A hectic day in the life of scholar Amien Rais
By Sri Wahyuni, Teddy Novan and Israr Ardiansyah
YOGYAKARTA (JP): It was 5 a.m, and the street in Pandean Sari district was quiet and sleepy after a night of heavy rain. The exception was the bustling home of Muhammadiyah chairman Muhammad Amien Rais.
Inside, a guest from the U.S. Embassy chatted with Amien's brother while waiting for the house owner to appear. A few minutes later, a group of six people from the East Java town of Pasuruan arrived, followed soon by a bus and van full of visitors from Gresik, also in East Java.
"We want to greet Pak Amien first before attending the Tabligh Akbar (grand religious gathering)," some of the visitors said, adding that it was customary for them to simply drop by unannounced to meet the leader of the Moslem organization.
It was Sunday, Feb. 15, and Amien was scheduled to address a gathering of 40,000 Moslems at Mandala Krida Stadium. The Moslem scholar, who is fast gaining national and international prominence for his scathing criticism of government policies, would be accompanied by the chief of the Yogyakarta Military Command, Col. Djoko Santoso.
Just before 6 a.m., Amien appeared, looking fresh and neat in his dark green checkered suit, pink shirt and red tie. He greeted his guests in turn before he was finally ready to leave for the stadium at about 7:30 a.m. The gathering itself began 30 minutes later.
A group of Australian television reporters arrived at the house at that time, followed by another stream of individual guests.
"It's a usual scene, visitors arriving very early here," said one of the guests.
There were more to come. At about 10:30 a.m., when Amien, his wife, Kusnariyati Sri Rahayu, and their youngest son arrived home from the gathering, no fewer than 80 fishermen and their families from Sukolilo near Surabaya were waiting.
"Pak Amien! Pak Amien!" they cried as they surged toward Amien's car.
"Assalaamu'alaikum (peace be with you)," they fervently greeted Amien and Kusnariyati, who responded in kind.
Amien, who has declared his readiness to be nominated as the next president, opened the trunk of his car and distributed cans of soft drinks to the villagers.
He proceeded to engage some of them in serious discussions. He listened intently, and questioned them about their village by the sea.
"This is, among other things, what we like about him. He is very caring and close to people like us," Subandi, one of the villagers, told The Jakarta Post.
He said the group was unaware there was a rally scheduled that morning until they arrived at Amien's house. For the visit, their fourth, they had brought oleh-oleh (mementos).
"We also would like to show our full support for his presidential candidacy," Subandi said. "If he cannot make it at the moment, we hope that at least what he always teaches us, about the need for the nation to repent and for a clean government, will become a reality."
After meeting the villagers, Amien quickly switched to a series of interviews with crews from three different foreign TV stations.
Several local print media journalists waited for him outside the house.
But when Amien finally emerged at about 12:30 p.m., he did not have time to answer their questions; a Muhammadiyah youth group from Malang, East Java, was waiting for his briefing at Muhammadiyah's headquarters on Jl. K.H.A. Dahlan.
Then he was off to a lecture at 1 p.m. for students of a master's program at a private college on Jl. Cik Ditiro. Amien said he did it for a "little" additional income.
He finished the lecture and, a few minutes after 3 p.m., went home to bathe and pray. There, two guests were waiting to take him to an Idul Fitri gathering in Nitikan, some 10 kilometers south of his house. He was scheduled to preach there at 4 p.m.
Amien, on the go nonstop for almost 10 hours, appeared exhausted and sleepy. He occasionally nodded off for a few minutes during the car ride.
"That's the way he rests between his daily activities," his driver said.
"I sometimes think that 24 hours a day is just not enough for Pak Amien," said Chairil Anwar, the chairman of the Yogyakarta branch of the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals.
At least seven different media ask for interviews with Amien every day according to Chairil, who is also on the staff at the Center of the Study of Policy Strategy which Amien directs.
These appointments are juggled with Amien's commitments as a lecturer at the School of Political Sciences of Gadjah Mada University and as a preacher.
