Eksistensi Minoritas Pendakwah Perempuan Peranakan Tionghoa di Indonesia

Studi Hj. Tan Mei Hwa

Abstract

This article describes the existence of the role of Chinese Peranakan women who are active as preachers (da'iyah). Chinese Peranakan Muslims, although in a minority community group in Indonesia, have experienced significant development every year. The container for fostering the Chinese convert community in Indonesia has been built in the form of a hybrid worship, the mosque/prayer room building is built in the concept of a combination of Arab-Islamic (Nusantara) and Chinese (Peranakan) culture that resembles a 'klenteng' and has Nusantara characteristics. The Chinese Peranakan Muslim minority carries out Islamic studies through routine and intensive guidance for converts. Not a few Chinese Peranakan women appear to the public as preachers, for example Tan Mei Hwa in East Java. Through a study of media text analysis, virtual ethnographic studies and literature, this study concludes 4 findings: (1) Chinese Peranakan Women Preachers in Indonesia are still very minimal, but their existence is generally accepted by Muslims; (2) Chinese Muslim Women Preachers represent the role of women (Gender) in the public sphere who are not marginalized from the majority group; (3) As a Chinese descendant, female preachers demonstrate a moderate personal identity in religion and respect the diverse differences in tribe, ethnicity and race in the midst of social life in society, especially in Java; (4) female preachers receive equal recognition with other Chinese descendant preachers such as Ustadz Felix Siauw, Koko Liem, Koh Dennis Lim and others.