Muhammadiyah to use local wisdom for a better future

Yogita Tahilramani and Edith Hartanto, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

The leader of the Muhammadiyah delivered a strong message for change on Sunday when he hailed local wisdom, saying it was an important element to help guide the organization into a better tomorrow.

"Indonesia has many diverse cultures. This is precisely why we cannot spread Islam by insisting, for instance, that prayers and the spreading of religion in South Sumatra should be done the same way as in Java," Muhammadiyah chairman Ahmad Syafii Ma'arif said in his opening address to the congress of the organization's youth wing.

Syafii acknowledged that changing people's mind-set was not an easy task.

Strong-willed strategists who understand that morality among Indonesian communities has reached its lowest point are needed, Syafii said in front of an audience of 5,000 people at the Kerta Jaya sports stadium here.

"Local wisdom is needed to guide these people," he said.

The organization had previously rejected all local concepts and philosophy and even ways of life, which it deemed antagonistic and not in line with Islamic teachings.

Syafii's message was addressed to Muhammadiyah's 30 million members, advising them to accommodate the local cultures it had frowned upon for decades, and to accept pre-Islamic traditions as reality.

The Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), another prominent moderate Muslim organization, is known to be more tolerant toward local cultures.

NU has been known to adopt various pre-Islamic traditions when spreading Islam, mostly in Java.

A closer bond between the two organizations, which had uneasy relations in the past, became apparent when Syafii and NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi joined hands to act as mediators to address the nation's numerous problems, including conflicts among the political elite, between Christians and Muslims, and the issues of internally displaced persons and poverty.

"Both our organizations need to promote Islam among the grass roots. I have told Hasyim Muzadi, that let this honeymoon period between both our organizations continue forever. Let it not be just for the moment," Syafii said.

NU and Muhammadiyah members make up a total of 70 million people, or about half of the country's eligible voters.

The four-day congress is slated to elect the youth wing's new leader.

Syafii stressed that regeneration within the youth wing's leadership was needed and would be in line with the gradual change in the way of thinking of Muhammadiyah leaders.

Syafii stressed that he would not involve himself in the electing of a new leader for the Muhammadiyah's youth wing, stating that, ideally, the leader should not be involved with any political party.

If the elected candidate holds a position in a political party, he would be required to formally resign from the party before taking up the post of Muhammadiyah youth wing leader.

Earlier, a majority of 91 Muhammadiyah officials voted in favor of the stipulation that the youth leader should not have any involvement with a political party.

Final selection of candidates will be held on Monday. Candidates include officials of the National Mandate Party (PAN), whose chairman Amien Rais was previously a Muhammadiyah chairman and a Muhammadiyah youth wing leader.

Amien, who also gave a speech at the opening of the congress, is People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker.

Syafii added that the Muhammadiyah needed to keep its distance from all political parties, as decided during the 1971 Muhammadiyah congress in Ujungpandang.