in our heads Ginanjar consistently usesthe English loan word lsquospiritualrsquo and closely related Indonesian cognates likelsquospiritualitasrsquo to emphasise this universality rather than Arabic terms likelsquokerohanianrsquo or lsquokebatinanrsquo introduced into Indonesian with Islam

The importance of science as a system of knowledge embracing all humanexperience of the world and as a basis of truth assertions important inbusiness is evident particularly in the introductory segments of Ginanjarrsquostraining programmes Thus early in the four-day course for the general publicthat I attended in the Balai Sidang Jakarta (Jakarta Convention Center) in 2005Ginanjar made a PowerPoint presentation showing the high corruption ratingsof Indonesia in a global context and relating the countryrsquos corruption to itspoor rates of economic growth following the transition to democracy Thissegment concluded with statistical tables showing the greatly improvedperformance of companies that had used ESQ training

Ginanjar subtly draws on Islam however for the theory upon which hisprogramme of spiritual transformation his lsquoZero Mind Processrsquo (Eng) isbased The lsquoZero Mind Processrsquo he explained in the first day of the course is aprocess of penjernihan emosi (lsquopurificationrsquo or lsquoclarifying of the emotionsrsquo)Although this process is displaced to the lsquoGod Spotrsquo in the head it isreminiscent of the Sufi notion of the purification of the heart (tazkiyah al nafs)The exercises he uses in the training programmes also refer to Islamic ritualsand disciplines and re-gloss them with this-worldly asceticism Thus later onin the training I attended Ginanjarrsquos team led the participants in collectiverecitation of the lsquoNinety-Nine Beautiful Names of Godrsquo a popular form of zikirlitany but participants were provided with a chart of affirmations to be linkedin their thoughts with each name Towards the end of the training session hajjrituals performed by Muslim pilgrims to the holy land were also enactedschematically as games after which allegorical meanings reinforcing piety andethical behaviour in everyday life were offered by the trainers

Less subtly Ginanjar draws on Islamic eschatology to enliven participantsrsquomotivation actually to change their ways when they leave the training Hedoes this by shifting from lecturing to presenting images of Godrsquos awesomemight as revealed by astronomers and foreshadowed in passages of theQurrsquoan and by dramatising the perilous condition of the soul at death It is themost graphic and gruesome Islamic conceptions of the terrors the soul mayface that are projected in vivid images on giant projection screens backed bydeafeningly loud heavy-metal music The emotional force of this is suggestedin my notes on the dramatic arc of this section of the training programme Iattended

410 J D Howell

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The entry into this explicitly religious and indeed Islamic section of thelsquotrainingrsquo is via exquisite Hubble-telescope photographs of multi-colouredstarry nebulae We have just been convinced by the scientific literaturereviewed in a lecture that indeed spiritual development is important for ourpersonal growth and success in life Here we actually see as it were theglories of God and gasp in wonder as the sound track carries symphonicevocations of spectacular revelations We then descend via Google Earthimages down down down to earth even to Jakarta and to some smallneighbourhood here Indeed there is a God we feel and the awesometranscendent God can actually relate to us Returning gently to subduedlecture mode still with the mood music we learn that the exploration ofspace and many other scientific achievements and findings have actuallybeen predicted in the Qurrsquoan The Qurrsquoan is the most perfect word of Godand yet we hardly appreciated it We return to the images of outer space formore exhilarating revelling in Godrsquos glory But wait Have we obeyed Godrsquoslaws the voice of the compere asks us in the darkened hall Have wefulfilled our obligations Have we selfishly neglected our parents Beenunfaithful to our wives Failed to be understanding and solicitous of ourhusbands Cheated on the job Doleful music intrudes and we are remindedthat all must diendashndashand you never know when Think what happened sounexpectedly to those poor people in Aceh overwhelmed by the tsunamiThen projected on the four giant projection screens we see scenes of afuneral backed by bitter wailing on the sound track The wrapped corpse isbeing carried out to the grave under a reddened and smoky sky Themourners leave This is the fate of all Are we ready Again we return to thisscene and alas bolts of lightning strike down from the sky rending thewinding cloths and jolting the corpse again and again We behold the tortureof the unrepentant sinner in the grave The hall has become darkened tonearly pitch black and the sound system carries disembodied voices ofwailing Ary voices our fear and remorse Then he begins to lead theaudience in free-form prayers of intensely overwrought regret abasementand tearful petitioning for forgiveness The wailing carried by the soundsystems gets louder and louder now interspersed with menrsquos and womenrsquosvoices wretchedly and tearfully begging for forgiveness

After some time the music lightens the projection screens light up again thistime with beatific scenes of a Spring meadow in some temperate climatecountry with water gently bubbling along beside lush green grassForgiveness comes Orchestral sylvan strings refresh us Ary reminds us ofthe wonder of Godrsquos mercy to those who acknowledge Him and follow theguidance He has given to change their ways At last as the hall lightsbrighten we are carefully returned to our convention centre reality and makeready for the snack break

In the interlude described above Ary Ginanjar shifted from the universitylecturer-cum-business consultant role to that of a preacher asserting religioustruths and leading a theatrical dramatisation of them as an emotional primerfor prayer However he did not stay in that role for the rest of the trainingprogramme rather it was but one stance that he adopted along with othersused to facilitate a variety of training exercises enumerated in English in hisbrochure as ldquo1) Games 2) Learning Experience 3) Case Study 4) Lecturette5) Discussion [and] 6) Role Playrdquo6

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 411

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Ginanjarrsquos spiritualised personal development programmes trademarked aslsquoThe ESQ Way 165rsquo continue to be offered to businesses and individuals withspecial youth versions and lsquoalumnirsquo groups for people who have done thetraining However there have been some changes over the past half decadeThe business has grown enough to fund the construction of a 25-floorbuilding lsquoMenara 165rsquo (lsquo165 Towerrsquo) located near a major transport route inCilandak South Jakarta With its first three levels already completed thetowerrsquos two massive ballrooms now house ESQ training programmes that usedto be held in the Jakarta Convention Center and other rented venues It hastop-grade hotel facilities for attendees coming from outside the city and forlocals who wish to avoid Jakartarsquos notorious traffic A car park capable ofaccommodating 400 vehicles caters to the needs of commuters to theprogrammes and hotel guests When not in use for ESQ programmes thebuilding now earns its own rental income as a convention centre and venuefor large weddings and family celebrations When completed the tower willhave offices in the upper levels and a mosque as its peak

The healthy business income reflects the number of people who have doneESQ courses Spokespersons for the business told The Jakarta Post in 2010 thatmore than 850000 Indonesians from all over the country had done the courseas had 65000 Malaysians (Hapsari) ESQ trainers also regularly offer coursesin Singapore and occasionally for the Indonesian-speaking communities of theNetherlands and Washington DC7

Over the last few years Ginanjar has introduced additions to hisprogrammes and some format changes to earlier programmes A newprogramme especially for parents has been added to those for teens andyounger children and since 2006 the original four-day programme for thegeneral adult public has been spread over nine days The nine days aredivided into four levels of training the first lasting three days and the restlasting two days each However as explained to me by ESQrsquos Public RelationsDirector M Hasanuddin Thoyieb during a visit to the ESQ Training Center inCiputat Jakarta in May 2011 material from the original four-day programmeis still used in the revised programme but amplified with other materials8

Thoyieb also noted that the training offered to businesses is now morelsquocustomisedrsquo to the particular company For example the training forPertamina oil company is no longer called lsquoESQrsquo training but lsquo6 Crsquo trainingfocusing on values like being lsquocleanrsquo and building lsquocapacityrsquo This seems toreflect a greater emphasis in programmes offered to companies on popularpersonal development and management concepts than on specifically religiousmotivational exercises

While Ginanjarrsquos programmes for businesses and the public strongly projecthis businessman persona in 2009 on the eve of the national election heintroduced a new programme specifically for darsquoi In that programme he alsoincluded other high-profile Muslim leaders from the Department of Religionand across the spectrum of religious voluntary organisations from theNahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah to Hizbut Tahrir Ginanjar explained inhis ESQ Magazine Online that this lsquonon-politicalrsquo event was organisedspecifically to promote the unity of the ummah in the face of the factionalismthat had broken out in advance of the election In that event evidently hisESQ training for personal development was deployed not just to reinforce

412 J D Howell

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personal piety but Islamic identity And given that voters faced choices amongboth lsquoIslamicrsquo and non-denominational parties the training carried a latent ifnot manifest political significance

Darsquoi and Trainer Compared

The two figures I have introduced exemplify two different professionsdistinguished terminologically by Indonesians lsquodarsquoirsquo (preacher) and lsquotrainerrsquoBut it is evident that the attributes of these emicly distinct roles extensivelyoverlap in the cases of their best known exemplars

Both men act in effect as lsquotrainersrsquo they offer face-to-face courses and sellhow-to books that show people how to become more effective and successfulin their everyday lives Moreover their programmes of personal developmentare designed to work for anyone They draw heavily on the internationalgrowth movement literature both in content and presentation format andpurport to be scientifically based Ginanjar specifically presents the scientificbasis of his programme as proof of its universality and hence of its efficacyregardless of the practitionerrsquos religious affiliation

The non-denominational features of both menrsquos programmes have broughtin custom from non-Muslims Aa Gym was popular among non-MuslimIndonesians as well as with Muslims particularly before his second marriageand lsquoreturn to the pesantrenrsquo9 His how-to books still draw only very subtly onIslam the few Islamic terms he uses (qolbu and makrifatullah) are readilyrecognizable by any Indonesian speaker as respectively lsquoheartrsquo (with spiritualovertones) and lsquooneness with Godrsquo Other parallels to Sufi practice are notobvious to non-Muslims Ginanjar explicitly describes his training as lsquospiritualrsquorather than lsquoIslamicrsquo development (his lsquoSQrsquo) and company representativesemphasise the substantial numbers of non-Muslims who have taken hiscourses10

But one could also say that both are preachers In the past I occasionallyreferred to Ginanjar as a darsquoi when speaking to Indonesian colleagues but wascorrected Ginanjar is not a darsquoi they said because he does not make a careerof preaching in mosques Certainly ESQrsquos Indonesian-language promotionalliterature consistently refers to Ginanjar as a lsquotrainerrsquo When I asked GinanjarrsquosPublic Relations Director Thoyieb whether he should be called a darsquoi or alsquotrainerrsquo he responded somewhat ambiguously that ldquo[o]urs is a normalcompany (perusahan) an HR company hellip the materials are not only those usedby darsquoi but also related to popular management and our programmes are notlimited to Muslimsrsquo11

Nonetheless both Ginanjar and Aa Gym have infused their programmes ofpersonal development with Islamic content and clearly seek to inspire Muslimsto get closer to God and be more pious in part by adopting visible markers ofMuslim identity This is conveyed for example by their wives and femalefriends coming veiled to public events wearing long loose gowns that obscurethe female shape Both Aa Gym and Ginanjarrsquos personal growth programmesare very much part of the broader Islamic piety revival movement

Ginanjarrsquos live trainings are if anything more explicitly Islamic than AaGymrsquos The sources of religious authority upon which he calls the rituals that

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 413

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he re-scripts for his training programmes and the religious songs used inthem are all explicitly Islamic Moreover his dramatisation of the life hereafterwhich forms the most powerful motivational tool of the training follows awell-known specifically Islamic scenario reinforcing popular fears of torturefor unrepentant sinners in the grave In contrast lsquopreacherrsquo Aa Gym buildsmotivation for personal change on the hope for intimacy with the loving andforgiving God in the here-and-now rather than on fear of Godrsquos wrath In AaGymrsquos preaching and training programmes the Creator is more immanentthan awesomely transcendent taking part in the transformation of those whoseek Him using the Sufi-inspired but Islamicly unmarked steps and formulasfor improvement that Brother Gym sets out for his clients and readers Of thetwo it is Ginanjar the trainer not Aa Gym the lsquopreacherrsquo who uses lsquohell fireand damnationrsquo to inspire piety and it is the lsquopreacherrsquo in his personaldevelopment programmes and books who consistently uses the non-denominational albeit theistic language of lsquospiritualityrsquo

Secular Borrowing as De-differentiation in Commercially Mediated PopularIslam

The extensive interweaving of secular culture in calls for piety renewal asdemonstrated above is a feature of Indonesian commercially mediated religionthat is reminiscent of the picture Knoblauch gives of European popularreligion lsquomarkedrsquo and lsquounmarkedrsquo projected through the mass media todaySo also is the prominence of lay people as promoters of piety in theIndonesian commercial sphere and the centrality of immediate spiritualexperience to those programmes of popular religious renewal

Although Indonesia is culturally distant from the North Atlantic countriesand as a post-World War II lsquonew nationrsquo has a distinctive political economyit is reasonable to attribute these similarities in popular religion to similarpressures and opportunities that shape demand as well as to locally specificchanges in opportunities for suppliers in the commercial sphere Particularlyimportant for new types of suppliers of piety promotion products has been therelease of television licences to private providers in the 1990s Similarities indemand structures in the two regions result from Indonesiarsquos capitalistdevelopment catch-up which accelerated rapidly under former PresidentSuhartorsquos New Order regime (1968ndash98) and supported a significant expansionof the secularly educated middle and upper classes In Indonesia as elsewherein modernising societies (both Muslim and non-Muslim [cf Peter]) the newMuslim middle class and elites are prepared to look to new sources ofreligious authority and inspiration The individualisation that underlies suchautonomy in religious choice-making also generates familiar social pressures towhich the providers of Indonesiarsquos Muslim personal development productsrespond the need to create a marketable persona viable in their liberalised latecapitalist economy the tensions of companionate marriages (increasinglyprevalent in Indonesia) and the challenges of more egalitarian parenthood (towhich better educated Indonesians also aspire)

The participation of well-educated Indonesian Muslims in global secularculture through their schooling in their offices and in their leisure activities

414 J D Howell

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014

has also shaped tastes and interests They expect high production values inentertainment and international best practice in business and training Pietypromotion products using the techniques and findings of the globallycirculating entertainment arts and the sciences of personal development thushave a particular appeal except to purists who read them as un-Islamicbecause of their eclecticism and association with the West Aa Gymrsquos andGinanjarrsquos success shows that such purists have less influence in Indonesiarsquoscommercial arena than those with more culturally pluralist understandings ofIslam12

Nonetheless one could object that the parallels between the two regionswith their different religious heritages are weak insofar as the starting pointsfor the purported de-differentiation of popular religion are not comparableInfluenced by certain modernist Muslim reformists of the twentieth centurymany lsquode-traditionalisedrsquo Muslims today consider Islam to be uniquely andnecessarily fused with all aspects of social life a complete social order(al-nizam al-islami) (Roy Tibi) In other words they understand Muslimsocieties to be actually andor ideally exempt from processes of socialdifferentiation that have accompanied economic development in the West andwhich social theorists have taken to be the hallmark of modernisation ErnestGellner famously formulated a scholarly justification for such lsquoIslamicexceptionalismrsquo arguing that Muslim societies can form modern states withoutseparating religious from political institutions because of the distinctivestructure of Islamrsquos religious leadership (through the ulama) and the legalframework for social life provided by its syariah However critics have shownthat the putative fusion of Islam and the state in pre-modern times isoverdrawn in such characterisations (Lapidus Eickelman and Piscatori) thatmovements aiming to conjoin religion and state can be found in Christian andHindu as well as Muslim communities (Casanova ldquoBeyondrdquo 23 HefnerldquoMultiplerdquo 90) and that in fact few Muslim states today give religiousauthorities power over the state (Beyer 183)

More nuanced comparisons of the trajectories of modernisation in Christian-and Muslim-heritage societies such as those of Jose Casanova (ldquoCivil SocietyrdquoldquoBeyondrdquo) and Beyer acknowledge the greater elaboration and importance oflsquohierocraticrsquo organisations (churches) as carriers of religious communications inpre-modern Europe and the more dispersed and informal institutionalisationof religious authority in pre-modern Muslim societies but do not see pre-modern Muslim societies as undifferentiated or immune to modern forms ofsocial differentiation Thus as Beyer shows in the last century Islamic socialmovements have been important carriers of religious reform programmes andwith the formal organisations that they precipitated have formed distinctreligious function systems within socially differentiated modern societies

Beyer rightly cites Indonesiarsquos Muhammadiyah organisation as an exampleof the specialised religious institutions that have shaped socially differentiatedmodern Muslim societies One can also point to other Islamic organisationsfounded in Indonesia in the twentieth century that have framed Islam overagainst local Islamicly infused cultures as a universal religion and the ummahas a community among other religious communities in Indonesiarsquos plural andsocially differentiated society These other Islamic organisations include thenationrsquos largest Islamic voluntary organisation the Nahdhlatul Ulama (an

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 415

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association representing ulama and their followings) numerous Islamicpolitical parties and the increasingly influential fatwa-pronouncing body theMajelis Ulama Indonesia (Indonesian Council of Ulama) Along with thebroader social movements of which they are parts these organisations functionas civil society actors seeking to influence both the rest of society and the stateand so constitute a differentiated religious function system distinct from thecountryrsquos political and other function systems It is from this vantage pointthat the comingling of religious communications and secular culture in thecommercial sphere appears as de-differentiation albeit circumscribed bymarkers like lsquospiritualitasrsquo that link the personal development programmes ofthe darsquoi and trainer ambiguously to the legally recognized religions

Recognizing that certain darsquoi and trainers incorporate secular culture intotheir ministries and effect the de-differentiation of religious communications isnot however the same thing as saying that they promote secularisation in thesense of Weberian lsquodisenchantmentrsquo of the world or the growing irrelevance ofreligious beliefs to peoplersquos lives Local critics have indeed accused theentertainerndashpreachers and other purveyors of lsquoIslam 15 minitrsquo (lsquo15-minuteIslamrsquo) of trivialising the faith and of making the faith emptied of explicitdoctrine look just like any other religion Aa Gym has responded to thesecriticisms since his painful fall in the TV ratings charts by making hispreaching (if not his how-to books) more explicitly Islamic while Ginanjarcontinues steadfastly to promote his particular conflation of religion andscience evidently without losing his ability to attract endorsements fromMuslim luminaries Drawing back from these judgments of interested partieswe can nonetheless observe as Knoblauch did of European popular religionthat although these expressions of commercial mass-mediated popular Islamin Indonesia do obscure the boundaries between the sacred and the profane(which for Durkheim separated lsquoreligionrsquo from the secular) the notions oflsquospiritualitasrsquo in the ministries of Gymnastiar and Ginanjar still serve to focusconsumers on the transcendent while they work to overcome thecompartmentalisation of Indonesian selves in their differentiated modernsociety

Julia Howell is Professor of the Sociology of Religion in the Religion and SocietyResearch Centre at the University of Western Sydney and Adjunct Professor of AsianStudies at the Griffith Asia Institute Griffith University Brisbane Australia Herrecent work on popular Indonesian Islam and contemporary Sufi revival builds on herlong-term interests in movements of religious reform and marginal religiousmovements in modernising Indonesia and Western societies CORRESPONDENCE jhowelluwseduau

NOTES

1 The concept of global culture deployed here draws on Peter Bergerrsquos refinements of the idea ofa lsquoglobal culturersquo (2ndash16) emerging in the last few decades through the information revolutionthe intensification of transnational travel and business operations and consequent increasingparticipation of people all over the world in communications of global reach While Bergeracknowledges that the region dominant in propagating these global communications is theNorth Atlantic especially the United States he pays considerable attention to lsquoalternative

416 J D Howell

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globalisationsrsquo (12) projecting across the world from Asia (including the Islamic world) andnon-Anglophone Europe and Latin America Like Colin Campbell Elizabeth Puttick andothers he draws attention to the way Asian religious cultures have fed into Western culturessince the Romantic period in the nineteenth century and contributed to now globallycirculating New Age spirituality and ambiguously secular themes deriving from the largelyAmerican lsquogrowth movementrsquo and broader Human Potential Movement Most of the lsquosectorsrsquoof contemporary global culture identified by Berger (lsquobusiness culturersquo lsquofaculty club culturersquoand lsquopop culturersquo) are ostensibly or predominantly secular (in the sense of not being in HubertKnoblauchrsquos terminology lsquoreligiously markedrsquo) but he counts lsquoevangelical Protestantismrsquo asactually having the most global impact He might well have given more weight to the culturalcurrents carried by numerous global Islamic reform movements

