Local Religions and Contested Civic Space in Indonesia:

A Case Study of Sunda Wiwitan Community in Cigugur, West Java

Hurriyah

Department of Sociology, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia

Keywords: Local Religion, Civic Space, Sunda Wiwitan.

Abstract: The study explores the problem of civic space of the local religions in Indonesia, with a case study of Sunda

Wiwitan community in Cigugur. While global studies assert that local religions have experienced the lowest

level of discriminations among other religious minorities, the Indonesian case shows otherwise. Using a

combination of case study and digital analysis, the study shows that struggles for religious freedom and civil

rights of the communities of local religions in Indonesia are often challenged by the state and majority groups,

resulting a contested civic space. The study asserts that the three actors are in active position in shaping the

civic space: local government with the support of majority groups seek to control the space; while the local

religion community strives to reclaim the space. It concludes that while the case study of Sunda Wiwitan

demonstrates a complexity of civic space problem for the religious minority in local setting, it essentially

reflects a deeper problem of civic space for the adherents of local religions in Indonesia. This work contributes

to the study of local religions by expanding civic space theory to reframe the dynamics of religious freedom

of the minorities in Indonesian case.

1 INTRODUCTION

For long, religion is considered as a fertile source of

social values for sustainability. Much of the

sociological studies on religion has also emphasized

the potential role of religion in sustainability

transitions (Jo, Kim, & Lee, 2021). Scholars have

argued that while the sociological aspects of religion

can provide diversity to the types of niches that

enhance sustainability transitions, religious beliefs

can also provide a pragmatic force to create

purposeful transitions and sustainability by sharing

ecologically positive habits of practice and attitudes

with succeeding generations (Foltz, 2003; Ives &

Kidwell, 2019; Koehrsen 2015, 2018; Mohamad,

Idris, & Mamat, 2012). Hence, discussion on the

relationship between religion and the concept of

sustainability is profound in all world religions,

including local religions. Almost all local religions

adhere to the principle of being friendly with nature

and maintain the sustainability of their community

based on that principle.

Yet issues regarding the existence and

sustainability of local religions have been a major

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3206-7966

concern. While their values and religious worldview

are believed as closely related to nature, however, the

existence and sustainability of the local religions is

constantly threatened and under pressure. Despite its

long historical roots in traditional societies, local

religions have been losing their social and political

significance. The massive spread of world religions

and their adoption by the state has further

consequences on the emergence of governmental

discrimination towards the adherents of local

religions. In many parts of the world, states tend to

provide very narrow space for the adherents of local

religions to embrace and practice their beliefs. They

often impose restrictions and even discriminations

against communities of local religions, making them

as minority, socially and politically. Often, countries

with religious-based policies discriminate against

local religions particularly by imposing legal and

political restrictions, as well as degrading their

religious beliefs as merely customs or cultural

expression.

While studies on governmental restrictions

against religious minorities suggest that local

religions are the least discriminated compared to

Hurriyah, .

Local Religions and Contested Civic Space in Indonesia: A Case Study of Sunda Wiwitan Community in Cigugur, West Java.

DOI: 10.5220/0010755800003112

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Emerging Issues in Humanity Studies and Social Sciences (ICE-HUMS 2021), pages 595-606

ISBN: 978-989-758-604-0

595

other religious minorities (Finke & Martin, 2014;

Grim & Finke, 2006; Mataic, 2018), a recent study

from Fox finds that it was largely due to where local

religions are located, as well as the size of their

population. In this regard, Fox argues that when it

comes to governmental discrimination against local

religions, regional culture seems to overshadow

theology (Fox, 2020). As Fox indicates in his

findings, the level of governmental discriminations

seems to be more apparent in countries with religion’s

policy that is guided by a combination of religious

and political ideology. In Indonesian case, a sizeable

body of research show that local religions have

always been a subject of governmental restrictions

and discriminations (Aqiqah, 2014; Ismail, 2015;

Kholiludin, 2009; Kholiludin et al., 2015; Maarif,

2017; Maarif et al., 2019; Rosidin, 2000; Saidi, 2004;

Sudarto, 2016, 2017; Sukirno, 2018; Wiardi, 2007;

Wulansari, 2018).

Discriminations against local religions occurred

not only in terms of freedom to practice their religious

beliefs, but also freedom to uphold their beliefs –due

to the adoption of the politics of religion by the state.

Furthermore, these studies argued that the adoption of

the politics of recognition by the Indonesian state has

brought severe consequence for adherents of local

religions in three aspects. Firstly, downgrading their

religion as a mere customary belief rather than a set

of belief system. Secondly, undermining their basic

rights to embrace and practice their beliefs. Lastly,

denying many aspects of their civil rights, from

acquiring national identity card, to accessing

education, job, public services, and even recording

marriage.

