Scholars criticize leaders' conduct

JAKARTA (JP): Respected scholars Nurcholish Madjid and Amien Rais sharply criticized yesterday national leaders who used Islam to gain political legitimacy, but whose conduct actually tarnished the image of the Moslem majority.

In a discussion held at the Al Azhar Grand Mosque, Nurcholish pointed out how the nominally Moslem cabinet by no means ensured that Moslems -- who make up 87 percent of the country's 202 million population -- and the nation at large would benefit, if ministers failed to uphold Islamic values.

"If a leader fails to live up to good leadership as taught by Islam, the legitimacy of the Moslem majority would be eroded," Nurcholish told the 1,000 participants.

"Don't be deceived by 'formal piety', don't be blinded by leaders who were able to enter the Kaaba, don't take the haj and the umrah (minor haj pilgrimage) as evidence of good and pious leadership," Nurcholish said.

"We need to go back to the essence of what constitutes good leadership. There are leaders who say their prayers just for political legitimacy, leaders who can't even be honest to their children (and tell them that what they're doing is wrong)," he said.

Nurcholish said no matter how great, a nation would be destroyed if its administration was unjust and punished the common people for small errors while letting so-called leaders escape with grave mistakes.

"People who have been unjust, despite saying their prayers and entering the Kaaba, will be destroyed," Nurcholish said. "The essence of leadership is justice and trustworthiness."

"The fact that the new cabinet appeared to be 'green' provided Indonesian Moslems with a test," Nurcholish said, in reference to the color that is usually identified as Islamic. Of the 36 ministers and officials appointed to the new cabinet last month, only one was not a Moslem.

Amien said an example of leadership par excellence, according to Islam, was the Prophet Muhammad himself. He cited a number of criteria for good leadership, including a concern for the people.

"Good leaders must not be elitist, they must be people- oriented," Amien said. "If they are preoccupied with self- aggrandizement, the result will not be true leadership, but cronyism and nepotism."

Another character of good a leader is trustworthiness and accountability. "Corruption, collusion and nepotistic practices are all the result of poor accountability," Amien added.

"This is fourth most populous country in the world, the largest Moslem nation, and yet Indonesia is known as the most corrupt country in the world," Nurcholish said.

Amien said Islam teaches leaders to be forgiving, patient and broad-minded. Islam also says leaders must possess characters known as siddiq, amanat, tabligh and fathanah -- honesty, accountability, the ability to enlighten those who they lead, and be intelligent.

"We need intelligent ministers who are able to read the situation and to seek a solution. Our national leaders may not be too fathanah...the economic crisis has been going on for nine months, and still no concrete steps have been taken to bring it to an end," Amien said.

Amien compared Indonesia with South Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand, which have also been affected by economic difficulties but which are back on the road to recovery. "Indonesia is like a patient who is still in a coma...we don't know when it's going to wake up," he said.

The discussion was held to commemorate the first anniversary of the relaunch of Panjimas weekly. (swe)