'Government has to maintain Moslems' support'

'Government has to maintain Moslems' support'

JAKARTA (JP): The government will not want to risk losing its
current close relationship with Moslems by undermining the
Muhammadiyah Moslem organization or its chairman, the outspoken
scholar Amien Rais, a political observer said yesterday.

Ramlan Surbakti, a lecturer at Surabaya's Airlangga
University, said President Soeharto had been enjoying Moslems'
support.

"He would not want to reduce the solid support of
Muhammadiyah," Ramlan said of the 28 million-strong
organization's relationship with the President.

He said "the leadership of Muhammadiyah is solid and
independent, and is loyal to its statutes, so it would be
difficult for outside parties to intervene".

Ramlan was commenting on Amien's recent resignation as leader
of the Council of Experts of the Association of Indonesian Moslem
Intellectuals (ICMI). He has been transfered as member of the
association's board of advisors under noted ulema Ali Yafie.

Soeharto is chief patron of the politically well-connected
group.

Following his resignation, speculation abounded that Amien was
made to resign because President Soeharto and the government were
displeased with his criticism of some policies.

Controversial Moslem scholar Abdurrahman Wahid ridiculed
suggestions Amien's transfer to a lower post was proof of
government meddling in Muhammadiyah's affairs.

Gus Dur, as Abdurrahman is better known, said last Thursday
in Yogyakarta that Amien's resignation from ICMI could not be
interpreted as the government undermining Islam or the Moslem
organization.

"It's mistaken if people see Amien's transfer as a government
campaign to 'shave' Muhammadiyah or Islam," he said.

"That is outrageous. Muhammadiyah has other leaders such as
Watik Pratiknya," said Abdurrahman, who chairs Indonesia's
largest Moslem organization, the 30 million-strong Nahdlatul
Ulama.

"Nahdlatul Ulama should not be seen as represented only by me,
and neither should Muhammadiyah be seen as represented only by Mr
Amien Rais," Abdurrahman said.

Association chairman B.J. Habibie has denied ICMI considers
Amien a liability because of his outspokenness. He reiterated
that Amien relinquished his position voluntarily because of his
heavy workload in Muhammadiyah and Gadjah Mada University in
Yogyakarta, where he is a staff lecturer at its School of Social
and Political Sciences.

Joining the chorus of voices denying the speculation was the
association's secretary general, Adi Sasono, who said Friday in
Banda Aceh that the association had never been irritated by its
members' outspokenness.

"ICMI has been critical for a long time," he said.

Adi said Amien's resignation had nothing to do with his
critical stance on many government policies.

He said it was Amien's nature to be critical and that there
were still many intellectuals in the association who were as
critical as Amien.

"So it is wrong to link his resignation with his
outspokenness. He had personal reasons to resign from his post,"
Adi said.

"It was for the sake of the experts council's performance and
Amien's own role in Muhammadiyah that the central board of ICMI
decided to accept the resignation." (23/imn/aan)