NU, Muhammadiyah aim to expand cooperation

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post/Malang

Muhammadiyah wrapped up its six-day national congress here on Friday, saying it would expand its partnership with Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) in order to help the country progress.

Newly elected Muhammadiyah leader Din Syamsuddin said his organization and NU had discussed plans to enhance cooperation between the country's two largest Muslim organizations in all sectors.

"The two Islamic wings in Indonesia will carry out many things together in the future," he said without elaborating.

So far, NU and Muhammadiyah, arch rivals in the past for their different political views, appear to have joined forces to promote the national campaign against corruption.

However, Din and others have admitted that the joint antigraft efforts had made little headway.

NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi, who like Din was a graduate of the Gontor Islamic boarding school in Ponorogo, East Java, was present at Friday's ceremony.

In his speech to mark the closing of the congress, Vice President Jusuf Kalla urged Muhammadiyah and NU not to confine their activities to their members but rather devote themselves to the nation as a whole.

"The movement should not be sectarian, but should instead involve all Indonesian people," he stressed.

"Religious organizations like Muhammadiyah and NU must help advance the progress of the nation at large, as this will also help advance the progress of Indonesian Muslims," Kalla said.

The two organizations claim to have 75 million members between them.

Kalla said Muhammadiyah had so far done a lot to help the government educate and empower the people through its thousands of schools, hospitals and charitable institutions nationwide.

"This huge Muhammadiyah University in Malang is just a small example of what Muhammadiyah has done for the nation so far," Kalla said.

The university was the venue for the six-day congress.

Apart from Hasyim, two former Muhammadiyah leaders, Ahmad Syafii Maarif and Amien Rais, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab, who is an NU member, and Minister of National Education Bambang Sudibyo, who is a Muhammadiyah member, attended the closing ceremony.

Also at the same event, Din publicly asked Amien and Syafii to continue playing a role in Muhammadiyah under his leadership during the 2005-2010 period.

"Because Amien Rais and Syafii Maarif are exceptional figures, we will ask them to serve as advisors to the Muhammadiyah central executive board," Din said to huge applause from the audience.

Both Amien and Maarif had apparently not supported the nomination of Din to take the top post in the organization.

Maarif was said to back former education minister Malik Fadjar, while senior Muhammadiyah figure Abdul Rosyad Sholeh was the first choice of Amien.

Din was officially named as the new Muhammadiyah chairman on Thursday by acclamation following agreement among the 13 members of the central board, which had earlier been elected by the 2,140 eligible voters attending the congress.