Nurcholish urged to speak more on practical strategies

Nurcholish urged to speak more on practical strategies

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With Nurcholish Madjid expected to leave Pondok Indah Hospital in
South Jakarta on Monday, his colleagues have called on the
prominent Muslim scholar for more practical ideas to promote good
governance in the country.

Nurcholish, better known as "Cak Nur", underwent a liver
transplant in Ghuangzhou, China, last year. He had been treated
in Singapore before being transferred to Pondok Indah Hospital
several weeks ago. His supporters and other intellectuals this
weekend held a three-day symposium marking Cak Nur's 66th
birthday and the seventh anniversary of Paramadina Mulya
University he founded, which finished on Saturday.

One of his closest friends, Utomo Dananjaya, said Cak Nur's
health continued to improve and he could now speak firmly and
clearly, although he still needed an assistant to help him walk.

The Pondok Indah hospital would on Monday discharge Cak Nur
who had recently won acclaim for his outstanding contribution to
the way people understood Islam, Utomo said.

Ekki Syachrudin, another of Cak Nur's close friends, said on
Saturday that once the 66-year-old scholar fully recovered from
his illness, he should talk more about public policy and clean
governance to help the predominantly Muslim country nurture
democracy and fight corruption.

"My question to him is whether he can transform his
theological discourse to issues about how to govern a state. If
he only talks about religion, his followers will only be those of
the same faith," Ekki said.

"He once said that the Muslim Student Association (HMI) should
be dissolved because many of its activists were involved in
endemic corruption. Why didn't he also say that we have to
dissolve the government because it is also corrupt," said Ekky, a
former ambassador to Canada. Cak Nur once led the HMI for two
five-year consecutive terms.

Ekki said Cak Nur should start talking about practical
solutions on how to increase the people's welfare instead of
merely elaborating on concepts of theology.

He believed that if Cak Nur advocated such issues, it would
help curb the breeding of Islamic fundamentalist or hard-line
groups.

"They (hard-liners) grow up not because they are being
inspired by religious teachings, but because they are extremely
poor. Cak Nur should provide solutions to addressing this
problem," Ekki said.

M.M. Billah of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas
HAM) said Cak Nur's thoughts on human rights issues still had to
be developed. The scholar currently only focussed on promoting
freedom of thinking.

"He should respond to the effects of modernization, which is
one of his main topics that has sidelined the poor and peasants,"
he said after delivering a paper titled A Reflection on Cak Nur's
Thoughts on Human Rights at the symposium.

Billah said Cak Nur should also respond to sharp criticism
that his modern Islamic movement was "elitist" as it did not
involve people at grassroots levels.

He said such a movement was in contradiction with his teaching
that Islam was an inclusive religion that was supposed to open
doors for everyone from all segments of society to participate in
the reinterpretation of their religious teachings.

However, Franz Magnis Suseno, a professor of philosophy, said
he was more concerned with what Cak Nur had produced instead of
expecting him to talk more on issues he had not mastered.

"Nurcholish is an intellectual popular among academic
communities and top political parties. He is not a figure who
should go to villages and talk to locals. It is not his calling.
I think he knows what his domain of competence is and does not
need to comment on everything," Franz Magnis said.

Syafi'i Anwar of the International Center of Islam and
Pluralism (ICIP) comment on Cak Nur was this: "He is a man of
ideas and not a man of action. His ideas have been spreading
throughout the new generations of Indonesian society. That is
what's important." (006)