Hadrami Diaspora in Karimunjawa: Between Identity Maintenance and Assimilation

This study discusses the Hadrami diaspora in Karimunjawa, between identity maintenance and assimilation. Through oral history, this study found that the coming of Hadrami in the early 20th century in Karimunjawa was solely motivated for economic reasons. They lived and improved their quality of life by working as laborers in the Chinese traders. The economic limited access caused Hadrami in Karimunjawa were not played an important role both in economic and Islamic teaching. For economic reasons as well, their numbers had dwindled in the mid of 1990s20th century. Most of them moved to Semarang and Jepara while the small group still survived in Karimunjawa. As a sayyid family, the Arabs in Karimunjawa did intermarriage mixed marriages [WU1] (between sayyid and non-sayyid). The role of the Arabs in Karimunjawa was begun from Sayyid Abdurrahman era whose became the new icon of the Majelis Al-Khidmah, a teaching institution based in Surabaya. Recently, it has branches in many parts of Indonesia.


I. BACKGROUND
This study began from my involvement when I conducted Social Research Methods course at Department of History, Faculty of Humanities, Diponegoro University in Karimunjawa islands. At the same time, some reasearch counterparts and I were was also involved in research project of maritime ethnic acculturation in Karimunjawa islands. 1 1 I should say thank to Mahendra P.udji Utama and A. Dwihendrosono ( ) for our a great discussion whenile we stayeded in Karimunjawa. Some important inputs related In that process, I met with Sayyid Abdurrahman Al-Hamid, a Hadrami descent who had long lived in Karimunjawa. The meeting made me interest to explore more about Hadrami in Karimunjawa. Writing to migration, ethnicity, and social integration in Karimunjawa are extremely useful for this study. My special thanks to Mahendra Pudji P. Utama whosefor gaveiving me some important references about diaspora . Last, As an amateur in English writing, I should say thanks to Noor Naelil Masruroh for her kindness to read and correct and fixed this article. plantation, especially copra as a leading commodity. The Chinese introduced the first grocery stores, pawn shops, and mortgagees the lending of capital to society. Controlling over the important of economic access had made the Chinese as the rich man. Most of them used his wealth to lured girls to be concubines (Interview with Asrini, June 4th 2013). She was well-known as an elder and baby masseur. Her father, Mulyani, was a police officer in the Dutch colonial period. The Chinese in Karimunjawa derived from Lasem, Jepara, and Semarang. Uncommonly, when they came to Karimunjawa, the Chinese traders carried laborers (workers) from their regions. Some of the workers are Arabs (Interview with Asrini June 4th 2013; Sayyid Abdurrahman, June 2nd 2013).
In the Post-colonial period, the ethnic composition in Karimunjawa gradually changed, the Chinese who previously played an important role in the economic, they leaved Karimunjawa when the Japanese occupation. Ba Kin Ting/ Ba Ging Sing for example, a wealthy merchant of copra, decided returned to Lasem and died there. It was confirmed in 1965.
Many Chinese leaved Karimunjawa in the Post-G30S. For tThe Chinese who remained in Karimunjawa, decided to change their name and religion based on the government s insistence. Hong Tek, for example, was one of the five wealthy Chinese merchants in Karimunjawa, decided to stay in Karimunjawa.
He became moesleamMoslem and changed his name to Widodo. His ability in writing became the reason why he was selected to be Carik (village secretary). Up now, there are only two identifiable Chinese families in Karimunjawa (Interview with Asrini, June 4th 2013).
For different reasons, the Arabs Hadrami began to leave from Karimunjawa (Interview with Martoyo, June 4th 2013). There are two Hadrami clans who still remain, namely Sayyid Abdurrahman in Karimunjawa and Faisaluddin in Kemujan. This study intends to reveal the existence of Hadrami in Karimunjawa followed by the main questions. What is the motivation of Hadrami arrived in Karimunjawa? How are they maintains of their existence in the multiethnic society of Karimunjawa? What are the taken options for them to maintain their identity or assimilate? The answers of these questions are expected to provide a comprehensive understanding about the existence of Hadrami in Karimunjawa.

