3 - The Body of the Dead as an Object of Scientific and Religious Debate: Ahmad Ramali and the Splenic Puncture in late colonial Indonesia

In the 1930s, a debate over the splenic puncture of alleged victims of pneumonic pest plague in late colonial Indonesia highlighted tensions between Western medicine and Islamic values. The pest epidemics began to spread on the island of Java in the second decade of the 20th century. A variety of measures had been taken to suppress the spread, including requiring regional quarantine and renovating local dwelling considered a prerequisite for the spread of bacillus pests in the habitation. Furthermore, the splenic puncture was employed as an effective method for determining the cause of death on the body of the plague victims. There has been a great deal of debates regarding this practice, especially in Islamic circles, for the treatment of the body of the dead that was supposed to be purified before the burial. To facilitate the discussions on this controversy, Islamic political parties, as well as the Volksraad, held large meetings regarding this rejection. The results from the meetings were recorded in contemporary newspapers, scientific journals, and Volksraad’s minutes. This presentation will analyze the tension between Islamic values and Western medicine regarding the treatment of a corpse as a religious and scientific body. The tension eventually reveals how the colonial governments framed the debate between these two values as resistance to their authority. Lastly, this paper will highlight Ahmad Ramali's accomplishment, a Sumatran STOVIA-graduate doctor with a strong Islamic religious education background, in demonstrating that Islamic values can be compatible with modern science.