Muhammadiyah chief says corruption must be stopped

SEMARANG, Central Java: The 28-million strong Muhammadiyah appealed yesterday to Indonesians to honor independence with an end to corruption and the abuse of power.

Chief of the Moslem organization Amien Rais said after celebrating the country's 50th anniversary on Aug. 17 that Indonesians should shun all forms of "treason" and "decadence".

"We need to think and act clean," Amien said in an anniversary workshop, which also featured prominent human rights activist Muladi and intellectual Darmanto Jatman.

The workshop was a forum for reflection after Indonesia's 50 years of independence and 350 years of colonization.

Amien, also a well-known political scholar from Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, pointed out that a number of social ills, most notably corruption and power abuse, remain prevalent in Indonesia.

"Many are corrupt. Some people destroy forests on the pretext that they are improving the people's well-being, while in fact they are ruining our children's future," he said. "These irresponsible people are in fact our common enemy."

Muhammadiyah, dubbed a Moslem "reformist" group with its main base in urban areas, also urged bureaucrats to clean up the government.

Amien warned that the numerous social problems that stem from injustices could threaten Indonesian unity. He pointed out that Indonesia could disintegrate like Russia and the former republics of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.

Many countries envy Indonesia for its success in economic development. "Many countries, especially those in Asia and Africa, have been economically and politically on the decline since obtaining independence," he said.

Muladi, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights, underlined the importance of safeguarding national unity by discarding ethnic fanaticism.

"If people from a certain ethnic group are in trouble, we should share their burden. For example, if people from East Timorese are in trouble we should consider it the problem of the whole nation," he said.

Muladi, who is the rector of the Semarang-based Diponegoro University, agreed that corruption, poverty and human rights abuses remain a major problem, even after 50 years of independence.

He pointed out that the problem would be solved if Indonesia upheld the principle of every citizen being equal before the law.

The workshop attended by about 400 people was also enlivened by a poetry reading by Islamic teacher Mustafa Bisri from Rembang, Central Java. (har/pan)