A hectic day in the life of scholar Amien Rais

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.