In practice, although governmental

discriminations generally target any communities of

local religions in Indonesia, some communities

experienced more discriminations than others. It

occurred partly because of the dynamics of local

politics in post-1998 Reformasi which has differently

shaped the civic space of religious minorities. In the

case of local religion, this trend has also brought

consequences in which communities of local

religions in some areas experience severe

governmental (and even societal) discriminations.

One of the most prominent case of discriminations

against local religion occurred in Sunda Wiwitan

community in Cigugur, Kuningan, West Java.

Despite its existence since 1921 in the region, this

community has been a subject of state surveillance,

severe harassment, conversion to major religion, and

even denial of social services. Up to date, the

community is still struggling to obtain state

recognition as legally recognized customary law

community (known as masyarakat hukum adat). Yet,

not only their endeavour is challenged with legal and

political restrictions by the local and national

government, but their religious beliefs are also

labelled as heretics and often faced harassment from

conservative groups in Kuningan.

Against this backdrop, this study addresses the

issue of civic space of the Sunda Wiwitan community

in Cigugur, Kuningan. In particular, the study seeks

to explain the dynamics of contested civic space

between the state, the majority groups, and the Sunda

Wiwitan community in Cigugur. Drawing on civic

space theory, this study aims contributes to the

debates of local religions by expanding the theory to

reframe the dynamics between restrictions and

struggle for civil rights and religious freedom in post-

reform Indonesia.

This study argues that despite stronger state’s

recognition on the rights of religious freedom,

discriminations against local religions are still

prevalent in democratized Indonesia. They occurred

in the form of governmental discriminations, causing

a contested civic space between religious minority

vis-à-vis the state and the majority groups. In the case

study of Sunda Wiwitan in Cigugur, the three actors

are in active position in shaping the civic space, in

which local government with the support of majority

groups seek to control the space, whereas the Sunda

Wiwitan community with the help of civil society

struggles to maintain and create a new space.

2 METHODS AND DATA

As the study addresses the issue of governmental

discriminations in the case of Sunda Wiwitan in

Cigugur, two research questions guide this study.

First, how does the manifestation of governmental

discriminations against Sunda Wiwitan community in

Cigugur and how does it impact their civic space?

Second, in what way that the government, the

majority groups, and the Sunda Wiwitan community

seek to influence the civic space and how does it

shape the power relation between actors?

To answer these questions, this study uses

qualitative research combining case study and digital

research method. While the case study describes the

dynamics of civic space in specific community of

Sunda Wiwitan in Cigugur, digital research analysis

illustrates data trend on the civic space problem of the

Sunda Wiwitan community in Cigugur.

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2.1 Case Study

The use of case study allows researcher to create a

more convincing theory when the suggestions are

more intensely grounded in several empirical

evidence. In this study, primary data is collected from

focus group discussion (FGD) and in-depth interview

conducted in three locations: Cigugur village,

Kuningan regency, and Jakarta. Informants were

selected from relevant individuals, which comprise

four different categories: (1) leader and adherents of

the Sunda Wiwitan community; (2) state officials

from national and local government; (3) religious

leaders from majority groups and local communities

in Cigugur; and (4) civil society activists from

national and local organizations.

In this study, there were a total of 67 individuals

participated as informants in interviews and FGD: 47

informants were interviewed face to face, and 20

informants participated in three FGDs (consist of two

online FGD in Jakarta; and one online FGD in

Kuningan). The FGD specifically targets civil society

activists from national and local organizations,

academics working on this issue, and adherents of

Sunda Wiwitan religion.

2.2 Digital Research

In this study, digital research is used to complement

and work around the limitations of the case study. In

particular, this study uses two types of digital

research: (1) big data analytics (BDA), and (2) textual

network analysis (TNA). While the BDA is used to

provide a descriptive picture of the general trends and

characteristics of news coverage of the local religions

in online media, the TNA aims to measure the level

of bias and framing in discourse. Using Phyton and

Gephi software, the research collects, processes,

analyses, and visualizes the data in the form of charts

and graphics.

2.2.1 Table

Guided by research questions and theoretical

framework, the research uses specific keywords

(known as “corpus”) and dataset as follow:

Table 1: Digital research methods.

Data Crawling and

Collection

Data Filtering and

Classification

- Keyword: ‘agama

lokal OR ‘Sunda

Wiwitan’

- Keyword to filter issue

of rights: ‘hak’ OR

‘pengakuan’ OR

‘perlindun

an’

- Source: online

media

- Language:

Indonesian

- Timeline: 20

October 2014 - 20

Oktober 2020

- Keyword to filter issue

of violation:

‘pembatasan’ OR

‘pelarangan’ OR

‘diskriminasi’ OR

‘kekerasan’

Source: Data processed, 2020.

2.2.2 Figures

Figure 1: Wordcloud of top-mentioned issues related to the

Sunda Wiwitan Community in Cigugur. Source: Data

processed, 2020.