2 This is the Constitutional Courtrsquos refusal on 19 April 2010 to review Presidential Decision no1 1965 (UU No1PNPS1965) recognizing Islam Protestantism Catholicism HinduismBuddhism and Confucianism as lsquoreligionsrsquo (agama) under the Constitution of 1945 andforbidding the lsquobesmirchingrsquo and lsquo[free] interpretationrsquo of those protected religions Civil societygroups that made the request for the review object to the restriction of freedom of religioneffected by the Presidential Decision of 1965 and to the denial of diversity and change withinreligions that the Courtrsquos decision implies

3 lsquoReligious communicationsrsquo here refers to communications in what Peter Beyer identified as thereligion functional system as distinct from other functional systems of modern societies suchas the capitalist economy the sovereign state academic education positive law the media etc

4 The editorrsquos preface to the 2005 edition of Aa Gymrsquos Jagalah Hati Step by Step Manajemen Qolbuspecifically identifies these aids as international lsquobest practicersquo ldquothe concept has been madeeven more valuable by presenting it in a genuinely how to and self-help format [berformat howto dan self-help] a modern packaging that is easy for the reader to digestrdquo (vi)

5 Translated from an ESQ Leadership Center flier entitled ldquoESQ TRAINING for Corporate ampPublicrdquo distributed at a training programme attended by the author at the Jakarta ConventionCenter 3ndash7 February 2005

6 Note the similarities of these ESQ mass-audience training techniques to those used byAmerican-originated Human Potential Movement training corporations (such as WernerErhardrsquos est and Lifestream) oriented to clients in the business world (Puttick 211ndash12)

7 Interview at the ESQ Center Ciputat Jakarta in May 2011 and Amirrachman8 As described in the ESQ training programme brochure of 2011 the new four-part series starts

with lsquoESQ Basic Trainingrsquo showing the insufficiency for true happiness of mere material andemotional satisfaction achieved with the intellect (IQ) and lsquoemotional intelligencersquo (EQ) andthe need for lsquospiritual happinessrsquo developed through lsquoSQrsquo Hasanuddin Thoyieb described theBasic Training as an ldquooverview of the whole programmerdquo The next level of the programme islsquoESQ Intermediate Training 1rsquo or lsquoMission amp Character Buildingrsquo (incorporating according toThoyieb days one and two of the old programme) The third level is lsquoESQ IntermediateTraining 2rsquo or lsquoSelf-Control and Collaborationrsquo also known as lsquoSC2rsquo or lsquoSC squaredrsquoincorporating material from the former programmersquos days three and four All that is nowcapped with the fourth and final segment lsquoESQ Advanced Trainingrsquo or lsquoTotal Actionrsquo whereone learns to lsquoexecute and implementrsquo the combined IQ EQ and SQ capabilities

9 After December 2006 when revelations of his second marriage deflated his popularity Aa Gymlet it be known that he had lsquoreturned to the pesantrenrsquo that is he had begun intensely renewinghis study of Islam Thereafter his predication became more narrowly Islamic

10 See for example trainer Syamsulrsquos comments to a Jakarta Post reporter in Delft in 2008 whenhe estimated that as many as 3000 non-Muslim Indonesians had done ESQ courses(Amirrachman) Note however that some non-Muslims obliged by their employers to take acompany-based ESQ training programme complained about the Islamic bias of theprogramme

11 However he went on to emphasise the business training professionalism not only of Ginanjarbut also of the large ESQ team of lsquotrainersrsquo These auxiliary trainers now present all but two ofthe 85ndash90 events the company puts on each month even in the programmes Ginanjar doeshost other trainers step in to lead parts offering a refreshing new face style and pace Thebusiness tries to ensure that ldquono matter who presents the programme the taste is the sameevery trainer has to meet the same standards for material intonation and musicrdquo They do this

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 417

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not only through their own in-house coaching and apprenticing but also by selecting onlypeople with university degrees as prospective trainers

12 This was illustrated in Indonesian reactions to a fatwa against Ary Ginanjarrsquos ESQ trainingissued in June 2010 by a mufti for the Federal Territories of Malaysia Wan Zahidi Bin WanTeh Zahidi charged that ESQ improperly associates concepts from other religions withpassages from the Qurrsquoan in effect equating other religions with Islam (httpwwwmuftiwpgovmyv1docfatwa_esqpdf access date 3 June 2011) The offending elements identified inthe fatwa are the SQ concept whichndashndashZahidi claimedndashndashis Jewish because its author DanahZohar is Jewish and the God Spot idea which he claimed is Hindu like its authorRamachandran The fatwa further judged that ESQ encouraged lsquoliberalrsquo thinking puttingrational thinking above revelation in religious matters and following onersquos conscience ratherthan religious law The news of this fatwa quickly spread to Indonesia where it was evaluatedby the controversial semi-governmental Indonesian Council of Ulamas (MUI) Although MUIhad famously declared Indonesian lsquoliberalismrsquo (in Islamic exegesis) lsquopluralismrsquo andlsquosecularismrsquo to be deviant in 2005 MUIrsquos chairman Amhidhan told The Jakarta Post in July 2010that the diverse religious backgrounds of ESQ training participants ldquodoes not mean it embracespluralism in religionsrdquo and accepted that ESQ is ldquoa training on management and humanresources not an event to preach although there are those who convert after taking part in itrdquo(Haspari) Later KH Marsquoruf Amin also of MUI agreed telling a Malaysian news outlet thatldquoESQ is an alternative and effective methodology for dakwah (missionising)rdquo (ldquoESQ TrainingrdquoThe Star 22 February 2011) Not all Indonesian Muslim clerics consider ESQ benign howeverFor example Bernard Abdul Jabbar of the Indonesian Muslim Forum rebutted Amhidhanrsquosopinion some days later endorsing the judgments of ESQ made by Malaysian mufti Zahidi andbranding ESQ ldquoa new religion called the ESQ 1965 Wayrdquo (ldquoMUI to Reviewrdquo Jakarta Post 31July 2010) Nonetheless Zahidi did not win sufficient support either in Malaysia or inIndonesia to close down ESQ activities in those countries The fatwa committee of theMalaysian National Islamic Affairs Council like Indonesiarsquos MUI has judged that ESQ shouldbe allowed to continue operating (ldquoESQ Trainingrdquo The Star 22 February 2011)

REFERENCES

Abdurrahman Moeslim ldquoRitual Divided Hajj Tours in Capitalist Era Indonesiardquo Ed MarkWoodward Towards a New Paradigm Tempe AR Arizona State U 1996 117ndash32

Al Afghani Mohamad Mova ldquoReligious Freedom in Indonesia before and after ConstitutionalAmendmentsrdquo 2010 Social Science Research Network Available at lthttpssrncomabstract=1587256gt access date 30 April 2010

Amirrachman Alpha ldquoPersonal Growth Course Travels to the Netherlandsrdquo The Jakarta Post 12June 2008 Available at lthttpwwwthejakartapostcomnews20080612personal-growth-course-travels-netherlandshtmlgt access date 15 April 2011

Berger Peter L Many Globalizations New York Oxford UP 2002Beyer Peter Religions in Global Society London Routledge 2006Boyatzis Richard E ldquoConsequences and Rejuvenation of Competency-based Human Resource and

Organization Developmentrdquo Eds Richard W Woodman and William A Pasmore Research inOrganizatinal Change and Development Vol 9 Greenwich CN JAI P 1996 101ndash22

Campbell Colin ldquoThe Easternization of the Westrdquo Eds Bryan Wilson and Jamie Cresswell NewReligious Movements Challenge and Response London Routledge 1999 35ndash48

Casanova Jose ldquoCivil Society and Religion Retrospective Reflections on Catholicism andProspective Reflections on Islamrdquo Social Research 68 (2001) 1041ndash80

- - - ldquoBeyond European and American Exceptionalisms Towards a Global Perspectiverdquo Eds GraceDavie Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead Predicting Religion London Ashgate 2003 17ndash29

Eickelman Dale and James Piscatori Muslim Politics Princeton NJ Princeton UP 1996Elegant Simon and Jason Tedjasukmana ldquoHoly Manrdquo Time Asia 16018 4 November 2002 Available at

lthttpwwwtimecomtimeasiamagazinearticle013673501021111-38697700htmlgt accessdate 14 February 2005

ldquoESQ Training Not Deviationist Says Indonesiarsquos MUIrdquo The Star (Kuala Lumpur) 22 February2011 Available at lthttpthestarcommynewsstoryaspfile=2011222nation8110114ampsec=nationgt access date 15 April 2011

418 J D Howell

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014

The entry into this explicitly religious and indeed Islamic section of thelsquotrainingrsquo is via exquisite Hubble-telescope photographs of multi-colouredstarry nebulae We have just been convinced by the scientific literaturereviewed in a lecture that indeed spiritual development is important for ourpersonal growth and success in life Here we actually see as it were theglories of God and gasp in wonder as the sound track carries symphonicevocations of spectacular revelations We then descend via Google Earthimages down down down to earth even to Jakarta and to some smallneighbourhood here Indeed there is a God we feel and the awesometranscendent God can actually relate to us Returning gently to subduedlecture mode still with the mood music we learn that the exploration ofspace and many other scientific achievements and findings have actuallybeen predicted in the Qurrsquoan The Qurrsquoan is the most perfect word of Godand yet we hardly appreciated it We return to the images of outer space formore exhilarating revelling in Godrsquos glory But wait Have we obeyed Godrsquoslaws the voice of the compere asks us in the darkened hall Have wefulfilled our obligations Have we selfishly neglected our parents Beenunfaithful to our wives Failed to be understanding and solicitous of ourhusbands Cheated on the job Doleful music intrudes and we are remindedthat all must diendashndashand you never know when Think what happened sounexpectedly to those poor people in Aceh overwhelmed by the tsunamiThen projected on the four giant projection screens we see scenes of afuneral backed by bitter wailing on the sound track The wrapped corpse isbeing carried out to the grave under a reddened and smoky sky Themourners leave This is the fate of all Are we ready Again we return to thisscene and alas bolts of lightning strike down from the sky rending thewinding cloths and jolting the corpse again and again We behold the tortureof the unrepentant sinner in the grave The hall has become darkened tonearly pitch black and the sound system carries disembodied voices ofwailing Ary voices our fear and remorse Then he begins to lead theaudience in free-form prayers of intensely overwrought regret abasementand tearful petitioning for forgiveness The wailing carried by the soundsystems gets louder and louder now interspersed with menrsquos and womenrsquosvoices wretchedly and tearfully begging for forgiveness

After some time the music lightens the projection screens light up again thistime with beatific scenes of a Spring meadow in some temperate climatecountry with water gently bubbling along beside lush green grassForgiveness comes Orchestral sylvan strings refresh us Ary reminds us ofthe wonder of Godrsquos mercy to those who acknowledge Him and follow theguidance He has given to change their ways At last as the hall lightsbrighten we are carefully returned to our convention centre reality and makeready for the snack break

In the interlude described above Ary Ginanjar shifted from the universitylecturer-cum-business consultant role to that of a preacher asserting religioustruths and leading a theatrical dramatisation of them as an emotional primerfor prayer However he did not stay in that role for the rest of the trainingprogramme rather it was but one stance that he adopted along with othersused to facilitate a variety of training exercises enumerated in English in hisbrochure as ldquo1) Games 2) Learning Experience 3) Case Study 4) Lecturette5) Discussion [and] 6) Role Playrdquo6

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 411

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Ginanjarrsquos spiritualised personal development programmes trademarked aslsquoThe ESQ Way 165rsquo continue to be offered to businesses and individuals withspecial youth versions and lsquoalumnirsquo groups for people who have done thetraining However there have been some changes over the past half decadeThe business has grown enough to fund the construction of a 25-floorbuilding lsquoMenara 165rsquo (lsquo165 Towerrsquo) located near a major transport route inCilandak South Jakarta With its first three levels already completed thetowerrsquos two massive ballrooms now house ESQ training programmes that usedto be held in the Jakarta Convention Center and other rented venues It hastop-grade hotel facilities for attendees coming from outside the city and forlocals who wish to avoid Jakartarsquos notorious traffic A car park capable ofaccommodating 400 vehicles caters to the needs of commuters to theprogrammes and hotel guests When not in use for ESQ programmes thebuilding now earns its own rental income as a convention centre and venuefor large weddings and family celebrations When completed the tower willhave offices in the upper levels and a mosque as its peak

The healthy business income reflects the number of people who have doneESQ courses Spokespersons for the business told The Jakarta Post in 2010 thatmore than 850000 Indonesians from all over the country had done the courseas had 65000 Malaysians (Hapsari) ESQ trainers also regularly offer coursesin Singapore and occasionally for the Indonesian-speaking communities of theNetherlands and Washington DC7

Over the last few years Ginanjar has introduced additions to hisprogrammes and some format changes to earlier programmes A newprogramme especially for parents has been added to those for teens andyounger children and since 2006 the original four-day programme for thegeneral adult public has been spread over nine days The nine days aredivided into four levels of training the first lasting three days and the restlasting two days each However as explained to me by ESQrsquos Public RelationsDirector M Hasanuddin Thoyieb during a visit to the ESQ Training Center inCiputat Jakarta in May 2011 material from the original four-day programmeis still used in the revised programme but amplified with other materials8

Thoyieb also noted that the training offered to businesses is now morelsquocustomisedrsquo to the particular company For example the training forPertamina oil company is no longer called lsquoESQrsquo training but lsquo6 Crsquo trainingfocusing on values like being lsquocleanrsquo and building lsquocapacityrsquo This seems toreflect a greater emphasis in programmes offered to companies on popularpersonal development and management concepts than on specifically religiousmotivational exercises

While Ginanjarrsquos programmes for businesses and the public strongly projecthis businessman persona in 2009 on the eve of the national election heintroduced a new programme specifically for darsquoi In that programme he alsoincluded other high-profile Muslim leaders from the Department of Religionand across the spectrum of religious voluntary organisations from theNahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah to Hizbut Tahrir Ginanjar explained inhis ESQ Magazine Online that this lsquonon-politicalrsquo event was organisedspecifically to promote the unity of the ummah in the face of the factionalismthat had broken out in advance of the election In that event evidently hisESQ training for personal development was deployed not just to reinforce

412 J D Howell

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personal piety but Islamic identity And given that voters faced choices amongboth lsquoIslamicrsquo and non-denominational parties the training carried a latent ifnot manifest political significance

Darsquoi and Trainer Compared

The two figures I have introduced exemplify two different professionsdistinguished terminologically by Indonesians lsquodarsquoirsquo (preacher) and lsquotrainerrsquoBut it is evident that the attributes of these emicly distinct roles extensivelyoverlap in the cases of their best known exemplars

Both men act in effect as lsquotrainersrsquo they offer face-to-face courses and sellhow-to books that show people how to become more effective and successfulin their everyday lives Moreover their programmes of personal developmentare designed to work for anyone They draw heavily on the internationalgrowth movement literature both in content and presentation format andpurport to be scientifically based Ginanjar specifically presents the scientificbasis of his programme as proof of its universality and hence of its efficacyregardless of the practitionerrsquos religious affiliation

The non-denominational features of both menrsquos programmes have broughtin custom from non-Muslims Aa Gym was popular among non-MuslimIndonesians as well as with Muslims particularly before his second marriageand lsquoreturn to the pesantrenrsquo9 His how-to books still draw only very subtly onIslam the few Islamic terms he uses (qolbu and makrifatullah) are readilyrecognizable by any Indonesian speaker as respectively lsquoheartrsquo (with spiritualovertones) and lsquooneness with Godrsquo Other parallels to Sufi practice are notobvious to non-Muslims Ginanjar explicitly describes his training as lsquospiritualrsquorather than lsquoIslamicrsquo development (his lsquoSQrsquo) and company representativesemphasise the substantial numbers of non-Muslims who have taken hiscourses10

But one could also say that both are preachers In the past I occasionallyreferred to Ginanjar as a darsquoi when speaking to Indonesian colleagues but wascorrected Ginanjar is not a darsquoi they said because he does not make a careerof preaching in mosques Certainly ESQrsquos Indonesian-language promotionalliterature consistently refers to Ginanjar as a lsquotrainerrsquo When I asked GinanjarrsquosPublic Relations Director Thoyieb whether he should be called a darsquoi or alsquotrainerrsquo he responded somewhat ambiguously that ldquo[o]urs is a normalcompany (perusahan) an HR company hellip the materials are not only those usedby darsquoi but also related to popular management and our programmes are notlimited to Muslimsrsquo11

Nonetheless both Ginanjar and Aa Gym have infused their programmes ofpersonal development with Islamic content and clearly seek to inspire Muslimsto get closer to God and be more pious in part by adopting visible markers ofMuslim identity This is conveyed for example by their wives and femalefriends coming veiled to public events wearing long loose gowns that obscurethe female shape Both Aa Gym and Ginanjarrsquos personal growth programmesare very much part of the broader Islamic piety revival movement

Ginanjarrsquos live trainings are if anything more explicitly Islamic than AaGymrsquos The sources of religious authority upon which he calls the rituals that

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 413

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he re-scripts for his training programmes and the religious songs used inthem are all explicitly Islamic Moreover his dramatisation of the life hereafterwhich forms the most powerful motivational tool of the training follows awell-known specifically Islamic scenario reinforcing popular fears of torturefor unrepentant sinners in the grave In contrast lsquopreacherrsquo Aa Gym buildsmotivation for personal change on the hope for intimacy with the loving andforgiving God in the here-and-now rather than on fear of Godrsquos wrath In AaGymrsquos preaching and training programmes the Creator is more immanentthan awesomely transcendent taking part in the transformation of those whoseek Him using the Sufi-inspired but Islamicly unmarked steps and formulasfor improvement that Brother Gym sets out for his clients and readers Of thetwo it is Ginanjar the trainer not Aa Gym the lsquopreacherrsquo who uses lsquohell fireand damnationrsquo to inspire piety and it is the lsquopreacherrsquo in his personaldevelopment programmes and books who consistently uses the non-denominational albeit theistic language of lsquospiritualityrsquo

Secular Borrowing as De-differentiation in Commercially Mediated PopularIslam

The extensive interweaving of secular culture in calls for piety renewal asdemonstrated above is a feature of Indonesian commercially mediated religionthat is reminiscent of the picture Knoblauch gives of European popularreligion lsquomarkedrsquo and lsquounmarkedrsquo projected through the mass media todaySo also is the prominence of lay people as promoters of piety in theIndonesian commercial sphere and the centrality of immediate spiritualexperience to those programmes of popular religious renewal

Although Indonesia is culturally distant from the North Atlantic countriesand as a post-World War II lsquonew nationrsquo has a distinctive political economyit is reasonable to attribute these similarities in popular religion to similarpressures and opportunities that shape demand as well as to locally specificchanges in opportunities for suppliers in the commercial sphere Particularlyimportant for new types of suppliers of piety promotion products has been therelease of television licences to private providers in the 1990s Similarities indemand structures in the two regions result from Indonesiarsquos capitalistdevelopment catch-up which accelerated rapidly under former PresidentSuhartorsquos New Order regime (1968ndash98) and supported a significant expansionof the secularly educated middle and upper classes In Indonesia as elsewherein modernising societies (both Muslim and non-Muslim [cf Peter]) the newMuslim middle class and elites are prepared to look to new sources ofreligious authority and inspiration The individualisation that underlies suchautonomy in religious choice-making also generates familiar social pressures towhich the providers of Indonesiarsquos Muslim personal development productsrespond the need to create a marketable persona viable in their liberalised latecapitalist economy the tensions of companionate marriages (increasinglyprevalent in Indonesia) and the challenges of more egalitarian parenthood (towhich better educated Indonesians also aspire)

The participation of well-educated Indonesian Muslims in global secularculture through their schooling in their offices and in their leisure activities

414 J D Howell

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has also shaped tastes and interests They expect high production values inentertainment and international best practice in business and training Pietypromotion products using the techniques and findings of the globallycirculating entertainment arts and the sciences of personal development thushave a particular appeal except to purists who read them as un-Islamicbecause of their eclecticism and association with the West Aa Gymrsquos andGinanjarrsquos success shows that such purists have less influence in Indonesiarsquoscommercial arena than those with more culturally pluralist understandings ofIslam12