II. METHODOLOGY
The Hadrami existence in Karimunjawa can be analyzed by using concept of diaspora. The diaspora is derived from the two word ancient Greek namely dia ( through ) and speirein ( spread or sow ). Diaspora refers to sociological concept of trans-national and trans-cultural. It is about the displacement of inhabitants in the territory or region of their culture, accompanied by the formation of cultural identity in a new place with oriented to cultural origin. Originally, the concept of diaspora used to see the context of transnational migration. However, in its development, the people displaced from one area to another within a specific region or territory, it may also be included in the diaspora category (Ember, Ember, and Skoggard, 2005: xviii;See also Hall, 2006: 475). Based on the most prominent reasons, the diaspora can be divided into five types, i.e. victim, labor, trade, imperial, and cultural diaspora. The emerging types of diaspora are motivated by changing definitions of it and the symptoms as the reference (Cohen, 1997: ix-x).
In that context, Hadrami diaspora can be placed in to trade and labor diaspora. Practically it caused all Hadrami immigrants evolved the trade and labor. In fact, the typical of newcomers of Indonesian Hadrami in the late 19th century was worked as shop assistants or small traders which referred to their who had been a resident in the archipelago (Kesheh, 2007: 15). After received salary, they became as like as the number of independent Chinese traders. Most of them would be middleeconomic brokermen by buying import goods from the European firms and reselled it to other dealers or consumers in Indonesia (Kesheh, 2007: 16). Since his arrival, Hadrami could be integrated easily with the locals. They had been thoroughly assimilated with the indigenous in three or four generations. The main factors were that the majority of immigrants were men. There were fairly high intermarriages between Hadrami and native women (Berg, 2010: 33). Now, these conditions generate two groups of the Hadrami immigrants in Indonesia, namely walaiti (original) and muwallad (hybrid). By the immediate results of the Hadrami hybrid descent diaspora made them to become the majority group of their community (Kesheh, 2007: 18).
Traditionally Hadrami divided into a complex social stratification system affects almost every aspect of life, including their employment. The social division enforced Islamic legal principle (kafaah), for example, the women are only allowed to marry with men who have equal or higher of social status. The highest class in Hadrami is sayyid, the social elite groups who claim to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad Pbuh, especially from his grandson Husayn. On the basis of the sayyid, they respect as Islamic teacher, and kind of mediator in tribal disputes. Some sayyid even considered to have supernatural powers. The famous sayyid s tomb is considered sacred and popular place to do certain activities such as pilgrimage (Kesheh, 2007: 21-22).
Beside sayyid group also known as the non-sayyid. Those Arabs who fall into this category is masayikh (scholar), qabail (tribal chief), masakin, and dhuafa (the poor). The masayikh and qabail sometimes have same religious role, although they remain lower position from the sayyid, while masakin is large groups which are includes of merchants, artisans, artists, followed by dhuafa people. Although it has maintained in Indonesia until the 20th century, but Berg observed that it had collapsed in the late 19th century. According to him, became a sayyid did not guarantee a higher status (Berg, 2010: 23).
Social, political, economic, and different cultural conditions requires them to make important changes both in social stratification, integration, economic dynamics, and even in their socio-religious life reform. In this context Hadrami immigrants are faced two important choices between maintaining their identity or assimilation. The question about Hadrami identity maintenance become become a great debate today. This is because the Hadrami has played between two identities, they must assimilate into indigenous community as a process and to maintain their status as the taken results of cultural values, one of which is maintaining nasab (lineage) (Abushouk and Ibrahim, et. al., 2009: 9). The issue of sayyid and non-sayyid can be an example of this phenomenon, because the lineage for the Hadrami is not only merely cultural but also religious issues. However, the issue of sayyid and non-sayyid can t be understood with the organization or a particular theological concept. It s religious dynamics associated with social and economic factors among Hadrami, as well as the broader stratification, political, and economic position system, etc. (Manger, 2010: 12).
This study is examined by oral history method. It is selected because it is one of the most suitable method to describe the existence of the Arabs (Hadrami) in Karimunjawa which is lack of sources including the supported documents. The oral history method is also very suitable for work in writing of local history which also has a similar problem. Because more personal, local, and unofficial documents, so it hard to survive (Thompson, 2012: 3). As a result, the lives of ordinary people, for example, who barely received attention in official government records, will be pass by the time. Therefore, oral history as one of the method to explore the ordinary people experiences , overcome the limitations of the written documents which are not many and often not well maintained. The oral history also can highlight a few episodes of a dark and mysterious history (Roosa and Ratih via Nordholt, et. al., 2008: 177). The materials in the oral history are the experience of people s life. It is provide closely to the resemble sources, which basically published in autobiography, only in a broader scope (Thompson, 2012: 5).
