Muhammadiyah gives Moslems identity

By Santi W.E. Soekanto and Wisnu Pramudya

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): It may sound irrational, but some of the 40,000 Muhammadiyah supporters who flocked here for the organization's congress last week were farmers and small traders who spent all their money just to pay for their fares.

After days on the road or on ships, these people still had to sit in the sun for hours, waiting to be registered and given a place to stay.

They were then put up in often less-than-comfortable quarters such as school buildings, sleeping on plastic or woven mats. They queued to take showers, to get their meals and to perform ablution.

All that and they weren't even invited into the rooms where some 4,000 leading members met to decide on new leadership and new programs.

They followed the proceedings by close-circuit televisions, but more often than not they just roamed the streets and markets or answered the call to prayer at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque.

These penggembira (sympathizers) of the Muhammadiyah came just to lend a festive air to the congress.

Abdul Adhim, a batik clothes seller from Gresik, East Java, saved every cent he could spare for a year to pay for his trip to Banda Aceh. He spent it all gladly.

"If I didn't save, I wouldn't have been able to come here," he said proudly.

Hajjah Rohani, a 73-year-old lady from Jakarta, had to contend with physical disabilities -- a stiff leg and a cataract -- but the former leader of the Aisyiyah, the women's wing of Muhammadiyah, ignored her children's protests over her wish to go. She traveled to Medan, picked-up some old friends and endured the 10-hour bus ride to Banda Aceh.

She then stayed in a makeshift dormitory and happily mingled with hundreds of other women.

"I came with hundreds of other people from my regency," said Nasriah, a villager from Sibolga, North Sumatra. During the very hot afternoons, she idled inside the mosque.

"Ooh, the trip here was very exhausting, and I know the trip home will also be tiring," she answered. "But that's all right. This is for Muhammadiyah."

"I hope Pak Amien Rais will make this organization even better," she said, after finding out that the incumbent chairman had been re-elected. "You know, work harder for us. For Islam."

Another woman, who traveled from Ujungpandang in South Sulawesi along with 1,000 other supporters, sat quietly on the cold floor of the mosque. "I'm sleepy and tired," she said apologetically.

"I hope Muhammadiyah will pay more attention to us Moslems and members who live in remote areas," she said, pointing out that most of the top members of the organization reside in Java.

Profound

"It seems irrational, but those people see their involvement in the organization as something very profound," Mohamad Sobary, an anthropologist and member of Muhammadiyah, told The Jakarta Post recently.

"It's about emotional needs. In fact, the organization provides them with their identity."

"For those poor farmers, those small traders in market places, all that discomfort on the way here was a form of struggle, and an act of worship," he said.

Sobary, who came to the congress as an observer, likened the devotion of the Muhammadiyah members to that of Moslems around the world on their pilgrimage to Mecca.

"Of course there are differences, because going on a pilgrimage is a religious edict, but on a smaller scale these Muhammadiyah members see going to this congress as great a struggle,too," he said.

"For them this is a very basic need. This organization reminds them that the path they have chosen as Moslems is true," he said. "It's like the organization clarifies and says 'here it is, the purified Islam, so hold on to it'."

For people in small villagers, being a member or even a supporter of the organization gives them a pride, Sobary said.

"It's this very emotional bond that ties these people with the organization, and so they are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to support Muhammadiyah."

A leading member of the organization, Sutrisno Muhdam, put it very simply when he described this deep attachment as "We are Muhammadiyah members before all else."

Changes

Sobary, a columnist at the Kompas daily and a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, said that Muhammadiyah shouldn't rely too much on this emotional attachment in the future.

There are plenty of reasons for this, he said, the first of which is that Muhammadiyah no longer has charismatic ulemas like A.R. Fachruddin to lead it.

The second reason is that the organization needs to make some significant changes in order to meet future challenges. By producing more intellectuals, for instance.

"The organization is already changing, though slowly and gradually," he said. "This pace is probably the best because the Moslem community is such a great entity, and we can't force them all to hop onto a fast charging train at the same time."

The organization has been criticized by various people for losing its character as a Moslem reformist movement.

Not only does it have to maintain its objectives of providing quality education, it also must provide guidance for its massive followers.

Muhammadiyah has over 700,000 registered members at more than 1,300 branches across the archipelago. Amien Rais, however, estimates the organization has at least 28 million supporters or sympathizers.

Muhammadiyah now manages at least 13,200 schools, including 3,000s kindergartens, 4,000s elementary schools, 1,000 madrasah diniyah (Islamic studies classes), 2,000s junior high schools, almost 3,000 senior high schools, 38 Muallimin-muallimat (Islamic teachers' colleges), six boarding schools, and 41 universities and colleges.

In 1993, before assuming the chairmanship after K.H. Azhar Basyir died, Amien Rais said that the organization faced three obstacles to becoming an effective reformist organization.

It is firstly unable to anticipate changes due to the absence of a strong think tank and members who conduct ijtihad (intellectual exercises) in order to come up with fresh and reformed ideas.

Because social problems have become much more complicated, the organization lacks the ability to respond satisfactorily, he said.

The second obstacle is the lack of regenerative and cadre building programs. "It's not an easy problem to solve, because it means that Muhammadiyah has to make itself more attractive, more appealing, in order to recruit more people."

The final obstacle is the organization's economic resources, he said.