Muhammadiyah, NU ponder joining hands in education

Muhammadiyah, NU ponder joining hands in education

Leo Wahyudi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's two
largest Muslim organizations, should join hands in promoting
education to produce broad-minded Islamic thinkers with
professional skills, a prominent Muslim scholar says.

Dawam Rahardjo of Muhammadiyah said the two groups needed to
share their experiences in education, so they could cultivate a
new breed of modern Islamic thinkers.

Muhammadiyah acknowledges it lags behind when it comes to
religious thinkers because it focuses on improving the prosperity
of its members by establishing of schools, universities,
hospitals, orphanages and cooperatives.

Muhammadiyah has refused to focus on teaching Islamic
traditions and Arabic, both essential for Muslim scholars
(ulema). Instead, it develops a more Western-style education
system.

As result, Muhammadiyah only produced new professionals and
intellectuals, not Islamic thinkers in the real sense of the
term.

In contrast, NU focuses on preserving Islamic traditions
through its pesantren (boarding schools), where students learn
classical manuscripts and modern sciences.

It's best known contemporary thinker is probably Abdurrahman
"Gus Dur" Wahid, who became the republic's president for 20
months until he was impeached in July, 2001.

Although Muhammadiyah and NU are basically social, educational
and religious organizations, they have set up their own political
parties. Muhammadiyah has the National Mandate Party (PAN) and NU
the National Awakening Party (PKB) -- and they are bitter rivals.

Dawam said NU and Muhammadiyah should tackle their respective
shortcomings and combine their advantages in education in order
to create new Islamic thinkers and professionals.

"There is a need for cooperation between NU and Muhammadiyah
to achieve this goal through a sharing of their experiences," he
said.

"Muhammadiyah should also develop the traditional educational
system like pesantren, while NU should promote a modern
educational system so as to produce more professionals."

Muhammadiyah has developed largely in urban areas in Java and
Sumatra. It has been regarded as a modernizing force in the
Islamic community. NU, on the other hand, is popular in rural
Java and several parts of Sumatra and Sulawesi.

As it has lagged behind in producing new Islamic thinkers,
Muhammadiyah may no longer be considered a pioneer in Islamic
thought.

Mochtar Buchori, a noted educational expert from Muhammadiyah,
said his organization had failed to produce more Islamic thinkers
because it was obsessed with modernization and Western-style
sciences, but at the same time overlooked theological knowledge.

The group, he said, had so far achieved only "pseudo-progress"
instead of genuine advancement in Islamic modernization as it
solely developed Western sciences without combining them with an
understanding of Islamic traditions.

Mochtar said that unlike NU, Muhammadiyah was not willing to
reexamine its long-held belief to grasp the essence of modernity.

Dawam said NU used its understanding of Islamic tradition and
history to develop modern sciences among its members, while
Muhammadiyah promotes more "secular" education, while paying less
attention to religious teachings.

NU has even managed to pass its "post-traditionalist era" by
combining Islamic traditions with left-wing thought and
liberalism, Dawam said.

But, he said Muhammadiyah, which sticks to the Koran and
hadist (the sayings and deeds of the prophet), has barely pushed
for renewal due to its rigid doctrine of purification.

Dawam and Mochtar criticized their organization's members for
taking for granted Western knowledge without critical thinking,
which resulted in a partial understanding of modernity.

This places Muhammadiyah in a weak role in taking the lead in
Islamic renewal on various controversial issues, such as gender,
human rights, democracy and relations between state and religion,
Dawam said.

Muhammadiyah chairman Syafii Ma'arif admitted that his
organization failed to "harmonize" secular sciences and religious
knowledge in the modern Islamic community.

However, he categorically denied that Muhammadiyah does not
produce new Islamic thinkers. He mentioned names like People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais and sociologist
Kuntowidjojo as an example.

Facts and orientation

Muhammadiyah:
* claims 30 million members
* urban, modernist
* founded in 1912
* focuses on modern sciences
* has political party PAN

NU:
* claims 40 million members
* rural-based, traditionalist
* founded in 1926
* focuses on religious education
* has political party PKB