The main problem is the writing through oral history becomes very subjective. Therefore, to conduct oral history, the historian must do what is called working through their connection with the emotional response of the people who interviewed for. The working through is a continue process to reexamine assumptions that have been ingrained in us, to check what we think is reasonable, or to view what we control, therefore it will not to appear on the surface (Roosa and Ratih via Nordholt, et. al., 2008: 180).

A. Karimunjawa as a multiethnic society: a sosiosocio-cultural view
Karimunjawa is a typical of multi-ethnic society marked by the existence of some ethnic groups including Java, Madura, Bajau, Bugis, Buton, and Mandar. There are many Bugis people whose still builds homes by using stage, the Buton and Bajau prefer to stayed around at the beaches in Karimunjawa. Meanwhile, the Javanese and Madurese existences are common in Karimunjawa, therefore inter-ethnic meetings intensity is so high. Many interethnic marriages are performed, resulting in a hybrid generation who lived and settled in the islands. The massive migration waves occurred during the 1950s from various regions of Central Java, Madura, Masalembu, and Sulawesi to Karimunjawa Islands. In the new area they lived in some parts of the islands, since the early 1980s Karimunjawa village/island became autonomous villages, follwed by the other villages such as Kemujan, Parang, Nyamuk, and Genting, which defined as part of the Karimunjawa islands sub-district.
The migrant from Central Java, particularly from Jepara, has become a part of Karimunjawa population since Dutch colonial era. In this period the Chinese had an established position in Karimunjawa village. They played an important role in copra plantations and its trading. They also opened the first grocery stores in the village. Mastery over the most important economic areas put the Chinese as the rich. Most of them use their economic wealth to lured women to serve them, the women were so-called to be Javanese mistress (gundik). Most of the Chinese in Karimunjawa migrated from Semarang. When they came to Karimunjawa, they brought the Arabs to help their trade. That is why, until now there are also Arabs descent in Karimunjawa.
Based on the information, until 1960 s there were a lot of Chinese who lived and died in Karimunjawa. They were buried in the village s grave. Unfortunately, the evidence of their presence has lost and destroyed by the irresponsible hands.
Since the end of the Dutch colonization, the composition of Karimunjawa population began to change. Most of the Chinese leaved the islands during the Japanese occupation for security reasons. The Chinese immigrant increasingly shrinking after G30S 1965. Only a few people who decided to live in Karimunjawa and later they changed their names and converted to Islam (Interview with Asrini, June 5th 2013). With economic reasons, since the 1990s, Arabs in Karimunjawa has also leaved from the islands. The conditions caused shrinking in number of Chinese and Arabs. Until today, there are only two Chinese and Arabs families that can be identified in Karimunjawa. One One of them lived in Karimunjawa and another in Kemujan.
Although the majority of religious adherents in Karimunjawa are MuslimMoslem, Karimunjawa is a pluralistic society seen in terms of religion. Since the late 1960 s in the Karimunjawa village began to grow Christian community. Their presence in Karimunjawa might had ttakeaken place long before the 1960s by Dutch and Chinese influences. Along with their departure during the Japanese occupation, the number of Christians decreased drastically (Interview with Pastor Matius Slamet, June 4th 2013).
In fact, although Christianity has gained a well-established position, characterized by the presence of two Pentecostal Church, built in 1968 in Karimunjawa and 1990s

B. The first Arabs generation in Karimunjawa
It is hard to determine who is se the first Arabs in Karimunjawa. The story states that the Sayyid Abdullah whose tomb is in Kemujan village is the first Arab in Karimunjawa  To the right of Sunan Nyamplungan s tomb, there is also tomb of Sayyid Abdullah (different with Sayyid Abdullah in Kemujan), but there is no adequate information about this figure. In addition, the title of Al-Attas listed in the tomb, however there is no obtained confirmation of the validity of this figure. Aside from Nyamplungan, the tomb of Sayyid Abdullah also can find in in the common grave of Karimunjawa village. Interestingly, this latter Sayyid Abdullah is also has title of Al-Attas. Apparently, Sayyid Abdullah is the last top generation Al-Attas generation in Karimunjawa. It is not clear where is Sayyid Abdullah came from. Based on information from elder villagers, Sayyid Abdullah was newcomers and lived in Karimunjawa village mosque. He spent time to worship of the God and took care of the mosque. He died at a young age without leaving wife and children. The sacred figure touted as evidenced by the light rays coming out of his grave for a few days after his death (Interview with Asrini June 5th 2013). The next Arabs Hadrami generation in Karimunjawa is the family of Al-Hamid started by their ancestors Sayyid Muhammad Al-Hamid from Semarang.

