Is Muhammadiyah still an educational reformer?

By Mochtar Buchori

JAKARTA (JP): Can Muhammadiyah regain its role as reformer in Islamic education?

This is a question several of my friends have been asking me for about two years. As I see it, they have been asking this question because they feel that Muhammadiyah is no longer recognized by the public as a reformer in Indonesian Islamic education. And from the way they have been communicating their anxiety to me, I sense that they want very much to see Muhammadiyah regain its old role as an organization which can thrust itself forward as a reformer in the field of education or at least as a reformer in the field of Islamic education in Indonesia.

I have never been able to answer this question in a clear and unambiguous way. My personal experiences with Muhammadiyah would induce me to answer this question in the negative. But realizing that my knowledge of Muhammadiyah is very limited, I prefer to give a qualified answer. Usually I give as my answer a list of prerequisites that should be satisfied by Muhammadiyah in order to be recognized as a reborn reformer of Islamic education in Indonesia.

In the old days Muhammadiyah was considered an educational reformer because it succeeded in bringing about tangible changes in the practice of Islamic education in Indonesia. Muhammadiyah created schools which differed entirely from the traditional pondok (the traditional "school") in terms of physical design, curriculum and methods of instruction. Muhammadiyah also succeeded in giving its pupils an understanding concerning the socio-political situation of the country at that time. This is an orientation which the traditional pondok could not provide their pupils.

It was in this socio-cultural sense that Muhammadiyah was considered a reformer in Indonesian Islamic education. It was also in this sense that Taman Siswa, another educational organization, was accepted as a reformer in national education in Indonesia. The success of Muhammadiyah at that time was a consequence of its ability to detect the weaknesses of the traditional Islamic educational institutions and on its ability to create an alternative system which worked in real life. I think any movement towards educational reform will receive public recognition only if it can bring about real changes in day-to-day operations.

The situation in Islamic education in Indonesia has changed considerably since those days when Mohammadiyah was considered the champion of modern Islamic education in Indonesia. If Muhammadiyah wants to become a reformer in present-day Islamic education, it must first identify the weaknesses of the present situation and then develop educational designs that can correct these weaknesses. It is only after it can demonstrate convincingly that these new designs bring about real improvements in the conditions of present day Islamic education in Indonesia that Muhammadiyah will again be recognized by the public as present day reformer.

What are the weaknesses of Islamic education in Indonesia today?

The situation is so heterogeneous that it is really hard to give a general answer. Measured against the criteria of modern education today there are many Islamic educational institutions that can be considered good, but there are also many Islamic schools that are really weak. If we concentrate on those Islamic schools that fall within the "weak" category. then I think that in general their weaknesses consist of the following:

First, their offerings in science is relatively poor compared to schools without a religious background. They have no good laboratories, their teachers are less well qualified and their syllabuses are also somewhat poor. Second, religious education in these schools is usually reduced to religious instruction. The emphasis is usually on providing knowledge (the cognitive aspect), not on guiding students to develop the will to lead a religious life (the conative aspect). Third, instruction in history is in these schools usually one-sided. Students get more instruction in Islamic history, but not enough instruction in national history. Fourth, teachers of religion in these schools tend to isolate themselves. They do not interact sufficiently with teachers of general subjects.

The result is that there is no functional linkage between religious instruction and general instruction in these schools. There is, for instance, no linkage between physics and religion. This is sad, in my opinion, since establishing a functional and harmonious relationship between these two fields is theoretically quite probable. I am quite influenced by one maxim which says "the words of God (the Koran) cannot possibly contradict the work of God (the universe)."

These are, in my view, the major weaknesses of the less qualified Islamic schools in Indonesia today. Can Muhammadiyah design programs to correct these weaknesses? And can it conduct experiments to try out such designs, and provide guidance on how their designs can be implemented in real life?

It is only if these questions are answered in the positive will Muhammadiyah reemerge as reformer within Islamic education in Indonesia today. In my view, Muhammadiyah's Institutes for Teachers Training and the Study of Education constitute the specialized bodies within Muhammadiyah that must find answers to these questions. Before they can fulfill this function, however, a lot of introspection is required. One absolute requirement is, in my opinion, that these institutions do their utmost to develop a solid academic culture within their folds. The four questions I mentioned above are technical-educational questions, requiring technical-educational answers. Political responses to these questions will never solve the problem.

As an outsider, I can only hope that the lessons from the past five years will not go unnoticed, and that under their newly elected leadership Muhammadiyah will be able to recapture its old role as an effective educational reformer.

Dr. Mochtar Buchori is an observer of social affairs.