(2a). news frequency per year

(2b). most-frequent news based on date

(2c). most-frequent news based on incident

Figure 2: News frequency on local religions. Source: Data

processed, 2020.

Puluhan keluarga Badui

yang tinggal di

pedalaman Kabupaten

Lebak, Banten,

menyatakan me njadi

mualaf dengan

menganut agama Islam

dari sebelumnya

memeluk kepercayaan

Sunda Wiwitan

Perdebatan an tara Dedi

Mulyadi (Bupati

Purwakarta) dan Rizieq

Shihab terkait

pembangunan

Purwakarta. Per debatan

ini dimulai ketik a Dedi

Mulyadi berusa ha

menghidupkan kembali

ajaran Sunda Wiwitan

(salam sampurasu n vs

campur racun, patung

pewayangan, dll)

Ombudsman RI menilai

bahwa diskriminasi

pelayanan publikbag i

warga penganut

kepercayaan masih banya k

ditemui, sepertikesulitan

mendapatkan e-KTP,

layanan administrasi

pendidikan, dan urusan

pendidikan

Meski merupakan asli

kepercayaan nenek moyang

bangsa Indonesia yang

berasal dari s uku batak,

sikap diskrimina si kepada

penganut ajaran

kepercaya an Ugamo

Parmalim seringterjadidi

Sumatera Utara, salah

satunya adalahdari dunia

pendidikan dengan disuruh

belajar agama kristen

Kasus pelarang an dan

penyegelan pe sarean atau

bakal makam tok oh

masyarakat adatKa ruhun

Urang Sunda Wiwitan

(AKUR) Cigugur

menimbulkanpolemik

Perdebatan

antara eksekutif

dan legislative

tentang wac ana

penghapusan

kolom aga ma

dalam KTP

Tokohmasyarakat

sumba barat me minta

Presiden RI

memberikan dukungan

anggaran untuk

penulisan buku mini

untuk mempermudah

pemahaman

masyarakat ten tang

Marapu.

Local Religions and Contested Civic Space in Indonesia: A Case Study of Sunda Wiwitan Community in Cigugur, West Java

597

(3a). Most-discussed issue related to local religion

(3b). Most-mentioned local religion community

(3c). Most-mentioned location of local religion

community

Figure 3: Issues coverage related to local religions. Source:

Data processed, 2020.

Figure 4: Cluster analysis on narratives and issues regarding

Sunda Wiwitan Community in Cigugur. Sources: Data

processed, 2020.

2.3 Limitation

Despite vigorous data collection in this research,

there is a methodological limitation regarding the use

of case study and digital research. In terms of case

study, the techniques for collecting in-depth

interviews and FGD with state and non-state actors

(5a). Cluster analysis of narratives of the civil rights

of Sunda Wiwitan in Cigugur

(5b). Cluster analysis of narratives of the

discrimination against Sunda Wiwitan in Cigugur

Figure 5: Textual network analysis on Sunda Wiwitan

Community in Cigugur.Source: Data processed, 2020.

and individuals have created opportunities for data

bias, since the individuals had to recall their

knowledges and experiences.

Meanwhile, data collection for the BDA and TNA

used in the digital research only covers six years

period (2014-2020), despite discussing the problem

of civic space of the local religions in the

democratization era. While it is possible to retrieve

datasets over a longer period of time, the limited

capacity of the software and ability to process the big

data made it difficult for researchers to do so.

However, this is circumvented using specific

keyword or ‘corpus’, as well as keywords to filter the

data in accordance with the needs of the study

analysis.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Framing Discrimination in Civic

Space Perspective

While there are several terms used to define

governmental restrictions, most scholars refer to

policies, attitudes and actions from the state

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actors/officials/agencies directing at restricting the

free practice of religion (Grim & Finke, 2006; Mataic,

2018). This study follows Jonathan Fox’s specific and

narrowed definition of government religious-based

discrimination (GRD), which refers to “restrictions

placed by governments or their agents on the

religious practices or institutions of religious

minorities that are not placed on the majority

religion” (Fox, 2016, 2020)

According to Fox, this definition of GRD

distinguishes discrimination from religious

restrictions. As he puts it, “while religious repression

may apply to all religions and can be substantial and

violate the right to free exercise of all citizens

(including majority religion), religious

discrimination only applies to minority groups and

manifest in an unequal state’s support between

majority and minority religions” (Fox, 2020)

According to Fox (2020), there are various form

of governmental restrictions, ranging from legal to

political and security approach. Yet the pattern of

GRD can be classified into four categories of

restrictions. First, restriction on religious practices,

which targets public and private observance of

religion, religious laws, or religious groups; materials

related religious teachings, rites, and ceremonies; and

the practice of religious laws and customs. Second,

restriction on religious institutions and clergy, which

includes access to religious registration, places of

worship, religious clergy, or even public facilities.

