A show of immaturity?

A show of immaturity?

This country has been called a place where anything can
happen, although many things are impossible. In Indonesia, so the
notion goes, one can see both possibility and impossibility at
work. What could probably never happen in other countries, can
occur here from time to time, or even become routine matters. For
example, the fact that the freedoms of expression and association
are regarded as alien here, whereas in most other countries they
are taken as a mater of course.

Not far removed from this play between the possible and
impossible, is the trend toward disunity among the leaders of
political organizations, or other major social bodies,
particularly in the run-up to their national congresses.

It seems that only Golkar, the dominant political grouping,
has managed to avoid the internal squabbling that has more than
once plunged other political entities and organizations into
crises that linger long after their congresses are over.

Another phenomenon observable in this connection is that every
time a major organization plans to hold a congress, the
authorities are always asked whether they are backing a
particular candidate for leadership. Although the answer is
always negative, the tendency to ask such a question and the way
the people in power have answered it always give the impression
that there has been intervention into congress activities --
covert or open -- by the authorities.

Such a situation is quite lamentable, if not pathetic. It was,
therefore, extremely irritating when this question was recently
asked in relation to next month's congress of Muhammadiyah, the
country's largest and oldest social and educational organization.
The reason the question seems so out of place is that in the past
Muhammadiyah has enjoyed complete freedom to elect its own
leaders or to decide its own policy.

The same freedom will apparently be implemented during the
coming congress in Banda Aceh, a provincial capital city, some
2,000 kilometers northwest of Jakarta. This privilege enjoyed by
Muhammadiyah seems to have roots in its success at avoiding
politics and in its ability to maintain harmonious relations with
Indonesian heads of state. President Sukarno was a Muhammadiyah
teacher during his four years of exile in Bengkulu before World
War II and President Soeharto's primary education was at a
Muhammadiyah school in Central Java.

It is against this backdrop of historical reality, that it is
quite disconcerting to watch the unattractive show of disharmony
and unhealthy rivalry among the people who will be vying for the
leadership of Muhammadiyah in the coming congress. The
organizations' senior activists have been waging war against each
other in the nation's news media. And anonymous statements
assaulting one or another of the candidates have been circulating
widely among the organization's membership.

The fracas seems to have been made possible by the absence of
a charismatic leader among them. The last great leader, and
perhaps one of the most respectable men among them, was A.R.
Fachruddin, who passed away recently at the age of 79. The
contenders for the future leadership now consist mostly of
academicians and younger activists.

But whatever the situation may be, there is no good reason for
them to become embroiled in such ugly bickering, which appears
neither erudite nor Islamic.

What a modern organization like Muhammadiyah needs now is
leaders with a deep knowledge of Islam who have a deep respect
for the virtues of maturity, tolerance, patience and the wisdom
of statesmanship.

Because Muhammadiyah has held 33 congresses peacefully since
its establishment in 1912, every thinking Indonesian expects the
organization's would-be leaders to restrain themselves from being
carried away by emotion because it is in just such a situation
that outsiders are likely to jump in to create even more
difficulties.

Muhammadiyah, which has rendered so much for the nation, is
the last organization the people would want to see experiencing
the disgusting ordeal of a power struggle at its national
congress.