Eleven Stories from the Southeast – “Prologue”

Imaginary Line: One God and Three Loves In Pemenang

The history of the religious harmony in Pemenang was not made-up. Based on the developing story in public life, in Pemenang, this harmony has indeed already existed for a long time, even when Anak Agung Nengah Subagan who was sent by Anak Agung Gede Agung (King of Karang Asem kingdom that controlled Lombok at that time) led and governed Pemenang. At the time, Anak Agung Gede Agung’s need was to expand the power in Lombok.

But when the Puputan War happened, a war between the Karang Asem Kingdom and Uni Kedatuan in Lombok at that time, Pemenang was not affected by the war because Anak Agung Nengah Subagan governed well. He did not treat the religions differently between Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. Even in a writing of Rosmayadi, one of the authors when the first AKUMASSA program was run in Pasirputih, according to sources that he interviewed, in Pemenang Anak Agung Nengah Subagan had been able to please all components of society which consisted of those three religions, and had involved them in the management of his administration.

One proof of this religious harmony in Pemenang was reflected by the Jamiul Jamaah Mosque, Karang Pangsor Village. Jamiul Jamaah literally meant togetherness of society. At that mosque, the Pemenang community made three pillars which symbolized the togetherness of society. Each pillar was built by each religion.

Until today, the togetherness is still felt. If the members of one religious community are celebrating a ceremony and a religious event, then the members of other religious communities happily help the activity.

Each member of the religious community practices their religion in accordance with their own religious law. But in terms of social interaction, Pemenang community has one God, the God who loves peace. So in terms of religious harmony, Pemenang deservedly comes up as the pilot area.

This awareness what Pasirputih tries to emphasize to the Regional Government and all citizens of Pemenang, not only to show the Three Gili as the tourist icon, but also to show that the three religions in Pemenang could become an international benchmark to see how to live together in diversity.

But do not imagine that the story of religious harmony that I describe above as a flawless story that does not have obstacles and challenges, especially if we try to relate the reality and phenomenon in Pemenang today with what Nietzsche called as “Gott ist tot” (the dead of God).

In a paper written by my friend, Anhar Putra Iswanto, when he was a speaker at Kelas Wah Pasirputih Program (17th of April, 2016), he wrote that this cynicism was a form of criticism to social reality, that God had been killed by the power of absolutism of-which was actually relativism that became-the “New God” for human. Furthermore, Anhar wrote about the emergence of criticism from Michel Foucault in the 60s that predicted the “death of man”, that the concept of human as a special category would disappear. The human will lose their central place in science, education, culture, social, politics, religion and various fields of human life. Foucault also said that human would not become the ruler even of themselves.

I think it is not an exaggeration to quote a little from what was previously disclosed by Nietzsche and Foucault about the condition of this age because what actually appears in Pemenang nowadays is like to lead the community to that downfall. It is slow, but sure. Little by little, the cultural roots, religion, comradery, education and other aspects of life of Pemenang community are undermined.

The Pemenang society who won before the battle, the harmony of religious community, Bangsal as the meeting point of the local culture, the harmony and solidarity become a kind of fairy tale. It does not really exist. Even for the garbage problem, the Pemenang society has to hand it over to and blames the other party. To serve guests, the Pemenang society does not use polite words anymore. Let alone between different religions, even among the members of one religion internally, the dispute and fight happen. The Pemenang blueprint before, about which was told by the old people, about the layout of each village that supported each other, now undermines each other instead, due to the frequent fights, simply because of a football game, illegal street racing, drunkenness, even the Takbiran Parade of Idul Fitri.

This uncertainty, in my opinion, is caused by the act of a ‘culprit’. There is a culprit in Pemenang that is not realized by its own society. The culprit undermines the Bangsal Harbor. The culprit enters the lifestyle of young people. The culprit enters the recitation of Al Qur’an and religious mantras. The culprit transforms into anything and goes anywhere. It enters the sports, markets, schools and even the minds of all citizens of Pemenang. The culprit I mean is the Tourism Industry.

When the West Lombok officially released the North Lombok to become independent Regency, the hopes of tourism workers in the matter of promotion and the improvement of North Lombok were increasing, especially now that the tourism is the main program of the North Lombok Regency Government. The tourism is then valued as one of determining factors for the welfare of society. Of course this valuation is not completely wrong because after all, after a period of time, it is embedded in the minds of citizens about tourism.

Pemenang District then becomes the gate of North Lombok Tourism. Every activity must be motivated by the premise to participate in the success of tourism. The educational activities are for the tourism. The ritual and cultural activities support the tourism. The art is prepared to become a tourist spectacle. Even religion is used as a selling product of tourism.

From the national government to village government, all is about the tourism. All use the tagline “Visit Indonesia”, “Visit Lombok”, “Visit Sumbawa” and various other “visits”. Now, there are other new slogans in Lombok tourism: Religious Tour, Shari’a Tour and Halal Tour.

Then the questions arise. Who is the tourism exactly for? Then, do the people really need the tourism? How do we see and judge the stories about ambiguous realities which I write above? Don’t we consider the multiple conflicts that arise because of the tourism? What about the case of residents’ land that has been sold out to the investors? How about the fight between the locals and immigrants over the profitable land in Trawangan? Then, how far can we feel the condition of Pemenang’s tradition artists who until today have not received the tourism success? And the final question, who does really enjoy the tourism?