C. The 20 th Hadrami generation in Karimunjawa: between identity maintenance or assimilation
Al-Hamid is one of many Hadrami clans which are found in Indonesia, in addition to Al-Attas, As-Saggaf, Al-Haddad, Al-Habsy, and others. As a family of Hadrami Arab descent, Al-Hamid clan is in the sayyid category, the first class of the social structure of Hadramaut groups. They are descendants of Husayn, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad Pbuh. They get a degree Habib (for men), and Hababah (for women) (Berg, 2010: 33). Only in their home country, habib has an important position in socio-religious life of the Indonesian people, especially among Moeusleaim traditionalists.
According to the story, a character whose first earned nickname (title) Alhamid is Waliyyullah (saint) called Al-Hamid Al-Syaikh ibn Abi Bakr ibn Salim ibn Abdullah ibn Abdurrahman ibn Abdullah ibn Al-Imam Abdurrahman As-Saggaf. Al-Hamid title bears based Arabic, the meaning of hamid is a person who always be grateful for all the blessings given by Allah Swt.. According to the meaning, it cause Al-Syaikh Salim ibn Abi Bakr gives the name of one of his children with Al-Hamid, he wish that his son can be the one to always be grateful for all the favors, given by God, either in a state of love and grief (http://ahlulbait.blogdetik.com/2009/0 1/22/marga-al-hamid-3/, downloaded on July 19th 2013).
Al-Hamid was born in the city of Based on the research, clan of Al-Hamid, who is the first come to Karimunjawa is Sayyid Muhammad Al-Hamid from Semarang. It is not surprisingly, because Semarang become became one of the centers and important Hadrami Arab colony in the northern coast of Central Java beside Pekalongan. In the early of the 19th century, the arrival of the Arabs in Semarang, aimed to tempt fate in trading. Despite trading, there were also Arabs who became religious advisor and tabib (Kroef, 1953: 305 via Fitriyana, 1987. They came to Semarang not as large traders, but as small merchants. Usually, they were also involved in import-export trade activity. The arrival of the Hadrami who was came from Hadramaut by invitation of their relatives in Semarang. Hence, these newcomers did not have difficulty to venture capital and life in the colony. It cause that the Arabs in Semarang generally comes from the same place in Hadramaut. Since 1870 steamship voyage between the Far East and the Arab experiencing rapid development. So that the migration of Hadramaut to Indonesia was become easier. In 1885, the number of Arabs in Semarang reached 673 people, while the number of Arabs in Jepara reached 77 people. From that numbers, the Arabs generally were born in the archipelago (Berg, 2010: 96). They lived in the coastal areas which are then transformed into an important Arab colonies stretching from Palembang, Batavia, Cirebon, Pekalongan, Semarang, Surabaya, and Gresik. The Arabs colony in Semarang was older, as old as in Pekalongan. In 1819, the Arab colony in Semarang was old enough led by the head of the colony. At the span time between 1840 and 1855, some Arabs would accumulate large capital and wealth that can be enjoyed by their children and grandchildren. However, there wew were many impoverished Arabs. Some of them were raised economically by marrying the rich native women. In Semarang, the Arabs were not hasve their own territory. They settled in the Malay region which also accommodated the Chinese. There was also a mosque to daily praying which was built by the Arabs (Berg, 2010: 106). Although economic motives, the trade was so thick in the life of the Arabs, the other motives were such as of Islamization, it could not be considered trivial. Many Arabs later became religious advisor, teachers, and even be a healer. While they were falling into poverty, should try their fortune, working on the rich merchants, including Chinese.
