Muhammadiyah executive to quit over Israel trip
Muhammadiyah executive to quit over Israel trip
SOLO, Central Java (JP): Muhammadiyah, the country's largest
socio-educational organization, has disciplined the head of its
foreign relations department for visiting Israel last year.
The meeting of the Muhammadiyah policy-making body (Tanwir),
in a manner unfamiliar to other organizations, Saturday night
asked Habib Chirzin, "to resign from his post" until its 43rd
congress in Banda Aceh in July.
Habib joined controversial politician Abdurrahman Wahid, who
is chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, and Djohan Effendy, a senior
research specialist with the Ministry of Religious Affairs, in
the October visit during which they also attended the signing of
peace agreement between Israel and Jordan.
The trip was widely condemned by Moslem organizations. The
Council of Ulemas and other organizations said the visit would
split Moslem opinion here.
In February last year, Moslem groups also condemned four
Indonesian journalists for visiting Israel.
The three-day Tanwir meeting, which opened on Thursday,
closed Saturday night. It had mainly discussed the preparations
for the 43rd Muhammadiyah congress in Banda Aceh.
The meeting also repeated the organization's appeal to the
government not to open diplomatic relations with Israel until
the Jewish country recognizes the Palestinians' overall rights to
determine their own fate.
Terms
The meeting failed to agree on the limitation of the number
of terms its chairman can hold, the most heated topic to come up
during the three days of discussion.
"The meeting leaves the problem to the upcoming congress,"
said acting Muhammadiyah leader Dr. Amien Rais, who was appointed
as full chairman on Thursday by Tanwir.
Some provincial leaders of the organization oppose the idea
of limiting the number of terms because they say this would
obstruct a promising leader from implementing his programs.
The meeting also registered more than a hundred candidates
for Muhammadiyah's chairman to be selected at the July congress.
Amien, Dr. Syafei Maarif and Dr. Watik Pratiknya are on the
top of the list. They are noted intellectuals from Yogyakarta and
belong to the younger generation of Muhammadiyah leaders.
The July congress will elect a new chairman and 13 members
of the executive board of the organization, which now runs some
12,000 schools throughout Indonesia.
In its decision on tourism the meeting said there were
negative impacts on the people's morality from that sector. That
is why Muhammadiyah urged the authorities not only to focus on
economic gains in its policy on tourism.
The organization also appealed to the government to oppose
Russia's ruthless approach in Chechnya, the Serbs' brutality in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, the western countries' policy in the Persian
Gulf and Israel's actions in Palestine. (r. fajri/imn)