PERSATUAN ISLAM TIONGHOA INDONESIA (PITI) YOGYAKARTA, 1998-2000

Tionghoa Muslims as a minority entity in Indonesia in general and Yogyakarta in particular is interesting to study. This thesis is trying to explain the Tionghoa Muslim community previously known as Persatuan Islam Tionghoa (PITI) from 1998 until 2000 and also PITI Dakwah Strategy. PITI which recognizes as a social-religion organization had turned into significance organization during the Reformasi in Indonesia. The New Order ruled by Soeharto had policies on races, religion and cultural practices, which considered to remove the segregation platform among the society in Indonesia. The policy was then recognized as integration and assimilation policy. In the other hand, the policy proposed by the ruler was not well accepted by Tionghoa in general, tend to be a discrimination and prohibition policy. Meanwhile, In Yogyakarta PITI was established in 1970, the idea was to unite Muslims and also to do Dakwah (preaching) within Tionghoa Muslim community. This research finds that Tionghoa Muslim conducted Dakwah among the Tionghoa community in several ways, through Pengajian, building mosques, and pilgrimage to Mecca. In addition into that, to emphasize and strenghthen PITI and its members, PITI also conduct counseling program for a new Tionghoa convert to Islam. The members of PITI blended with local Muslims and built a bridging-culture in between. To do so, the Islamization which carried by PITI accepted with ease either by local Muslims or non-Muslim Chinese community. The coexistence between PITI with the other communities in Indonesia and Dakwah in peaceful way, has brought impact on gaining its members to convert to Islam also gives trust from local people. This research uses historical approach to analyze PITI development in Yogyakarta from 1998 until 2000. He is known as a figure who also supported Chinese in general. This paper would be presented in chapters and focused its discussion to explain the relation between PITI and local people in Yogyakarta using structural-functional theory. The writer limits this paper from 1998 until 2000 due to it is 2 years after the Reformation and in the early phase of Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) era as a president. Keywords: Islam, Tionghoa, PITI, Assimilatio