ICMI begins second congress

ICMI begins second congress

By Santi WE Soekanto

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto will open today the second congress of the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals, a Rp 2 billion (US$ 878,734) gathering of some 1,000 leading members.

The Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) has been preparing for this event with great fanfare and bustle. It held numerous seminars, discussions, exhibitions and other activities on Islam, the economy, politics and technology.

As its leader claimed, the influential association was trying to translate its main goals, known locally as programs of Imtaq and Iptek, into reality. The terms are abbreviations of the words "faith", "piety", "science" and "technology".

The terms sum up the goals of ICMI: to establish a new breed of good quality Moslems who are useful to the environment they live in.

However, faith, science and technology may not be the only things on which the congress will have to focus its attention.

There are a host of other issues to tend to: from its perceived proximity to power holders and alleged lack of independence, to rifts between members, so-called elitist programs, and accusations that ICMI is a mere political tool for certain interests groups.

Chairman

Unlike the congresses of other Moslem-based organizations, however, the period running up to the congress has been relatively devoid of controversies over who will be elected chairman.

There were some discussions about whether incumbent chairman B.J. Habibie should be re-elected, or whether the organization should display its independence by electing someone else.

There is only a handful of proponents for the second line of thought, including legislator A.M. Saefuddin of the United Development Party, but the idea has not endured.

It seems that the re-election of Habibie, who is also minister of research and technology, is already a foregone conclusion in the minds of many people.

Even groups standing in opposite camps within the organization, those who are close to Habibie and those who stand slightly apart, agree that Habibie is the man for the job.

"I believe 99.9 percent of all ICMI members in Jakarta want Habibie to retain the position," said Lukman Harun, a leading member of the Jakarta branch.

Sources told The Jakarta Post that the numerous preliminary elections at the hundreds of ICMI units across the country saw Habibie's name smoothly rising to the top.

Adi Sasono, director of the Center for Information and Development Studies, a think tank of ICMI, confirmed this.

There are several other names that obtain wide support, such as former minister of environment Emil Salim, chairman of Jakarta branch Ahmad Tirtosudiro and international relation expert Amien Rais, but Habibie is still at the top.

Habibie himself has never said outright that he was willing to be nominated. Responding to questions about whether President Soeharto would approve if he were reelected, Habibie said he's confident Soeharto "would heed the public's wish".

The key to whether Habibie will or will not stay at the helm of the organization, indeed, depends on President Soeharto's approval.

Apart from the serious controversy over the chairmanship, ICMI finds itself under growing criticism by various parties.

Adi Sasono and other leading members have been spending a fair amount of time debating and deflecting accusations. One of the most frequent accusations hurled at ICMI is that it's too dependent on Habibie, "the super minister" who happens to be a close confidant of President Soeharto.

Critics have linked the question of independence with the issue of chairmanship, arguing that replacing Habibie with another figure would help cut the association's umbilical cord with the bureaucracy.

Habibie dismissed the arguments, as did a number of other leaders. The question of ICMI's perceived proximity with the power holders, however, evoked stronger reactions.

"For an organization to be independent, does it necessarily have to stand in opposition with the power holders?" Adi Sasono retorted.

He pointed out that ICMI has performed well during the past five years since its inception in 1990 because of a "well-laid system".

In addition, "it's not even enough to be close to the power holders," Adi said. "We should be that power. If we want to bring changes to society, we should do it from within (the system)".

Related to the issue of independence is the organization's political leaning.

Despite the leaders' repeated assertion that ICMI is not a political organization, people accused it of dabbling in elite politics. The organization was behind the appointment of many Moslem activists to some influential positions, critics charged.

Other critics have said that ICMI has become a mere tool for the power holders to mobilize the increasingly influential Moslems, especially those from the middle class.

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