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).