Third, restriction on conversion and proselytizing,

including conversion or renunciation of faith, and

proselytizing of religious teachings. Last, other types

of restrictions, such as laws and policies on

mandatory education in the majority religion; child

custody based on religion; state surveillance of

religious activities, groups, or perceived heretic sects;

or state’s negligence to protect religious minorities.

While much of the research use human rights

perspective as analytical framework to explain why

and how discrimination against minority religions is

ubiquitous, they overlook why government

discriminate against certain minority groups. Against

this backdrop, this study looks into the explanation of

civic space theory. Developed out of democratization

literature, this theory provides a general

understanding of how the state and society compete

for civic space and explains why this situation occurs

and likely to be profound.

In the mainstream literatures, the concept of civic

space is often understood as central to “any open and

democratic society and means that states have a duty

to protect people while respecting and facilitating the

basic fundamental rights to associate, assemble

peacefully, and express views of opinion” (Civicus,

2011). Following this definition, freedom of religion,

which is recognized as one of the fundamental civil

rights, is therefore closely related to civic space.

The civic space is open when all religious groups

have equal freedom to embrace and practice their

beliefs: individually and collectively; privately and

publicly. Conversely, when the state fails to protect

this freedom, or deliberately limits religious freedom

that should be enjoyed by all religious groups equally,

this will cause this space to shrink, or even closed.

Although in reality, this situation in which religious

freedom is shrinking is not new. As some study

shows, the trend of shrinking religious freedom and

civic space is actually making headlines around the

world, including in Indonesia (Pew Forum, 2019;

Hurriyah, 2020a, 2020b).

When studying the extent of civic space, it should

be emphasised that this is not solely dependent on

external pressures exerted upon it. As Buyse (2018)

asserts, this space is dynamics, never static nor given,

and is created in the interactions between citizens and

civil society elements and others. They are its main

formal and collective manifestation, and they actively

shape civic space but are also dependent on it. In this

regard, Buyse offers a more specific and narrow

definition of civic space, as “the practical room for

action and manoeuvre for citizens and civil society

organizations (CSOs), and the extent to which they

can enjoy the freedoms of association, peaceful

assembly and expression.”

According to Buyse, how a CSO’s activity is

perceived and reacted upon civic space may vary

between the domestic and international level and also

within a country, depending on the state’s level of

eﬀective control over an area or on the state

institution involved. This is because the civic space

consists of and determined by three factors: first,

existing institutional channels, including laws and

procedures and the possibilities for contestation they

offer. In this regard, the state and civil society may

compete in using legal means and mechanism: with

the state employs administrative and criminal law to

suppress the work of CSOs and citizens; and the

citizens or CSOs take legal actions to advocate

themselves. Second, discourse and the power to label

and frame, by which the state uses derogatory

terminology aims to deter criticism, discourage free

expression, increase negative public opinion, and

justify the repression; and the civil society respond

with counter-narratives. Third, the capacity to

maintain and create new space, which includes the

use of ppressures from state actors or private sectors

using carrot-and-stick strategy; and the dynamic of

Local Religions and Contested Civic Space in Indonesia: A Case Study of Sunda Wiwitan Community in Cigugur, West Java

599

civil society’s pushback against state’s pressures

(Buyse, 2018)

3.2 Trajectory of Civic Space of the

Sunda Wiwitan Community in

Cigugur

Unlike other local religions in Indonesia, the history

of Sunda Wiwitan religion and its community is

relatively new. It can be traced back to colonial era,

when Prince Madrais Alibasa Widjaja Ningrat (also

known as Kyai Madrais), which was believed as

generation of Sultan Gebang of Prince Alibasa I,

established a religious organization and its teaching

named Agama Djawa Sunda (ADS) or Madraism –a

name taken from its founder in 1848 at Gebang,

Eastern Cirebon. Although, one study asserts that the

name of ADS is given by people outside the group led

by Prince Madrais.

This religion is also known as Cara Karuhun

Urang (ancestry tradition), Sunda Wiwitan religion,

Madrais percept or Cigugur religion (Komarudin

2017: 97). Some studies even said that ADS is

abbreviation from Atikan Daya Sampurna

(Kepustakaan Nasional, 2013: 33). The name of

Sunda Wiwitan itself represents its characteristic as

ethnic-religious group, which also distinguish it from

other local religions like Marapu, Kaharingan, or

Parmalim. Literally means ‘early Sunda’ or ‘real

Sunda’, the adherents of Sunda Wiwitan assert that

their religion has been part of Sundanese way of life

since before the arrival of Hinduism and Islam. While

few studies argue that the name of ADS refer to the

teaching of this religion which combine nationality

values in Java’ and Sunda’s spiritual tradition

(Komarudin, 2017), other studies find that the

teachings of this religion are actually combined the

elements of Islamic values and early Sundanese

culture (Qodim, 2017; Rosidin, 2000; Syukur &

Qodim, 2017)

