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)