by Ahmad Najib Burhani, 25/04/2016, CSEAS, Kyoto University
“The rapid proliferation of TV channels in Indonesia in the 1990s provided crucial opportunities for a new type of Muslim preacher to rise to national fame: relatively young men lacking substantial formal religious schooling but able to project charm on screen. Four of these young televangelists became true megastars, topping the national charts in the first decade of the twentieth century. Since they became nationally famous at a young age, without the conventional markers of authoritative knowledge of Islam, the question is, what kind of justification did they use to establish their authority as preachers?”