Historically, the foundation of Sunda Wiwitan

religion was originated in Cirebon, this teaching is

more developed in Cigugur, before finally expanded

to other areas in West Java, such as Ciamis, Garut,

Tasikmalaya, Sukabumi, Bandung, and so on

(Qodim, 2017). However, Cigugur has served as ADS

development basis even until now (Kepustakaan

Nasional, 2013: 38). The proliferation of the Sunda

Wiwitan teachings in West Java area was made

possible after the exile of Prince Tedjabuana, a

descendant of Madrais, during the Japanese

occupation. During that time, the colonial

government who feared that the community would

support rebellious groups fighting for Indonesian

independence, gave ultimatum to Tedjabuana to

disband the ADS. Due to his ignorance of the

ultimatum, the government has finally banned the

proliferation of ADS teachings, and sent him into an

exile in Bandung in 1944 (Qodim, 2017).

However, government’s hostility and even

accusation toward this community has long rooted

since the establishment of ADS. At the beginning,

ADS was established as a resistance form toward

VOC. During Dutch colonialism era, Madrais and his

ADS followers was considered as a radical and

dangerous group due to their strong nationality sense

to fight against colonialism. When Japan entered

Cigugur, accusation toward Madrais and his

adherents were even stronger, which then led to the

forced exile of Tedjabuana (Komarudin 2017).

In terms of civic space, Sunda Wiwitan

community in Cigugur has been facing narrow space

compared to those who are lived in other parts of

West Java. Their long history of struggling for civic

space can be traced back to colonial era until present

time. In this regard, one study asserts that the shifting

political attitudes and government policies on religion

since the colonial era to date have always greatly

impacted on the way this community strives to obtain

recognition as autonomous religious community

(Swazey, 2017). In addition, the hostile attitude of the

majority groups towards this community has also

threatened their civic space. It occurred not only in

the past, but even present time.

During the so-called Old Order, their religious

beliefs was denied state’s recognition, and their

organization was once again banned by the

government. In 1964, state-established trust

supervisory body named Pengawas Aliran

Kepercayaan Masyarakat (PAKEM) issued a decree

stating that the practices of Sunda Wiwitan were only

recognized as custom and thus, their marriage rites

and status were denied registration by the government

(Swazey, 2021).

In addition to legal restrictions, the government

and Islamist conservative groups have also accused

the community as being affiliated with the communist

ideology, in which they argue that such affiliation

could threaten the lives of its adherents. At that time,

the Sunda Wiwitan community faced two serious

challenges: the Darul Islam militants, who repeatedly

intimidated and attacked them, and the Ministry of

Religious Affairs, which actively tried to align

“underdeveloped religions” such as theirs with

Christianity or Islam (Harsono, 2020).

Such situation has forced Tedjabuana, who had

returned from his exile in Bandung, left the ADS

teaching and joined the Catholic church. While some

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viewed this action as survival strategy (Qodim, 2017),

it has brought consequences in which many of his

followers followed his action by renouncing their

conversion to popular religion (either Catholicism or

Islam), and left only a small group of adherents of

Sunda Wiwitan. In 1965, when the government issued

a decree No. 1/PNPS/1965 (known as Blasphemy

Law), the problems of discrimination against

religious minorities (including local religions) was

escalated, and even caused disastrous effects until

present time.

During the first few years of the New Order era,

the atmosphere under Suharto’s administration was

more favourable for the Sunda Wiwitan community to

practice their religion. Suharto’s friendly attitude to

local religion, given his affiliation with Javanese

Kejawen faith, has prompted the Sunda Wiwitan

community in Cigugur to renounce their faith.

Furthermore, they have also tried to further obtain

state’s recognition. In 1982, Prince Djatikusumah, a

third descendant of Madrais who attempted to revive

the ADS teachings, established an organization

named Paguyuban Adat Cara Karuhun Urang

(PACKU) and seek for official recognition by

registering the Sunda Wiwitan faith to the Ministry of

Education and Culture’s Directorate.

However, the effort was once again denied by the

government officials. Instead of gaining recognition

as religious beliefs, their organization was declared

illegal by court’s decision in 1982. Soon after that, the

government has banned all activities of the Sunda

Wiwitan tradition and rites, including Seren Taun,

annual festival of the Sunda Wiwitan to celebrate the

new agriculture year in the Sundanese ancient

calendar as well as thanksgiving for the blessings of

the abundance rice harvest, and to pray for the next

successful harvest.

Under the administration of Abdurrahman Wahid

which marked a new era of democratization, the

government issued Law No. 9/1998 concerning

Traditional Ceremony Activities, the Seren Taun was

finally acknowledged as cultural festival. In addition

to that, the government has even facilitated the

celebration by providing not only financial support

but also direct participation from the government

officials. Later on, the decision to allow and facilitate

the practice of Seren Taun was also followed by the

local government.

