The Javanese in the Land of White Elephants

EVERYTHING looks immaculately organized in the Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand. The long queue at the immigration office is over in only a few minutes. You can also find similar orderliness in the Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) or Skytrain, a mass transportation system that connects to the airport. In Skytrain stations, passengers wait patiently before boarding their train. The atmosphere is also pleasant and comfortable.

Bangkok is indeed a distinctive city. Pictures of the king are everywhere; proof of how much loved the king is by his people. The city landscape flaunts the mesmerizing combination of historic and modern buildings that can capture everyone's eyes and heart. The king's palace, the restaurants, and shopping centers are situated not far from each other. It's not a secret that the city offers endless entertainment for anyone who seeks pleasure.

Nevertheless, the religious atmosphere of Bangkok is also discernible. Shaved-headed, barefoot monks clad in orange cloth can often be seen walking the streets and giving blessings and prayers from shop to shop. The people respectfully accept the prayers and give a little merchandise or money to the bags brought by the monks. There are also those who come to the monasteries on the banks of the Lamplatiw Canal in front of Wat Sutthaphot in the Lat Krabang district to ask for blessings from the monks before starting their day. When you're in a taxi, you have to be extra patient if the driver slows down when passing a monastery or even stopping briefly in front of the monastery to pay respects and pray.

Of course, one of the highlights of the city is a myriad of the Buddhist sites that dominate the townscape. In Wat Pho Temple, you can find the impressive 46-meter reclining golden Buddha statue, the largest one in Thailand. After that, if you want to enjoy the sunset, Wat Arun, one of the largest Buddhist temples, is the place to go. The temple at dusk is the epitome of elegance, and it will surely be an unforgettable sight for every visitor.

On my journey in Bangkok, I took the time to visit Sathorn, a district south of Bangkok. There, I could find Wat Yannawa and Wat Don monastery which are also among Bangkok's famous destinations. But, I was more delighted by the fact that there are 4,000 people, mostly Muslims and of Javanese origin, who live there. They call their village Kampung Jawa which means Javanese Village.

It is quite easy to reach the place, as you can use the train. After getting off at Surasak Station, you have to walk to the first alley (soi in Thai) on the left and just ask anyone you meet there the location of “hong lamat Jawa”. Most people know the place. It is located at 707 Rong Num Kheang Road, Yan Nawa, Sathorn. You can also take a taxi or motorcycle taxi and enter through an alley beside St. Louis Hospital.

Jawa Mosque

In Kampung Jawa, there is a mosque called Jawa Mosque and a school or madrasah, both located in the middle of the village. Opposite the mosque, separated by an alley, there is a public cemetery.

Along the road leading to the mosque, apart from book stalls, there are many cake and food vendors that put halal stickers on their stalls. They know that Muslims who visit Bangkok, the nation's capital city that is predominantly Buddhist, always have trouble finding halal food.

Jawa Mosque adopted the iconic architecture of the Demak Mosque that has overlapping roofs and four main pillars. The mosque has three doors: front, left, and right side, each equipped with a porch. A bedug (large double-headed drum) adorns the front porch of the mosque. The ablution area uses showers with seats, which is not a common design in mosques in Java. This unique arrangement makes it possible to perform ablution while sitting.

Small booklets of Quran verse and prayers are available in the mosque. After the evening prayer, some people perform wirid (reciting prayers from Quran verses) while the children read the Quran. During Ramadan, mosque caretakers provide various foods as takjil (food for breakfasting) such as khanom fak bua (Thai deep-fried pancake), grass jelly with syrup and ice, and compressed rice cake known in Indonesia as lontong.

The Javanese live not far from the mosque. Although most of them are no longer able to speak Javanese or Malay, they still practice the three-day and seven-day tradition when a family member dies. They also still like to wear Javanese batik and peci or cap to a wedding party. Like most Indonesians, they are very amiable. When I visited, they offered a place to stay and cooked me dinner. At the house of Abu Dahrin bin Salem, I was treated to khanom krok, a Thai coconut mini pancake.