In this context, Sayyid Muhammad Al-Hamid followed by one of the wealthy Chinese merchants in Karimunjawa. There is no sufficient information when and where Sayyid Muhammad was born. The A conclusive information about Sayyid Muhammad Al-Hamid was his original that he came from Kampung Kuningan, Semarang. There is also no definitive information about when Sayyid Muhammad Al-Hamid came to Karimunjawa. By speculate intention, since young he migrated to Karimunjawa and became an assistant in a grocery store owned by a Chinese. According to Sayyid Abdurrahman Al-Hamid s calculation, one of the sons of Sayyid Muhammad Al-Hamid who currently lives in Karimunjawa, in 1930s was likely her father arrival to Karimunjawa (Interview with Sayyid Abdurrahman, June 2nd 2013). Sayyid Abdurrahman Al-Hamid s calculation is perhaps true. It is remembering that 1930s were periods of deterioration in the economics of the Arabs in Semarang due to the economic crisis. The results of production could not be marketed, particularly export crops such as tea, sugar, coffee, rice, and perfumes. Therefore the Arabs trade commodities in Semarang limited of leather, copra, and batik. In addition, there were many Arabs who became moneylenders. It was also caused by shortage of regeneration efforts among Arab families in Semarang (Al-Djoefri, 1938via Fitriyana, 1987. A few years after he lived in Karimunjawa, Sayyid Muhammad married a Bugis woman named Asiyah. From this marriage, Sayyid Muhammad endowed five children, namely Rugaiyyah, Elok, Thohir (died when he was child), Fatimah, Nur Khalijah, and Mukhsin (now he stays in Jepara). After his first wife died, Sayyid Muhammad married again with the native female, named Amirah. From that second marriage, Sayyid Muhammad gained a son named Abdurrahman Al-Hamid, Al-Hamid generation successor in Karimunjawa (Interview with Sayyid Abdurrahman, June 2nd 2013). A year after the birth of Abdurraham, Sayyid Muhammad died. He was buried in a Karimunjawa common grave near to the tomb of Sayyid Abdullah Al-Attas. Some people believes that the sayyid family has a distinctive feature. The family Some of the features that distinguish from other family is the believesf that if the wife bear a boy then, the mother would die soon. Some people alsoThey also believe that the body of a sayyid will not rot because guarded by Allah. It was supported from the statement of Asrini. She said that the relatives of Sayyid Muhammad who s from Semarang can converse with the tomb of Sayyid Muhammad in Arabic (Interview with Asrini, June 5th 2013).
Sayyid Abdurrahman Al-Hamid was born in Karimunjawa in 1941. A year later, his father died. Because of the economic conditions that are no longer of life improvement, all his children of the first wife of Sayyid Muhammad decided to move from Karimunjawa to Kampung Kuningan following their relatives in Semarang. Sayyid Abdurrahman decided to stay in Karimunjawa because he has a mother in Karimunjawa. Like other children, Sayyid Abdurrahman completed primary education in Karimunjawa. After finishing his primary education, he continued to secondary education at the junior secondary school (madrasah), also in Karimunjawa. Unlike when he underwent primary education that was filled by a non-religious subjects, Sayyid Abdurrahman deeply enjoyed of his secondary school in madrasah which was provide more servings of religious subjects, especially Arabic. He was so very enjoyed Arabic subject and always got high mark compared to his other friends. Therefore, after completing the madrasah, he won a scholarship to continue her education in Madrasah At-Thohiriyah Tanah Abang Jakarta. He studied and sharpened his ability in Arabic to the Egyptian scholars, Sayyid Ahmad. In Jakarta Sayyid Abdurrahman met Nur Zain, a man from the Seribu Islands which later became his adoptive father. In Madrasah At-Thohiriyah, Sayyid Abdurrahman showed satisfactory progress. Madrasah recommend him to continue his education in Medina. Therefore required to pay IDR 60,000 as registration requirements, whereas his adoptive father in Seribu Island did not provide an answer to pay the registration fees, he then discouraged (Interview with Sayyid Abdurrahman, June 2nd 2013).
After completion his education in Madrasah At-Thohiriyah in 1961, he returned to the business in Karimunjawa by selling timbers. At that time, his market area was Karimunjawa to -Semarang. The intensity round transportation between Semarang and Karimunjawa then introduced him to Al-Habib Lutfi ibn Yahya, a sayyid who nowadays As a Moslem Moslem and sayyid, Sayyid Abdurrahman is more pleasure giving their children names with the Arabic rather than Javanese name, such as Endang or Bambang. According to him, the Javanese name feels less solid and less Islamic. Sayyid Abdurrahman also provide Arabic name for people who ask for naming their child, such as Muhammad, Bahr Ulum, Fatimatus Zahra, etc. In terms of music as his hobbies, Sayyid Abdurrahman prefer Shalawatan and Gambus Arabic, for example the shalawat are recited by Al-Habib Syaikh ibn Abdul Qadir As-Saggaf from Solo., playing Al-Habib Syaikh s CDs and cassetes widely circulated in Java including Jepara and Karimunjawa.
