NU, Muhammadiyah aim to expand cooperation

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.