3.3 Framing Sunda Wiwitan in Media:

Discourse, Narratives, and Actors

While the trajectory of civic space of the Sunda

Wiwitan community in Cigugur is marked by

repeated history of governmental discriminations, our

findings also shows that the dynamics of civic space

of the Sunda Wiwitan community are also

characterized with contested narratives between the

government and the community, particularly on the

issue of religious freedom, civil rights, and

discriminations (see Fig. 5).

Overall, our data-crawling finds a total of 752

articles captured from 84 online media between

October 20

, 2014, to October 20

, 2020, that were

related to the issue of local religions and Sunda

Wiwitan (see Fig. 3). General observation on the time

series data shows that the while the distribution of

online media coverage on local religions is evenly

distributed, but the amount and frequency of the news

is quite modest, which indicates lack of attention from

both public in general (see Fig. 3).

The data trend shows that only when there are

specific events or incidents involving the community

of local religions, they attract media attention (see Fig

1; Fig 2c). In addition, the trend also shows that most

of the news coverage in online media mainly discuss

about issues related to religious, cultural, and societal

aspects. Meanwhile, issues related to discrimination

against local religion are lesser compared to other

issues (see Fig. 2). Interestingly, a closer look to big

data analytics shows that discourses about

discrimination against local religions are mostly

dominated with topics about Sunda Wiwitan

community in Cigugur, Kuningan (see Fig 3b, 3c).

Interestingly, a closer look to big data analytics shows

that discourses about discrimination against local

religions are mostly dominated with topics about

Sunda Wiwitan community in Cigugur, Kuningan

(see Fig. 3b, 3c).

While the news covers a six-year period, however,

the most frequent news only appeared in July 2020,

when there was an incident in which the Kuningan

government sealed off the construction of Batu

Satangtung on July 27, 2020 (see Fig. 2b, 2c). The

construction was built by the Sunda Wiwitan

community on their own land and designated as tomb

prepared for two elders of the community: Prince

Djatikusumah and his wife Ratu Emilia

Wigarningsih. However, the government accused that

the construction looked like a monument rather than

a tomb, saying that the group had no permit to build a

monument (Kompas.com, 24/07/2020).

Based on our textual network analysis, there are

two dominant narratives regarding the issues of local

religions: first, the framing of local religions as

merely customary beliefs and traditional

communities, and second, the framing of local

religion’s community and its customary rites as

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601

tourism commodity. This contrasting narratives

represents each actor’s point of view and their

narratives: the government’s narrative perceiving

local religions as cultural and tourism commodities;

and the community’s narrative emphasizing the

issues of governmental discriminations against local

religions (see Fig. 4).

A careful observation on the issues regarding the

rights of Sunda Wiwitan community shows that

discussions related to rights aspect of the community

are mainly dominated with two cluster of issues.

First, local issues related to the efforts of Sunda

Wiwitan community to obtain recognition as

customary law groups and their rights to own

customary land. Second, national issue related to the

decision of the Constitutional Court in November

2017, which allowed local religions to be

incorporated as additional religious category on

Indonesians' ID cards (see Fig 5a). As for the issues

on discriminations against Sunda Wiwitan

community, the TNA visualization shows that most

popular discourse are mainly about the case of Batu

Satangtung and government’s commitment to

implement the decision of the Constitutional Court

(see Fig. 5b).

However, a closer look to the actor’s network

shows that the discourse about the needs for rights

fulfilment and governmental discriminations against

Sunda Wiwitan community were mainly voiced out

by critical public, civil society organizations, human

rights activists, and the Sunda Wiwitan community

itself. In responding this issue, state actors tend to

emphasize more on the procedural problems

hindering the fulfilment of civil rights, or, in the case

of Batu Satangtung incident, to justify government’s

policy and actions to seal the construction, at the cost

of religious freedom of the Sunda Wiwitan

community (Interview, 25/9/2020)

3.4 Contested Civic Space: Dynamics

between Restrictions and the

Pushback

On the field, contrasting views between the state

actors and the local religious communities in

perceiving the space for local religions is also evident.

For instance, the contested narratives between the

government vis-à-vis Sunda Wiwitan community

were also reflected in the interviews with

government’s officials and Regent of Kuningan,

when highlighting the importance of Seren Taun

festival as potential assets for cultural exhibition and

tourism assets in Kuningan regency (Interview,

24/9/2020). Whereas the Sunda Wiwitan community

and civil society’s organizations perceived

government’s attitude and policies toward this

community as discriminations and even cultural

genocide (FGD, 9/9/2020).

In terms of civic space, the situation is like

business as usual: the state actors use their legal

power to employ restriction policies, while the

communities continue to resist. The state restrictions

have not only curtailed the space for the free practice

of religious freedom for the local religions, but it also

has further impact on their civic space as citizens.