"He is busy, and yet he seems to always have spare time for his staff and the poor around him," Chairil said admiringly.
When he heard that Muhammadiyah's internal magazine, Suara Muhammadiyah, did not have enough money to pay Idul Fitri bonuses to its employees, Amien set himself the task of gathering funds.
"The magazine's staff received their Idul Fitri bonuses," Chairil said.
Trustworthy
Amien is also always willing to help out the poor and those who want to go on the pilgrimage to Mecca, Chairil said.
"He doesn't help by doling out his own money, but by encouraging the wealthy to donate their money.
"He is an amanah (trustworthy) person. He gives a clear account to donors on how every cent of their money is being spent."
Chairil, who has known Amien for 10 years, said he is a man of his word.
"When he makes strong rebukes about the need for clean government, he means it because he is a clean person in his own life."
Born in Surakarta, Central Java, on April 26, 1944, Amien is remembered by a childhood friend, Nasruddin, for disarming honesty.
"He was naughty. However, it was very difficult to ask him to tell a lie," Nasruddin, now Amien's brother-in-law, told the Post.
He said Amien had shown an interest in becoming a preacher since elementary school. While other boys of his age spent their afternoon playing, Amien studied the Koran.
"Amien has a good memory. He knows the Hadist (the sayings and traditions of Prophet Muhammad) as well as their context very well," Nasruddin said.
Amien who mastered Arabic reads and interprets the Koran fluently. Nasruddin said he was also knowledgeable about the asbabunuzul -- the story or background on why a particular verse from the Koran was delivered to Prophet Muhammad.
Another indication of his keen memory, Nasruddin said, was that he could remember the names of all their childhood friends.
The Post put Amien to the test, and he passed by rattling off a list of names along with anecdotes about each particular friend. He also remembers the names of prominent Muhammadiyah figures during his youth in Surakarta.
His mother, Sudalmiyah Rais, remembers her son as a brave child.
Amien, the second of six children and first son, developed a "fighting spirit" with the Islamic teaching he received, according to Sudalmiyah, who said she was a strict disciplinarian.
"But he doesn't use his courage for his own interest. He exercises it for the sake of all people," the proud mother said in a recent interview.
Scout
Family members recounted that Amien first displayed his leadership skills when he joined Hisbul Wathan, a Moslem youth group, when he was a student at Surakarta's Muhammadiyah junior high school.
He continued to be active in several Moslem student associations when he studied at the School of International Relations at Gadjah Mada University. He was chairman of the Association of Muhammadiyah Students in 1967-1968.
He graduated with honors, and received a two-year scholarship from an American foundation for postgraduate study at Notre Dame University in Indiana in 1972.
He returned to the U.S. to pursue his doctorate at the University of Chicago, completed in 1981. His first child was born in the Illinois city in 1979 after 10 years of marriage.
To his family, Amien is like any other caring husband and father. He uses his rare spare time to help his children with their homework, and he plays music with them after all family members pray together in the evening.
There is also a monthly family picnic at the nearby Kaliurang holiday resort.
"We realize he is unable to do it every day, but we know he tries his best," said Kusnasriyati.
The couple has three sons and two daughters.
The children, except for the youngest, take evening music lessons. All speak English and Arabic. Amien himself speaks English, French, German and Arabic.
Due to Amien's packed schedule, Kusnasriyati is the more dominant figure at home. This is no easy task as Amien's extended family consists of about 20 people.
This is not counting about 50 other people the family feeds at lunch. These are staff members and teachers of the nearby Muhammadiyah elementary school and the kindergarten that Amien and his wife built.
The family has provided the free meals since the kindergarten opened in March 1987. Meals are also given to the four newspaper boys who deliver morning dailies to Amien's house every day.
"Sometimes you cannot just count everything mathematically," said Kusnasriyati.
"Alhamdulillah (praise be to Allah), there is always something from Allah to support us."
To help make ends meet, Kusnasriyati runs a Moslem Chinese restaurant near the family home and a small firm creating and marketing educational audiovisual aids for kindergarten-age children.