Clergymen vow to address 'moral crisis'<\/p>\n
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Top religious leaders vowed on Wednesday to work together to
\nlift the country from what they consider the prevailing \"moral
\ncrisis\".<\/p>\n
Emerging from a two-hour closed-door meeting, the chairman of
\nthe 40-million-strong Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama,
\nHasyim Muzadi said that they would set up a working committee to
\naddress the \"acute moral illnesses afflicting society\".<\/p>\n
\"We shared our concerns in the meeting and agreed that the
\nnation is heading for all-out moral destruction,\" he said, about
\nthe meeting attended by representatives of various religions.<\/p>\n
\"We are sitting together here to convey our commitment that we
\nneed to do something for our country,\" Hasyim said, in a brief
\nmedia conference at NU headquarters in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The leaders, he said, had agreed to form working committees to
\ncarry out \"real and concrete\" steps to dampen the moral crisis.<\/p>\n
Muhammadiyah and NU had together assigned six figures -- three
\nfrom each organization -- to follow up the establishment of the
\ncommittees.<\/p>\n
The two Islamic organizations have a combined membership of
\nsome 70 million.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has been reeling under an economic crisis for four
\nyears with mounting separatist movements in Aceh and Papua and
\nconflicts between Christians and Muslims in Poso and Maluku.<\/p>\n
Hasyim said the movement should take a more hands-on approach
\nrather than simply intellectual discourse.<\/p>\n
Hasyim said the meeting was a follow-up of the Jan. 2 landmark
\nmeeting by the country's two largest Islamic organizations.<\/p>\n
In the meeting, both Muhammadiyah and NU -- which often differ
\nin their opinions regarding religious and social affairs --
\nreached an agreement on two issues.<\/p>\n
The first was that they would unite to solve the country's
\npressing problems and second they would cooperate to promote a
\ntrue and moderate face of Islam.<\/p>\n
\"People warmly welcomed the last meeting,\" Hasyim said, \"and
\nthere were suggestions later from several parties that the
\nmeeting should be followed by another meeting, which would
\ninclude other religious leaders\".<\/p>\n
Prominent Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid told journalists
\nafter the conference that the committees would deal with real
\nissues like how to deal with neglected children, how to raise
\nnutrition for the poor and so forth.<\/p>\n
The committees, he said, would later include individuals from
\nother religions.<\/p>\n
Nurcholish said he believed that concrete steps would bring
\nreal social and religious harmony to society.<\/p>\n
\"Issues like poverty or unemployment are a source of social
\nchaos,\" said Nurcholish.<\/p>\n
Elucidating what the leaders meant by moral crisis, he said
\nthat currently there were many people who claimed that \"they had
\ndone right deeds, when in fact they had done bad deeds\".<\/p>\n
This, according to Nurcholish, had left the country \"morally
\nbankrupt\".<\/p>\n
Among the leaders present in the meeting were Syafi'i Ma'arif
\nfrom Muhammadiyah, Julius Cardinal Darmaatmadja from the
\nIndonesian Bishop Conference (KWI), Weinata Sairin and Andreas A.
\nYewangai from the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI),
\nHajriyanto H. Thohari from Muhammadiyah, Ketut Wirdhana
\nrepresenting Hindu believers, Haksu Tjhie Tjay Ing representing
\nConfucianists (Konghucu).<\/p>\n
Also present were Father Mudji Sutrisno, representing
\nintellectuals and Djohan Effendi, representing the Indonesian
\nConference on Religion and Peace (ICRP).<\/p>\n
Roeslan Abdul Gani, a veteran freedom fighter and nationalist,
\nhailed the meeting and urged all members of society to support
\nwhat he called \"non-violent moral rearmament\".<\/p>\n
\"Nationalists and religious followers should work together to
\nresolve the moral crisis through moral rearmament,\" he said,
\nadding that this would help solve the nation's ongoing
\nmultidimensional crisis.<\/p>\n
Yewangai said that it was important to revive high moral
\nstandards, which would ease the crisis.<\/p>\n
\"The moral crisis not only harms individuals, it harms the
\nwhole of society,\" he added.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/clergymen-vow-to-address-moral-crisis-1447893297",
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