Top MUI official defends the ulema council's record

Top MUI official defends the ulema council's record

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has been
increasingly in the news lately because it is doing its job to
protect and promote the interests of the Islamic community in
Indonesia, one of its leaders said.

Ali Yafie, deputy chief of the council's executive board,
acknowledged that MUI has earned recognition on various issues of
interests to the Moslem community in recent years.

"But the general perception is that MUI is handling trivial
matters," Yafie told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

Unfortunately, the most celebrated fatwa (ruling) the MUI has
issued in the eyes of the public was when it ruled that eating
frog was haram (forbidden) by the religion, he said.

This, he pointed out, is an inaccurate assessment of the
performance of the council because the MUI's more successful
feats have been given less publicity.

He cited, as an example, the establishment of Bank Muamalat
Indonesia, the first ever bank in Indonesia that operates not on
interest but on profit sharing.

The creation of the bank was the result of a long debate
initiated by the MUI, he said, adding that as offshoots of the
bank, an Islamic insurance company and an Islamic arbitrage
agency have been established.

Another major feat for the MUI, in November, 1994, was the
government's decision to scrap the controversial SDSB lottery,
which has long been opposed by Moslem organizations.

MUI was founded in the 1970s, bringing together the various
Moslem organizations in Indonesia into one board. Ali Yafie
represents the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Moslem socio-
organization in the country.

MUI's role in issuing fatwas has long been known because it
directly affects the public. Its role as a pressure group is less
known, although, as Yafie pointed out, MUI has been involved in
some behind the scenes lobbying to influence government policies.

One of its latest moves was to ask the government to refrain
from enforcing the five-day school week. The MUI leaders met with
Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro last
Tuesday.

Major life

"MUI is playing a major role in developing religious life in
Indonesia," Yafie said. "The council is also active in promoting
religious tolerance through dialogs with similar boards of other
religions."

MUI was embroiled in an internal dispute last month over the
controversy of screening the Hollywood-made movie True Lies.

The film was subsequently banned because of the controversy,
but the MUI also decided to review its participation at the Film
Censorship Board.

Yafie explained that the way the censorship works has rendered
the ulema's participation almost meaningless because not all the
films passed by the board are scrutinized by MUI's two
representatives.

He said the censorship board's 45 members are simply divided
into groups of two and the 50 or so films that have to be
reviewed each day are simply distributed among these groups.

MUI may have a presence on the board but it is not involved in
processing all the films, Yafie said. "This means that MUI's
participation in the censorship board is not effective."

He said the council is now reconsidering its position in the
censor board and would be looking for an alternative way of
monitoring film censorship, probably from outside the censor
board. (emb)