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.