Nonetheless one could object that the parallels between the two regionswith their different religious heritages are weak insofar as the starting pointsfor the purported de-differentiation of popular religion are not comparableInfluenced by certain modernist Muslim reformists of the twentieth centurymany lsquode-traditionalisedrsquo Muslims today consider Islam to be uniquely andnecessarily fused with all aspects of social life a complete social order(al-nizam al-islami) (Roy Tibi) In other words they understand Muslimsocieties to be actually andor ideally exempt from processes of socialdifferentiation that have accompanied economic development in the West andwhich social theorists have taken to be the hallmark of modernisation ErnestGellner famously formulated a scholarly justification for such lsquoIslamicexceptionalismrsquo arguing that Muslim societies can form modern states withoutseparating religious from political institutions because of the distinctivestructure of Islamrsquos religious leadership (through the ulama) and the legalframework for social life provided by its syariah However critics have shownthat the putative fusion of Islam and the state in pre-modern times isoverdrawn in such characterisations (Lapidus Eickelman and Piscatori) thatmovements aiming to conjoin religion and state can be found in Christian andHindu as well as Muslim communities (Casanova ldquoBeyondrdquo 23 HefnerldquoMultiplerdquo 90) and that in fact few Muslim states today give religiousauthorities power over the state (Beyer 183)

More nuanced comparisons of the trajectories of modernisation in Christian-and Muslim-heritage societies such as those of Jose Casanova (ldquoCivil SocietyrdquoldquoBeyondrdquo) and Beyer acknowledge the greater elaboration and importance oflsquohierocraticrsquo organisations (churches) as carriers of religious communications inpre-modern Europe and the more dispersed and informal institutionalisationof religious authority in pre-modern Muslim societies but do not see pre-modern Muslim societies as undifferentiated or immune to modern forms ofsocial differentiation Thus as Beyer shows in the last century Islamic socialmovements have been important carriers of religious reform programmes andwith the formal organisations that they precipitated have formed distinctreligious function systems within socially differentiated modern societies

Beyer rightly cites Indonesiarsquos Muhammadiyah organisation as an exampleof the specialised religious institutions that have shaped socially differentiatedmodern Muslim societies One can also point to other Islamic organisationsfounded in Indonesia in the twentieth century that have framed Islam overagainst local Islamicly infused cultures as a universal religion and the ummahas a community among other religious communities in Indonesiarsquos plural andsocially differentiated society These other Islamic organisations include thenationrsquos largest Islamic voluntary organisation the Nahdhlatul Ulama (an

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 415

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by [

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014

association representing ulama and their followings) numerous Islamicpolitical parties and the increasingly influential fatwa-pronouncing body theMajelis Ulama Indonesia (Indonesian Council of Ulama) Along with thebroader social movements of which they are parts these organisations functionas civil society actors seeking to influence both the rest of society and the stateand so constitute a differentiated religious function system distinct from thecountryrsquos political and other function systems It is from this vantage pointthat the comingling of religious communications and secular culture in thecommercial sphere appears as de-differentiation albeit circumscribed bymarkers like lsquospiritualitasrsquo that link the personal development programmes ofthe darsquoi and trainer ambiguously to the legally recognized religions

Recognizing that certain darsquoi and trainers incorporate secular culture intotheir ministries and effect the de-differentiation of religious communications isnot however the same thing as saying that they promote secularisation in thesense of Weberian lsquodisenchantmentrsquo of the world or the growing irrelevance ofreligious beliefs to peoplersquos lives Local critics have indeed accused theentertainerndashpreachers and other purveyors of lsquoIslam 15 minitrsquo (lsquo15-minuteIslamrsquo) of trivialising the faith and of making the faith emptied of explicitdoctrine look just like any other religion Aa Gym has responded to thesecriticisms since his painful fall in the TV ratings charts by making hispreaching (if not his how-to books) more explicitly Islamic while Ginanjarcontinues steadfastly to promote his particular conflation of religion andscience evidently without losing his ability to attract endorsements fromMuslim luminaries Drawing back from these judgments of interested partieswe can nonetheless observe as Knoblauch did of European popular religionthat although these expressions of commercial mass-mediated popular Islamin Indonesia do obscure the boundaries between the sacred and the profane(which for Durkheim separated lsquoreligionrsquo from the secular) the notions oflsquospiritualitasrsquo in the ministries of Gymnastiar and Ginanjar still serve to focusconsumers on the transcendent while they work to overcome thecompartmentalisation of Indonesian selves in their differentiated modernsociety

Julia Howell is Professor of the Sociology of Religion in the Religion and SocietyResearch Centre at the University of Western Sydney and Adjunct Professor of AsianStudies at the Griffith Asia Institute Griffith University Brisbane Australia Herrecent work on popular Indonesian Islam and contemporary Sufi revival builds on herlong-term interests in movements of religious reform and marginal religiousmovements in modernising Indonesia and Western societies CORRESPONDENCE jhowelluwseduau

NOTES

1 The concept of global culture deployed here draws on Peter Bergerrsquos refinements of the idea ofa lsquoglobal culturersquo (2ndash16) emerging in the last few decades through the information revolutionthe intensification of transnational travel and business operations and consequent increasingparticipation of people all over the world in communications of global reach While Bergeracknowledges that the region dominant in propagating these global communications is theNorth Atlantic especially the United States he pays considerable attention to lsquoalternative

416 J D Howell

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by [

New

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rsity

] at

16

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2 M

ay 2

014

globalisationsrsquo (12) projecting across the world from Asia (including the Islamic world) andnon-Anglophone Europe and Latin America Like Colin Campbell Elizabeth Puttick andothers he draws attention to the way Asian religious cultures have fed into Western culturessince the Romantic period in the nineteenth century and contributed to now globallycirculating New Age spirituality and ambiguously secular themes deriving from the largelyAmerican lsquogrowth movementrsquo and broader Human Potential Movement Most of the lsquosectorsrsquoof contemporary global culture identified by Berger (lsquobusiness culturersquo lsquofaculty club culturersquoand lsquopop culturersquo) are ostensibly or predominantly secular (in the sense of not being in HubertKnoblauchrsquos terminology lsquoreligiously markedrsquo) but he counts lsquoevangelical Protestantismrsquo asactually having the most global impact He might well have given more weight to the culturalcurrents carried by numerous global Islamic reform movements

2 This is the Constitutional Courtrsquos refusal on 19 April 2010 to review Presidential Decision no1 1965 (UU No1PNPS1965) recognizing Islam Protestantism Catholicism HinduismBuddhism and Confucianism as lsquoreligionsrsquo (agama) under the Constitution of 1945 andforbidding the lsquobesmirchingrsquo and lsquo[free] interpretationrsquo of those protected religions Civil societygroups that made the request for the review object to the restriction of freedom of religioneffected by the Presidential Decision of 1965 and to the denial of diversity and change withinreligions that the Courtrsquos decision implies

3 lsquoReligious communicationsrsquo here refers to communications in what Peter Beyer identified as thereligion functional system as distinct from other functional systems of modern societies suchas the capitalist economy the sovereign state academic education positive law the media etc

4 The editorrsquos preface to the 2005 edition of Aa Gymrsquos Jagalah Hati Step by Step Manajemen Qolbuspecifically identifies these aids as international lsquobest practicersquo ldquothe concept has been madeeven more valuable by presenting it in a genuinely how to and self-help format [berformat howto dan self-help] a modern packaging that is easy for the reader to digestrdquo (vi)

5 Translated from an ESQ Leadership Center flier entitled ldquoESQ TRAINING for Corporate ampPublicrdquo distributed at a training programme attended by the author at the Jakarta ConventionCenter 3ndash7 February 2005

6 Note the similarities of these ESQ mass-audience training techniques to those used byAmerican-originated Human Potential Movement training corporations (such as WernerErhardrsquos est and Lifestream) oriented to clients in the business world (Puttick 211ndash12)

7 Interview at the ESQ Center Ciputat Jakarta in May 2011 and Amirrachman8 As described in the ESQ training programme brochure of 2011 the new four-part series starts

with lsquoESQ Basic Trainingrsquo showing the insufficiency for true happiness of mere material andemotional satisfaction achieved with the intellect (IQ) and lsquoemotional intelligencersquo (EQ) andthe need for lsquospiritual happinessrsquo developed through lsquoSQrsquo Hasanuddin Thoyieb described theBasic Training as an ldquooverview of the whole programmerdquo The next level of the programme islsquoESQ Intermediate Training 1rsquo or lsquoMission amp Character Buildingrsquo (incorporating according toThoyieb days one and two of the old programme) The third level is lsquoESQ IntermediateTraining 2rsquo or lsquoSelf-Control and Collaborationrsquo also known as lsquoSC2rsquo or lsquoSC squaredrsquoincorporating material from the former programmersquos days three and four All that is nowcapped with the fourth and final segment lsquoESQ Advanced Trainingrsquo or lsquoTotal Actionrsquo whereone learns to lsquoexecute and implementrsquo the combined IQ EQ and SQ capabilities

9 After December 2006 when revelations of his second marriage deflated his popularity Aa Gymlet it be known that he had lsquoreturned to the pesantrenrsquo that is he had begun intensely renewinghis study of Islam Thereafter his predication became more narrowly Islamic

10 See for example trainer Syamsulrsquos comments to a Jakarta Post reporter in Delft in 2008 whenhe estimated that as many as 3000 non-Muslim Indonesians had done ESQ courses(Amirrachman) Note however that some non-Muslims obliged by their employers to take acompany-based ESQ training programme complained about the Islamic bias of theprogramme

11 However he went on to emphasise the business training professionalism not only of Ginanjarbut also of the large ESQ team of lsquotrainersrsquo These auxiliary trainers now present all but two ofthe 85ndash90 events the company puts on each month even in the programmes Ginanjar doeshost other trainers step in to lead parts offering a refreshing new face style and pace Thebusiness tries to ensure that ldquono matter who presents the programme the taste is the sameevery trainer has to meet the same standards for material intonation and musicrdquo They do this

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 417

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014

not only through their own in-house coaching and apprenticing but also by selecting onlypeople with university degrees as prospective trainers

12 This was illustrated in Indonesian reactions to a fatwa against Ary Ginanjarrsquos ESQ trainingissued in June 2010 by a mufti for the Federal Territories of Malaysia Wan Zahidi Bin WanTeh Zahidi charged that ESQ improperly associates concepts from other religions withpassages from the Qurrsquoan in effect equating other religions with Islam (httpwwwmuftiwpgovmyv1docfatwa_esqpdf access date 3 June 2011) The offending elements identified inthe fatwa are the SQ concept whichndashndashZahidi claimedndashndashis Jewish because its author DanahZohar is Jewish and the God Spot idea which he claimed is Hindu like its authorRamachandran The fatwa further judged that ESQ encouraged lsquoliberalrsquo thinking puttingrational thinking above revelation in religious matters and following onersquos conscience ratherthan religious law The news of this fatwa quickly spread to Indonesia where it was evaluatedby the controversial semi-governmental Indonesian Council of Ulamas (MUI) Although MUIhad famously declared Indonesian lsquoliberalismrsquo (in Islamic exegesis) lsquopluralismrsquo andlsquosecularismrsquo to be deviant in 2005 MUIrsquos chairman Amhidhan told The Jakarta Post in July 2010that the diverse religious backgrounds of ESQ training participants ldquodoes not mean it embracespluralism in religionsrdquo and accepted that ESQ is ldquoa training on management and humanresources not an event to preach although there are those who convert after taking part in itrdquo(Haspari) Later KH Marsquoruf Amin also of MUI agreed telling a Malaysian news outlet thatldquoESQ is an alternative and effective methodology for dakwah (missionising)rdquo (ldquoESQ TrainingrdquoThe Star 22 February 2011) Not all Indonesian Muslim clerics consider ESQ benign howeverFor example Bernard Abdul Jabbar of the Indonesian Muslim Forum rebutted Amhidhanrsquosopinion some days later endorsing the judgments of ESQ made by Malaysian mufti Zahidi andbranding ESQ ldquoa new religion called the ESQ 1965 Wayrdquo (ldquoMUI to Reviewrdquo Jakarta Post 31July 2010) Nonetheless Zahidi did not win sufficient support either in Malaysia or inIndonesia to close down ESQ activities in those countries The fatwa committee of theMalaysian National Islamic Affairs Council like Indonesiarsquos MUI has judged that ESQ shouldbe allowed to continue operating (ldquoESQ Trainingrdquo The Star 22 February 2011)

REFERENCES

Abdurrahman Moeslim ldquoRitual Divided Hajj Tours in Capitalist Era Indonesiardquo Ed MarkWoodward Towards a New Paradigm Tempe AR Arizona State U 1996 117ndash32

Al Afghani Mohamad Mova ldquoReligious Freedom in Indonesia before and after ConstitutionalAmendmentsrdquo 2010 Social Science Research Network Available at lthttpssrncomabstract=1587256gt access date 30 April 2010

Amirrachman Alpha ldquoPersonal Growth Course Travels to the Netherlandsrdquo The Jakarta Post 12June 2008 Available at lthttpwwwthejakartapostcomnews20080612personal-growth-course-travels-netherlandshtmlgt access date 15 April 2011

Berger Peter L Many Globalizations New York Oxford UP 2002Beyer Peter Religions in Global Society London Routledge 2006Boyatzis Richard E ldquoConsequences and Rejuvenation of Competency-based Human Resource and

Organization Developmentrdquo Eds Richard W Woodman and William A Pasmore Research inOrganizatinal Change and Development Vol 9 Greenwich CN JAI P 1996 101ndash22

Campbell Colin ldquoThe Easternization of the Westrdquo Eds Bryan Wilson and Jamie Cresswell NewReligious Movements Challenge and Response London Routledge 1999 35ndash48

Casanova Jose ldquoCivil Society and Religion Retrospective Reflections on Catholicism andProspective Reflections on Islamrdquo Social Research 68 (2001) 1041ndash80

- - - ldquoBeyond European and American Exceptionalisms Towards a Global Perspectiverdquo Eds GraceDavie Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead Predicting Religion London Ashgate 2003 17ndash29

Eickelman Dale and James Piscatori Muslim Politics Princeton NJ Princeton UP 1996Elegant Simon and Jason Tedjasukmana ldquoHoly Manrdquo Time Asia 16018 4 November 2002 Available at

lthttpwwwtimecomtimeasiamagazinearticle013673501021111-38697700htmlgt accessdate 14 February 2005

ldquoESQ Training Not Deviationist Says Indonesiarsquos MUIrdquo The Star (Kuala Lumpur) 22 February2011 Available at lthttpthestarcommynewsstoryaspfile=2011222nation8110114ampsec=nationgt access date 15 April 2011

418 J D Howell

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014

Ginanjarrsquos spiritualised personal development programmes trademarked aslsquoThe ESQ Way 165rsquo continue to be offered to businesses and individuals withspecial youth versions and lsquoalumnirsquo groups for people who have done thetraining However there have been some changes over the past half decadeThe business has grown enough to fund the construction of a 25-floorbuilding lsquoMenara 165rsquo (lsquo165 Towerrsquo) located near a major transport route inCilandak South Jakarta With its first three levels already completed thetowerrsquos two massive ballrooms now house ESQ training programmes that usedto be held in the Jakarta Convention Center and other rented venues It hastop-grade hotel facilities for attendees coming from outside the city and forlocals who wish to avoid Jakartarsquos notorious traffic A car park capable ofaccommodating 400 vehicles caters to the needs of commuters to theprogrammes and hotel guests When not in use for ESQ programmes thebuilding now earns its own rental income as a convention centre and venuefor large weddings and family celebrations When completed the tower willhave offices in the upper levels and a mosque as its peak

The healthy business income reflects the number of people who have doneESQ courses Spokespersons for the business told The Jakarta Post in 2010 thatmore than 850000 Indonesians from all over the country had done the courseas had 65000 Malaysians (Hapsari) ESQ trainers also regularly offer coursesin Singapore and occasionally for the Indonesian-speaking communities of theNetherlands and Washington DC7

Over the last few years Ginanjar has introduced additions to hisprogrammes and some format changes to earlier programmes A newprogramme especially for parents has been added to those for teens andyounger children and since 2006 the original four-day programme for thegeneral adult public has been spread over nine days The nine days aredivided into four levels of training the first lasting three days and the restlasting two days each However as explained to me by ESQrsquos Public RelationsDirector M Hasanuddin Thoyieb during a visit to the ESQ Training Center inCiputat Jakarta in May 2011 material from the original four-day programmeis still used in the revised programme but amplified with other materials8

Thoyieb also noted that the training offered to businesses is now morelsquocustomisedrsquo to the particular company For example the training forPertamina oil company is no longer called lsquoESQrsquo training but lsquo6 Crsquo trainingfocusing on values like being lsquocleanrsquo and building lsquocapacityrsquo This seems toreflect a greater emphasis in programmes offered to companies on popularpersonal development and management concepts than on specifically religiousmotivational exercises

While Ginanjarrsquos programmes for businesses and the public strongly projecthis businessman persona in 2009 on the eve of the national election heintroduced a new programme specifically for darsquoi In that programme he alsoincluded other high-profile Muslim leaders from the Department of Religionand across the spectrum of religious voluntary organisations from theNahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah to Hizbut Tahrir Ginanjar explained inhis ESQ Magazine Online that this lsquonon-politicalrsquo event was organisedspecifically to promote the unity of the ummah in the face of the factionalismthat had broken out in advance of the election In that event evidently hisESQ training for personal development was deployed not just to reinforce

412 J D Howell

Dow

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014

personal piety but Islamic identity And given that voters faced choices amongboth lsquoIslamicrsquo and non-denominational parties the training carried a latent ifnot manifest political significance

Darsquoi and Trainer Compared

The two figures I have introduced exemplify two different professionsdistinguished terminologically by Indonesians lsquodarsquoirsquo (preacher) and lsquotrainerrsquoBut it is evident that the attributes of these emicly distinct roles extensivelyoverlap in the cases of their best known exemplars

Both men act in effect as lsquotrainersrsquo they offer face-to-face courses and sellhow-to books that show people how to become more effective and successfulin their everyday lives Moreover their programmes of personal developmentare designed to work for anyone They draw heavily on the internationalgrowth movement literature both in content and presentation format andpurport to be scientifically based Ginanjar specifically presents the scientificbasis of his programme as proof of its universality and hence of its efficacyregardless of the practitionerrsquos religious affiliation

The non-denominational features of both menrsquos programmes have broughtin custom from non-Muslims Aa Gym was popular among non-MuslimIndonesians as well as with Muslims particularly before his second marriageand lsquoreturn to the pesantrenrsquo9 His how-to books still draw only very subtly onIslam the few Islamic terms he uses (qolbu and makrifatullah) are readilyrecognizable by any Indonesian speaker as respectively lsquoheartrsquo (with spiritualovertones) and lsquooneness with Godrsquo Other parallels to Sufi practice are notobvious to non-Muslims Ginanjar explicitly describes his training as lsquospiritualrsquorather than lsquoIslamicrsquo development (his lsquoSQrsquo) and company representativesemphasise the substantial numbers of non-Muslims who have taken hiscourses10

But one could also say that both are preachers In the past I occasionallyreferred to Ginanjar as a darsquoi when speaking to Indonesian colleagues but wascorrected Ginanjar is not a darsquoi they said because he does not make a careerof preaching in mosques Certainly ESQrsquos Indonesian-language promotionalliterature consistently refers to Ginanjar as a lsquotrainerrsquo When I asked GinanjarrsquosPublic Relations Director Thoyieb whether he should be called a darsquoi or alsquotrainerrsquo he responded somewhat ambiguously that ldquo[o]urs is a normalcompany (perusahan) an HR company hellip the materials are not only those usedby darsquoi but also related to popular management and our programmes are notlimited to Muslimsrsquo11

Nonetheless both Ginanjar and Aa Gym have infused their programmes ofpersonal development with Islamic content and clearly seek to inspire Muslimsto get closer to God and be more pious in part by adopting visible markers ofMuslim identity This is conveyed for example by their wives and femalefriends coming veiled to public events wearing long loose gowns that obscurethe female shape Both Aa Gym and Ginanjarrsquos personal growth programmesare very much part of the broader Islamic piety revival movement

Ginanjarrsquos live trainings are if anything more explicitly Islamic than AaGymrsquos The sources of religious authority upon which he calls the rituals that

