A HISTORICAL SURVEY OF THE KERAMAT PHENOMENON (WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SINGAPORE)

Abstract

This academic exercise seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the keramat phenomenon, a folk practice that is popular among some common people in the Malay world of Southeast Asia. The thesis argues for understanding this phenomenon as the local version of a larger practice in the Islamic world of honouring Muslim saints, hence the conceptual framework for keramat is founded upon foreign roots although localisation is not absent Second, the paper attempts to demonstrate that the viability of this phenomenon is much determined by societal forces which are either constructive or destructive toward the existence and survival of the keramat. The mode of investigation takes on a historical perspective by following these arguments along chronological lines. It does this by first surveying the existing scholarship to search out the ideas and themes that past scholars have used to define the keramat phenomenon. Following this is the presentation of new insights which supports the claims given in the hypothesis for this exercise. The paper then proceeds to apply the various reasonings in the physical context of the island and country Singapore. Specific examples of keramat are employed to substantiate the points raised. The concluding chapter summarises the salient issues that exists at the heart of the keramat phenomenon which this exercise attempts to address and gives suggestions for future scholarship. On a larger scale, this academic exercise reveals the need to examine the appropriate ways to document the social histories of the common people. Their practices are often verbally passed on from one generation to another which means there is a short supply of materials for academics and students to study. In this research, the shortage is supplemented by personal interviews with patrons and non-patrons to the keramat in addition to the fieldtrips taken to specific sites. Such a methodology highlights the necessity to consider the tools which can help to incorporate such non-formal sources of information into Southeast Asian historiography.