Dahrin, whose Thai name is Kasim, is the third-generation Javanese born and living in Sathorn. He is a retired driver at the Japanese embassy in Bangkok. From his marriage to Lamlah, a Thai Muslim, he has four grandchildren.

Dahrin's house is situated in a narrow alley located within a hundred meters east of the mosque. His house is exquisitely decorated with a garden filled with flowers. A bamboo chime embellishment is loosely hanging on the front door. "I bought it from Bali fifteen years ago," said Dahrin.

Besides the Javanese, many Malay Muslims also call Kampung Jawa their home. Yamilah binti Zakaria bin Yunus from Patani, Kedah, is one of them. Her grandfather donated his piece of land which is opposite the Jawa Mosque to be an area for a public cemetery. "My grandfather waqf (Islamic term for donating or endowing) this land before World War II," said Yamilah, who speaks very limited Malay and only speaks Thai and English fluently.

They live in harmony despite having contrasting opinions on prayers such as talqin, tahlil, and salawat barzanji which are practiced by the Javanese there. Regardless of the differences, they still carry out their worship activities peacefully. “On every Friday prayers, the mosque is full of Muslims from all over the world, mostly from Africa and Asia," said Dahrin.

The Gardeners

Opposite the mosque, there is a granite monument carved in Thai and English that tells the origins of Kampung Jawa. It is said that during the reign of King Mongkut (Rama IV), the Javanese initially came to trade, but some of them decided to settle in Bangkok. The Javanese occupied the narrow alleys near the old ice factory in Kokkrabue sub-district, Bangrak district, as well as in the south of the Sathorn canal, now Yanawa sub-district in the Sathorn district.

“When King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) came to power, he hired Javanese people to build gardens at the Grand Palace and also government buildings. Many Javanese then arrived and quickly migrated here,” the monument reads.

Rama V's interest in the Javanese began with his visit to Java in 1871, and later in 1896 and 1901, to study the standards of the Dutch colonial government. The Dutch East Indies government warmly welcomed Rama V, and as a token of gratitude, Rama V gifted an elephant statue that is still standing gracefully to this day in front of the National Museum in Jakarta, that is also known as the Elephant Museum.

According to Raymond Scupin, professor of Anthropology and International Studies at Lindenwood University, in "Muslim Accommodation in Thai Society" published in the Journal of Islamic Studies 9:2, 1998, the King, impressed by the Javanese agricultural and gardening techniques, invited several Javanese gardeners to Thailand to tend the royal gardens and teach nursery and gardening methods under his patronage.

Since then, many Javanese people have lived and settled in Bangkok. Their children and grandchildren were also born and raised there, particularly in Sathorn.

“My mother and father were born here. They are children of Abdul Hamid and Markah, the first generation to come here and work in the garden of the British consulate," said Dahrin.

Dahrin himself was born in Sathorn on 8 May 1930. He spent seven years at elementary school where he studied religion, Thai, and English. After graduating, he stopped going to school because of the war. “Later, I worked in the Japanese army. They paid teenagers to work in the camps. I took any job that was available. I became a laborer, making vitamin B by mixing rice and bran for the Javanese troops," said Dahrin, speaking in broken Javanese mixed with English.

The Javanese initially came to trade, but some of them decided to settle in Bangkok. They were employed to create gardens and also build government buildings.

The arrival of the Javanese in Thailand was also prompted by the outbreak of World War II. In late 1941, from Thailand, Japanese troops invaded Burma and wrested it from the British's control. To maintain its troops in Burma, Japan forced tens of thousands of Prisoners of War to build a railroad connecting Thailand and Burma. Later on, Romusha from Java were brought in and were forced to work on Japanese projects and plantations. Of the hundreds of thousands of Romusha, around tens of thousands died. After the war ended, some of them chose to stay there.