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 413

Dow

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he re-scripts for his training programmes and the religious songs used inthem are all explicitly Islamic Moreover his dramatisation of the life hereafterwhich forms the most powerful motivational tool of the training follows awell-known specifically Islamic scenario reinforcing popular fears of torturefor unrepentant sinners in the grave In contrast lsquopreacherrsquo Aa Gym buildsmotivation for personal change on the hope for intimacy with the loving andforgiving God in the here-and-now rather than on fear of Godrsquos wrath In AaGymrsquos preaching and training programmes the Creator is more immanentthan awesomely transcendent taking part in the transformation of those whoseek Him using the Sufi-inspired but Islamicly unmarked steps and formulasfor improvement that Brother Gym sets out for his clients and readers Of thetwo it is Ginanjar the trainer not Aa Gym the lsquopreacherrsquo who uses lsquohell fireand damnationrsquo to inspire piety and it is the lsquopreacherrsquo in his personaldevelopment programmes and books who consistently uses the non-denominational albeit theistic language of lsquospiritualityrsquo

Secular Borrowing as De-differentiation in Commercially Mediated PopularIslam

The extensive interweaving of secular culture in calls for piety renewal asdemonstrated above is a feature of Indonesian commercially mediated religionthat is reminiscent of the picture Knoblauch gives of European popularreligion lsquomarkedrsquo and lsquounmarkedrsquo projected through the mass media todaySo also is the prominence of lay people as promoters of piety in theIndonesian commercial sphere and the centrality of immediate spiritualexperience to those programmes of popular religious renewal

Although Indonesia is culturally distant from the North Atlantic countriesand as a post-World War II lsquonew nationrsquo has a distinctive political economyit is reasonable to attribute these similarities in popular religion to similarpressures and opportunities that shape demand as well as to locally specificchanges in opportunities for suppliers in the commercial sphere Particularlyimportant for new types of suppliers of piety promotion products has been therelease of television licences to private providers in the 1990s Similarities indemand structures in the two regions result from Indonesiarsquos capitalistdevelopment catch-up which accelerated rapidly under former PresidentSuhartorsquos New Order regime (1968ndash98) and supported a significant expansionof the secularly educated middle and upper classes In Indonesia as elsewherein modernising societies (both Muslim and non-Muslim [cf Peter]) the newMuslim middle class and elites are prepared to look to new sources ofreligious authority and inspiration The individualisation that underlies suchautonomy in religious choice-making also generates familiar social pressures towhich the providers of Indonesiarsquos Muslim personal development productsrespond the need to create a marketable persona viable in their liberalised latecapitalist economy the tensions of companionate marriages (increasinglyprevalent in Indonesia) and the challenges of more egalitarian parenthood (towhich better educated Indonesians also aspire)

The participation of well-educated Indonesian Muslims in global secularculture through their schooling in their offices and in their leisure activities

414 J D Howell

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014

has also shaped tastes and interests They expect high production values inentertainment and international best practice in business and training Pietypromotion products using the techniques and findings of the globallycirculating entertainment arts and the sciences of personal development thushave a particular appeal except to purists who read them as un-Islamicbecause of their eclecticism and association with the West Aa Gymrsquos andGinanjarrsquos success shows that such purists have less influence in Indonesiarsquoscommercial arena than those with more culturally pluralist understandings ofIslam12

Nonetheless one could object that the parallels between the two regionswith their different religious heritages are weak insofar as the starting pointsfor the purported de-differentiation of popular religion are not comparableInfluenced by certain modernist Muslim reformists of the twentieth centurymany lsquode-traditionalisedrsquo Muslims today consider Islam to be uniquely andnecessarily fused with all aspects of social life a complete social order(al-nizam al-islami) (Roy Tibi) In other words they understand Muslimsocieties to be actually andor ideally exempt from processes of socialdifferentiation that have accompanied economic development in the West andwhich social theorists have taken to be the hallmark of modernisation ErnestGellner famously formulated a scholarly justification for such lsquoIslamicexceptionalismrsquo arguing that Muslim societies can form modern states withoutseparating religious from political institutions because of the distinctivestructure of Islamrsquos religious leadership (through the ulama) and the legalframework for social life provided by its syariah However critics have shownthat the putative fusion of Islam and the state in pre-modern times isoverdrawn in such characterisations (Lapidus Eickelman and Piscatori) thatmovements aiming to conjoin religion and state can be found in Christian andHindu as well as Muslim communities (Casanova ldquoBeyondrdquo 23 HefnerldquoMultiplerdquo 90) and that in fact few Muslim states today give religiousauthorities power over the state (Beyer 183)

More nuanced comparisons of the trajectories of modernisation in Christian-and Muslim-heritage societies such as those of Jose Casanova (ldquoCivil SocietyrdquoldquoBeyondrdquo) and Beyer acknowledge the greater elaboration and importance oflsquohierocraticrsquo organisations (churches) as carriers of religious communications inpre-modern Europe and the more dispersed and informal institutionalisationof religious authority in pre-modern Muslim societies but do not see pre-modern Muslim societies as undifferentiated or immune to modern forms ofsocial differentiation Thus as Beyer shows in the last century Islamic socialmovements have been important carriers of religious reform programmes andwith the formal organisations that they precipitated have formed distinctreligious function systems within socially differentiated modern societies

Beyer rightly cites Indonesiarsquos Muhammadiyah organisation as an exampleof the specialised religious institutions that have shaped socially differentiatedmodern Muslim societies One can also point to other Islamic organisationsfounded in Indonesia in the twentieth century that have framed Islam overagainst local Islamicly infused cultures as a universal religion and the ummahas a community among other religious communities in Indonesiarsquos plural andsocially differentiated society These other Islamic organisations include thenationrsquos largest Islamic voluntary organisation the Nahdhlatul Ulama (an

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 415

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ded

by [

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] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

association representing ulama and their followings) numerous Islamicpolitical parties and the increasingly influential fatwa-pronouncing body theMajelis Ulama Indonesia (Indonesian Council of Ulama) Along with thebroader social movements of which they are parts these organisations functionas civil society actors seeking to influence both the rest of society and the stateand so constitute a differentiated religious function system distinct from thecountryrsquos political and other function systems It is from this vantage pointthat the comingling of religious communications and secular culture in thecommercial sphere appears as de-differentiation albeit circumscribed bymarkers like lsquospiritualitasrsquo that link the personal development programmes ofthe darsquoi and trainer ambiguously to the legally recognized religions

Recognizing that certain darsquoi and trainers incorporate secular culture intotheir ministries and effect the de-differentiation of religious communications isnot however the same thing as saying that they promote secularisation in thesense of Weberian lsquodisenchantmentrsquo of the world or the growing irrelevance ofreligious beliefs to peoplersquos lives Local critics have indeed accused theentertainerndashpreachers and other purveyors of lsquoIslam 15 minitrsquo (lsquo15-minuteIslamrsquo) of trivialising the faith and of making the faith emptied of explicitdoctrine look just like any other religion Aa Gym has responded to thesecriticisms since his painful fall in the TV ratings charts by making hispreaching (if not his how-to books) more explicitly Islamic while Ginanjarcontinues steadfastly to promote his particular conflation of religion andscience evidently without losing his ability to attract endorsements fromMuslim luminaries Drawing back from these judgments of interested partieswe can nonetheless observe as Knoblauch did of European popular religionthat although these expressions of commercial mass-mediated popular Islamin Indonesia do obscure the boundaries between the sacred and the profane(which for Durkheim separated lsquoreligionrsquo from the secular) the notions oflsquospiritualitasrsquo in the ministries of Gymnastiar and Ginanjar still serve to focusconsumers on the transcendent while they work to overcome thecompartmentalisation of Indonesian selves in their differentiated modernsociety

Julia Howell is Professor of the Sociology of Religion in the Religion and SocietyResearch Centre at the University of Western Sydney and Adjunct Professor of AsianStudies at the Griffith Asia Institute Griffith University Brisbane Australia Herrecent work on popular Indonesian Islam and contemporary Sufi revival builds on herlong-term interests in movements of religious reform and marginal religiousmovements in modernising Indonesia and Western societies CORRESPONDENCE jhowelluwseduau

NOTES

1 The concept of global culture deployed here draws on Peter Bergerrsquos refinements of the idea ofa lsquoglobal culturersquo (2ndash16) emerging in the last few decades through the information revolutionthe intensification of transnational travel and business operations and consequent increasingparticipation of people all over the world in communications of global reach While Bergeracknowledges that the region dominant in propagating these global communications is theNorth Atlantic especially the United States he pays considerable attention to lsquoalternative

416 J D Howell

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

globalisationsrsquo (12) projecting across the world from Asia (including the Islamic world) andnon-Anglophone Europe and Latin America Like Colin Campbell Elizabeth Puttick andothers he draws attention to the way Asian religious cultures have fed into Western culturessince the Romantic period in the nineteenth century and contributed to now globallycirculating New Age spirituality and ambiguously secular themes deriving from the largelyAmerican lsquogrowth movementrsquo and broader Human Potential Movement Most of the lsquosectorsrsquoof contemporary global culture identified by Berger (lsquobusiness culturersquo lsquofaculty club culturersquoand lsquopop culturersquo) are ostensibly or predominantly secular (in the sense of not being in HubertKnoblauchrsquos terminology lsquoreligiously markedrsquo) but he counts lsquoevangelical Protestantismrsquo asactually having the most global impact He might well have given more weight to the culturalcurrents carried by numerous global Islamic reform movements

2 This is the Constitutional Courtrsquos refusal on 19 April 2010 to review Presidential Decision no1 1965 (UU No1PNPS1965) recognizing Islam Protestantism Catholicism HinduismBuddhism and Confucianism as lsquoreligionsrsquo (agama) under the Constitution of 1945 andforbidding the lsquobesmirchingrsquo and lsquo[free] interpretationrsquo of those protected religions Civil societygroups that made the request for the review object to the restriction of freedom of religioneffected by the Presidential Decision of 1965 and to the denial of diversity and change withinreligions that the Courtrsquos decision implies

3 lsquoReligious communicationsrsquo here refers to communications in what Peter Beyer identified as thereligion functional system as distinct from other functional systems of modern societies suchas the capitalist economy the sovereign state academic education positive law the media etc

4 The editorrsquos preface to the 2005 edition of Aa Gymrsquos Jagalah Hati Step by Step Manajemen Qolbuspecifically identifies these aids as international lsquobest practicersquo ldquothe concept has been madeeven more valuable by presenting it in a genuinely how to and self-help format [berformat howto dan self-help] a modern packaging that is easy for the reader to digestrdquo (vi)

5 Translated from an ESQ Leadership Center flier entitled ldquoESQ TRAINING for Corporate ampPublicrdquo distributed at a training programme attended by the author at the Jakarta ConventionCenter 3ndash7 February 2005

6 Note the similarities of these ESQ mass-audience training techniques to those used byAmerican-originated Human Potential Movement training corporations (such as WernerErhardrsquos est and Lifestream) oriented to clients in the business world (Puttick 211ndash12)

7 Interview at the ESQ Center Ciputat Jakarta in May 2011 and Amirrachman8 As described in the ESQ training programme brochure of 2011 the new four-part series starts

with lsquoESQ Basic Trainingrsquo showing the insufficiency for true happiness of mere material andemotional satisfaction achieved with the intellect (IQ) and lsquoemotional intelligencersquo (EQ) andthe need for lsquospiritual happinessrsquo developed through lsquoSQrsquo Hasanuddin Thoyieb described theBasic Training as an ldquooverview of the whole programmerdquo The next level of the programme islsquoESQ Intermediate Training 1rsquo or lsquoMission amp Character Buildingrsquo (incorporating according toThoyieb days one and two of the old programme) The third level is lsquoESQ IntermediateTraining 2rsquo or lsquoSelf-Control and Collaborationrsquo also known as lsquoSC2rsquo or lsquoSC squaredrsquoincorporating material from the former programmersquos days three and four All that is nowcapped with the fourth and final segment lsquoESQ Advanced Trainingrsquo or lsquoTotal Actionrsquo whereone learns to lsquoexecute and implementrsquo the combined IQ EQ and SQ capabilities

9 After December 2006 when revelations of his second marriage deflated his popularity Aa Gymlet it be known that he had lsquoreturned to the pesantrenrsquo that is he had begun intensely renewinghis study of Islam Thereafter his predication became more narrowly Islamic

10 See for example trainer Syamsulrsquos comments to a Jakarta Post reporter in Delft in 2008 whenhe estimated that as many as 3000 non-Muslim Indonesians had done ESQ courses(Amirrachman) Note however that some non-Muslims obliged by their employers to take acompany-based ESQ training programme complained about the Islamic bias of theprogramme

11 However he went on to emphasise the business training professionalism not only of Ginanjarbut also of the large ESQ team of lsquotrainersrsquo These auxiliary trainers now present all but two ofthe 85ndash90 events the company puts on each month even in the programmes Ginanjar doeshost other trainers step in to lead parts offering a refreshing new face style and pace Thebusiness tries to ensure that ldquono matter who presents the programme the taste is the sameevery trainer has to meet the same standards for material intonation and musicrdquo They do this

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 417

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

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rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

not only through their own in-house coaching and apprenticing but also by selecting onlypeople with university degrees as prospective trainers

12 This was illustrated in Indonesian reactions to a fatwa against Ary Ginanjarrsquos ESQ trainingissued in June 2010 by a mufti for the Federal Territories of Malaysia Wan Zahidi Bin WanTeh Zahidi charged that ESQ improperly associates concepts from other religions withpassages from the Qurrsquoan in effect equating other religions with Islam (httpwwwmuftiwpgovmyv1docfatwa_esqpdf access date 3 June 2011) The offending elements identified inthe fatwa are the SQ concept whichndashndashZahidi claimedndashndashis Jewish because its author DanahZohar is Jewish and the God Spot idea which he claimed is Hindu like its authorRamachandran The fatwa further judged that ESQ encouraged lsquoliberalrsquo thinking puttingrational thinking above revelation in religious matters and following onersquos conscience ratherthan religious law The news of this fatwa quickly spread to Indonesia where it was evaluatedby the controversial semi-governmental Indonesian Council of Ulamas (MUI) Although MUIhad famously declared Indonesian lsquoliberalismrsquo (in Islamic exegesis) lsquopluralismrsquo andlsquosecularismrsquo to be deviant in 2005 MUIrsquos chairman Amhidhan told The Jakarta Post in July 2010that the diverse religious backgrounds of ESQ training participants ldquodoes not mean it embracespluralism in religionsrdquo and accepted that ESQ is ldquoa training on management and humanresources not an event to preach although there are those who convert after taking part in itrdquo(Haspari) Later KH Marsquoruf Amin also of MUI agreed telling a Malaysian news outlet thatldquoESQ is an alternative and effective methodology for dakwah (missionising)rdquo (ldquoESQ TrainingrdquoThe Star 22 February 2011) Not all Indonesian Muslim clerics consider ESQ benign howeverFor example Bernard Abdul Jabbar of the Indonesian Muslim Forum rebutted Amhidhanrsquosopinion some days later endorsing the judgments of ESQ made by Malaysian mufti Zahidi andbranding ESQ ldquoa new religion called the ESQ 1965 Wayrdquo (ldquoMUI to Reviewrdquo Jakarta Post 31July 2010) Nonetheless Zahidi did not win sufficient support either in Malaysia or inIndonesia to close down ESQ activities in those countries The fatwa committee of theMalaysian National Islamic Affairs Council like Indonesiarsquos MUI has judged that ESQ shouldbe allowed to continue operating (ldquoESQ Trainingrdquo The Star 22 February 2011)

REFERENCES

Abdurrahman Moeslim ldquoRitual Divided Hajj Tours in Capitalist Era Indonesiardquo Ed MarkWoodward Towards a New Paradigm Tempe AR Arizona State U 1996 117ndash32

Al Afghani Mohamad Mova ldquoReligious Freedom in Indonesia before and after ConstitutionalAmendmentsrdquo 2010 Social Science Research Network Available at lthttpssrncomabstract=1587256gt access date 30 April 2010

Amirrachman Alpha ldquoPersonal Growth Course Travels to the Netherlandsrdquo The Jakarta Post 12June 2008 Available at lthttpwwwthejakartapostcomnews20080612personal-growth-course-travels-netherlandshtmlgt access date 15 April 2011

Berger Peter L Many Globalizations New York Oxford UP 2002Beyer Peter Religions in Global Society London Routledge 2006Boyatzis Richard E ldquoConsequences and Rejuvenation of Competency-based Human Resource and

Organization Developmentrdquo Eds Richard W Woodman and William A Pasmore Research inOrganizatinal Change and Development Vol 9 Greenwich CN JAI P 1996 101ndash22

Campbell Colin ldquoThe Easternization of the Westrdquo Eds Bryan Wilson and Jamie Cresswell NewReligious Movements Challenge and Response London Routledge 1999 35ndash48

Casanova Jose ldquoCivil Society and Religion Retrospective Reflections on Catholicism andProspective Reflections on Islamrdquo Social Research 68 (2001) 1041ndash80

- - - ldquoBeyond European and American Exceptionalisms Towards a Global Perspectiverdquo Eds GraceDavie Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead Predicting Religion London Ashgate 2003 17ndash29

Eickelman Dale and James Piscatori Muslim Politics Princeton NJ Princeton UP 1996Elegant Simon and Jason Tedjasukmana ldquoHoly Manrdquo Time Asia 16018 4 November 2002 Available at

lthttpwwwtimecomtimeasiamagazinearticle013673501021111-38697700htmlgt accessdate 14 February 2005

ldquoESQ Training Not Deviationist Says Indonesiarsquos MUIrdquo The Star (Kuala Lumpur) 22 February2011 Available at lthttpthestarcommynewsstoryaspfile=2011222nation8110114ampsec=nationgt access date 15 April 2011

418 J D Howell

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personal piety but Islamic identity And given that voters faced choices amongboth lsquoIslamicrsquo and non-denominational parties the training carried a latent ifnot manifest political significance

Darsquoi and Trainer Compared

The two figures I have introduced exemplify two different professionsdistinguished terminologically by Indonesians lsquodarsquoirsquo (preacher) and lsquotrainerrsquoBut it is evident that the attributes of these emicly distinct roles extensivelyoverlap in the cases of their best known exemplars

Both men act in effect as lsquotrainersrsquo they offer face-to-face courses and sellhow-to books that show people how to become more effective and successfulin their everyday lives Moreover their programmes of personal developmentare designed to work for anyone They draw heavily on the internationalgrowth movement literature both in content and presentation format andpurport to be scientifically based Ginanjar specifically presents the scientificbasis of his programme as proof of its universality and hence of its efficacyregardless of the practitionerrsquos religious affiliation

The non-denominational features of both menrsquos programmes have broughtin custom from non-Muslims Aa Gym was popular among non-MuslimIndonesians as well as with Muslims particularly before his second marriageand lsquoreturn to the pesantrenrsquo9 His how-to books still draw only very subtly onIslam the few Islamic terms he uses (qolbu and makrifatullah) are readilyrecognizable by any Indonesian speaker as respectively lsquoheartrsquo (with spiritualovertones) and lsquooneness with Godrsquo Other parallels to Sufi practice are notobvious to non-Muslims Ginanjar explicitly describes his training as lsquospiritualrsquorather than lsquoIslamicrsquo development (his lsquoSQrsquo) and company representativesemphasise the substantial numbers of non-Muslims who have taken hiscourses10

But one could also say that both are preachers In the past I occasionallyreferred to Ginanjar as a darsquoi when speaking to Indonesian colleagues but wascorrected Ginanjar is not a darsquoi they said because he does not make a careerof preaching in mosques Certainly ESQrsquos Indonesian-language promotionalliterature consistently refers to Ginanjar as a lsquotrainerrsquo When I asked GinanjarrsquosPublic Relations Director Thoyieb whether he should be called a darsquoi or alsquotrainerrsquo he responded somewhat ambiguously that ldquo[o]urs is a normalcompany (perusahan) an HR company hellip the materials are not only those usedby darsquoi but also related to popular management and our programmes are notlimited to Muslimsrsquo11

Nonetheless both Ginanjar and Aa Gym have infused their programmes ofpersonal development with Islamic content and clearly seek to inspire Muslimsto get closer to God and be more pious in part by adopting visible markers ofMuslim identity This is conveyed for example by their wives and femalefriends coming veiled to public events wearing long loose gowns that obscurethe female shape Both Aa Gym and Ginanjarrsquos personal growth programmesare very much part of the broader Islamic piety revival movement

Ginanjarrsquos live trainings are if anything more explicitly Islamic than AaGymrsquos The sources of religious authority upon which he calls the rituals that

