New challenges for Muhammadiyah

Hadjid Harnawidagda, Jakarta

Muhammadiyah, the second biggest Muslim organization in Indonesia, founded in 1912 in Yogyakarta by the late Kyai Haji Ahmad Dahlan, will hold its 45th national congress or Muktamar in Malang, East Java, early next month.

About two thousand five hundred delegates will be present at the conference, and tens of thousands of non-delegates -- devout Muhammadiyah members and supporters -- are expected to attend the opening ceremony, accompanying bazaars, expositions and public rallies.

It is a fact that, without proclaiming itself as a nationalist organization, Muhammadiyah has pioneered the creation of national awareness. National organizations founded before Indonesian independence in 1945 usually concentrated their activities on the island of Java. Muhammadiyah, on the other hand, had a strong hold on the outer islands -- in West Sumatra, South Sulawesi and Alabio and Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan -- very early on.

Madrasah (Islamic elementary schools) -- muallimin for the boys and muallimat for the girls -- in Yogyakarta attracted students from across the archipelago. Through its schools, Muhammadiyah introduced a new concept of education by combining Islamic and secular subjects. This strategy was instrumental in creating a new generation who received a more balanced education.

Muhammadiyah's congresses, which were held in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra and Makassar in South Sulawesi in the 1930s proved Muhammadiyah's contribution to the making of this nation. In 1928, national youth organizations declared the Youth Pledge, which included the adoption of the Indonesian language -- which was derived from the Malay language, spoken by a small Malay ethnic group in Riau and its vicinity -- as the national language. Yet Muhammadiyah had used the language long before the declaration of the Youth Pledge.

Muhammadiyah's rational approaches to religious practices also attract educated young people to associate themselves with this organization, thus learning more about Islam. The modernized madrasahs and Islamic schools run by Muhammadiyah, together with the Hizbul Wathan Boy Scout Movement prepared the leaders of this nation from local to national levels.

To give an example of the contribution of Muhammadiyah to nation building we can mention that the late Gen. Soedirman, the first commander in chief of the Indonesian Armed Forces, was a Muhammadiyah leader.

The first president of this republic, former president Sukarno, former president Soeharto, former prime minister Juanda and dozens of prominent leaders of this country were associated with Muhammadiyah in some way or another. Sukarno was officially registered as a member of this organization when he was a politician in exile in Bengkulu in the 1930s. So when he gave a speech at the opening ceremony of Muhammadiyah Muktamar in Palembang in 1958, and then in Jakarta in 1962 he made the much- cited statement Sekali Muhammadiyah tetap Muhammadiyah (Once, I joined Muhammadiyah, and I will always be a Muhammadiyah member).

In 1995, when Muhammadiyah held its congress in Banda Aceh -- Amien Rais was elected as its chairman here -- then-president Soeharto won over the audience, when he opened the congress, with his humble statement that he was also a member of Muhammadiyah when he was younger.

When Muhammadiyah was founded about 90 years ago, its biggest challenge was easily identifiable: To liberate Indonesia from Dutch colonialism. Muhammadiyah, joining hand-in-hand with other peoples of this nation has succeeded in rising to old challenges and preparing the nation for independence.

Today, Muhammadiyah faces new challenges, its schools and health care services need to be improved to meet the highest standards. New forms of discrimination are prevailing, moral decadence and materialistic hedonism are beyond description.

Will Muhammadiyah be an effective organization that can rise to these challenges, or just another group of frustrated grumblers or desperate protesters? Will the coming congress formulate successful strategies? Millions of Muhammadiyah members, and the Indonesian people as a body, await the results of the congress.

Dr. Hajid Harnawidagda is a lecturer at the Hidayatullah State Islamic University and a Muhammadiyah member since childhood. At present he is the chairman of the Jakarta chapter of Muhammadiyah's board for elementary and secondary education.