Muhammadiyah Youth fails to respond to problems<\/p>\n
Yogita Tahilramani and Edith Hartanto, The Jakarta Post,
\nSurabaya, East Java<\/p>\n
The Muhammadiyah Youth has failed to respond to the nation's
\ncrucial issues or contribute to solving the nation's economic,
\npolitical or social problems, a Muhammadiyah leader said on
\nTuesday.<\/p>\n
Head of the Foreign Affairs Institute of the Muhammadiyah
\ncentral board Rizal Sukma said that the four million-strong
\nMuhammadiyah Youth -- the youth wing of Muhammadiyah -- was
\nclearly lacking in intellectual and analytical skills on national
\nissues.<\/p>\n
\"The youth wing has no programs based on matters like
\npolitical and electoral bills. During a recent debate among
\ncandidates for chairman of the Muhammadiyah Youth, they discussed
\nabout killing separatists, or hanging corruptors to death,\" Rizal
\ntold The Jakarta Post, during Muhammadiyah Youth's ongoing
\ncongress.<\/p>\n
While outsiders question the relevance of the Muhammadiyah
\nYouth, he said, people in the organization hardly ever discussed
\nsecular issues such as the amendment of the 1945 Constitution,
\npolitical and electoral bills, health, human rights, the
\nenvironment, labor or gender.<\/p>\n
In comparison, he said, the youth wing of the Nahdlatul
\nUlama (NU), Ansor, another influential organization that is more
\ntolerant of local culture, was much more advanced and had
\nreportedly established programs based on crucial national issues.<\/p>\n
\"For instance, people in the NU talk openly about the polygamy
\nissue, because they consider it a serious dilemma practiced by
\nmembers of the public. Forget about talking about it; the
\nMuhammadiyah considers it wrong to dream about polygamy. The
\nissue ends right there,\" Rizal said.<\/p>\n
\"Ansor has formed their own autonomous organizations under the
\nNU, unlike the Muhammadiyah Youth.\"<\/p>\n
The 30 million-strong Muhammadiyah has long since rejected all
\nlocal concepts and thinking and even ways of life, which it deems
\nto be antagonistic and not in line with Islamic teachings.<\/p>\n
Since its establishment 90 years ago, the Muhammadiyah has
\nestablished itself as a modern organization while maintaining its
\ncommitment to the Koran and the hadith.<\/p>\n
The latter consists of documented accounts of the teachings
\nand traditions of the Prophet Muhammad that are not found in the
\nKoran.<\/p>\n
The NU is more tolerant and often adopts various pre-Islamic
\ntraditions when spreading Islam, mostly in Java.<\/p>\n
Rizal, however, put his hope on the Muhammadiyah Students
\nAssociation (IMM) and Muhammadiyah Teenagers Association (IRM).<\/p>\n
\"Muhammadiyah students and teenagers are more active,
\nintelligent and more knowledgeable on the nation's problems than
\nMuhammadiyah Youth,\" Rizal said.<\/p>\n
The Muhammadiyah Youth, composed of middle-aged people,
\nhowever, are bothered too much with local power plays without
\nunderstanding the latest national issues, he said.<\/p>\n
Harijanto Thohari, a Muhammadiyah activist, who is also a
\nGolkar Party executive of the research and development
\ndepartment, said the youth wing must be able to sustain its
\npolitical pluralism, in which every member is free to channel
\ntheir individual political aspirations without involving
\nMuhammadiyah into political matters.<\/p>\n
Citing an example, Harijanto said many Muhammadiyah cadres
\njoined political parties or became party advisors, such as law
\nexpert Ismail Sunny and Malik Fadjar, both advisors to Golkar
\nParty. Others became members of PAN and PPP.<\/p>\n
\"But once we gather as Muhammadiyah members, we leave politics
\nbehind and keep Muhammadiyah away from politics,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Rizal agreed, saying that the Muhammadiyah is training its
\nyoung members to express their political aspirations without
\nfear.<\/p>\n
\"They are allowed to join not only Muslim political parties,
\nbut other parties as well, which are not purely Islamic parties.
\nThe party with the largest support from the Muhammadiyah is the
\nNational Mandate Party (PAN),\" Rizal said.<\/p>\n
PAN is led by People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker
\nAmien Rais, who is a former Muhammadiyah chairman and former
\nMuhammadiyah youth wing chief as well.<\/p>\n
Muhammadiyah's support, Rizal said, was now divided between
\nPAN, the Golkar Party and Muslim parties, such as the United
\nDevelopment Party (PPP) and the Crescent and Star Party (PBB).<\/p>\n
Consequently, Rizal said that Muhammadiyah was divided among
\nthose who believed in making social changes by the Muhammadiyah's
\npuritanical methods of spreading Islam, and those who believed
\nthat good could be done by becoming a major influence in a
\ncertain political party.<\/p>\n
\"The latter is about people who believe that changes are
\nfeasible with the formation of policies, based on the core
\nmission of the Muhammadiyah. One has to enter the political arena
\nto make those policies. This has allowed people like Amien Rais
\nand Muhammadiyah deputy chairman Dien Syamsuddin to come out of
\nthis \"puritanical\" organization.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/muhammadiyah-youth-fails-to-respond-to-problems-1447893297",
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