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 413

Dow

nloa

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014

he re-scripts for his training programmes and the religious songs used inthem are all explicitly Islamic Moreover his dramatisation of the life hereafterwhich forms the most powerful motivational tool of the training follows awell-known specifically Islamic scenario reinforcing popular fears of torturefor unrepentant sinners in the grave In contrast lsquopreacherrsquo Aa Gym buildsmotivation for personal change on the hope for intimacy with the loving andforgiving God in the here-and-now rather than on fear of Godrsquos wrath In AaGymrsquos preaching and training programmes the Creator is more immanentthan awesomely transcendent taking part in the transformation of those whoseek Him using the Sufi-inspired but Islamicly unmarked steps and formulasfor improvement that Brother Gym sets out for his clients and readers Of thetwo it is Ginanjar the trainer not Aa Gym the lsquopreacherrsquo who uses lsquohell fireand damnationrsquo to inspire piety and it is the lsquopreacherrsquo in his personaldevelopment programmes and books who consistently uses the non-denominational albeit theistic language of lsquospiritualityrsquo

Secular Borrowing as De-differentiation in Commercially Mediated PopularIslam

The extensive interweaving of secular culture in calls for piety renewal asdemonstrated above is a feature of Indonesian commercially mediated religionthat is reminiscent of the picture Knoblauch gives of European popularreligion lsquomarkedrsquo and lsquounmarkedrsquo projected through the mass media todaySo also is the prominence of lay people as promoters of piety in theIndonesian commercial sphere and the centrality of immediate spiritualexperience to those programmes of popular religious renewal

Although Indonesia is culturally distant from the North Atlantic countriesand as a post-World War II lsquonew nationrsquo has a distinctive political economyit is reasonable to attribute these similarities in popular religion to similarpressures and opportunities that shape demand as well as to locally specificchanges in opportunities for suppliers in the commercial sphere Particularlyimportant for new types of suppliers of piety promotion products has been therelease of television licences to private providers in the 1990s Similarities indemand structures in the two regions result from Indonesiarsquos capitalistdevelopment catch-up which accelerated rapidly under former PresidentSuhartorsquos New Order regime (1968ndash98) and supported a significant expansionof the secularly educated middle and upper classes In Indonesia as elsewherein modernising societies (both Muslim and non-Muslim [cf Peter]) the newMuslim middle class and elites are prepared to look to new sources ofreligious authority and inspiration The individualisation that underlies suchautonomy in religious choice-making also generates familiar social pressures towhich the providers of Indonesiarsquos Muslim personal development productsrespond the need to create a marketable persona viable in their liberalised latecapitalist economy the tensions of companionate marriages (increasinglyprevalent in Indonesia) and the challenges of more egalitarian parenthood (towhich better educated Indonesians also aspire)

The participation of well-educated Indonesian Muslims in global secularculture through their schooling in their offices and in their leisure activities

414 J D Howell

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rsity

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2 M

ay 2

014

has also shaped tastes and interests They expect high production values inentertainment and international best practice in business and training Pietypromotion products using the techniques and findings of the globallycirculating entertainment arts and the sciences of personal development thushave a particular appeal except to purists who read them as un-Islamicbecause of their eclecticism and association with the West Aa Gymrsquos andGinanjarrsquos success shows that such purists have less influence in Indonesiarsquoscommercial arena than those with more culturally pluralist understandings ofIslam12

Nonetheless one could object that the parallels between the two regionswith their different religious heritages are weak insofar as the starting pointsfor the purported de-differentiation of popular religion are not comparableInfluenced by certain modernist Muslim reformists of the twentieth centurymany lsquode-traditionalisedrsquo Muslims today consider Islam to be uniquely andnecessarily fused with all aspects of social life a complete social order(al-nizam al-islami) (Roy Tibi) In other words they understand Muslimsocieties to be actually andor ideally exempt from processes of socialdifferentiation that have accompanied economic development in the West andwhich social theorists have taken to be the hallmark of modernisation ErnestGellner famously formulated a scholarly justification for such lsquoIslamicexceptionalismrsquo arguing that Muslim societies can form modern states withoutseparating religious from political institutions because of the distinctivestructure of Islamrsquos religious leadership (through the ulama) and the legalframework for social life provided by its syariah However critics have shownthat the putative fusion of Islam and the state in pre-modern times isoverdrawn in such characterisations (Lapidus Eickelman and Piscatori) thatmovements aiming to conjoin religion and state can be found in Christian andHindu as well as Muslim communities (Casanova ldquoBeyondrdquo 23 HefnerldquoMultiplerdquo 90) and that in fact few Muslim states today give religiousauthorities power over the state (Beyer 183)

More nuanced comparisons of the trajectories of modernisation in Christian-and Muslim-heritage societies such as those of Jose Casanova (ldquoCivil SocietyrdquoldquoBeyondrdquo) and Beyer acknowledge the greater elaboration and importance oflsquohierocraticrsquo organisations (churches) as carriers of religious communications inpre-modern Europe and the more dispersed and informal institutionalisationof religious authority in pre-modern Muslim societies but do not see pre-modern Muslim societies as undifferentiated or immune to modern forms ofsocial differentiation Thus as Beyer shows in the last century Islamic socialmovements have been important carriers of religious reform programmes andwith the formal organisations that they precipitated have formed distinctreligious function systems within socially differentiated modern societies

Beyer rightly cites Indonesiarsquos Muhammadiyah organisation as an exampleof the specialised religious institutions that have shaped socially differentiatedmodern Muslim societies One can also point to other Islamic organisationsfounded in Indonesia in the twentieth century that have framed Islam overagainst local Islamicly infused cultures as a universal religion and the ummahas a community among other religious communities in Indonesiarsquos plural andsocially differentiated society These other Islamic organisations include thenationrsquos largest Islamic voluntary organisation the Nahdhlatul Ulama (an

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 415

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

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rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

association representing ulama and their followings) numerous Islamicpolitical parties and the increasingly influential fatwa-pronouncing body theMajelis Ulama Indonesia (Indonesian Council of Ulama) Along with thebroader social movements of which they are parts these organisations functionas civil society actors seeking to influence both the rest of society and the stateand so constitute a differentiated religious function system distinct from thecountryrsquos political and other function systems It is from this vantage pointthat the comingling of religious communications and secular culture in thecommercial sphere appears as de-differentiation albeit circumscribed bymarkers like lsquospiritualitasrsquo that link the personal development programmes ofthe darsquoi and trainer ambiguously to the legally recognized religions

Recognizing that certain darsquoi and trainers incorporate secular culture intotheir ministries and effect the de-differentiation of religious communications isnot however the same thing as saying that they promote secularisation in thesense of Weberian lsquodisenchantmentrsquo of the world or the growing irrelevance ofreligious beliefs to peoplersquos lives Local critics have indeed accused theentertainerndashpreachers and other purveyors of lsquoIslam 15 minitrsquo (lsquo15-minuteIslamrsquo) of trivialising the faith and of making the faith emptied of explicitdoctrine look just like any other religion Aa Gym has responded to thesecriticisms since his painful fall in the TV ratings charts by making hispreaching (if not his how-to books) more explicitly Islamic while Ginanjarcontinues steadfastly to promote his particular conflation of religion andscience evidently without losing his ability to attract endorsements fromMuslim luminaries Drawing back from these judgments of interested partieswe can nonetheless observe as Knoblauch did of European popular religionthat although these expressions of commercial mass-mediated popular Islamin Indonesia do obscure the boundaries between the sacred and the profane(which for Durkheim separated lsquoreligionrsquo from the secular) the notions oflsquospiritualitasrsquo in the ministries of Gymnastiar and Ginanjar still serve to focusconsumers on the transcendent while they work to overcome thecompartmentalisation of Indonesian selves in their differentiated modernsociety

Julia Howell is Professor of the Sociology of Religion in the Religion and SocietyResearch Centre at the University of Western Sydney and Adjunct Professor of AsianStudies at the Griffith Asia Institute Griffith University Brisbane Australia Herrecent work on popular Indonesian Islam and contemporary Sufi revival builds on herlong-term interests in movements of religious reform and marginal religiousmovements in modernising Indonesia and Western societies CORRESPONDENCE jhowelluwseduau

NOTES

1 The concept of global culture deployed here draws on Peter Bergerrsquos refinements of the idea ofa lsquoglobal culturersquo (2ndash16) emerging in the last few decades through the information revolutionthe intensification of transnational travel and business operations and consequent increasingparticipation of people all over the world in communications of global reach While Bergeracknowledges that the region dominant in propagating these global communications is theNorth Atlantic especially the United States he pays considerable attention to lsquoalternative

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Dow

nloa

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by [

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cast

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rsity

] at

16

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2 M

ay 2

014

globalisationsrsquo (12) projecting across the world from Asia (including the Islamic world) andnon-Anglophone Europe and Latin America Like Colin Campbell Elizabeth Puttick andothers he draws attention to the way Asian religious cultures have fed into Western culturessince the Romantic period in the nineteenth century and contributed to now globallycirculating New Age spirituality and ambiguously secular themes deriving from the largelyAmerican lsquogrowth movementrsquo and broader Human Potential Movement Most of the lsquosectorsrsquoof contemporary global culture identified by Berger (lsquobusiness culturersquo lsquofaculty club culturersquoand lsquopop culturersquo) are ostensibly or predominantly secular (in the sense of not being in HubertKnoblauchrsquos terminology lsquoreligiously markedrsquo) but he counts lsquoevangelical Protestantismrsquo asactually having the most global impact He might well have given more weight to the culturalcurrents carried by numerous global Islamic reform movements

2 This is the Constitutional Courtrsquos refusal on 19 April 2010 to review Presidential Decision no1 1965 (UU No1PNPS1965) recognizing Islam Protestantism Catholicism HinduismBuddhism and Confucianism as lsquoreligionsrsquo (agama) under the Constitution of 1945 andforbidding the lsquobesmirchingrsquo and lsquo[free] interpretationrsquo of those protected religions Civil societygroups that made the request for the review object to the restriction of freedom of religioneffected by the Presidential Decision of 1965 and to the denial of diversity and change withinreligions that the Courtrsquos decision implies

3 lsquoReligious communicationsrsquo here refers to communications in what Peter Beyer identified as thereligion functional system as distinct from other functional systems of modern societies suchas the capitalist economy the sovereign state academic education positive law the media etc

4 The editorrsquos preface to the 2005 edition of Aa Gymrsquos Jagalah Hati Step by Step Manajemen Qolbuspecifically identifies these aids as international lsquobest practicersquo ldquothe concept has been madeeven more valuable by presenting it in a genuinely how to and self-help format [berformat howto dan self-help] a modern packaging that is easy for the reader to digestrdquo (vi)

5 Translated from an ESQ Leadership Center flier entitled ldquoESQ TRAINING for Corporate ampPublicrdquo distributed at a training programme attended by the author at the Jakarta ConventionCenter 3ndash7 February 2005

6 Note the similarities of these ESQ mass-audience training techniques to those used byAmerican-originated Human Potential Movement training corporations (such as WernerErhardrsquos est and Lifestream) oriented to clients in the business world (Puttick 211ndash12)

7 Interview at the ESQ Center Ciputat Jakarta in May 2011 and Amirrachman8 As described in the ESQ training programme brochure of 2011 the new four-part series starts

with lsquoESQ Basic Trainingrsquo showing the insufficiency for true happiness of mere material andemotional satisfaction achieved with the intellect (IQ) and lsquoemotional intelligencersquo (EQ) andthe need for lsquospiritual happinessrsquo developed through lsquoSQrsquo Hasanuddin Thoyieb described theBasic Training as an ldquooverview of the whole programmerdquo The next level of the programme islsquoESQ Intermediate Training 1rsquo or lsquoMission amp Character Buildingrsquo (incorporating according toThoyieb days one and two of the old programme) The third level is lsquoESQ IntermediateTraining 2rsquo or lsquoSelf-Control and Collaborationrsquo also known as lsquoSC2rsquo or lsquoSC squaredrsquoincorporating material from the former programmersquos days three and four All that is nowcapped with the fourth and final segment lsquoESQ Advanced Trainingrsquo or lsquoTotal Actionrsquo whereone learns to lsquoexecute and implementrsquo the combined IQ EQ and SQ capabilities

9 After December 2006 when revelations of his second marriage deflated his popularity Aa Gymlet it be known that he had lsquoreturned to the pesantrenrsquo that is he had begun intensely renewinghis study of Islam Thereafter his predication became more narrowly Islamic

10 See for example trainer Syamsulrsquos comments to a Jakarta Post reporter in Delft in 2008 whenhe estimated that as many as 3000 non-Muslim Indonesians had done ESQ courses(Amirrachman) Note however that some non-Muslims obliged by their employers to take acompany-based ESQ training programme complained about the Islamic bias of theprogramme

11 However he went on to emphasise the business training professionalism not only of Ginanjarbut also of the large ESQ team of lsquotrainersrsquo These auxiliary trainers now present all but two ofthe 85ndash90 events the company puts on each month even in the programmes Ginanjar doeshost other trainers step in to lead parts offering a refreshing new face style and pace Thebusiness tries to ensure that ldquono matter who presents the programme the taste is the sameevery trainer has to meet the same standards for material intonation and musicrdquo They do this

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 417

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014

not only through their own in-house coaching and apprenticing but also by selecting onlypeople with university degrees as prospective trainers

12 This was illustrated in Indonesian reactions to a fatwa against Ary Ginanjarrsquos ESQ trainingissued in June 2010 by a mufti for the Federal Territories of Malaysia Wan Zahidi Bin WanTeh Zahidi charged that ESQ improperly associates concepts from other religions withpassages from the Qurrsquoan in effect equating other religions with Islam (httpwwwmuftiwpgovmyv1docfatwa_esqpdf access date 3 June 2011) The offending elements identified inthe fatwa are the SQ concept whichndashndashZahidi claimedndashndashis Jewish because its author DanahZohar is Jewish and the God Spot idea which he claimed is Hindu like its authorRamachandran The fatwa further judged that ESQ encouraged lsquoliberalrsquo thinking puttingrational thinking above revelation in religious matters and following onersquos conscience ratherthan religious law The news of this fatwa quickly spread to Indonesia where it was evaluatedby the controversial semi-governmental Indonesian Council of Ulamas (MUI) Although MUIhad famously declared Indonesian lsquoliberalismrsquo (in Islamic exegesis) lsquopluralismrsquo andlsquosecularismrsquo to be deviant in 2005 MUIrsquos chairman Amhidhan told The Jakarta Post in July 2010that the diverse religious backgrounds of ESQ training participants ldquodoes not mean it embracespluralism in religionsrdquo and accepted that ESQ is ldquoa training on management and humanresources not an event to preach although there are those who convert after taking part in itrdquo(Haspari) Later KH Marsquoruf Amin also of MUI agreed telling a Malaysian news outlet thatldquoESQ is an alternative and effective methodology for dakwah (missionising)rdquo (ldquoESQ TrainingrdquoThe Star 22 February 2011) Not all Indonesian Muslim clerics consider ESQ benign howeverFor example Bernard Abdul Jabbar of the Indonesian Muslim Forum rebutted Amhidhanrsquosopinion some days later endorsing the judgments of ESQ made by Malaysian mufti Zahidi andbranding ESQ ldquoa new religion called the ESQ 1965 Wayrdquo (ldquoMUI to Reviewrdquo Jakarta Post 31July 2010) Nonetheless Zahidi did not win sufficient support either in Malaysia or inIndonesia to close down ESQ activities in those countries The fatwa committee of theMalaysian National Islamic Affairs Council like Indonesiarsquos MUI has judged that ESQ shouldbe allowed to continue operating (ldquoESQ Trainingrdquo The Star 22 February 2011)

REFERENCES

Abdurrahman Moeslim ldquoRitual Divided Hajj Tours in Capitalist Era Indonesiardquo Ed MarkWoodward Towards a New Paradigm Tempe AR Arizona State U 1996 117ndash32

Al Afghani Mohamad Mova ldquoReligious Freedom in Indonesia before and after ConstitutionalAmendmentsrdquo 2010 Social Science Research Network Available at lthttpssrncomabstract=1587256gt access date 30 April 2010

Amirrachman Alpha ldquoPersonal Growth Course Travels to the Netherlandsrdquo The Jakarta Post 12June 2008 Available at lthttpwwwthejakartapostcomnews20080612personal-growth-course-travels-netherlandshtmlgt access date 15 April 2011

Berger Peter L Many Globalizations New York Oxford UP 2002Beyer Peter Religions in Global Society London Routledge 2006Boyatzis Richard E ldquoConsequences and Rejuvenation of Competency-based Human Resource and

Organization Developmentrdquo Eds Richard W Woodman and William A Pasmore Research inOrganizatinal Change and Development Vol 9 Greenwich CN JAI P 1996 101ndash22

Campbell Colin ldquoThe Easternization of the Westrdquo Eds Bryan Wilson and Jamie Cresswell NewReligious Movements Challenge and Response London Routledge 1999 35ndash48

Casanova Jose ldquoCivil Society and Religion Retrospective Reflections on Catholicism andProspective Reflections on Islamrdquo Social Research 68 (2001) 1041ndash80

- - - ldquoBeyond European and American Exceptionalisms Towards a Global Perspectiverdquo Eds GraceDavie Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead Predicting Religion London Ashgate 2003 17ndash29

Eickelman Dale and James Piscatori Muslim Politics Princeton NJ Princeton UP 1996Elegant Simon and Jason Tedjasukmana ldquoHoly Manrdquo Time Asia 16018 4 November 2002 Available at

lthttpwwwtimecomtimeasiamagazinearticle013673501021111-38697700htmlgt accessdate 14 February 2005

ldquoESQ Training Not Deviationist Says Indonesiarsquos MUIrdquo The Star (Kuala Lumpur) 22 February2011 Available at lthttpthestarcommynewsstoryaspfile=2011222nation8110114ampsec=nationgt access date 15 April 2011

418 J D Howell

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

he re-scripts for his training programmes and the religious songs used inthem are all explicitly Islamic Moreover his dramatisation of the life hereafterwhich forms the most powerful motivational tool of the training follows awell-known specifically Islamic scenario reinforcing popular fears of torturefor unrepentant sinners in the grave In contrast lsquopreacherrsquo Aa Gym buildsmotivation for personal change on the hope for intimacy with the loving andforgiving God in the here-and-now rather than on fear of Godrsquos wrath In AaGymrsquos preaching and training programmes the Creator is more immanentthan awesomely transcendent taking part in the transformation of those whoseek Him using the Sufi-inspired but Islamicly unmarked steps and formulasfor improvement that Brother Gym sets out for his clients and readers Of thetwo it is Ginanjar the trainer not Aa Gym the lsquopreacherrsquo who uses lsquohell fireand damnationrsquo to inspire piety and it is the lsquopreacherrsquo in his personaldevelopment programmes and books who consistently uses the non-denominational albeit theistic language of lsquospiritualityrsquo

Secular Borrowing as De-differentiation in Commercially Mediated PopularIslam

The extensive interweaving of secular culture in calls for piety renewal asdemonstrated above is a feature of Indonesian commercially mediated religionthat is reminiscent of the picture Knoblauch gives of European popularreligion lsquomarkedrsquo and lsquounmarkedrsquo projected through the mass media todaySo also is the prominence of lay people as promoters of piety in theIndonesian commercial sphere and the centrality of immediate spiritualexperience to those programmes of popular religious renewal

Although Indonesia is culturally distant from the North Atlantic countriesand as a post-World War II lsquonew nationrsquo has a distinctive political economyit is reasonable to attribute these similarities in popular religion to similarpressures and opportunities that shape demand as well as to locally specificchanges in opportunities for suppliers in the commercial sphere Particularlyimportant for new types of suppliers of piety promotion products has been therelease of television licences to private providers in the 1990s Similarities indemand structures in the two regions result from Indonesiarsquos capitalistdevelopment catch-up which accelerated rapidly under former PresidentSuhartorsquos New Order regime (1968ndash98) and supported a significant expansionof the secularly educated middle and upper classes In Indonesia as elsewherein modernising societies (both Muslim and non-Muslim [cf Peter]) the newMuslim middle class and elites are prepared to look to new sources ofreligious authority and inspiration The individualisation that underlies suchautonomy in religious choice-making also generates familiar social pressures towhich the providers of Indonesiarsquos Muslim personal development productsrespond the need to create a marketable persona viable in their liberalised latecapitalist economy the tensions of companionate marriages (increasinglyprevalent in Indonesia) and the challenges of more egalitarian parenthood (towhich better educated Indonesians also aspire)

The participation of well-educated Indonesian Muslims in global secularculture through their schooling in their offices and in their leisure activities

