Muhammadiyah congress heats up in Banda Aceh

By Santi WE Soekanto and Wisnu Pramudya

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Heated arguments became the order of the day at the preliminary election of candidates for the chairmanship of the Islamic Muhammadiyah organization, especially concerning the involvement of several members in political organizations.

Most of the debates revolved around the activities of intellectual-cum-politician Din Syamsuddin in the ruling political grouping Golkar and those of Vice Chairman Rusjdi Hamka in the Moslem-based United Development Party (PPP).

After a day-long meeting, the organization's lawmaking body, the Tanwir, failed to meet the deadline set by the congress to announce the final candidates. The body had been charged with the task of selecting 39 candidates from the current list of 85.

Congress sources said the Tanwir had, in fact, managed to bring the list down but had refrained from making public the names because of the continuing controversy.

Reporters were told that the 100 members of the Tanwir had named Amien Rais and Sutrisno Muchdam, respectively the incumbent chairman and vice chairman, as the organization's favored leaders.

Other names mentioned included those of businessman Rahimi Sutan, intellectuals Syafii Maarif, Dawam Rahardjo and Malik Fadjar, Islamic propagators Anhar Burhanuddin and Muhammad Muqoddas, politician Rusjdi Hamka, and bureaucrat Ahmad Watik Pratiknya.

A source close to Amien Rais told the Jakarta Post that Din Syamsuddin did not make it to the list of the final 39 candidates.

The congress proper, to be opened on Thursday by President Soeharto, will narrow the list further to 13 people. The last batch of candidates will then convene and decide among themselves who will lead the organization for the next five years.

During the meeting earlier in the day, Din and Rusjdi were called upon to justify their involvement in Golkar and the PPP.

Din has headed Golkar's department of research and development since 1993, while Rusjdi was appointed by the PPP's central executive board to head the conflict-ridden Jakarta branch of the party in January.

Many Tanwir members opposed the inclusion of Din and Rusjdi in the list on the ground that Muhammadiyah, in its 1972 congress in Ujungpandang, decided to sever all ties with the then Moslem- based political party Indonesian Muslimin Party.

The Ujungpandang consensus also barred any member of Muhammadiyah holding executive positions in the executive boards of other organizations.

The Tanwir meeting yesterday also questioned Din and another candidate for chairman, Lukman Harun, about allegations that they were involved in money scandals worth around Rp 171 million (US$77,000) and Rp 7 billion ($3.2 million) respectively.

After some tensed arguments among several of the meeting's participants, Din was given a chance to defend himself.

Rusjdi told the Post that the argument about Muhammadiyah's intolerance of double membership with other organizations was no longer valid.

The 1990 Tanwir meeting in Pondok Gede, Jakarta, he said, had decided that individual Muhammadiyah members in executive positions may join the executive boards of political parties, provided they obtained special permission from the central executive board.

"It's any individual's basic right, to express his political aspirations through any political grouping," Rusjdi said.

Rusjdi said that many Muhammadiyah members also belonged to other organizations. Among some of the people that he named were legislators Muchsin Bafadal and Ali Hardi Kiaidemak from the PPP faction in the House of Representatives.

Incumbent Chairman Amien Rais and Vice Chairman Watik Pratiknya are also leading members of the powerful Indonesian Association of Moslem Intellectuals, which is chaired by State Minister for Research and Technology B.J. Habibie and whose board of patrons includes President Soeharto and Vice President Try Sutrisno, both in their individual capacities.