Muhammadiyah support won't ensure Amien win

Muhammadiyah support won't ensure Amien win

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Presidential candidate Amien Rais may have gotten the support of
the country's second largest Muslim organization Muhammadiyah,
but his chances of winning the July 5 election remains a big
question.

While several Muhammadiyah leaders have been campaigning hard
for Amien, the group's younger members have consistently urged
the leaders of Muhammadiyah, which claims to have around 30
million members, to remain neutral in the country's first direct
presidential election.

"Not all Muhammadiyah members have psychological ties with
Amien Rais and associate themselves with his party," Muhammadiyah
scholar Muslim Abdurrahman told The Jakarta Post

Amien, who set up the National Mandate Party (PAN) ahead of
the 1999 elections, is the former Muhammadiyah chairman, and also
the speaker of the country's highest legislative body, the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

Muhammadiyah leaders decided to support Amien's candidacy
during their national gathering in Yogyakarta last February.

Several Muhammadiyah leaders, including Haedar Nashir, Abdul
Munir Mulkan, Yahya Muhaimin, M. Dawam Rahardjo, and Abdul Mukti,
have officially listed themselves as campaigners for Amien and
running mate Siswono Yudohusodo.

Even Muhammadiyah deputy chairman M. Din Syamsuddin, who is
not officially included in the Amien-Siswono team, has set up the
Reform-Minded People's (MPR) movement, which works to garner
support for the pair.

Muhammadiyah chairman Sjafii Maarif said last week that he
expected Muhammadiyah followers to vote for Amien in the July 5
election.

"We hope all Muhammadiyah members will support Amien," said
Sjafii, who replaced Amien as Muhammadiyah chairman.

Although supported by Muhammadiyah leaders, PAN only garnered
about seven million votes and ranked sixth in the April 5
legislative election.

Observers believe that many Muhammadiyah followers voted for
the new and prominent Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which
secured about eight million votes and ranked fifth in the
election.

Many PKS leaders are Muhammadiyah members, including party
chairman Hidayat Nurwahid, secretary-general Anis Matta and
deputy secretary-general Fachri Hamzah.

The party, however, has been torn between Amien and Wiranto,
the presidential candidate of Golkar, the political machine of
president Soeharto for more than three decades.

Unlike members of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest
Muslim organization with some-40 million members, Muhammadiyah
members are more politically independent.

They are believed to have spread their loyalties between many
parties, including the United Development Party (PPP), PKS,
Crescent Star Party (PBB), and even Golkar.

"Moderate followers of Muhammadiyah see Golkar as more
favorable for them," Muslim said.

Amien's supporters, however, are still confident that the
majority of Muhammadiyah members would vote for Amien in the
upcoming election.

"We are upbeat about making it to the second round," said
Dradjad Wibowo, one of Amien's campaigners.

"Pak Amien has made a political experiment by setting up a
party that embraces pluralism. I guess what happened in the April
5 election was the price that he had to pay for his pluralistic
views," another campaigner, Didiek J. Rachbini, said on Thursday.