In Indonesia’s crowded world of
celebrity Muslim preachers, it often
pays to have a trademark. For Koko Liem, his ever-present Chinese-style outfits — garish satin tunics paired with matching skullcaps — play the role.
Whether in television appearances or
Koran recitals, the approach of Mr. Liem, a 31-year-old convert to
Islam from Indonesia’s ethnic Chinese minority, is
undeniably kitschy.
Mr. Liem is one of a small but significant group of ethnic Chinese preachers to emerge over the past decade with a simple message: that
being a member of Indonesia’s dominant majority — Muslims — and its historically most maligned minority — Chinese — need not be mutually exclusive.
This approach represents a powerful break with the past,
writes the
New York Times, noting that pogroms and prejudice against Chinese have been a constant theme in Indonesian history.
But Mr. Liem is a relative minnow in Indonesia’s booming world of celebrity preachers. Like their Christian counterparts in the West, these men and women often
use their personal biographies and charisma, rather than traditional religious knowledge, to win adherents through television appearances and packed tour schedules.