The war also made Indonesians studying abroad unable to go home and were stranded in Thailand. They subsequently chose to settle in Kampung Jawa. Walidah Dahlan is the ninth child of Irfan Dahlan, one of those students who decided to live in Thailand.

Irfan Dahlan is the fourth–although some sources say the fifth–son of KH Ahmad Dahlan, founder of Muhammadiyah, one of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organizations. From a young age, Irfan studied in Lahore, Pakistan. When he returned from there, he could not enter Indonesia due to the Japanese occupation. He then became a religion teacher in Thailand and married Zahara, with whom he had 10 children.

Winai Dahlan, another descendant of Irfan, is the director of the Halal Science Center at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. He is also named the 16th most influential Muslim scientist in the world. Meanwhile, Ella opened a bakery and cake shop named "Ella Shop" in Kampung Jawa. The descendants of the Indonesian religious leader Ahmad Dahlan live behind a mosque in Thailand.

After the influx of Javanese migration to Thailand, as written in the granite monument, "the Javanese in Sathorn were allowed to build a mosque as a center for Javanese migrants and workers at that time."

The mosque was built during the reign of King Phrabath Somdet Phrajula Chorm Krao in 1945, on the land donated by Haji Muhammad Soleh bin Hasan, a Javanese trader living there. Muhammad Soleh was then asked as the mosque's first imam.

"Relations between the Javanese and Thai people are good. We live peacefully as neighbors," said Dahrin.

Missing Home

Like any other big city, Bangkok is a cosmopolitan city that houses people from various nations, including Indonesia.

Before the Javanese, many Bugis people, who were known as accomplished sailors and resilient traders from South Sulawesi whose capital city is Makassar, came to trade and live in Bangkok. Meanwhile, some other Bugis people fled to Thailand due to the East India Company's (VOC) attack on the Gowa-Tallo Kingdom in the mid-17th century. They were received by Phra Narai, the king of Siam, and were even assisted and allowed to settle down and build a village in the country. However, later on they conspired to overthrow the king, and Phra Narai, with the support of French troops and other foreigners, destroyed the village of Makassar. The Makassar people faced it bravely although eventually conceding defeat.

The village of Makassar was crushed until there was nothing left. However, their trace can still be found in the name of an area and a road, "Makkasan", located nearby Central World, the biggest luxury shopping center in Bangkok, not far from the shopping district Pratunam. From the airport, you can use the Skytrain to reach Makkasan Station, which you'll also pass en route to Kampung Jawa.

About half of the population of Kampung Jawa have Javanese ancestors. Most of these Javanese descents have been yearning to visit Java one day. "I want to go to Java but I have no money," said Abdussamad (50) trying to speak Malay. Meanwhile, Samad is the third-generation Javanese in Sathorn who is a bilal (the one who proclaims the call to the daily prayer) at Jawa Mosque. His ancestors came from Kendal, a regency west of Semarang. Samad still likes to wear sarong, peci, and koko (men's clothes usually worn for prayer).

Most of the Javanese in Sathorn still catch up on the news about Java. Ella, for example, despite never having been to Java, revealed that she has watched the Indonesian film about Ahmad Dahlan, Sang Pencerah. "Someday, I will go to Yogya," said Ella hopefully.

Dahrin is quite lucky to still maintain contact with his family in Kendal. During his vacation in Bali, he made time to visit Semarang and Yogyakarta and stop by in Kendal. In broken Indonesian mixed with Javanese, he mentioned the name of some of his relatives there. He also remembered the name of the village from which his ancestors came, Pucang Kulon, but when he was asked what the sub-district was, he couldn't recall. "Karan wis tuwo (I am old now)," he said, laughing.

Sometimes Dahrin still watches Indonesian television broadcasts. He enjoys learning Indonesian and Javanese, and wants his children to learn the languages too. He even ordered an English-Indonesian dictionary for me to bring next time.

That day, I left Bangkok with a warm feeling. Kampung Jawa has made me feel like I was in my very own village.