414 J D Howell

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

has also shaped tastes and interests They expect high production values inentertainment and international best practice in business and training Pietypromotion products using the techniques and findings of the globallycirculating entertainment arts and the sciences of personal development thushave a particular appeal except to purists who read them as un-Islamicbecause of their eclecticism and association with the West Aa Gymrsquos andGinanjarrsquos success shows that such purists have less influence in Indonesiarsquoscommercial arena than those with more culturally pluralist understandings ofIslam12

Nonetheless one could object that the parallels between the two regionswith their different religious heritages are weak insofar as the starting pointsfor the purported de-differentiation of popular religion are not comparableInfluenced by certain modernist Muslim reformists of the twentieth centurymany lsquode-traditionalisedrsquo Muslims today consider Islam to be uniquely andnecessarily fused with all aspects of social life a complete social order(al-nizam al-islami) (Roy Tibi) In other words they understand Muslimsocieties to be actually andor ideally exempt from processes of socialdifferentiation that have accompanied economic development in the West andwhich social theorists have taken to be the hallmark of modernisation ErnestGellner famously formulated a scholarly justification for such lsquoIslamicexceptionalismrsquo arguing that Muslim societies can form modern states withoutseparating religious from political institutions because of the distinctivestructure of Islamrsquos religious leadership (through the ulama) and the legalframework for social life provided by its syariah However critics have shownthat the putative fusion of Islam and the state in pre-modern times isoverdrawn in such characterisations (Lapidus Eickelman and Piscatori) thatmovements aiming to conjoin religion and state can be found in Christian andHindu as well as Muslim communities (Casanova ldquoBeyondrdquo 23 HefnerldquoMultiplerdquo 90) and that in fact few Muslim states today give religiousauthorities power over the state (Beyer 183)

More nuanced comparisons of the trajectories of modernisation in Christian-and Muslim-heritage societies such as those of Jose Casanova (ldquoCivil SocietyrdquoldquoBeyondrdquo) and Beyer acknowledge the greater elaboration and importance oflsquohierocraticrsquo organisations (churches) as carriers of religious communications inpre-modern Europe and the more dispersed and informal institutionalisationof religious authority in pre-modern Muslim societies but do not see pre-modern Muslim societies as undifferentiated or immune to modern forms ofsocial differentiation Thus as Beyer shows in the last century Islamic socialmovements have been important carriers of religious reform programmes andwith the formal organisations that they precipitated have formed distinctreligious function systems within socially differentiated modern societies

Beyer rightly cites Indonesiarsquos Muhammadiyah organisation as an exampleof the specialised religious institutions that have shaped socially differentiatedmodern Muslim societies One can also point to other Islamic organisationsfounded in Indonesia in the twentieth century that have framed Islam overagainst local Islamicly infused cultures as a universal religion and the ummahas a community among other religious communities in Indonesiarsquos plural andsocially differentiated society These other Islamic organisations include thenationrsquos largest Islamic voluntary organisation the Nahdhlatul Ulama (an

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 415

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

association representing ulama and their followings) numerous Islamicpolitical parties and the increasingly influential fatwa-pronouncing body theMajelis Ulama Indonesia (Indonesian Council of Ulama) Along with thebroader social movements of which they are parts these organisations functionas civil society actors seeking to influence both the rest of society and the stateand so constitute a differentiated religious function system distinct from thecountryrsquos political and other function systems It is from this vantage pointthat the comingling of religious communications and secular culture in thecommercial sphere appears as de-differentiation albeit circumscribed bymarkers like lsquospiritualitasrsquo that link the personal development programmes ofthe darsquoi and trainer ambiguously to the legally recognized religions

Recognizing that certain darsquoi and trainers incorporate secular culture intotheir ministries and effect the de-differentiation of religious communications isnot however the same thing as saying that they promote secularisation in thesense of Weberian lsquodisenchantmentrsquo of the world or the growing irrelevance ofreligious beliefs to peoplersquos lives Local critics have indeed accused theentertainerndashpreachers and other purveyors of lsquoIslam 15 minitrsquo (lsquo15-minuteIslamrsquo) of trivialising the faith and of making the faith emptied of explicitdoctrine look just like any other religion Aa Gym has responded to thesecriticisms since his painful fall in the TV ratings charts by making hispreaching (if not his how-to books) more explicitly Islamic while Ginanjarcontinues steadfastly to promote his particular conflation of religion andscience evidently without losing his ability to attract endorsements fromMuslim luminaries Drawing back from these judgments of interested partieswe can nonetheless observe as Knoblauch did of European popular religionthat although these expressions of commercial mass-mediated popular Islamin Indonesia do obscure the boundaries between the sacred and the profane(which for Durkheim separated lsquoreligionrsquo from the secular) the notions oflsquospiritualitasrsquo in the ministries of Gymnastiar and Ginanjar still serve to focusconsumers on the transcendent while they work to overcome thecompartmentalisation of Indonesian selves in their differentiated modernsociety

Julia Howell is Professor of the Sociology of Religion in the Religion and SocietyResearch Centre at the University of Western Sydney and Adjunct Professor of AsianStudies at the Griffith Asia Institute Griffith University Brisbane Australia Herrecent work on popular Indonesian Islam and contemporary Sufi revival builds on herlong-term interests in movements of religious reform and marginal religiousmovements in modernising Indonesia and Western societies CORRESPONDENCE jhowelluwseduau

NOTES

1 The concept of global culture deployed here draws on Peter Bergerrsquos refinements of the idea ofa lsquoglobal culturersquo (2ndash16) emerging in the last few decades through the information revolutionthe intensification of transnational travel and business operations and consequent increasingparticipation of people all over the world in communications of global reach While Bergeracknowledges that the region dominant in propagating these global communications is theNorth Atlantic especially the United States he pays considerable attention to lsquoalternative

416 J D Howell

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

globalisationsrsquo (12) projecting across the world from Asia (including the Islamic world) andnon-Anglophone Europe and Latin America Like Colin Campbell Elizabeth Puttick andothers he draws attention to the way Asian religious cultures have fed into Western culturessince the Romantic period in the nineteenth century and contributed to now globallycirculating New Age spirituality and ambiguously secular themes deriving from the largelyAmerican lsquogrowth movementrsquo and broader Human Potential Movement Most of the lsquosectorsrsquoof contemporary global culture identified by Berger (lsquobusiness culturersquo lsquofaculty club culturersquoand lsquopop culturersquo) are ostensibly or predominantly secular (in the sense of not being in HubertKnoblauchrsquos terminology lsquoreligiously markedrsquo) but he counts lsquoevangelical Protestantismrsquo asactually having the most global impact He might well have given more weight to the culturalcurrents carried by numerous global Islamic reform movements

2 This is the Constitutional Courtrsquos refusal on 19 April 2010 to review Presidential Decision no1 1965 (UU No1PNPS1965) recognizing Islam Protestantism Catholicism HinduismBuddhism and Confucianism as lsquoreligionsrsquo (agama) under the Constitution of 1945 andforbidding the lsquobesmirchingrsquo and lsquo[free] interpretationrsquo of those protected religions Civil societygroups that made the request for the review object to the restriction of freedom of religioneffected by the Presidential Decision of 1965 and to the denial of diversity and change withinreligions that the Courtrsquos decision implies

3 lsquoReligious communicationsrsquo here refers to communications in what Peter Beyer identified as thereligion functional system as distinct from other functional systems of modern societies suchas the capitalist economy the sovereign state academic education positive law the media etc

4 The editorrsquos preface to the 2005 edition of Aa Gymrsquos Jagalah Hati Step by Step Manajemen Qolbuspecifically identifies these aids as international lsquobest practicersquo ldquothe concept has been madeeven more valuable by presenting it in a genuinely how to and self-help format [berformat howto dan self-help] a modern packaging that is easy for the reader to digestrdquo (vi)

5 Translated from an ESQ Leadership Center flier entitled ldquoESQ TRAINING for Corporate ampPublicrdquo distributed at a training programme attended by the author at the Jakarta ConventionCenter 3ndash7 February 2005

6 Note the similarities of these ESQ mass-audience training techniques to those used byAmerican-originated Human Potential Movement training corporations (such as WernerErhardrsquos est and Lifestream) oriented to clients in the business world (Puttick 211ndash12)

7 Interview at the ESQ Center Ciputat Jakarta in May 2011 and Amirrachman8 As described in the ESQ training programme brochure of 2011 the new four-part series starts

with lsquoESQ Basic Trainingrsquo showing the insufficiency for true happiness of mere material andemotional satisfaction achieved with the intellect (IQ) and lsquoemotional intelligencersquo (EQ) andthe need for lsquospiritual happinessrsquo developed through lsquoSQrsquo Hasanuddin Thoyieb described theBasic Training as an ldquooverview of the whole programmerdquo The next level of the programme islsquoESQ Intermediate Training 1rsquo or lsquoMission amp Character Buildingrsquo (incorporating according toThoyieb days one and two of the old programme) The third level is lsquoESQ IntermediateTraining 2rsquo or lsquoSelf-Control and Collaborationrsquo also known as lsquoSC2rsquo or lsquoSC squaredrsquoincorporating material from the former programmersquos days three and four All that is nowcapped with the fourth and final segment lsquoESQ Advanced Trainingrsquo or lsquoTotal Actionrsquo whereone learns to lsquoexecute and implementrsquo the combined IQ EQ and SQ capabilities

9 After December 2006 when revelations of his second marriage deflated his popularity Aa Gymlet it be known that he had lsquoreturned to the pesantrenrsquo that is he had begun intensely renewinghis study of Islam Thereafter his predication became more narrowly Islamic

10 See for example trainer Syamsulrsquos comments to a Jakarta Post reporter in Delft in 2008 whenhe estimated that as many as 3000 non-Muslim Indonesians had done ESQ courses(Amirrachman) Note however that some non-Muslims obliged by their employers to take acompany-based ESQ training programme complained about the Islamic bias of theprogramme

11 However he went on to emphasise the business training professionalism not only of Ginanjarbut also of the large ESQ team of lsquotrainersrsquo These auxiliary trainers now present all but two ofthe 85ndash90 events the company puts on each month even in the programmes Ginanjar doeshost other trainers step in to lead parts offering a refreshing new face style and pace Thebusiness tries to ensure that ldquono matter who presents the programme the taste is the sameevery trainer has to meet the same standards for material intonation and musicrdquo They do this

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 417

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

not only through their own in-house coaching and apprenticing but also by selecting onlypeople with university degrees as prospective trainers

12 This was illustrated in Indonesian reactions to a fatwa against Ary Ginanjarrsquos ESQ trainingissued in June 2010 by a mufti for the Federal Territories of Malaysia Wan Zahidi Bin WanTeh Zahidi charged that ESQ improperly associates concepts from other religions withpassages from the Qurrsquoan in effect equating other religions with Islam (httpwwwmuftiwpgovmyv1docfatwa_esqpdf access date 3 June 2011) The offending elements identified inthe fatwa are the SQ concept whichndashndashZahidi claimedndashndashis Jewish because its author DanahZohar is Jewish and the God Spot idea which he claimed is Hindu like its authorRamachandran The fatwa further judged that ESQ encouraged lsquoliberalrsquo thinking puttingrational thinking above revelation in religious matters and following onersquos conscience ratherthan religious law The news of this fatwa quickly spread to Indonesia where it was evaluatedby the controversial semi-governmental Indonesian Council of Ulamas (MUI) Although MUIhad famously declared Indonesian lsquoliberalismrsquo (in Islamic exegesis) lsquopluralismrsquo andlsquosecularismrsquo to be deviant in 2005 MUIrsquos chairman Amhidhan told The Jakarta Post in July 2010that the diverse religious backgrounds of ESQ training participants ldquodoes not mean it embracespluralism in religionsrdquo and accepted that ESQ is ldquoa training on management and humanresources not an event to preach although there are those who convert after taking part in itrdquo(Haspari) Later KH Marsquoruf Amin also of MUI agreed telling a Malaysian news outlet thatldquoESQ is an alternative and effective methodology for dakwah (missionising)rdquo (ldquoESQ TrainingrdquoThe Star 22 February 2011) Not all Indonesian Muslim clerics consider ESQ benign howeverFor example Bernard Abdul Jabbar of the Indonesian Muslim Forum rebutted Amhidhanrsquosopinion some days later endorsing the judgments of ESQ made by Malaysian mufti Zahidi andbranding ESQ ldquoa new religion called the ESQ 1965 Wayrdquo (ldquoMUI to Reviewrdquo Jakarta Post 31July 2010) Nonetheless Zahidi did not win sufficient support either in Malaysia or inIndonesia to close down ESQ activities in those countries The fatwa committee of theMalaysian National Islamic Affairs Council like Indonesiarsquos MUI has judged that ESQ shouldbe allowed to continue operating (ldquoESQ Trainingrdquo The Star 22 February 2011)

REFERENCES

Abdurrahman Moeslim ldquoRitual Divided Hajj Tours in Capitalist Era Indonesiardquo Ed MarkWoodward Towards a New Paradigm Tempe AR Arizona State U 1996 117ndash32

Al Afghani Mohamad Mova ldquoReligious Freedom in Indonesia before and after ConstitutionalAmendmentsrdquo 2010 Social Science Research Network Available at lthttpssrncomabstract=1587256gt access date 30 April 2010

Amirrachman Alpha ldquoPersonal Growth Course Travels to the Netherlandsrdquo The Jakarta Post 12June 2008 Available at lthttpwwwthejakartapostcomnews20080612personal-growth-course-travels-netherlandshtmlgt access date 15 April 2011

Berger Peter L Many Globalizations New York Oxford UP 2002Beyer Peter Religions in Global Society London Routledge 2006Boyatzis Richard E ldquoConsequences and Rejuvenation of Competency-based Human Resource and

Organization Developmentrdquo Eds Richard W Woodman and William A Pasmore Research inOrganizatinal Change and Development Vol 9 Greenwich CN JAI P 1996 101ndash22

Campbell Colin ldquoThe Easternization of the Westrdquo Eds Bryan Wilson and Jamie Cresswell NewReligious Movements Challenge and Response London Routledge 1999 35ndash48

Casanova Jose ldquoCivil Society and Religion Retrospective Reflections on Catholicism andProspective Reflections on Islamrdquo Social Research 68 (2001) 1041ndash80

- - - ldquoBeyond European and American Exceptionalisms Towards a Global Perspectiverdquo Eds GraceDavie Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead Predicting Religion London Ashgate 2003 17ndash29

Eickelman Dale and James Piscatori Muslim Politics Princeton NJ Princeton UP 1996Elegant Simon and Jason Tedjasukmana ldquoHoly Manrdquo Time Asia 16018 4 November 2002 Available at

lthttpwwwtimecomtimeasiamagazinearticle013673501021111-38697700htmlgt accessdate 14 February 2005

ldquoESQ Training Not Deviationist Says Indonesiarsquos MUIrdquo The Star (Kuala Lumpur) 22 February2011 Available at lthttpthestarcommynewsstoryaspfile=2011222nation8110114ampsec=nationgt access date 15 April 2011

418 J D Howell

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

has also shaped tastes and interests They expect high production values inentertainment and international best practice in business and training Pietypromotion products using the techniques and findings of the globallycirculating entertainment arts and the sciences of personal development thushave a particular appeal except to purists who read them as un-Islamicbecause of their eclecticism and association with the West Aa Gymrsquos andGinanjarrsquos success shows that such purists have less influence in Indonesiarsquoscommercial arena than those with more culturally pluralist understandings ofIslam12

Nonetheless one could object that the parallels between the two regionswith their different religious heritages are weak insofar as the starting pointsfor the purported de-differentiation of popular religion are not comparableInfluenced by certain modernist Muslim reformists of the twentieth centurymany lsquode-traditionalisedrsquo Muslims today consider Islam to be uniquely andnecessarily fused with all aspects of social life a complete social order(al-nizam al-islami) (Roy Tibi) In other words they understand Muslimsocieties to be actually andor ideally exempt from processes of socialdifferentiation that have accompanied economic development in the West andwhich social theorists have taken to be the hallmark of modernisation ErnestGellner famously formulated a scholarly justification for such lsquoIslamicexceptionalismrsquo arguing that Muslim societies can form modern states withoutseparating religious from political institutions because of the distinctivestructure of Islamrsquos religious leadership (through the ulama) and the legalframework for social life provided by its syariah However critics have shownthat the putative fusion of Islam and the state in pre-modern times isoverdrawn in such characterisations (Lapidus Eickelman and Piscatori) thatmovements aiming to conjoin religion and state can be found in Christian andHindu as well as Muslim communities (Casanova ldquoBeyondrdquo 23 HefnerldquoMultiplerdquo 90) and that in fact few Muslim states today give religiousauthorities power over the state (Beyer 183)

More nuanced comparisons of the trajectories of modernisation in Christian-and Muslim-heritage societies such as those of Jose Casanova (ldquoCivil SocietyrdquoldquoBeyondrdquo) and Beyer acknowledge the greater elaboration and importance oflsquohierocraticrsquo organisations (churches) as carriers of religious communications inpre-modern Europe and the more dispersed and informal institutionalisationof religious authority in pre-modern Muslim societies but do not see pre-modern Muslim societies as undifferentiated or immune to modern forms ofsocial differentiation Thus as Beyer shows in the last century Islamic socialmovements have been important carriers of religious reform programmes andwith the formal organisations that they precipitated have formed distinctreligious function systems within socially differentiated modern societies

Beyer rightly cites Indonesiarsquos Muhammadiyah organisation as an exampleof the specialised religious institutions that have shaped socially differentiatedmodern Muslim societies One can also point to other Islamic organisationsfounded in Indonesia in the twentieth century that have framed Islam overagainst local Islamicly infused cultures as a universal religion and the ummahas a community among other religious communities in Indonesiarsquos plural andsocially differentiated society These other Islamic organisations include thenationrsquos largest Islamic voluntary organisation the Nahdhlatul Ulama (an

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 415

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

association representing ulama and their followings) numerous Islamicpolitical parties and the increasingly influential fatwa-pronouncing body theMajelis Ulama Indonesia (Indonesian Council of Ulama) Along with thebroader social movements of which they are parts these organisations functionas civil society actors seeking to influence both the rest of society and the stateand so constitute a differentiated religious function system distinct from thecountryrsquos political and other function systems It is from this vantage pointthat the comingling of religious communications and secular culture in thecommercial sphere appears as de-differentiation albeit circumscribed bymarkers like lsquospiritualitasrsquo that link the personal development programmes ofthe darsquoi and trainer ambiguously to the legally recognized religions

Recognizing that certain darsquoi and trainers incorporate secular culture intotheir ministries and effect the de-differentiation of religious communications isnot however the same thing as saying that they promote secularisation in thesense of Weberian lsquodisenchantmentrsquo of the world or the growing irrelevance ofreligious beliefs to peoplersquos lives Local critics have indeed accused theentertainerndashpreachers and other purveyors of lsquoIslam 15 minitrsquo (lsquo15-minuteIslamrsquo) of trivialising the faith and of making the faith emptied of explicitdoctrine look just like any other religion Aa Gym has responded to thesecriticisms since his painful fall in the TV ratings charts by making hispreaching (if not his how-to books) more explicitly Islamic while Ginanjarcontinues steadfastly to promote his particular conflation of religion andscience evidently without losing his ability to attract endorsements fromMuslim luminaries Drawing back from these judgments of interested partieswe can nonetheless observe as Knoblauch did of European popular religionthat although these expressions of commercial mass-mediated popular Islamin Indonesia do obscure the boundaries between the sacred and the profane(which for Durkheim separated lsquoreligionrsquo from the secular) the notions oflsquospiritualitasrsquo in the ministries of Gymnastiar and Ginanjar still serve to focusconsumers on the transcendent while they work to overcome thecompartmentalisation of Indonesian selves in their differentiated modernsociety

Julia Howell is Professor of the Sociology of Religion in the Religion and SocietyResearch Centre at the University of Western Sydney and Adjunct Professor of AsianStudies at the Griffith Asia Institute Griffith University Brisbane Australia Herrecent work on popular Indonesian Islam and contemporary Sufi revival builds on herlong-term interests in movements of religious reform and marginal religiousmovements in modernising Indonesia and Western societies CORRESPONDENCE jhowelluwseduau