Based on our findings, there are three major

methods of governmental restriction. The first method

is legal restrictions, which was done by launching

regulations that sets strict limitations and using them

to justify state surveillance against to the local

religions. The second method is by controlling the

discourse and narratives over civic space of the Sunda

Wiwitan community in Cigugur. Finally, as the third

method, the state also restrains the moral standing of

local religious groups, by preventing them from

spreading their teaching outside their own circle (and

in some cases, even within their circle). In practice,

these methods often overlap with one another

(Interviews 24-29/9/2020).

Among others, legal restrictions become the most

frequent method used by the government: in the past

and present time; in the aspect of religious freedom

and other civil rights; and has taken place both at

national and local levels. Prior to Reformasi era, the

community’s efforts to obtain state’s recognition as

religious community were not only rejected from the

related ministries, but even responded with a court’s

decision asserting their religious beliefs as heretics.

Yet in present time, their efforts to gain state’s

recognition as customary law community are mainly

challenged by the local government, by issuing a

Regent’s decree stating that the AKUR Sunda

Wiwitan community does not meet state’s criteria to

be granted as customary law community.

During the interview, the Kuningan regent asserts

that based on the assessment on historical, territorial,

economics and institutional aspects of the Sunda

Wiwitan community in Cigugur, the government had

decided to deny their proposal. He also persisted that

the decision was made by referring to a regulation set

by the Ministry of Home Affairs, namely

Permendagri No. 52/2014 regarding the required set

of criteria for customary law community (Interview

24/9/2020).

Apart from procedural impediments, the

disinclination of local government to grant the

community with a status of customary law

community was because they are fearing that it will

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trigger potential conflicts with the local government,

as well as with majority religions. The Regent further

stated that “if the government recognized Sunda

Wiwitan as masyarakat hukum adat, there is an

increasing risk that they will make their own rules

within the community, and it might be conflicting with

state rules, and even the society. The case of Batu

Satangtung for instance, the community has built the

monument without asking permission to the

government, and thus causing conflict with some

religious groups” (Interview, 24/9/2020).

Yet a closer look the dynamics of past

discriminations faced by the community shows that

government’s response has reflected the way this

community is perceived. For long, the government

and the larger parts of communities in Kuningan have

thought of Sunda Wiwitan as merely a customary

belief rather than a religion. The government made a

very clear position that calling it ‘local religion’ will

be even more sensitive and might trigger hostile acts

from the larger community. Whether or not the term

‘local religion’ is sensitive to the community is yet to

be investigated further. At this point, nevertheless, it

is fair to say that the government keeps maintaining

the control of public discourse, by labelling Sunda

Wiwitan as a group of people with a specific belief

that does not qualify them as a religious group.

By not recognizing them as an ethno-religious

group, it is also easier for the government to set a clear

boundary for the civic space of Sunda Wiwitan

community in Cigugur. One of the clearest pieces of

evidence to this argument is the afore-discussed Batu

Satangtung case. As reported by the media, the stone

construction was first openly rejected by a group of

people that later known to come from outside

Kuningan. Even though the community surrounding

the site did not show any direct rejection, yet the local

government used technocratic reasons to put a halt on

the construction, by installing restricting lines around

the enacted stone. The lines were only removed after

the family gained the building permit, and the case

got widespread public. Even after the incident, the

Batu Satangtung case was not entirely closed,

because the government still demand that the

structure later be used as burial site, not a

sarcophagus.

Apart from those restrictions, the Sunda Wiwitan

community in Cigugur has also faced severe

governmental restrictions in various aspects. They

manifest in the forms of restrictions on accessing

religious registrations, gaining protection as

customary groups, restrictions on accessing social

and educational services, restrictions on building

religious site or house of worship, arbitrary

inspection, harassment, hostilities, and even violence

acts when expressing or practicing their religious

beliefs. In addition, their rights as religious

community have been undermined by the government

through the use of labeling and negative framing

when the community struggles to obtain state’s

recognition and their leader dealt with internal

conflict with other family member (Interview

24/9/2020).

Responding to all these actions taken by the state,

the Sunda Wiwitan community make use of at least

two moves. First, they strengthen the supporting

network with other actors, mostly from civil society

realm. The community do so by maintaining close

contacts with moderate religious groups, civil society

organizations and advocates such as Unity in

Diversity National Alliance (ANBTI) and Journalist

Alliance for Diversity (SEJUK), as well as with state-

initiated institutions such as the National Commission

for Human Rights (Komnas HAM). On the case of

Batu Satangtung, these organizations helped the

community by voicing out the issue and raising public

awareness through press release, petition at

change.org, and advocate the issue to Komnas HAM

(FGD, 9/9/2020).

