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In Masjid At-Taqwa official inauguration on June 2013, many Chinese Muslim representative from Mosques and organizations in Taiwan, also Islamic countries’
representative office in Taiwan attend this historical event. All of them declare their support and help for the Indonesian Muslim and da’wa in Taiwan, especially related to facilities. A testimony about Indonesian Muslim also mentioned by Kaohsiung mosque’s Imam. The Imam said:
“I’m proud with Indonesian Muslim in Taiwan because since the establishment of Kaohsiung mosque, Indonesian Muslim are very active to come and enliven the mosque. The number of Chinese Muslim is quite small, so that Indonesian Muslim presence is very important for Islam in Taiwan.”
According to Imam Abdullah34, the Taichung mosque’s Imam, the interaction and relation of Indonesian Muslim and Chinese Muslim is very good. He said:
“There are more than 200,000 Indonesian worker in Taiwan and majority of them is Muslim. In my opinion, the relations among Muslim should be like a brotherhood, so that masjid Taichung provide place to hold activities without any charge (only for cleaning). The mosque is shared together for Muslim from any country in the world, we give freedom as long as they obey the masjid’s regulation.”
To understand further interaction and cooperation between Indonesian Muslim and Chinese Muslim, there are four main case studies where they interact and relate at most.
4.2 Inter-Marriage
Marriage is the fastest way to assimilate two different backgrounds. Assimilation, in which social control is consolidated, has usually been thought of as the process in which cultural homogeneity is produced. But in the context of Indonesian Muslim woman and Taiwanese’s inter-marriage, the possibility can be both, either they assimilate into the Islamic culture or Chinese culture (sinicized).
There are Indonesian workers, mainly woman that married with Taiwanese who is convert to Islam. However, compare to another foreign Muslim in Taiwan, the number of Indonesian – Chinese Muslim marriage is not as many as Pakistanis. But in some cases, the
34 Imam Abdullah Shan Yaowu (閃耀武), Imam of Taichung Mosque, is Chinese Muslim from Myanmar.
He was graduated from Al Azhar University majoring in Islamic Law in Egypt, and finished his study in 1996. In the same year, he was appointed to serve in Taichung Mosque.
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inter-marriage Muslim couple has significant role among the Chinese and Indonesian Muslim communities.
One of the inter-marriage case in Longgang mosque area is Mrs. Wati, former Indonesian worker who married with Thailand Chinese Muslim. The other one is Imam of Longgang Mosque and Mrs. Siti (former Indonesian worker) who married in the end of 2013. Their marriage makes the relations between Indonesia Muslim and Chinese Muslim in Longgang mosque getting closer.
While in Kaohsiung area, some prominent inter-marriage couples are Mrs. Sari & her Taiwanese husband, Mrs. Hartati & Taiwanese Muslim, and Mr. Zaenal & Taiwanese wife, and also Mrs. Santi & her Taiwanese husband in Qijin Island. All of them have stayed in Taiwan for long time, and after married they open Indonesian store and Indonesian halal food restaurant.
Mr. Zaenal has been living in Taiwan for more than 20 years. At first, he was a worker but then he started his business and now is quite successful. Mr. Zaenal also known as the most prominent Indonesian figure in Kaohsiung. He owned Indonesian store close to Kaohsiung main station, and also center for making tempe (fermented soy bean) and halal meat ball close to the port. He also actively invite Indonesian workers to participate in his entrepreneur activities.
Not all inter-marriage couples among Indonesian workers and Taiwanese can bring Islam to their daily activities. Some of Indonesian women even convert to Chinese religion and follow the husband’s family tradition. To prevent it, in Taichung Mosque, if the Taiwanese man want to married with Indonesian Muslim women, he should learn about basic Islamic teaching for 3 months in the mosque before convert to Muslim and get the Muslim certificate. But this convert should be because of the self-consciousness, not because of the marriage. However, in fact there are some cases where the groom converted only for ceremonial purpose, then after he already married, then he return to his previous religion or believes.
Furthermore, in Taiwan due to a lack of family religious education and biased education system, “freedom of belief” contributed to the deterioration of religion. Most of the second generation Muslims in Taiwan were unfamiliar with the Muslim community. Therefore, for the third and fourth generation of Muslims is even more difficult to know and
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understand Islamic concept and practices, even though their grand parents (first generation) were very religious. Ma Chao-Yen argued that although the first generation of Chinese Muslim in Taiwan built excellent facilities, however in terms of sustainability, they are failed to establish religious and cultural infrastructure.
The next generation can received better education and career in Taiwan, however in the context of religion, they were lack of knowledge, belief and Islamic practices. Some of them even denied themselves as Muslim, even though their parents/ grandparents were Muslim. Furthermore, with the absence of formal Islamic education institution/ school in Taiwan and limited Islamic teacher made the sustainability of Islamic education in Taiwan become worse. No wonder that many of Muslim families’ descendants drifted away from Islam.
As one generation followed another, they became almost totally assimilated into Taiwanese society, adopting Taiwanese customs and the Taiwanese religion (China folk religion, Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism). To solve this problem, the Muslim authorization needs to boost Islamic activities and enhance the education of young generation for a greater emphasis on religion. And Muslim community need to take a part for keeping the sustainability of education by providing Islamic teacher and trainings.
In Taipei, Arabic language is being taught formally in National Chengchi University in Taipei since 1957 under the Department of Arabic Language and Culture under the Department of Oriental Languages and Cultures. Due to the growing importance of Arab nations in the aspect of cultures, politics and economics of the world, the ROC government authorized the Department of Arabic Language and Culture to be independent, making it equal to the Department of Oriental Languages and Cultures within the university.
The Chinese Muslim Association has also been sending Taiwanese Muslim students overseas to receive formal Islamic education, mostly in Middle East. However, most of them then working as diplomat in Ministry of Foreign Affairs, especially to Islamic countries, and there is only limited young generation of Taiwanese Muslim who want to be religious leader (imam) or Islamic teacher. To further improve the effort in preserving the Islamic faith among the Muslims, the association has developed a plan to "educating secular educators" and that the Bureau of Education of the Taipei City Government has approve the proposal to hold Islamic courses for primary and secondary school teachers during
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summer vacations. They also provide authentic Islamic information to public school teachers to eliminate the Islamic stereotyping and misunderstanding.