NOTES

1 The concept of global culture deployed here draws on Peter Bergerrsquos refinements of the idea ofa lsquoglobal culturersquo (2ndash16) emerging in the last few decades through the information revolutionthe intensification of transnational travel and business operations and consequent increasingparticipation of people all over the world in communications of global reach While Bergeracknowledges that the region dominant in propagating these global communications is theNorth Atlantic especially the United States he pays considerable attention to lsquoalternative

416 J D Howell

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

globalisationsrsquo (12) projecting across the world from Asia (including the Islamic world) andnon-Anglophone Europe and Latin America Like Colin Campbell Elizabeth Puttick andothers he draws attention to the way Asian religious cultures have fed into Western culturessince the Romantic period in the nineteenth century and contributed to now globallycirculating New Age spirituality and ambiguously secular themes deriving from the largelyAmerican lsquogrowth movementrsquo and broader Human Potential Movement Most of the lsquosectorsrsquoof contemporary global culture identified by Berger (lsquobusiness culturersquo lsquofaculty club culturersquoand lsquopop culturersquo) are ostensibly or predominantly secular (in the sense of not being in HubertKnoblauchrsquos terminology lsquoreligiously markedrsquo) but he counts lsquoevangelical Protestantismrsquo asactually having the most global impact He might well have given more weight to the culturalcurrents carried by numerous global Islamic reform movements

2 This is the Constitutional Courtrsquos refusal on 19 April 2010 to review Presidential Decision no1 1965 (UU No1PNPS1965) recognizing Islam Protestantism Catholicism HinduismBuddhism and Confucianism as lsquoreligionsrsquo (agama) under the Constitution of 1945 andforbidding the lsquobesmirchingrsquo and lsquo[free] interpretationrsquo of those protected religions Civil societygroups that made the request for the review object to the restriction of freedom of religioneffected by the Presidential Decision of 1965 and to the denial of diversity and change withinreligions that the Courtrsquos decision implies

3 lsquoReligious communicationsrsquo here refers to communications in what Peter Beyer identified as thereligion functional system as distinct from other functional systems of modern societies suchas the capitalist economy the sovereign state academic education positive law the media etc

4 The editorrsquos preface to the 2005 edition of Aa Gymrsquos Jagalah Hati Step by Step Manajemen Qolbuspecifically identifies these aids as international lsquobest practicersquo ldquothe concept has been madeeven more valuable by presenting it in a genuinely how to and self-help format [berformat howto dan self-help] a modern packaging that is easy for the reader to digestrdquo (vi)

5 Translated from an ESQ Leadership Center flier entitled ldquoESQ TRAINING for Corporate ampPublicrdquo distributed at a training programme attended by the author at the Jakarta ConventionCenter 3ndash7 February 2005

6 Note the similarities of these ESQ mass-audience training techniques to those used byAmerican-originated Human Potential Movement training corporations (such as WernerErhardrsquos est and Lifestream) oriented to clients in the business world (Puttick 211ndash12)

7 Interview at the ESQ Center Ciputat Jakarta in May 2011 and Amirrachman8 As described in the ESQ training programme brochure of 2011 the new four-part series starts

with lsquoESQ Basic Trainingrsquo showing the insufficiency for true happiness of mere material andemotional satisfaction achieved with the intellect (IQ) and lsquoemotional intelligencersquo (EQ) andthe need for lsquospiritual happinessrsquo developed through lsquoSQrsquo Hasanuddin Thoyieb described theBasic Training as an ldquooverview of the whole programmerdquo The next level of the programme islsquoESQ Intermediate Training 1rsquo or lsquoMission amp Character Buildingrsquo (incorporating according toThoyieb days one and two of the old programme) The third level is lsquoESQ IntermediateTraining 2rsquo or lsquoSelf-Control and Collaborationrsquo also known as lsquoSC2rsquo or lsquoSC squaredrsquoincorporating material from the former programmersquos days three and four All that is nowcapped with the fourth and final segment lsquoESQ Advanced Trainingrsquo or lsquoTotal Actionrsquo whereone learns to lsquoexecute and implementrsquo the combined IQ EQ and SQ capabilities

9 After December 2006 when revelations of his second marriage deflated his popularity Aa Gymlet it be known that he had lsquoreturned to the pesantrenrsquo that is he had begun intensely renewinghis study of Islam Thereafter his predication became more narrowly Islamic

10 See for example trainer Syamsulrsquos comments to a Jakarta Post reporter in Delft in 2008 whenhe estimated that as many as 3000 non-Muslim Indonesians had done ESQ courses(Amirrachman) Note however that some non-Muslims obliged by their employers to take acompany-based ESQ training programme complained about the Islamic bias of theprogramme

11 However he went on to emphasise the business training professionalism not only of Ginanjarbut also of the large ESQ team of lsquotrainersrsquo These auxiliary trainers now present all but two ofthe 85ndash90 events the company puts on each month even in the programmes Ginanjar doeshost other trainers step in to lead parts offering a refreshing new face style and pace Thebusiness tries to ensure that ldquono matter who presents the programme the taste is the sameevery trainer has to meet the same standards for material intonation and musicrdquo They do this

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 417

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

not only through their own in-house coaching and apprenticing but also by selecting onlypeople with university degrees as prospective trainers

12 This was illustrated in Indonesian reactions to a fatwa against Ary Ginanjarrsquos ESQ trainingissued in June 2010 by a mufti for the Federal Territories of Malaysia Wan Zahidi Bin WanTeh Zahidi charged that ESQ improperly associates concepts from other religions withpassages from the Qurrsquoan in effect equating other religions with Islam (httpwwwmuftiwpgovmyv1docfatwa_esqpdf access date 3 June 2011) The offending elements identified inthe fatwa are the SQ concept whichndashndashZahidi claimedndashndashis Jewish because its author DanahZohar is Jewish and the God Spot idea which he claimed is Hindu like its authorRamachandran The fatwa further judged that ESQ encouraged lsquoliberalrsquo thinking puttingrational thinking above revelation in religious matters and following onersquos conscience ratherthan religious law The news of this fatwa quickly spread to Indonesia where it was evaluatedby the controversial semi-governmental Indonesian Council of Ulamas (MUI) Although MUIhad famously declared Indonesian lsquoliberalismrsquo (in Islamic exegesis) lsquopluralismrsquo andlsquosecularismrsquo to be deviant in 2005 MUIrsquos chairman Amhidhan told The Jakarta Post in July 2010that the diverse religious backgrounds of ESQ training participants ldquodoes not mean it embracespluralism in religionsrdquo and accepted that ESQ is ldquoa training on management and humanresources not an event to preach although there are those who convert after taking part in itrdquo(Haspari) Later KH Marsquoruf Amin also of MUI agreed telling a Malaysian news outlet thatldquoESQ is an alternative and effective methodology for dakwah (missionising)rdquo (ldquoESQ TrainingrdquoThe Star 22 February 2011) Not all Indonesian Muslim clerics consider ESQ benign howeverFor example Bernard Abdul Jabbar of the Indonesian Muslim Forum rebutted Amhidhanrsquosopinion some days later endorsing the judgments of ESQ made by Malaysian mufti Zahidi andbranding ESQ ldquoa new religion called the ESQ 1965 Wayrdquo (ldquoMUI to Reviewrdquo Jakarta Post 31July 2010) Nonetheless Zahidi did not win sufficient support either in Malaysia or inIndonesia to close down ESQ activities in those countries The fatwa committee of theMalaysian National Islamic Affairs Council like Indonesiarsquos MUI has judged that ESQ shouldbe allowed to continue operating (ldquoESQ Trainingrdquo The Star 22 February 2011)

REFERENCES

Abdurrahman Moeslim ldquoRitual Divided Hajj Tours in Capitalist Era Indonesiardquo Ed MarkWoodward Towards a New Paradigm Tempe AR Arizona State U 1996 117ndash32

Al Afghani Mohamad Mova ldquoReligious Freedom in Indonesia before and after ConstitutionalAmendmentsrdquo 2010 Social Science Research Network Available at lthttpssrncomabstract=1587256gt access date 30 April 2010

Amirrachman Alpha ldquoPersonal Growth Course Travels to the Netherlandsrdquo The Jakarta Post 12June 2008 Available at lthttpwwwthejakartapostcomnews20080612personal-growth-course-travels-netherlandshtmlgt access date 15 April 2011

Berger Peter L Many Globalizations New York Oxford UP 2002Beyer Peter Religions in Global Society London Routledge 2006Boyatzis Richard E ldquoConsequences and Rejuvenation of Competency-based Human Resource and

Organization Developmentrdquo Eds Richard W Woodman and William A Pasmore Research inOrganizatinal Change and Development Vol 9 Greenwich CN JAI P 1996 101ndash22

Campbell Colin ldquoThe Easternization of the Westrdquo Eds Bryan Wilson and Jamie Cresswell NewReligious Movements Challenge and Response London Routledge 1999 35ndash48

Casanova Jose ldquoCivil Society and Religion Retrospective Reflections on Catholicism andProspective Reflections on Islamrdquo Social Research 68 (2001) 1041ndash80

- - - ldquoBeyond European and American Exceptionalisms Towards a Global Perspectiverdquo Eds GraceDavie Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead Predicting Religion London Ashgate 2003 17ndash29

Eickelman Dale and James Piscatori Muslim Politics Princeton NJ Princeton UP 1996Elegant Simon and Jason Tedjasukmana ldquoHoly Manrdquo Time Asia 16018 4 November 2002 Available at

lthttpwwwtimecomtimeasiamagazinearticle013673501021111-38697700htmlgt accessdate 14 February 2005

ldquoESQ Training Not Deviationist Says Indonesiarsquos MUIrdquo The Star (Kuala Lumpur) 22 February2011 Available at lthttpthestarcommynewsstoryaspfile=2011222nation8110114ampsec=nationgt access date 15 April 2011

418 J D Howell

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

association representing ulama and their followings) numerous Islamicpolitical parties and the increasingly influential fatwa-pronouncing body theMajelis Ulama Indonesia (Indonesian Council of Ulama) Along with thebroader social movements of which they are parts these organisations functionas civil society actors seeking to influence both the rest of society and the stateand so constitute a differentiated religious function system distinct from thecountryrsquos political and other function systems It is from this vantage pointthat the comingling of religious communications and secular culture in thecommercial sphere appears as de-differentiation albeit circumscribed bymarkers like lsquospiritualitasrsquo that link the personal development programmes ofthe darsquoi and trainer ambiguously to the legally recognized religions

Recognizing that certain darsquoi and trainers incorporate secular culture intotheir ministries and effect the de-differentiation of religious communications isnot however the same thing as saying that they promote secularisation in thesense of Weberian lsquodisenchantmentrsquo of the world or the growing irrelevance ofreligious beliefs to peoplersquos lives Local critics have indeed accused theentertainerndashpreachers and other purveyors of lsquoIslam 15 minitrsquo (lsquo15-minuteIslamrsquo) of trivialising the faith and of making the faith emptied of explicitdoctrine look just like any other religion Aa Gym has responded to thesecriticisms since his painful fall in the TV ratings charts by making hispreaching (if not his how-to books) more explicitly Islamic while Ginanjarcontinues steadfastly to promote his particular conflation of religion andscience evidently without losing his ability to attract endorsements fromMuslim luminaries Drawing back from these judgments of interested partieswe can nonetheless observe as Knoblauch did of European popular religionthat although these expressions of commercial mass-mediated popular Islamin Indonesia do obscure the boundaries between the sacred and the profane(which for Durkheim separated lsquoreligionrsquo from the secular) the notions oflsquospiritualitasrsquo in the ministries of Gymnastiar and Ginanjar still serve to focusconsumers on the transcendent while they work to overcome thecompartmentalisation of Indonesian selves in their differentiated modernsociety

Julia Howell is Professor of the Sociology of Religion in the Religion and SocietyResearch Centre at the University of Western Sydney and Adjunct Professor of AsianStudies at the Griffith Asia Institute Griffith University Brisbane Australia Herrecent work on popular Indonesian Islam and contemporary Sufi revival builds on herlong-term interests in movements of religious reform and marginal religiousmovements in modernising Indonesia and Western societies CORRESPONDENCE jhowelluwseduau

NOTES

1 The concept of global culture deployed here draws on Peter Bergerrsquos refinements of the idea ofa lsquoglobal culturersquo (2ndash16) emerging in the last few decades through the information revolutionthe intensification of transnational travel and business operations and consequent increasingparticipation of people all over the world in communications of global reach While Bergeracknowledges that the region dominant in propagating these global communications is theNorth Atlantic especially the United States he pays considerable attention to lsquoalternative

416 J D Howell

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

globalisationsrsquo (12) projecting across the world from Asia (including the Islamic world) andnon-Anglophone Europe and Latin America Like Colin Campbell Elizabeth Puttick andothers he draws attention to the way Asian religious cultures have fed into Western culturessince the Romantic period in the nineteenth century and contributed to now globallycirculating New Age spirituality and ambiguously secular themes deriving from the largelyAmerican lsquogrowth movementrsquo and broader Human Potential Movement Most of the lsquosectorsrsquoof contemporary global culture identified by Berger (lsquobusiness culturersquo lsquofaculty club culturersquoand lsquopop culturersquo) are ostensibly or predominantly secular (in the sense of not being in HubertKnoblauchrsquos terminology lsquoreligiously markedrsquo) but he counts lsquoevangelical Protestantismrsquo asactually having the most global impact He might well have given more weight to the culturalcurrents carried by numerous global Islamic reform movements

2 This is the Constitutional Courtrsquos refusal on 19 April 2010 to review Presidential Decision no1 1965 (UU No1PNPS1965) recognizing Islam Protestantism Catholicism HinduismBuddhism and Confucianism as lsquoreligionsrsquo (agama) under the Constitution of 1945 andforbidding the lsquobesmirchingrsquo and lsquo[free] interpretationrsquo of those protected religions Civil societygroups that made the request for the review object to the restriction of freedom of religioneffected by the Presidential Decision of 1965 and to the denial of diversity and change withinreligions that the Courtrsquos decision implies

3 lsquoReligious communicationsrsquo here refers to communications in what Peter Beyer identified as thereligion functional system as distinct from other functional systems of modern societies suchas the capitalist economy the sovereign state academic education positive law the media etc

4 The editorrsquos preface to the 2005 edition of Aa Gymrsquos Jagalah Hati Step by Step Manajemen Qolbuspecifically identifies these aids as international lsquobest practicersquo ldquothe concept has been madeeven more valuable by presenting it in a genuinely how to and self-help format [berformat howto dan self-help] a modern packaging that is easy for the reader to digestrdquo (vi)

5 Translated from an ESQ Leadership Center flier entitled ldquoESQ TRAINING for Corporate ampPublicrdquo distributed at a training programme attended by the author at the Jakarta ConventionCenter 3ndash7 February 2005

6 Note the similarities of these ESQ mass-audience training techniques to those used byAmerican-originated Human Potential Movement training corporations (such as WernerErhardrsquos est and Lifestream) oriented to clients in the business world (Puttick 211ndash12)

7 Interview at the ESQ Center Ciputat Jakarta in May 2011 and Amirrachman8 As described in the ESQ training programme brochure of 2011 the new four-part series starts

with lsquoESQ Basic Trainingrsquo showing the insufficiency for true happiness of mere material andemotional satisfaction achieved with the intellect (IQ) and lsquoemotional intelligencersquo (EQ) andthe need for lsquospiritual happinessrsquo developed through lsquoSQrsquo Hasanuddin Thoyieb described theBasic Training as an ldquooverview of the whole programmerdquo The next level of the programme islsquoESQ Intermediate Training 1rsquo or lsquoMission amp Character Buildingrsquo (incorporating according toThoyieb days one and two of the old programme) The third level is lsquoESQ IntermediateTraining 2rsquo or lsquoSelf-Control and Collaborationrsquo also known as lsquoSC2rsquo or lsquoSC squaredrsquoincorporating material from the former programmersquos days three and four All that is nowcapped with the fourth and final segment lsquoESQ Advanced Trainingrsquo or lsquoTotal Actionrsquo whereone learns to lsquoexecute and implementrsquo the combined IQ EQ and SQ capabilities

9 After December 2006 when revelations of his second marriage deflated his popularity Aa Gymlet it be known that he had lsquoreturned to the pesantrenrsquo that is he had begun intensely renewinghis study of Islam Thereafter his predication became more narrowly Islamic

10 See for example trainer Syamsulrsquos comments to a Jakarta Post reporter in Delft in 2008 whenhe estimated that as many as 3000 non-Muslim Indonesians had done ESQ courses(Amirrachman) Note however that some non-Muslims obliged by their employers to take acompany-based ESQ training programme complained about the Islamic bias of theprogramme

11 However he went on to emphasise the business training professionalism not only of Ginanjarbut also of the large ESQ team of lsquotrainersrsquo These auxiliary trainers now present all but two ofthe 85ndash90 events the company puts on each month even in the programmes Ginanjar doeshost other trainers step in to lead parts offering a refreshing new face style and pace Thebusiness tries to ensure that ldquono matter who presents the programme the taste is the sameevery trainer has to meet the same standards for material intonation and musicrdquo They do this

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 417

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

not only through their own in-house coaching and apprenticing but also by selecting onlypeople with university degrees as prospective trainers

12 This was illustrated in Indonesian reactions to a fatwa against Ary Ginanjarrsquos ESQ trainingissued in June 2010 by a mufti for the Federal Territories of Malaysia Wan Zahidi Bin WanTeh Zahidi charged that ESQ improperly associates concepts from other religions withpassages from the Qurrsquoan in effect equating other religions with Islam (httpwwwmuftiwpgovmyv1docfatwa_esqpdf access date 3 June 2011) The offending elements identified inthe fatwa are the SQ concept whichndashndashZahidi claimedndashndashis Jewish because its author DanahZohar is Jewish and the God Spot idea which he claimed is Hindu like its authorRamachandran The fatwa further judged that ESQ encouraged lsquoliberalrsquo thinking puttingrational thinking above revelation in religious matters and following onersquos conscience ratherthan religious law The news of this fatwa quickly spread to Indonesia where it was evaluatedby the controversial semi-governmental Indonesian Council of Ulamas (MUI) Although MUIhad famously declared Indonesian lsquoliberalismrsquo (in Islamic exegesis) lsquopluralismrsquo andlsquosecularismrsquo to be deviant in 2005 MUIrsquos chairman Amhidhan told The Jakarta Post in July 2010that the diverse religious backgrounds of ESQ training participants ldquodoes not mean it embracespluralism in religionsrdquo and accepted that ESQ is ldquoa training on management and humanresources not an event to preach although there are those who convert after taking part in itrdquo(Haspari) Later KH Marsquoruf Amin also of MUI agreed telling a Malaysian news outlet thatldquoESQ is an alternative and effective methodology for dakwah (missionising)rdquo (ldquoESQ TrainingrdquoThe Star 22 February 2011) Not all Indonesian Muslim clerics consider ESQ benign howeverFor example Bernard Abdul Jabbar of the Indonesian Muslim Forum rebutted Amhidhanrsquosopinion some days later endorsing the judgments of ESQ made by Malaysian mufti Zahidi andbranding ESQ ldquoa new religion called the ESQ 1965 Wayrdquo (ldquoMUI to Reviewrdquo Jakarta Post 31July 2010) Nonetheless Zahidi did not win sufficient support either in Malaysia or inIndonesia to close down ESQ activities in those countries The fatwa committee of theMalaysian National Islamic Affairs Council like Indonesiarsquos MUI has judged that ESQ shouldbe allowed to continue operating (ldquoESQ Trainingrdquo The Star 22 February 2011)

REFERENCES

Abdurrahman Moeslim ldquoRitual Divided Hajj Tours in Capitalist Era Indonesiardquo Ed MarkWoodward Towards a New Paradigm Tempe AR Arizona State U 1996 117ndash32

Al Afghani Mohamad Mova ldquoReligious Freedom in Indonesia before and after ConstitutionalAmendmentsrdquo 2010 Social Science Research Network Available at lthttpssrncomabstract=1587256gt access date 30 April 2010

Amirrachman Alpha ldquoPersonal Growth Course Travels to the Netherlandsrdquo The Jakarta Post 12June 2008 Available at lthttpwwwthejakartapostcomnews20080612personal-growth-course-travels-netherlandshtmlgt access date 15 April 2011

Berger Peter L Many Globalizations New York Oxford UP 2002Beyer Peter Religions in Global Society London Routledge 2006Boyatzis Richard E ldquoConsequences and Rejuvenation of Competency-based Human Resource and

Organization Developmentrdquo Eds Richard W Woodman and William A Pasmore Research inOrganizatinal Change and Development Vol 9 Greenwich CN JAI P 1996 101ndash22

