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)