To some extent, this network strengthening also

take benefit from the position gained by Dewi Kanti

Setianingsih (a core family member of Sunda

Wiwitan community and descendant of

Djatikusumah) at the National Commission on

Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan). In

addition, they also uphold alliances with academia

from some universities through continuous

communication maintained by Ira Indrawardana, a

Sunda Wiwitan adherent working as a lecturer at

Padjadjaran University, Bandung (FGD 25/9/2020)

The second effort taken by the Sunda Wiwitan

people is enhancing their capacity to maintain and

create the space, amidst ever-growing state

restrictions (FGD, 25/9/2020). There has been at least

one major event that forced the community to launch

their defensive strategies in maintaining and creating

the space. The event was when the state banned the

ADS teaching and its organization in the 1960s.

Leaders of the community converted to Catholicism,

under an agreement with the Church that they could

continue performing some rituals to preserve the

teachings of Sundanese heritage (Interview,

24/9/2020).

By doing this, they could keep the freedom to

carry out their original religion in practice, as long as

they did not call it religious practices. Meanwhile,

they also temporarily accepted state recognition as the

representation of customary group through

Local Religions and Contested Civic Space in Indonesia: A Case Study of Sunda Wiwitan Community in Cigugur, West Java

603

Masyarakat AKUR. This has enabled them to

preserve cultural expression of the local religion,

including the annual procession called Seren Taun, as

well as their traditional rites. With this, they can even

invite people outside their religious group to

participate. Even the government officials have been

showing positive gestures toward the annual rites of

Seren Taun – again, as long as they do not call it a

religious ceremony.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The decrease of freedom and squeezed civic space for

local religions has been prominent in Indonesia. Even

after 1998 democratization, adherents of local

religions throughout the country are still suffering

from discriminations. Rather than offering an

enabling environment for the free exercise of religion,

the state continues to control the civic space using a

repertoire of restrictions and discrimination.

Whilst restrictions and discriminations have been

pervasive as means to undermine the rights of the

local religions, our study shows that the dynamics of

power struggle from the civil society and local

religion’s community to obtain these rights are

relentless. Using various strategies ranging from

legal, political, and even social and cultural approach,

they respond directly to state restrictions on the one

hand, while encouraging the openness of new civic

spaces on the other. Hence, the case shows that both

actors have actively shaped the dynamics of politics

of religious freedom of the Sunda Wiwitan

community, resulting a contested civic space.

The findings of the study also shows that the case

of Sunda Wiwitan community in Cigugur

demonstrates a complexity of power struggle to

maintain and preserve civic space, which involved

other political actors, including state agencies, civil

society organizations, religious groups, and majority

groups. As this paper previously argues, each actor is

in active position in shaping the space for the local

religions in Cigugur. On the one hand, the

government and the majority groups are seeking to

control civic space using various forms of

restrictions. On the other, the adherents of Sunda

Wiwitan religion are responding to the squeezed

space by striving to preserve and reclaim the civic

space using various strategies, both at local and

national level.

Despite the significant contributions and findings

of this study, it is important to note what the results

do and do not demonstrate. The results demonstrate

that the government restrictions on Sunda Wiwitan

community are related to national policies on local

religions. Consistent with civic space theory and past

research (Buyse, 2018; Fox, 2020), the patterns of

government restrictions on Sunda Wiwitan

community are manifested in both legal and political

methods, which reflect the way the state has

perceived and treated local religions so far. While the

case study shows a complexity of problem related to

local politics, the problems of contested civic space

faced by Sunda Wiwitan community in Cigugur

essentially reflects the nature of problem behind

contested civic space for the adherents of local

religions in Indonesia.

However, outliers and nonsignificant results are

also present. For instance, the land issue which

emerged in TNA analysis is an outlier and does not

reflect general problem of the civic space for the local

religions in Indonesian context. Although, in the case

of Sunda Wiwitan community in Cigugur, this issue

has somewhat hindered their efforts to gain state

recognition as customary law group. While the case

also shows the necessity to look at the influence of

local context, future research is needed to investigate

the extent and impact of local context to increased

government restrictions. In the context of community

sustainability, further research is also needed in order

to examine the impact of the shrinker civic space of

the local religion to the future of community

sustainability in Indonesia.

Ultimately, this study contributes both narrowly

and broadly with regards to the presence of

government restrictions on to the religious minorities.

While this study specifically builds on the knowledge

that local context is significant predictor of

restrictions on local religions, the study also

reinforces the argument of contested civic space by

expanding this theory to reframe the dynamics

between restrictions and struggle for civil rights and

religious freedom in the post-reform Indonesia.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to express gratitude to several

individuals and institutions which have made this

research possible: Abdul Gaffar Karim (Department

of Politics and Government, Universitas Gadjah

Mada) and Delia Wildianti (Centre for Political

Studies, Universitas Indonesia) for their contributions

as part of research team; Wegik Prasetyo and teams

from Laboratorium BigData Analytics, Universitas

Gadjah Mada, for their contribution in assisting with

data collection on digital research; and for the

Directorate of Research and Community Services

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(DPRM) of Universitas Indonesia, who provide

research funding under the scheme of Hibah PUTI

2020.

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