Amien Rais predicts new Masyumi won't last
Amien Rais predicts new Masyumi won't last
MAGELANG, Central Java (JP): The new Masyumi, a Moslem organization established last week using an acronym similar to a popular Moslem party in the 1950s, does not have a future, Islamic scholar Amien Rais said yesterday.
Amien, who also chairs the powerful Moslem organization Muhammadiyah, gives the new Masyumi six months "at the most".
"I believe that the new Masyumi won't last long. It is only joining the current fray, and will disappear like the wind," he said yesterday after a lecture. "With all due respect, I don't think this organization has any future."
His statement was the most damning heard since the founders of the new Masyumi proclaimed in Jakarta last Friday that they would become a political party and accommodate the interests of all Indonesian Moslems.
The new Masyumi, which stands for Majelis Syariat Ummat Muslimin Indonesia, was founded by Moslem activists Ridwan Saidi and Agus Miftach. It is one of several organizations established in recent months that has borrowed acronyms or abbreviations from parties active in the 1950s and 1960s.
The old Masyumi, which stood for Majelis Syuro Muslimin Indonesia, was established in the 1940s through a merger of a number of Moslem organizations, including Muhammadiyah and the Nahdlatul Ulama. The influential party was disbanded by president Sukarno in 1960 because of its association with an armed rebellion.
Moslem leaders associated with the old Masyumi have also given the thumbs down to the new Masyumi.
Amien, a staff lecturer of the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, described the establishment of the new Masyumi as "reactive and compulsive, and lacking in vision".
"Just because others were forming new organizations, they have joined the fray," he said of the founders and their supporters.
The leaders' proclamation that the new Masyumi would become a political party "has made it even less relevant in the present (political) context," he said, noting that the establishment of new political parties is not permitted by law.
Moslem intellectual Nurcholish Madjid dismissed the new Masyumi as "inappropriate" under the current political context because Moslems already enjoy political representation in various institutions.
Although there is nothing unconstitutional about the establishment of the new Masyumi, Nurcholish said there are better ways for Moslems to push for democratization in Indonesia.
Asked about the new Masyumi's claim that Moslems are not represented in Indonesian politics, he retorted, "Which Moslems?"
"Those like Anwar Haryono and Hasan Basri seem quite content with present conditions. They feel that they are on the right track and do not wish to be disturbed," he said.
Anwar and Hasan were leaders of the old Masyumi and remain influential today through their Islamic propagation activities.
"They disagree with the (new) Masyumi, and refuse to have anything to do with it," Nurcholish said. "But there are Moslems who are not content with the situation. And that is normal."
The Armed Forces (ABRI) issued a warning yesterday that it will take action if the new organizations move to establish a new political party.
ABRI Chief spokesman Brig. Gen. Suwarno Adiwijoyo put a very different spin on a statement he made on Saturday in which he said that the new organizations reflected the greater political openness permitted by the government.
These new organizations should not switch their activities to practical politics, he was quoted by Antara as stating yesterday.
They should remain as "mass organizations" and should comply with the 1945 Constitution and the state ideology Pancasila, he said, adding "ABRI won't stand still if they break the law." (har/emb)