Moslem groups must play role in succession

JAKARTA (JP): Society's various Moslem groups need to take a more unified stance in order to establish greater leverage and to ensure that no group will be alienated in the process leading up to presidential succession, a discussion concludes.

Political observers Fachry Ali and Muhammad A.S. Hikam addressed some 100 students in a discussion here Wednesday night on the political role Indonesian Moslem groups, such as Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), play in the succession of national leadership.

Fachry, a well-known columnist, described the two major organizations as "standing in opposite positions," a situation which could be exploited by the power holders wanting to retain power.

The "reformist" Muhammadiyah, with some 28 million urbanite supporters, and the "traditionalist" NU with its 30 million supporters in rural areas, have different political outlooks, he said.

Their differences, he said, could result in one party feeling alienated.

"The New Order government's development policies tend to favor the Muhammadiyah constituents, to prioritize them over the aspiration and expectations of the rural masses that support NU," Fachry said.

"When the state wants to implement new policies or accommodate the wishes of the community, it tends to prioritize the more articulate supporters of Muhammadiyah," he said.

Fachry argued that the establishment of the influential, government-sponsored Indonesian Association of Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) and the authorities' recent bans on NU chairman Abdurrahman Wahid from addressing gatherings has deepened the impression that the rural-based organization is indeed alienated.

"President Soeharto's recent statement, that he was part of the big family of Muhammadiyah, has excluded NU," Fachry said. "The further this New Order administration goes, the smaller the space reserved for people who are considered NU constituents."

NU supporters will be more eager to speak and take part in any discussion of political succession, Fachry said, adding that Muhammadiyah would more likely prefer to maintain the status quo.

Hikam, who is a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, however, flatly rejected Fachry's notion of the two major organizations being polarized.

The labeling of Muhammadiyah as a modernist Moslem organization and NU as the more traditional one creates a harmful discrepancy, he pointed out.

Furthermore, it was Muhammadiyah chairman Amien Rais who in 1993 first brought up the issue of national leadership succession and turned into a national controversy, he said.

"The theory of Muhammadiyah and NU as two opposite forces has an irreconcilable gap," said Hikam, a close friend of Abdurrahman Wahid.

Hikam believes that public discourses on political leadership succession, especially in relation to Moslems, would be more beneficial if they were not based on a dichotomous view.

Hikam conceded that the two groups indeed have different political views and subsequently have different approaches to dealing with issues.

"The issue of succession would have different impacts on the two groups and they do cope differently," he said. "This is why the people in Muhammadiyah, for instance, try to cope by creating alternative symbols or institutions, such as the Moslem Bank."

"We need to hold dialogs and find answers to bridge the differences," he said. "Otherwise, the discrepancy which arises from the different cosmology could be used by the power holders to play one group against the other." (swe)