Din closes in on Muhammadiyah top job
Din closes in on Muhammadiyah top job
Muhammad Nafik and ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post
Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) secretary-general Din Syamsuddin
looks set to take the post of Muhammadiyah chairman on Wednesday
after he won the most votes in the election of the Islamic
organization's executive board.
The 13 newly elected central board members are scheduled to
meet on Thursday to appoint a successor to outgoing chairman
Ahmad Syafii Maarif, who did not enter his name for reelection.
Din, the organization's deputy chairman under Syafii's
leadership and a former Golkar Party politician, took the lead in
the election of the 13 new central board of executives late on
Tuesday, the third day of the six-day congress that is scheduled
to end on Friday.
A total of 2,041 voters selected 13 names from a list of 39
candidates to sit on the board. Din received 1,817 votes,
followed by Haedar Nasir with 1,374 votes and M. Muqaddas with
1,285.
Two other high-profile contenders, former education minister
Malik Fajar, who is said to be backed by Syafii, received 1,277
votes. Abdul Rosyad Sholeh supported by former chairman and
presidential candidate Amien Rais, came sixth with 1,209 votes.
Muhammadiyah's standing orders suggest the board members take
into "serious account" the candidate who won most votes in the
election. In practice this means the top-polling candidate is
generally named the next leader in a consensus decision by the
board. The only exceptions have been Mas Mansur in 1938, Sutan
Mansur (1953) and A.R. Fachruddin (1969), who took Muhammadiyah's
helm after the election winners refused to lead the organization.
Din's position looks more certain after Amien, who had
initially opposed his leadership, said Din deserved the top post
in the organization.
"If (the executive decides) otherwise, it will tarnish the
democracy that Muhammadiyah has been nurturing," Amien said.
Rosyad and current education minister Bambang Sudibyo, who was
ranked 11th with only 881 votes in Tuesday's election, are Amien
loyalists in the 13-strong new board.
Responding to the final round of voting, Din said on Wednesday
he was prepared to lead the 30-million strong Muhammadiyah for
the 2005-2010 period.
Many of the participants, including youth members, had hailed
the course of the congress as "democratic and dignified", Din
said.
"If the candidate with most votes is not directly elected as
the new chairman, the congress outcome would be illegitimate and
uncivilized," West Java Muhammadiyah leader Halim Basyar said on
Wednesday.
More support for Din came from the provincial chapters of
South Sulawesi and West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).