Religious leaders should avoid politics

Religious leaders should avoid politics

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta

Leaders of social organizations and religious groups should not
enter politics or the country risked losing civilian groups to
effectively check the performance of the government, analysts
say.

Indria Samego from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI)
said that social organizations such as Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and
Muhammadiyah and their leaders have to stay out of "practical
politics".

"Figures like Hasyim Muzadi will have more influence if he
stays above the political fray," Indria announced during a press
conference on Tuesday.

Hasyim is chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's
largest Muslim organization that helped establish the National
Awakening Party (PKB). The Golkar Party and the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) have reportedly asked Hasyim
to be their vice presidential candidate in the July 5 election.

PKB, which will likely end up with the third largest bloc of
the popular vote from the April 5 election, has nominated
Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid as its candidate.

Hasyim had been approached by political leaders, most of whom
asked him to be their vice presidential candidate. President
Megawati Soekarnoputri met with Hasyim in Surabaya on Monday.
Sources at Golkar, on the other hand, have expressed a
possibility that they would tab Hasyim as newly nominated
Wiranto's running mate.

Just two weeks ago, Muhammadiyah, the country's second largest
Muslim organization with over 30 million members, had thrown its
support behind Amien Rais, leader of the National Mandate Party
(PAN).

According to Indria, religious leaders could not do anything
if they were merely the vice president.

"Under the presidential system, the vice president functions
only as a reserve," he said

Meanwhile, research director of the Indonesian Survey
Institute (LSI) Muhammad Qodari warned that once those mass
organizations announce support for a certain political party or
presidential or vice presidential candidate they immediately
lose their independence.

Qodari said the religious leaders and groups had to learn from
experiences during the presidency of Gus Dur, a former chairman
of NU, which claims to have around 40 million members.

NU, according to Qodari, failed to perform its checks and
balances role during the leadership of Gus Dur and acted more as
his loyal defender.

"This will also happen to Muhammadiyah if Amien Rais is
elected president," he said.

Visually impaired Muslim cleric Gus Dur was elected the
country's fourth president in October 2000 but was ousted in a
controversial July 2001 legislative decision over charges for
which he has since been exonerated.

Qodari acknowledged that NU and Muhammadiyah had become
"breeding grounds" for national leaders.

As social organizations, however, the Nahdlatul Ulama and
Muhammadiyah had to keep neutral and stand above all social
groups, he said.

He said once those social organizations decided to support
certain political parties or enter politics, they would
unavoidably become exclusive.

He also emphasized that increasing efforts by parties to
approach religious organizations and community leaders indicated
the failure of political parties to groom their own national
leaders.