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)