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FLUX AND FLOWS OF PEOPLE, POWER AND PRACTICES: ISSUES RELATING TO SOCIAL JUSTICE213Muslim Women in Public Spheres: From Historical Narratives to Roles in the21 st CenturySubhatra BhumiprabhasIntroductionMuslim women in historical narratives, in the media,and from feminist perspectivesEven in the hands of a sympathetic writer, the nature of“national history” almost inevitably means that efforts toincorporate women will become an uneasy exercise ofinsertion rather than integration. (Barbara WatsonAndaya, 2006, 3).Narratives by Dutch East India Company merchantswho sailed to port cities in the Indonesian archipelagoin the 17 th century provide evidence of Muslimwomen who were active and influential in the publicsphere as rulers, merchants, traders, hired wives, and asfighters and commanders.European traders who arrived on the shores of theMalay Peninsula in the same century found that theyoften had to conduct business and trade with Muslimwomen from different socio-economic backgrounds.For example, Dutch merchant Peter Floris wrote thathe traded directly with the queen who ruled PattaniDarussalam. In Aceh, foreign visitors had tocompromise with a female ruler who set terms andconditions for them to do business in her land.In her book The Flaming Womb: RepositioningWomen in Early Modern Southeast Asia i , historianBarbara Watsan Andaya provides a story of “Taj al-Alam,” the first Muslim queen in Southeast Asia to usethe feminized title sultanah (Muslim female ruler).Historical records indicate that the queen was a devoutpatron of Islam and that she spoke to European menonly from behind a curtain.“Europeans who attended her regular Saturdayaudiences reported that she was well versed incommercial matters and alert to any threat to Aceh’sinterest; their accounts leave little doubt she was aneffective and forceful ruler”. (Watsan Andaya, 2006)Other foreign observers witnessed women playinginfluential roles in market places, ports and otherpublic places on the Malay Peninsula. HistorianAnthony Reid wrote in his study Female Roles in PrecolonialSoutheast Asia that the Dutch and Englishdealt with some formidable female traders. A womannamed Datu Newanan of Pattani was said to owemoney to the English. The Dutch in Aceh bought tinfor export from “another Acehnese woman”.However the roles of such Muslim women in theSoutheast Asia region are rarely present in the presentday“national histories” of Indonesia and othercountries.Even within Indonesian feminist perspectives,relatively little attention has been paid to the activerole of Muslim women in history. The bookIndonesian Women in a Changing Society, for example,in a chapter focusing on the Indonesian women’smovement in the period of 1928-1965, provides a verybrief line on the Acehnese heroine Cut Nyak Dien,who was proclaimed a National Hero of Indonesia in1964.Cut Nyak Dhien (1848 - 1908) was the wife of TeukuUmar, a leader of guerrilla forces in Aceh. After herhusband’s death she herself led guerrilla actions againstthe Dutch. The book touches on dominant themes inthe Indonesian women’s movement including “thelack of opportunity for women in public spheres”. Itcriticizes the current Indonesian media for offeringstereotypical images of women as sexual objects or asbelonging solely to the domestic sphere.In Thailand, where Muslim citizens make up 3.8percent of the population, the media offer few storiesabout Muslim women. Some of the images that haveappeared have originated with southern womenactivists who have portrayed Muslim women asvulnerable wives and daughters and as victims ofviolence. Women’s groups have tried to empowerwomen by portraying them not just as victims but alsoas “peace makers”. The latter image has parallels withthe view of the last Pattani female ruler as depicted inthe television drama Raya Kuning, written byTomayanti, the pen name of well-known novelistWimol Siripaiboon. The television show portrayed thePattani queen as a “peace maker” who worked for theThe Work of the 2010/2011 API Fellows