Moslem leaders urged to stay out of power play

JAKARTA (JP): Outspoken Moslem scholar Abdurrahman Wahid has warned former members of the influential Moslem Students Organization (HMI), many of whom now occupy important positions in society, not to be trapped in power play.

"Even if people try to justify their seeking of power in the name of Islam, I don't care, power still tends to corrupt," Abdurrahman, chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Moslem organization and leader of the Forum for Democracy, said in a discussion on Monday with the former student activists.

"I'm not being cynical, I'm being honest," he said.

The Moslem Students Association was established in 1947 in Yogyakarta and currently has some 150,000 members.

Ever since its establishment, HMI has played an important role in society, including in the nation's struggle against communism during the chaotic year of 1965.

Members who are no longer students ally themselves in the Corps of HMI Alumnae (KAHMI). The prominent former members of HMI include Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad, Golkar deputy chairman Abdul Gafur, Public Housing Minister Akbar Tandjung, United Development Party (PPP) chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum, Moslem scholar Nurcholish Madjid and political scientist Deliar Noer.

Abdurrahman said using Islam as a tool for politics and power play reduces the impact of the true values of the religion.

He believed that activists who really wish to glorify Islam should not do so within the political arena; instead, they should develop Islam as a social and cultural force in order to sink its roots even more deeply into the society.

Abdurrahman admitted that it is not easy for any organization, particularly one with a long history of involvement in the building of the nation and its development, such as HMI, to become completely independent and take a critical position.

"I believe there are many Moslem students who neglect their initial aspiration of developing HMI as a non-governmental organization with Islamic orientation, and who have become preoccupied with efforts to enter `the system'," he said.

Political force

Abdurrahman said those activists try to justify their efforts on the basis of the belief that Islam will not develop unless it becomes a political force.

"With such reasoning, no wonder KAHMI has changed and become more of an `interest group'," he said. "In order to further that interest, its members are willing to collude with the power holders," he said.

"I believe that any organization, which lets itself become an `interest group', will not hesitate to do disgraceful things," he said.

Abdurrahman said his criticism applied to almost all organizations here, including his own and the powerful Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI).

He accused some ICMI members of using the organization to further their political interests.

Other speakers in the discussion, which was held by the Jakarta branch of KAHMI, were Dr. Nurcholish Madjid, now a member of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the Press Council, and former student activist Dr. Yusril Ihza Mahendra.

Yusril defended KAHMI, saying that collusion is not entirely avoidable given the fact that HMI and KAHMI have members in almost all layers of society, including in the bureaucracy and the business world.

"It's the logical consequence of the upwardly mobile position that our activists hold," he said.

Nurcholish, on the other hand, said that it is time for Moslem activists to take stock of their position. During the 1970s, HMI and KAHMI members enjoyed the privilege of being critics of the power holders.

"However, if we're careless, soon it will be us, the Moslems, who are going to be scrutinized and blamed for various problems," he said. (swe)