Professor named acting boss of Muhammadiyah

JAKARTA (JP): Amien Rais, an outspoken professor from Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, was elected acting chairman of Muhammadiyah, one of Indonesia's most influential Moslem organizations.

Members of the Muhammadiyah executive board unanimously elected the 50-year-old political scientist on Saturday to replace Ahmad Azhar Basyir, who died late last month.

Amien, a deputy chairman and once Basyir's strongest contender in the 1990 election, will hold his new position until July 1995 when Muhammadiyah elects its definitive chairman, organization spokesman Rusydi Hamka told journalists.

Amien will be inaugurated during a Muhammadiyah gathering in Jakarta scheduled for December.

The meeting will also discuss preparations for the 43rd Muhammadiyah Congress to be held in Banda Aceh from July 1 to July 5 next year, Rusydi said.

Amien is a professor in the International Relations department at the Yogyakarta-based university.

He is also an executive board member of the influential Association of Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI).

Amien, however, denied that his involvement in ICMI had anything to do with his election. He refuted the theory that his election was due to government connections.

Amien, well known for his demand that transparent mechanisms govern the presidential succession, promised that he would not change his posture.

He vowed that the organization would keep the same distance from the country's three political parties, allowing its members the freedom to affiliate with any of them.

"But they must maintain their integrity and stick to Muhammadiyah's amar ma'ruf nahi mungkar (principle to defend what is right and shun anything wrong and evil)," he said.

Muhammadiyah, which was established in 1912 by KH Ahmad Dahlan, now runs thousands of schools, hospitals and orphanages. Its officials and members like to call the organization "reformist." (prs)