Moslem groups must play role in succession
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)