Muhammadiyah congress heats up in Banda Aceh

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.