During the last decades of the 15th century the kingdom of Demak which lasted from 1475 to 1568 was founded. Its founder was the son of Haji Chen Xuanlong/Tan Swan Liong from Palembang in Southern Sumatra where at that time existed a large Chinese community consisting mainly of Muslims. His son’s name is Chen Jinwen alias Raden Patah/Panembahan Tan Jin Bun/Arya (Cu-Cu) Sumangsang/Prabu Anom. The Portuguese addressed him as Pate Rodin Sr. According to Tome Pires, a Portuguese explorer, he was a “persona de grande syso” (a great man of exceptional wisdom), a “cavaleiro” (noble knight). Indonesian professor Slamet Mulyana explained that Jinwen or Jin Bun means “strongman”.

The ruling elite of the kingdom of Demak consisted mainly of Chinese. Before the European colonial area, intermarriage between Chinese and the Javanese natives were commonplace. Dr. Pigeaud and Dr. de Graaf described the conditions in the 16th century as follows: in the port cities of the island of Java the ruling elites consisted mainly of Chinese families, some of whose male members took Javanese women as their wives. Various Javanese historical sources say that in the 16th century there were many Chinese living in the cities along the Northern coastline of Java. Apart from Demak, they were also numerous in Cirebon, Lasem. Tuban, Gresik (Shi Chun) and Surabaya (Shi Shui). Many of these Chinese Muslims had Arabic names.

One of Raden Patah Chen Jinwen’s grandsons is known to have had the ambition of being on par with the Turkish Sultan of the Ottoman empire. According to de Graaf and Pigeaud, Chen Muming/Tan Muk Ming (Sunan Prawata), the last Sultan of Demak said to Manuel Pinto that he was striving as hard as possible to become “o segundo Turco” (the second Turkish Sultan) equal to the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I in grandeur. It is evident that other than going on a haj pilgrimage, he visited Turkey.

A number of Javanese sources emphasise that the sultans of the Demak sultanate were Chinese. It is not possible to include all the names of Chinese historical figures for the number of which is too many. Amongst others there were Raden Hussein (Pang Jinshan/Bong Kin San, a cousin of Chen Jinwen), Sunan Bonang (An Wen’an/An Bun Ang), Sunan Drajat (Pang Dajing/Bong Tak Keng) son of Sunan Ampel alias Rahmat Pang Suihe/Bong Swie Ho), sunan Kalijaga (Gan Xichang/Gan Si Chang), Sunan Kudus (Jaffar Zha Dexu/Ja Tik Su), Haji Maulana Ifdil Hanafi Chen Yinghua/Tan Eng Hoat, Endrasena the last commander-in- chief of Sunan Giri’s armies, Pangrean Hadiri alias Sunan Mantingan who was the husband of Ratu Kalinyamat, Ki Rakim, Nyi Gede Pinatih (Shi Tainiang/Sie Tay Nio) mother of Raden Paku and daughter of Admiral Shi Jinqing/Sie Chin Ching who was the overlord of the Chinese community at Palembang. Princess Chen Wangtian/Tan Ong Tien who was a daughter of Haji Chen Yinghua who is the wife of Sunan Gunung Jati (Syarif Hidaytullah Du Anbo/Toh A Bo) founder of the Cirebon sultanate, Cekong Mas (from the Han family, his tomb is located in a prayer house at Prajekan near Situbondo in East Java and is regarded as a sacred place), Adipati Astrawijaya- regent chosen by the Dutch East India Company but sided with rebels when the Chinese in Semarang Central Java rose in revolt against the Dutch in 1741 and Kanjeng Raden Tumenggung (KRT-a noble title) Secodiningrat (Chen Jinxing/Tan JIn Seng). According to professor Mulyana, Sunan Giri from his paternal side is a grandson of Rahmat Wang Suihe, a Chinese Muslim from Yunnan province, China, who, served as governor of Champa in present day Vietnam, prior to his arrival in Java where he became the chief coordinator of the Chinese community in Southeast Asia.

Chinese architectural influences are evident in the design of the mosques in Java. It was Islam of the Hanafiyah school of thought that first entered Southern Sumatra and Java from China during the Yuan and the Ming dynasty periods. Professor Mulyana opines if Islam on the Northern coastline of Java came from Malacca or Eastern Sumatra, it will have been of the Syafi or Shiite school of thought but it is not the case in reality. He stresses that until the 13th century the Hanafi school existed only in Central Asia, China, Northern India, parts of the Middle East/Maghreb (Islamic North Africa) and Turkey.

Massive waves of emigration from China to Southern Sumatra, Java and other parts of Southeast Asia began in 1385, 17 years after the inception of the Ming dynasty. Long before that Champa was occupied by Nasaruddin, a Muslim general in Kublai Khan’s armies. General Nasaruddin is supposed to have propagated Islam in Cochin CHina. A number of Chinese Muslim centres were established in Champa, Palembang and East Java.

In the year 1413 when Admiral Muhammad Ma Huan arrived in Java together with Admiral Zheng He along with the Chinese armada, he noted that most of the Chinese residents there were Muslims as well as the Dashi (Arab) people. At that time there were no Javanese Muslims yet. Between 1513-1514, Tome Pires described Gresik in East Java as a properous city controlled by the Chinese. In 1451, Ngampel Denta was set up by Rahmat Wang Suihe alias Sunan Ampel to disseminate Islam among the natives. Prior to that he managed a Chinese Muslim centre at Bangil, also in East Java.

It is interesting to note that at least until the time of Japanese occupation (1942-1945), in the city of Malang in East Java, the local natives still addressed the newly arrived Chinese as ‘Kyai’. Kyai means Islamic religious teacher. Whereas most Chinese who came recently to Southeast Asia were not Muslims. This habit was inherited from the past when most of the Chinese settlers/sojourners in Java were Muslims. The title Sunan is derived from the Fujian dialect ‘Suhu/Saihu’ . 8 of the Walisongo (9 Holy Saints) carried the title Sunan, one of them carried the title Syekh from the Arabic Sheikh; all 9 of them are Chinese who belong to the Hanafite school of Islam.

A natural conclusion to this is that the Islamic missionaries of the Hanafiyah school of thought at that time were mainly Chinese. This can more or less be compared to the spread of Christianity from Europe to the other continents. Until the 19th century, these Christian missionaries who spread their religion overseas were mostly Europeans. China’s land mass is more vast than that of Europe. Making a comparison with China cannot be done with one of the European nations but has to be done with Europe as a whole. Like Europe, China is home to much ethnic and linguistic diversity, however the advantage of the Chinese in this matter is that the Chinese ideograms can be commonly understood by different groups of Chinese in spite of their dissimilarities in spoken tongue.

Lit.:

- De Graaf and Pigeaud “De eerste Moslimse Vorstendommen op Java”, “Islam in Java 1500-1700″.

- Amen Budiman “Chinese Muslims in Indonesia”.
- Slamet Mulyana “A story of Majapahit”.
- Slamet Mulyana “The Fall of the Javanese Hindu Kingdoms and the Rise of Islam in Nusantara”.
- Jan Edel “Biography of Hasanuddin”.