Islamic Group Gains Power in Indonesia

[Coventina]

Source: New York Times

JAKARTA — In a sign of its growing prominence, Indonesia’s Council of Ulemas moved its headquarters from the basement of a major mosque here into an expensive new office tower in the heart of downtown.

The council was established in 1975 as a quasi-governmental body of Muslim scholars by Suharto, the country’s leader for three decades, partly as a tool to keep politically minded Islamic organizations in check. But in the decade since the dictator’s fall, the group — whose leaders have increasingly espoused a radical form of Islam — has worked to establish itself as an assertive political force.

The group, known as M.U.I., built an impressive network of offices throughout the country, staffed by people who promote the council’s view of Islam. It logged its first major political success this summer when the government agreed to severely restrict the activities of a Muslim sect that does not believe that Muhammad was the last prophet.

Advocates of religious tolerance worry that the council’s new clout could signal the start of religious radicalization in a country known for its moderate brand of Islam.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/world/asia/07indo.html?ref=asia

[LiberadorHugo]

1. The government there needs to "deal" with these people...

I'm an atheist...I want people who share my views to be free throughout the world...That means making people scared to promote fanatical brands of Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam.

[JonQ]

2. Not a good sign

for a country with a majority Muslim population these guys may actually stand a chance of winning.

[Alamuti Lotus]

5. Majority rule? How terrible!

Can't have that...

These guys are really fairly tame. Useful to the state for keeping the lid on Ba`siyir's Majlis-i-Mujihadeen Indonesia and other fighters -- now there's a fun bunch. Their kind annoys me, but is the knee-jerk freakout necessary? Has Turkey fallen to pieces since donning the (severely watered-down) beards?

[Coventina]

6. If majority rule oppresses minorities, then yes, it IS terrible. n/t

[Marrah_G]

7. yes- Majority rule is wrong when it is used to oppress others.

[JonQ]

8. Majority rule is a bad thing

when it's not mitigated by basic human rights. 51% of the population votes to enslave and/or murder the other 49%; this is majority rule. Is it acceptable?

Any party based around a religion as a matter of public policy (Islam, Christianity, Judaism, it doesn't matter) should immediately be suspect.

[UK populist]

3. Radical fringe religious zealots assert their power in government

Why does that give Deja Vu.

[ohio2007]

4. quasi-governmental body of Muslim scholars .

I'm sure they will respect the rights of minorities to practice freedom of their own beliefs.

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=JIq7tsVvEoY&feature=related

[Satyagrahi]

9. The deputy chairman of MUI, Din Syamsuddin, may run for the presidency in 2009.

He is also the chairman of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second largest Islamic organization with about 30 million members.

Muhammadiyah chairman to run for presidency
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 08/25/2008 3:46 PM | National

Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsuddin said he was prepared to run for president or vice president if a political party nominated him and his organization permitted it.

"When people ask whether I am ready or able to be nominated, I would say, I am and think I am capable," Syamsuddin said after a dialogue with Muhammadiyah youth in Makassar on Sunday night.

Syamsuddin said he was prepared to be nominated either for president or vice president for the presidential election next year.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/08/25/muhammadiyah-chairman-run-presidency.html

He is now trying to present himself as a moderate:

Guest Speaker's Forum: Edict against pluralism a 'mistake'
Mon, 09/01/2008 11:02 AM | National
-snip-

Question: The West tends to label you a moderate. Is that accurate and what does it mean?

Answer: I don't come with labels. I don't know whether I am a moderate or not -- that's for others to decide. I have a principle of taking the median position between left and right in terms of balance.

There's a lot of misunderstanding -- all Muslim organizations suffer from attribution, generalization and stigmatization.
-snip-

We don't want our society to be divided. I tell Muslims not to feel inferior, not to loose hope and blame others. The Arabs took Islam into the golden age. I see Muslims in South-East Asia leading the way into a new age of tolerance and understanding. Of course there's a place for other faiths.

The next time we meet will you by a candidate for the vice presidency?

Why the number two position? Nothing is definite yet, but I think I'm able. I'm the president of a great and complex organization that is almost like a state. Many have asked me -- probably yes, maybe no. I must be whole hearted.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/09/01/guest-speaker039s-forum-edict-against-pluralism-a-039mistake039.html

However, Syamsuddin does have a more radical past:

The three Soeharto aides most responsible for the outreach to Muslim hardliners were the president’s son-in-law, (then) Major-General Prabowo Subianto; the commander of the armed forces, Feisal Tanjung (a man long regarded as sympathetic to Islamist interests); and Din Syamsuddin, a Muhammadiyah activist with enormous political ambitions. Syamsuddin had always opposed the Muhammadiyah leadership’s reluctance to ally with Soeharto. He was to be the primary apostle of regimist Islam. Syamsuddin was also General Feisal Tanjung’s speech-writer in the mid-1990s, and was appointed to the directorship of the ruling Golkar party’s strategy bureau in 1994. Under his ruthless leadership, and in cooperation with Islamist members of the military, the strategy bureau crafted the most notorious dirty-tricks used against the political opposition in the final years of the Soeharto regime, including those that inveighed against Christians and Chinese. Syamsuddin retired from the ruling Golkar party’s strategy bureau in June 1998, shortly after Soeharto stepped down. However, interim President B.J. Habibie quickly appointed Syamsuddin to the strategic position of secretary general of the semi-governmental Council of Indonesian Islamic Scholars (Majelis Ulama Indonesia, MUI).

From his position in the MUI, Syamsuddin was able to play a prominent role organizing opposition to the reform government of Abdurrahman Wahid (October 1999 to July 2001). Later, in 2000-2002, Syamsuddin provided moral support to Islamist paramilitaries battling Christians in the Maluku islands. After the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S., Syamsuddin rallied Muslim sentiment behind an MUI resolution that declared that, if the U.S. attacked Afghanistan, it was the obligation of all Muslims to engage in “holy struggle” (jihad) against the U.S. These and other examples indicate that, although support among the Islamist elite in the military and government retreated somewhat just after Soeharto’s fall, it remains a critical influence on hardline groupings today.

Robert W. Hefner, GLOBALIZATION, GOVERNANCE, AND THE CRISIS OF INDONESIAN ISLAM
Conference on Globalization, State Capacity, and Muslim Self Determination
University of California-Santa Cruz, March 7-9, 2002

PDF:
http://www2.ucsc.edu/cgirs/conferences/carnegie/papers/hefner.pdf