Muhammadiyah defends its support for Amien

Muhammadiyah defends its support for Amien

A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post,Jakarta

In face of fierce criticism from many sides, Muhammadiyah, the
country's second largest Muslim organization, has defended its
endorsement to National Mandate Party (PAN) Chairman Amien Rais
in the upcoming presidential election for what it called as
strong commitment to reform and fight against corruption.

Muhammadiyah Chairman Syafii Maarif said in Malang East Java,
over the weekend that with its political stance last Tuesday,
Muhammadiyah has not merely endorsed Amien in its presidential
candidacy but and mainly showed its strong hope to have a
reformist national leader who is committed to carrying out the
national reform agenda and ending the corruption.

"We will not vanish if we just support Amien in the
presidential race," said Syafii.

He denied that Muhammadiyah has left its democracy
tradition behind and adopted the sectarian politics, saying that
his organization has urged its members to freely cast their votes
in the legislative elections "and only persuade them to elect
Amien in the presidential election."

Political analysts, politicians and mass organizations have
criticized Muhammadiyah which issued a political stance in its
plenary session in Yogyakarta on Tuesday to sully support Amien
in the presidential election because besides being former
Muhammadiyah chairman, Amien was reformist and had no bad track
records in the past.

The democracy the nation wants to develop has been put in
limbo with Nadhlatul Ulama (NU) Chairman Hasyim Muzadi who has
also urged NU members to cast their votes for the National
Awakening Party (PKB) which was found and supported by NU
clerics, in the legislative elections.

Syamsuddin Harris, a political analyst of the Indonesian
Institute of Sciences, also regretted the political statement,
saying that it has not only tarnished Muhammadiyah's image as an
independent, democratic institution but also could incited other
mass organizations to take similar measure, which in time would
make the people unfree to channel their political aspirations.

"It's unusual and does not educate people. It has no tradition
to dictate its members on such important matters," he
said.

Syamsuddin said the endorsement for Amien's presidential bid
by the Muslim organization was not good for democracy development
and could incite sectarian politics.

Furthermore, he viewed the support for Amien who is also the
former Muhammadiyah chairman was too early and would not benefit
both to Amien and the organization.

"People might think that Amien was just Muhammadiyah
president," he added.

He suggested that Muhammadiyah should make criteria for an
ideal president, instead of driving its members to support a
certain presidential hopeful.

Muhammadiyah scholar Muslim Abdurrahman criticized the
endorsement as a set back since the organization was started to
be recognized as a cultural movement along with other civil
society elements.

"It's a political blunder. The organization should pull out
its support for Amien's presidential bid," Muslim who chairs the
Muhammadiyah's worker, farmer and fishermen department, said.

Meanwhile, Muhammadiyah's deputy secretary Hajriyanto Y.
Thohari who is also Golkar Party legislator, also criticized the
decision as undemocratic and could trigger sectarian politics.

On Friday, several youth organizations under Muhammadiyah
announced their disagreement with the holding body to nominate
Amien for its presidential candidate, saying that it's not in
line with the organization's highest decision maker (Sidang
Tanwir)