Top MUI official defends the ulema council's record<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has been
\nincreasingly in the news lately because it is doing its job to
\nprotect and promote the interests of the Islamic community in
\nIndonesia, one of its leaders said.<\/p>\n
Ali Yafie, deputy chief of the council's executive board,
\nacknowledged that MUI has earned recognition on various issues of
\ninterests to the Moslem community in recent years.<\/p>\n
"But the general perception is that MUI is handling trivial
\nmatters," Yafie told The Jakarta Post yesterday.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the most celebrated fatwa (ruling) the MUI has
\nissued in the eyes of the public was when it ruled that eating
\nfrog was haram (forbidden) by the religion, he said.<\/p>\n
This, he pointed out, is an inaccurate assessment of the
\nperformance of the council because the MUI's more successful
\nfeats have been given less publicity.<\/p>\n
He cited, as an example, the establishment of Bank Muamalat
\nIndonesia, the first ever bank in Indonesia that operates not on
\ninterest but on profit sharing.<\/p>\n
The creation of the bank was the result of a long debate
\ninitiated by the MUI, he said, adding that as offshoots of the
\nbank, an Islamic insurance company and an Islamic arbitrage
\nagency have been established.<\/p>\n
Another major feat for the MUI, in November, 1994, was the
\ngovernment's decision to scrap the controversial SDSB lottery,
\nwhich has long been opposed by Moslem organizations.<\/p>\n
MUI was founded in the 1970s, bringing together the various
\nMoslem organizations in Indonesia into one board. Ali Yafie
\nrepresents the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Moslem socio-
\norganization in the country.<\/p>\n
MUI's role in issuing fatwas has long been known because it
\ndirectly affects the public. Its role as a pressure group is less
\nknown, although, as Yafie pointed out, MUI has been involved in
\nsome behind the scenes lobbying to influence government policies.<\/p>\n
One of its latest moves was to ask the government to refrain
\nfrom enforcing the five-day school week. The MUI leaders met with
\nMinister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro last
\nTuesday.<\/p>\n
Major life<\/p>\n
"MUI is playing a major role in developing religious life in
\nIndonesia," Yafie said. "The council is also active in promoting
\nreligious tolerance through dialogs with similar boards of other
\nreligions."<\/p>\n
MUI was embroiled in an internal dispute last month over the
\ncontroversy of screening the Hollywood-made movie True Lies.<\/p>\n
The film was subsequently banned because of the controversy,
\nbut the MUI also decided to review its participation at the Film
\nCensorship Board.<\/p>\n
Yafie explained that the way the censorship works has rendered
\nthe ulema's participation almost meaningless because not all the
\nfilms passed by the board are scrutinized by MUI's two
\nrepresentatives.<\/p>\n
He said the censorship board's 45 members are simply divided
\ninto groups of two and the 50 or so films that have to be
\nreviewed each day are simply distributed among these groups.<\/p>\n
MUI may have a presence on the board but it is not involved in
\nprocessing all the films, Yafie said. "This means that MUI's
\nparticipation in the censorship board is not effective."<\/p>\n
He said the council is now reconsidering its position in the
\ncensor board and would be looking for an alternative way of
\nmonitoring film censorship, probably from outside the censor
\nboard. (emb)<\/p>",
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