STRONGMEN AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS IN JAVA: Their Dynamic Relationship in Search of Power

<p><em>The central purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamic relationship between</em><strong> </strong><em>Javanese strongmen and religious leaders in search of power. Two groups of</em><strong> </strong><em>strongmen -jago in Central and East Java and jawara in Banten- and</em><strong> </strong><em>religious leaders, such as kyai, tarekat teachers and guru ngaji are the subjects</em><strong> </strong><em>of this discussion. I present two groups of strongmen and religious leaders</em><strong> </strong><em>and sketch how both groups, through their socio-political as well as religious</em><strong> </strong><em>roles, preserve the values of the Javanese and Bantenese. Religious leaders and</em><strong> </strong><em>strongmen have been the source of informal traditional leadership, particularly</em><strong> </strong><em>in villages. Religious leaders have represented leadership in knowledge, while</em><strong> </strong><em>strongmen have represented leadership with regard to braveness and physical magical</em><strong> </strong><em>power. The most visible roles of the strongmen are as power brokers. In</em><strong> </strong><em>the meantime, religious leaders have to be aware of the risk of being alienated</em><strong> </strong><em>and isolated from their horizontal networks within religious circles, but also</em><strong> </strong><em>more importantly, that their high position in society will gradually fade away</em><strong> </strong><em>if they place themselves too close to strongmen and the authorities.</em><strong></strong></p> <strong>Keywords: </strong><em>Jago</em>, <em>jawara</em>, <em>kyai</em>, power relation