Campbell Colin ldquoThe Easternization of the Westrdquo Eds Bryan Wilson and Jamie Cresswell NewReligious Movements Challenge and Response London Routledge 1999 35ndash48

Casanova Jose ldquoCivil Society and Religion Retrospective Reflections on Catholicism andProspective Reflections on Islamrdquo Social Research 68 (2001) 1041ndash80

- - - ldquoBeyond European and American Exceptionalisms Towards a Global Perspectiverdquo Eds GraceDavie Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead Predicting Religion London Ashgate 2003 17ndash29

Eickelman Dale and James Piscatori Muslim Politics Princeton NJ Princeton UP 1996Elegant Simon and Jason Tedjasukmana ldquoHoly Manrdquo Time Asia 16018 4 November 2002 Available at

lthttpwwwtimecomtimeasiamagazinearticle013673501021111-38697700htmlgt accessdate 14 February 2005

ldquoESQ Training Not Deviationist Says Indonesiarsquos MUIrdquo The Star (Kuala Lumpur) 22 February2011 Available at lthttpthestarcommynewsstoryaspfile=2011222nation8110114ampsec=nationgt access date 15 April 2011

418 J D Howell

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

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cast

le U

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rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

globalisationsrsquo (12) projecting across the world from Asia (including the Islamic world) andnon-Anglophone Europe and Latin America Like Colin Campbell Elizabeth Puttick andothers he draws attention to the way Asian religious cultures have fed into Western culturessince the Romantic period in the nineteenth century and contributed to now globallycirculating New Age spirituality and ambiguously secular themes deriving from the largelyAmerican lsquogrowth movementrsquo and broader Human Potential Movement Most of the lsquosectorsrsquoof contemporary global culture identified by Berger (lsquobusiness culturersquo lsquofaculty club culturersquoand lsquopop culturersquo) are ostensibly or predominantly secular (in the sense of not being in HubertKnoblauchrsquos terminology lsquoreligiously markedrsquo) but he counts lsquoevangelical Protestantismrsquo asactually having the most global impact He might well have given more weight to the culturalcurrents carried by numerous global Islamic reform movements

2 This is the Constitutional Courtrsquos refusal on 19 April 2010 to review Presidential Decision no1 1965 (UU No1PNPS1965) recognizing Islam Protestantism Catholicism HinduismBuddhism and Confucianism as lsquoreligionsrsquo (agama) under the Constitution of 1945 andforbidding the lsquobesmirchingrsquo and lsquo[free] interpretationrsquo of those protected religions Civil societygroups that made the request for the review object to the restriction of freedom of religioneffected by the Presidential Decision of 1965 and to the denial of diversity and change withinreligions that the Courtrsquos decision implies

3 lsquoReligious communicationsrsquo here refers to communications in what Peter Beyer identified as thereligion functional system as distinct from other functional systems of modern societies suchas the capitalist economy the sovereign state academic education positive law the media etc

4 The editorrsquos preface to the 2005 edition of Aa Gymrsquos Jagalah Hati Step by Step Manajemen Qolbuspecifically identifies these aids as international lsquobest practicersquo ldquothe concept has been madeeven more valuable by presenting it in a genuinely how to and self-help format [berformat howto dan self-help] a modern packaging that is easy for the reader to digestrdquo (vi)

5 Translated from an ESQ Leadership Center flier entitled ldquoESQ TRAINING for Corporate ampPublicrdquo distributed at a training programme attended by the author at the Jakarta ConventionCenter 3ndash7 February 2005

6 Note the similarities of these ESQ mass-audience training techniques to those used byAmerican-originated Human Potential Movement training corporations (such as WernerErhardrsquos est and Lifestream) oriented to clients in the business world (Puttick 211ndash12)

7 Interview at the ESQ Center Ciputat Jakarta in May 2011 and Amirrachman8 As described in the ESQ training programme brochure of 2011 the new four-part series starts

with lsquoESQ Basic Trainingrsquo showing the insufficiency for true happiness of mere material andemotional satisfaction achieved with the intellect (IQ) and lsquoemotional intelligencersquo (EQ) andthe need for lsquospiritual happinessrsquo developed through lsquoSQrsquo Hasanuddin Thoyieb described theBasic Training as an ldquooverview of the whole programmerdquo The next level of the programme islsquoESQ Intermediate Training 1rsquo or lsquoMission amp Character Buildingrsquo (incorporating according toThoyieb days one and two of the old programme) The third level is lsquoESQ IntermediateTraining 2rsquo or lsquoSelf-Control and Collaborationrsquo also known as lsquoSC2rsquo or lsquoSC squaredrsquoincorporating material from the former programmersquos days three and four All that is nowcapped with the fourth and final segment lsquoESQ Advanced Trainingrsquo or lsquoTotal Actionrsquo whereone learns to lsquoexecute and implementrsquo the combined IQ EQ and SQ capabilities

9 After December 2006 when revelations of his second marriage deflated his popularity Aa Gymlet it be known that he had lsquoreturned to the pesantrenrsquo that is he had begun intensely renewinghis study of Islam Thereafter his predication became more narrowly Islamic

10 See for example trainer Syamsulrsquos comments to a Jakarta Post reporter in Delft in 2008 whenhe estimated that as many as 3000 non-Muslim Indonesians had done ESQ courses(Amirrachman) Note however that some non-Muslims obliged by their employers to take acompany-based ESQ training programme complained about the Islamic bias of theprogramme

11 However he went on to emphasise the business training professionalism not only of Ginanjarbut also of the large ESQ team of lsquotrainersrsquo These auxiliary trainers now present all but two ofthe 85ndash90 events the company puts on each month even in the programmes Ginanjar doeshost other trainers step in to lead parts offering a refreshing new face style and pace Thebusiness tries to ensure that ldquono matter who presents the programme the taste is the sameevery trainer has to meet the same standards for material intonation and musicrdquo They do this

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 417

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

not only through their own in-house coaching and apprenticing but also by selecting onlypeople with university degrees as prospective trainers

12 This was illustrated in Indonesian reactions to a fatwa against Ary Ginanjarrsquos ESQ trainingissued in June 2010 by a mufti for the Federal Territories of Malaysia Wan Zahidi Bin WanTeh Zahidi charged that ESQ improperly associates concepts from other religions withpassages from the Qurrsquoan in effect equating other religions with Islam (httpwwwmuftiwpgovmyv1docfatwa_esqpdf access date 3 June 2011) The offending elements identified inthe fatwa are the SQ concept whichndashndashZahidi claimedndashndashis Jewish because its author DanahZohar is Jewish and the God Spot idea which he claimed is Hindu like its authorRamachandran The fatwa further judged that ESQ encouraged lsquoliberalrsquo thinking puttingrational thinking above revelation in religious matters and following onersquos conscience ratherthan religious law The news of this fatwa quickly spread to Indonesia where it was evaluatedby the controversial semi-governmental Indonesian Council of Ulamas (MUI) Although MUIhad famously declared Indonesian lsquoliberalismrsquo (in Islamic exegesis) lsquopluralismrsquo andlsquosecularismrsquo to be deviant in 2005 MUIrsquos chairman Amhidhan told The Jakarta Post in July 2010that the diverse religious backgrounds of ESQ training participants ldquodoes not mean it embracespluralism in religionsrdquo and accepted that ESQ is ldquoa training on management and humanresources not an event to preach although there are those who convert after taking part in itrdquo(Haspari) Later KH Marsquoruf Amin also of MUI agreed telling a Malaysian news outlet thatldquoESQ is an alternative and effective methodology for dakwah (missionising)rdquo (ldquoESQ TrainingrdquoThe Star 22 February 2011) Not all Indonesian Muslim clerics consider ESQ benign howeverFor example Bernard Abdul Jabbar of the Indonesian Muslim Forum rebutted Amhidhanrsquosopinion some days later endorsing the judgments of ESQ made by Malaysian mufti Zahidi andbranding ESQ ldquoa new religion called the ESQ 1965 Wayrdquo (ldquoMUI to Reviewrdquo Jakarta Post 31July 2010) Nonetheless Zahidi did not win sufficient support either in Malaysia or inIndonesia to close down ESQ activities in those countries The fatwa committee of theMalaysian National Islamic Affairs Council like Indonesiarsquos MUI has judged that ESQ shouldbe allowed to continue operating (ldquoESQ Trainingrdquo The Star 22 February 2011)

REFERENCES

Abdurrahman Moeslim ldquoRitual Divided Hajj Tours in Capitalist Era Indonesiardquo Ed MarkWoodward Towards a New Paradigm Tempe AR Arizona State U 1996 117ndash32

Al Afghani Mohamad Mova ldquoReligious Freedom in Indonesia before and after ConstitutionalAmendmentsrdquo 2010 Social Science Research Network Available at lthttpssrncomabstract=1587256gt access date 30 April 2010

Amirrachman Alpha ldquoPersonal Growth Course Travels to the Netherlandsrdquo The Jakarta Post 12June 2008 Available at lthttpwwwthejakartapostcomnews20080612personal-growth-course-travels-netherlandshtmlgt access date 15 April 2011

Berger Peter L Many Globalizations New York Oxford UP 2002Beyer Peter Religions in Global Society London Routledge 2006Boyatzis Richard E ldquoConsequences and Rejuvenation of Competency-based Human Resource and

Organization Developmentrdquo Eds Richard W Woodman and William A Pasmore Research inOrganizatinal Change and Development Vol 9 Greenwich CN JAI P 1996 101ndash22

Campbell Colin ldquoThe Easternization of the Westrdquo Eds Bryan Wilson and Jamie Cresswell NewReligious Movements Challenge and Response London Routledge 1999 35ndash48

Casanova Jose ldquoCivil Society and Religion Retrospective Reflections on Catholicism andProspective Reflections on Islamrdquo Social Research 68 (2001) 1041ndash80

- - - ldquoBeyond European and American Exceptionalisms Towards a Global Perspectiverdquo Eds GraceDavie Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead Predicting Religion London Ashgate 2003 17ndash29

Eickelman Dale and James Piscatori Muslim Politics Princeton NJ Princeton UP 1996Elegant Simon and Jason Tedjasukmana ldquoHoly Manrdquo Time Asia 16018 4 November 2002 Available at

lthttpwwwtimecomtimeasiamagazinearticle013673501021111-38697700htmlgt accessdate 14 February 2005

ldquoESQ Training Not Deviationist Says Indonesiarsquos MUIrdquo The Star (Kuala Lumpur) 22 February2011 Available at lthttpthestarcommynewsstoryaspfile=2011222nation8110114ampsec=nationgt access date 15 April 2011

418 J D Howell

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

not only through their own in-house coaching and apprenticing but also by selecting onlypeople with university degrees as prospective trainers

12 This was illustrated in Indonesian reactions to a fatwa against Ary Ginanjarrsquos ESQ trainingissued in June 2010 by a mufti for the Federal Territories of Malaysia Wan Zahidi Bin WanTeh Zahidi charged that ESQ improperly associates concepts from other religions withpassages from the Qurrsquoan in effect equating other religions with Islam (httpwwwmuftiwpgovmyv1docfatwa_esqpdf access date 3 June 2011) The offending elements identified inthe fatwa are the SQ concept whichndashndashZahidi claimedndashndashis Jewish because its author DanahZohar is Jewish and the God Spot idea which he claimed is Hindu like its authorRamachandran The fatwa further judged that ESQ encouraged lsquoliberalrsquo thinking puttingrational thinking above revelation in religious matters and following onersquos conscience ratherthan religious law The news of this fatwa quickly spread to Indonesia where it was evaluatedby the controversial semi-governmental Indonesian Council of Ulamas (MUI) Although MUIhad famously declared Indonesian lsquoliberalismrsquo (in Islamic exegesis) lsquopluralismrsquo andlsquosecularismrsquo to be deviant in 2005 MUIrsquos chairman Amhidhan told The Jakarta Post in July 2010that the diverse religious backgrounds of ESQ training participants ldquodoes not mean it embracespluralism in religionsrdquo and accepted that ESQ is ldquoa training on management and humanresources not an event to preach although there are those who convert after taking part in itrdquo(Haspari) Later KH Marsquoruf Amin also of MUI agreed telling a Malaysian news outlet thatldquoESQ is an alternative and effective methodology for dakwah (missionising)rdquo (ldquoESQ TrainingrdquoThe Star 22 February 2011) Not all Indonesian Muslim clerics consider ESQ benign howeverFor example Bernard Abdul Jabbar of the Indonesian Muslim Forum rebutted Amhidhanrsquosopinion some days later endorsing the judgments of ESQ made by Malaysian mufti Zahidi andbranding ESQ ldquoa new religion called the ESQ 1965 Wayrdquo (ldquoMUI to Reviewrdquo Jakarta Post 31July 2010) Nonetheless Zahidi did not win sufficient support either in Malaysia or inIndonesia to close down ESQ activities in those countries The fatwa committee of theMalaysian National Islamic Affairs Council like Indonesiarsquos MUI has judged that ESQ shouldbe allowed to continue operating (ldquoESQ Trainingrdquo The Star 22 February 2011)

REFERENCES

Abdurrahman Moeslim ldquoRitual Divided Hajj Tours in Capitalist Era Indonesiardquo Ed MarkWoodward Towards a New Paradigm Tempe AR Arizona State U 1996 117ndash32

Al Afghani Mohamad Mova ldquoReligious Freedom in Indonesia before and after ConstitutionalAmendmentsrdquo 2010 Social Science Research Network Available at lthttpssrncomabstract=1587256gt access date 30 April 2010

Amirrachman Alpha ldquoPersonal Growth Course Travels to the Netherlandsrdquo The Jakarta Post 12June 2008 Available at lthttpwwwthejakartapostcomnews20080612personal-growth-course-travels-netherlandshtmlgt access date 15 April 2011

Berger Peter L Many Globalizations New York Oxford UP 2002Beyer Peter Religions in Global Society London Routledge 2006Boyatzis Richard E ldquoConsequences and Rejuvenation of Competency-based Human Resource and

Organization Developmentrdquo Eds Richard W Woodman and William A Pasmore Research inOrganizatinal Change and Development Vol 9 Greenwich CN JAI P 1996 101ndash22

Campbell Colin ldquoThe Easternization of the Westrdquo Eds Bryan Wilson and Jamie Cresswell NewReligious Movements Challenge and Response London Routledge 1999 35ndash48

Casanova Jose ldquoCivil Society and Religion Retrospective Reflections on Catholicism andProspective Reflections on Islamrdquo Social Research 68 (2001) 1041ndash80

- - - ldquoBeyond European and American Exceptionalisms Towards a Global Perspectiverdquo Eds GraceDavie Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead Predicting Religion London Ashgate 2003 17ndash29

Eickelman Dale and James Piscatori Muslim Politics Princeton NJ Princeton UP 1996Elegant Simon and Jason Tedjasukmana ldquoHoly Manrdquo Time Asia 16018 4 November 2002 Available at

lthttpwwwtimecomtimeasiamagazinearticle013673501021111-38697700htmlgt accessdate 14 February 2005

ldquoESQ Training Not Deviationist Says Indonesiarsquos MUIrdquo The Star (Kuala Lumpur) 22 February2011 Available at lthttpthestarcommynewsstoryaspfile=2011222nation8110114ampsec=nationgt access date 15 April 2011

418 J D Howell

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014

Fealy Greg ldquoConsuming Islam Commodified Religion and Aspirational Pietism in ContemporaryIndonesiardquo Eds Greg Fealy and Sally White Expressing Islam Religious Life and Politics inIndonesia Singapore ISEAS 2008 15ndash39

Gellner Ernest Postmodernism Reason and Religion London Routledge 1992Goleman Daniel Emotional Intelligence Why it Can Matter More than IQ New York Bantam Books 1995Gymnastiar Abdullah Aa Gym Apa Adanya Sebuah Qolbugrafi Bandung Khas MQ 2006Handoko Priyo ldquoKe Pesantren Daarut Tauhid Saat Pamor Aa Gym Mereduprdquo Jawa Pos 2 July

2007 Available at lthttpwwwjawaposcomindexphpact=detailampid=8867gt access date 4August 2007

Haspari Arghea Desafti ldquoMUI Rebuffs Malaysian Fatwa on ESQrdquo The Jakarta Post 8 July 2010Available at lthttpwwwthejakartapostcomnews20100708mui-rebuffs-malaysian-fatwa-esqhtmlgt access date 15 April 2011

Heelas Paul The New Age Movement The Celebration of the Self and the Sacralization of ModernityOxford Blackwell 1996

Heelas Paul and Linda Woodhead The Spiritual Revolution Oxford Blackwell 2005Hefner Robert Civil Religion Princeton Princeton UP 2000- - - ldquoMultiple Modernities Christianity Islam and Hinduism in a Globalizing Agerdquo Annual Review

of Anthropology 27 (1998) 83ndash104Hirschkind Charles ldquoCivic Virtue and Religious Reasonrdquo Cultural Anthropology 16 (2001) 3ndash34Hoesterey James ldquoMarketing Morality The Rise Fall and Rebranding of Aa Gymrdquo Eds Greg

Fealy and Sally White Expressing Islam Singapore ISEAS 2008 95ndash114Hoover Stewart Mass Media Religion The Social Sources of the Electronic Church Newbury Park CA

Sage 1988Hosen Nadirsyah ldquoReligion and the Indonesian Constitution A Recent Debaterdquo Journal of

Southeast Asian Studies 36 (2005) 419ndash40Howell Julia ldquoMuslims the New Age and Marginal Religions in Indonesia Changing Meanings

of Religious Pluralismrdquo Social Compass 52 (2005) 473ndash93- - - ldquoModulations of Active Piety Professors and Televangelists as Promoters of Indonesian lsquoSufismersquordquo

Eds Greg Fealy and Sally White Expressing Islam Singapore ISEAS 2008 40ndash62- - - ldquoIndonesiarsquos Salafist Sufisrdquo Modern Asian Studies 44 (2010) 1029ndash51Knoblauch Hubert ldquoSpirituality and Popular Religion in Europerdquo Social Compass 55 (2008) 140ndash53Lapidus Ira ldquoThe Separation of State and Religion in the Development of Early Islamic Societyrdquo

International Journal of Middle East Studies 6 (1975) 363ndash85ldquoMUI to Review Popular lsquoESQrsquo Motivational Trainingrdquo The Jakarta Post 31 July 2010 Available at

lthttpwwwthejakartapostcomnews20100731mui-review-popular-e28098esqe8099-motivational-traininghtmlgt access date 15 April 2011

Peter Frank ldquoIndividualisation and Religious Authority in Western European Islamrdquo Islam andChristianndashMuslim Relations 17 (2006) 105ndash18

Puttick Elizabeth ldquoPersonal Development The Spiritualisation and Secularisation of the HumanPotential Movementrdquo Eds Steven Sutcliffe and Marion Bowman Beyond the New AgeExploring Alternative Spirituality Edinburgh Edinburgh UP 2000 201ndash18

Roy Olivier Globalised Islam The Search for a New Ummah London Hurst 2002Rudnyckyj Daromir ldquoSpiritual Economies Islam and Neoliberalism in Contemporary Indonesiardquo

Cultural Anthropology 24 (2009) 104ndash41Sipress Alan ldquoIndonesian Clericrsquos Media Empirerdquo Washington Post Foreign Service 2 June 2004

Available at lthttpwwwwashingtonpostcomac2wp-dynA7820-2004June1language=printergtaccess date 14 May 2007

Solahudin Dindin The Workshop for Morality The Islamic Creativity of Pesantren Daarut TauhidCanberra ANU E-Press 2008

Tibi Basam Islam between Culture and Politics New York Palgrave 2001ldquoTraining ESQ Cuma-Cuma untuk Para Ustadz se-DKIrdquo ESQ Magazine 2009 Available at lthttp

wwwesqmagazinecom20090630198training-esq-cuma-cuma-untuk-para-ustadz-se-dkihtmlgt access date 22 June 2010

Turner Bryan ldquoGoods not Gods New Spiritualities Consumerism and Religious Marketsrdquo Eds IanJones Paul Higgs and David Ekerdt Consumption and Generational Changes New BrunswickTransaction 2009 37ndash62

Zohar Danah and Ian Marshall SQ Connecting with our Spiritual Intelligence London Bloomsbury2000

Innovation amp De-differentiation in Indonesian Islam 419

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

New

cast

le U

nive

rsity

] at

16

46 0

2 M

ay 2

014