NU, Muhammadiyah aim to expand cooperation<\/p>\n
ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post\/Malang<\/p>\n
Muhammadiyah wrapped up its six-day national congress here on
\nFriday, saying it would expand its partnership with Nahdlatul
\nUlama (NU) in order to help the country progress.<\/p>\n
Newly elected Muhammadiyah leader Din Syamsuddin said his
\norganization and NU had discussed plans to enhance cooperation
\nbetween the country's two largest Muslim organizations in all
\nsectors.<\/p>\n
\"The two Islamic wings in Indonesia will carry out many things
\ntogether in the future,\" he said without elaborating.<\/p>\n
So far, NU and Muhammadiyah, arch rivals in the past for their
\ndifferent political views, appear to have joined forces to
\npromote the national campaign against corruption.<\/p>\n
However, Din and others have admitted that the joint antigraft
\nefforts had made little headway.<\/p>\n
NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi, who like Din was a graduate of the
\nGontor Islamic boarding school in Ponorogo, East Java, was
\npresent at Friday's ceremony.<\/p>\n
In his speech to mark the closing of the congress, Vice
\nPresident Jusuf Kalla urged Muhammadiyah and NU not to confine
\ntheir activities to their members but rather devote themselves to
\nthe nation as a whole.<\/p>\n
\"The movement should not be sectarian, but should instead
\ninvolve all Indonesian people,\" he stressed.<\/p>\n
\"Religious organizations like Muhammadiyah and NU must help
\nadvance the progress of the nation at large, as this will also
\nhelp advance the progress of Indonesian Muslims,\" Kalla said.<\/p>\n
The two organizations claim to have 75 million members between
\nthem.<\/p>\n
Kalla said Muhammadiyah had so far done a lot to help the
\ngovernment educate and empower the people through its thousands
\nof schools, hospitals and charitable institutions nationwide.<\/p>\n
\"This huge Muhammadiyah University in Malang is just a small
\nexample of what Muhammadiyah has done for the nation so far,\"
\nKalla said.<\/p>\n
The university was the venue for the six-day congress.<\/p>\n
Apart from Hasyim, two former Muhammadiyah leaders, Ahmad
\nSyafii Maarif and Amien Rais, Coordinating Minister for People's
\nWelfare Alwi Shihab, who is an NU member, and Minister of
\nNational Education Bambang Sudibyo, who is a Muhammadiyah member,
\nattended the closing ceremony.<\/p>\n
Also at the same event, Din publicly asked Amien and Syafii to
\ncontinue playing a role in Muhammadiyah under his leadership
\nduring the 2005-2010 period.<\/p>\n
\"Because Amien Rais and Syafii Maarif are exceptional figures,
\nwe will ask them to serve as advisors to the Muhammadiyah central
\nexecutive board,\" Din said to huge applause from the audience.<\/p>\n
Both Amien and Maarif had apparently not supported the
\nnomination of Din to take the top post in the organization.<\/p>\n
Maarif was said to back former education minister Malik
\nFadjar, while senior Muhammadiyah figure Abdul Rosyad Sholeh was
\nthe first choice of Amien.<\/p>\n
Din was officially named as the new Muhammadiyah chairman on
\nThursday by acclamation following agreement among the 13 members
\nof the central board, which had earlier been elected by the 2,140
\neligible voters attending the congress.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/nu-muhammadiyah-aim-to-expand-cooperation-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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