Between the Republic, Pasundan, and an Islamic State: The Spectrum of West Javanese Muslim Political Responses to Dutch Federalization, 1947–1950

Abstract

This article examines the formation of the State of Pasundan and the spectrum of Muslim political responses in West Java during the Dutch federalization project of 1947–1950. Moving beyond studies centered on federal engineering, the menak, the Pasundan People’s Party, or the Republic’s role in dismantling the state, it treats Muslim organizations and actors as a politically heterogeneous field. The study applies the historical method of heuristics, external and internal source criticism, interpretation, and historiography. Contemporary Indonesian- and Dutch-language newspapers, Pasundan government and parliamentary records, and visual documentation are triangulated with secondary scholarship. The findings reveal three orientations: Republican-unitarist mobilization through conferences, resolutions, the press, and political delegations; institutional participation by several Muslim figures, which did not necessarily signify ideological endorsement of federalism; and Darul Islam’s rejection of both Pasundan and the Republic in favor of an Islamic state. These responses challenged Pasundan’s legitimacy from different directions. Muslim agency mattered, but operated alongside a crisis of representation, dual administration, security dependence, and the APRA shock. The article’s novelty lies in a relational typology of Muslim responses and an explanation of contested legitimacy rather than a monocausal claim about Pasundan’s collapse.