Ade Yamin is confirmed to be the 26th Doctor of the Islamic Politics Program of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta’s Political Sciences Department after delivering his dissertation titled ‘Becoming a Papuan Muslim; The struggle of the Dani Muslim Community in the Baliem Valley’ in his promotion session in the 4th Floor Amphitheater Room of the Postgraduate Building at UMY Central Campus, Tuesday (12/17). Ade also became the 105th Doctor of the UMY Postgraduate program.
The theme conveyed by Ade explains that Islam is the majority religion in Indonesia compared to other religions . However, the ratio in several regions are different and Islam can be a minority, as is the case in the Baliem Valley in Papua. There is a tribe called the Dani Muslims, and they inhabit 10 villages in Jayawijaya regency, were they are considered a minority in Papua because there are only 1,051 people as a whole or 8% of the total Muslim population, and only 0.45% of the majority are Christians in Jayawijaya Regency .
“The Baliem Valley community began to embrace Islam in 1971, but did not make a significant change in their lives. Dani Muslims must struggle to deal with a variety of cultural and structural pressures. This community still lives in poverty. They do not have adequate resources in terms of education, health, economy and even religion,” Ade revealed.
There are a lot of limitations faced by the people of the Baliem Valley, as mentioned by Ade Yamin. Baliem Valley can not be accessed by land. Ade revealed that with such limitations, how can Dani Muslims in 10 local villages in Jayawijaya Regency continue to embrace Islam as a religion, even though it seems that Islam is unable to provide solutions to the problems they face today.
Like other ethnic groups in Indonesia, the Dani people in the Baliem Valley have a set of cultures or traditions that they still uphold today. The entrance of Islam does not affect the original traditions that are still practiced. “They performed initiation rituals, traditional marriages by bringing Pigs as the dowry, burning corpses, mutilating limbs, practices that were carried out when one of the relatives died such as cutting off an ear or a finger, war, and their perception of God and the universe.”
Obviously, the various rituals believed by Dani Muslims clash with Islamic law. They still consider the pig as very prestigious, and they are also not afraid to consume it. “For me it is a cultural and structural presumption that is difficult to change with a single understanding. However, I have hope that there will be preachers who come there to lend a helping hand to guide them civilization, not to change traditions but to provide a slow understanding,” Ade stated.
From this dissertation, the Dani Muslim community in Lembah Beliem can make a major contribution to the Indonesian nation and can be used as a concrete example of the issue of continued differences in Indonesia lately. “Dani Muslims. an ethnic minority Indonesian entity, living under various pressures, succeeded in innovating by exploring local intelligence, binding it, and modifying it into a bridge of togetherness. Like their way of dealing with tensions, the intersection between culture and religion always provide a common space to discuss differences,” concluded Ade. (Hbb)
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