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)