Paving the way to Struggle

Kebatinan (“the knowledge of spirit”) is a religious movement first established in 1955 with the Semarang theosophical group’s support. The movement’s name is derived from mystical practices that have developed in the Malay world since the end of the 19th century, characterized by an emphasis on spirituality to get closer to God. This article focuses on the formation of religious discourse in the Indonesian Kebatinan Congress of 1955 as a response to the relationship between the state and society within the framework of religion as codified by the Pancasila. The main concerns of this paper are the formation of the concept of kebatinan, the debates it raised, and the position of the Kebatinan movement within the religious discourse in 1950s Indonesia. The article argues that at this period, Indonesia’s religious discourse was fluid and loosely formalized. The progressive formalization process starting from this period can be analyzed through the formation of an umbrella organization for the Kebatinan movement by some adherents who considered themselves as representing a brand different from mainstream religious institutions.