Although Sayyid Abdurrahman understand that marriage between hababah (woman sayyid) and nonsayyid can damage the family tree (lineage), he does not object to her daughter s decision to marry with a non-sayyid. According to him, the concept of marriage kafaah is an old tradition and already obsolete. Kafaah derived from the arabic word kufu, which means equal, is the concept that sayyidah must marry only with sayyid. What is important right now, as he stated, if his daughter want to marry with someone, she has to get a Mooslem.
In Karimunjawa, if sayyidah want to wait for sayyid, her hair will become gray they will not see even her hair is gray, he said. Similarly, his son, Bastaan Banani got a native Irian Moslem wife.
Being known as an elder of Arabs in Karimunjawa, Sayyid Abdurrahman is well-known by the locals as the orang pintar (healer). Once upon a time a child of Haji. Adib, a trader from Bawu, Jepara suffering from dengue fever that difficult to cure. Sayyid Abdurrahman gave water to the child a water with special prayers, and magically it healed. A similar incident occurred in Juwana, Pati. A fisherman named Sumar who lost his motorcycle, suddenly returned directly by the thieves after a certain reading given by Sayyid Abdurrahman Sayyid Abdurrahman admits that he is not a member of Majelis Al-Khidmah. He is also not a follower of Tarekat Qadiriyah wa Naqsyabandiyah . I am not a kiai (ulama), I am also not happy to be revered. What for? for Karimunjawa people hHabib and sayyid doe not use anymore in Karimunjawa, he said. He felt that the presence of sayyid in Karimunjawa are not well received (Interview with Sayyid Abdurrahman, June 2nd 2013). According to him, this is the reason to understand the sayyid position among in Karimunjawa people which is different from Javanese people generally. Nowadays Karimunjawa people consider that sayyid as same as other ethnic groups. For them a respect must be addressed to anyone as human being whether he is sayyid or not (Interview with K.H. Abdul Mu in, June 5th 2013; interview with Martoyo, June 4th 2013). Surprisingly, it is consider to the majority believes of the Karimunjawa people which are MoslemMuoesleaim, traditionally they are very respective to. Perhaps, the position of Arabs represented by Sayyid Abdurrahman is less among local religious leaders due to economic limitations access. To support his family, Sayyid Abdurrahman run seaweed business. Every process of the business executed by himself, cultivation, planting, until packaging process run alone.
He sells his products by IDR 5,000 to 10,000 per pack. Earlier, Sayyid Abdurrahman also sells dry fishes and beads business but all of them are failed.
The integration of Hadrami in Karimunjawa can happen easily. The assimilation process which is conducted by Sayyid Muhammad by marryingied indigenous women as is the only option of Hadrami to survive and produced hybrid generations (muwallad). It is This option of marrying native women is also followed by Sayyid Abdurrahman. In fact, in the context of assimilation Sayyid Abdurrahman is more open to provide flexibility for their daughters to married by natives. The efforts preserving Hadrami identity as viewed from Sayyid Abdurrahman to retain the title sayyid for him and his son, Faisaluddin.

IV. CONCLUSION
From the discussion above indicated that in the early 20th century Hadrami diaspora in Karimunjawa in was purely motivated by economic reasons especially in the early 20th century. They lived by working as laborers to the Chinese. Economic limited access cause Karimunjawa Hadrami is not play an important role both economic and religion. It is caused by the economic condition of Hadrami in Karimunjawa which are not a wealthy merchant, like their predecessors. They do not necessarily establish an Arab colony in Karimunjawa. They are not inhabited in specific environments such as in Pekalongan and Semarang.
In the one hand, economic conditions caused the composition number of Hadrami in Karimunjawa, shrink after their migration to Java, while in the other hand it led to a small group that still survive in Karimunjawa. They have been proved as a nation of immigrants known tough and accomplished, by performing various economic adaptations for survive, while maintaining their existence. It is one the efforts to retain their identity through naming Arabs and giving Islamic education for their children. The inclusion of a habib or sayyid titles can also be understood in this context of maintaining their identity.
Having a survival , Arabs in Karimunjawa do inter-marriages (sayyid and non-sayyid) although it has own consequences, for example when sayyidah marry with non-sayyid, the sayyid clan lineage will be lost. The woman will not be able to pass sayyid lineage. In the context of social integration, it seems to be a significant of their contribution. As a result, the presence of Arabs in Karimunjawa coloured by multiethnic society. Changing status of the Arabs in Karimunjawa appears when Sayyid Abdurrahman to be a new icon of Majelis Al-Khidmah, a teaching institution based in Surabaya, which has branches in many parts of Indonesia.