Sarekat Islam

Group portrait at a meeting of the SI

Sarekat Islam, formerly Sarekat Dagang Islam, was a Javanese batik traders cooperative in Indonesia.

Sarekat Dagang Islam was founded by Haji Samanhudi, a businessman in Surakarta, in 1905[1] or 1912.[2] His business was trading in batik, the traditional cloth made in Java. Sarekat Dagang Islam, or Union of Islamic Traders, had as its goal the empowerment of local merchants, especially in the batik industry. The establishment of the organization was inspired by Jamiat Kheir organization.

As Sarekat Dagang Islam grew, it was reorganized under the name Sarekat Islam. Sarekat Islam's general office was in Surabaya. Early prominent figures of Sarekat Islam included H.O.S. Cokroaminoto[2] and Haji Agus Salim. H.O.S. Cokroaminoto had three famous students, who went on to play a dominant role in Indonesian politics: Soekarno the nationalist, Semaun the socialist and Islamist Kartosuwirjo. Haji Agus Salim joined Sarekat Islam in 1915 and promoted Islamic modernism. Some of Salim's students such as Kasman Singodimedjo, Mohammad Roem and Mohammad Natsir later became promintent Islamic and Nationalist leaders.

References

  1. ↑ Heryanto, Ariel. 2008. "Questioning the relevance of national awakening today," The Jakarta Post, 21 May 2008. Archived at http://blogs.arts.unimelb.edu.au/arielh/2008/05/22/on-national-awakening/
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Holt, Peter Malcolm; Ann K. S. Lambton; Bernard Lewis (1977). The Cambridge History of Islam. Cambridge University Press. pp. 191–192. ISBN 0-521-29137-2.

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