M

uhammadiyah, one of the oldest and the biggest Muslim organizations in Indonesia, will hold its congress in Makassar this weekend. Thousands of delegates and tens of thousands of its supporters will flock to the capital of the South Sulawesi province.

Besides Muhammadiyah, its women'€™s wing, Aisyiah, and its affiliate, Nasyiatul Aisyiah, will also hold their congresses on the sidelines of the Muhammadiyah Congress, which is scheduled from Aug. 3 to 7.

There are many important issues to be discussed. However, delegates will possibly focus on two main ones: the leadership crisis and the loss of political influence by Muhammadiyah in the current government. Both issues have become subjects of hot debate among the grass roots and Muhammadiyah activists.

Never before has Muhammadiyah felt this marginalized by a sitting government while facing a leadership crisis at the national level. Has Muhammadiyah failed in its regeneration? Who will lead Muhammadiyah after Din Syamsudin steps down?

For the first time in its history, a member of Muhammadiyah who is not well known is a minister. On the other hand, its '€œcompetitor'€, Nahdlatul Ulama, can be proud of having six members in the Cabinet. Although some prominent Muhammadiyah leaders such as '€œBuya'€ Ahmad Syafii Maarif, Din Syamsuddin, A. Malik Fajar and many others openly supported the presidential campaign of Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo and Jusuf Kalla, the current government has not adequately rewarded Muhammadiyah.

This second-biggest Islamic organization is being sidelined by Jokowi and more recently even Buya Syafii was ignored by the President, especially over his vocal rejection of the '€œcriminalization'€ of the leaders and investigators of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). This creates bitter feelings among the grass roots and members of Muhammadiyah.

Muhammadiyah is not a political party, but it is never far from politics. Several of its past leaders were among Indonesia'€™s founding fathers, including Mas Mansur, Ki Bagus Hadikusumo, KH Abdul Kahar
Muzakkir, or Gen. Sudirman, a member of Hizbul Wathan, the Muhammadiyah scout organization and famed '€œfather of the Indonesian Armed Forces'€.

In later years, many Muhammadiyah leaders were also active in politics, from M. Amien Rais, a former chairman of Muhammadiyah and former speaker at the People'€™s Consultative Assembly (MPR) and Hajriyanto Y. Thohari, a former chairman of the Muhammadiyah Youth who served as an MPR deputy speaker.

However, for the last 10 years, especially under the leadership of Din from 2005 to 2015, Muhammadiyah was outside the circle of power and now it seems powerless. One obvious reason is that Din took a confrontational stand against the administration of then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

He did not learn very much from his seniors, such as H. AR Fachruddin, who was successful in leading Muhammadiyah for almost 30 years under the difficult years of president Soeharto'€™s regime.

No doubt '€œPak AR'€, as Fachru-ddin was affectionately called, understood well the Javanese proverb of '€œmenang tanpo ngasorake'€ (winning without making the enemy lose face).

So, even in the most difficult issue such as the compulsory acceptance of the Pancasila state ideology, Pak AR was able to negotiate with Soeharto, clearly accepting that Muhammadiyah was an Islamic organization that was also loyal to the Pancasila principles.

Pak AR used to negotiate with Soeharto using high class (kromo inggil) Javanese. Being a non-Javanese, Din clearly does not possess this diplomatic language skill, so he failed to communicate properly with Yudhoyono'€™s government.

We cannot blame this failure on Din because other factors also contributed to the bad relations between the two sides.

However, in the post-Din leadership, Muhammadiyah will face a tougher decision to elect the new leaders. At the moment, there is no potential candidate as good as the professor Din, both in his skill for organization and his deep knowledge of religion. As a religious organization, there is an unwritten rule that a leader of Muhammadiyah must be a person with a deep knowledge of religion, but also with extensive connections to the secular world.

Leaders of Muhammadiyah are expected to be fluent both in Arabic and English, both mastered by Din, while most candidates for the leadership are only fluent in either English or Arabic.

Furthermore, many of the candidates are not considered of the '€œulema class'€ '€” unlike in the period when Muhammadiyah leaders were full of such ulema profiles as the popular writer Buya Hamka, KH Fakih Usman, KH Achmad Badawi, Fachruddin and, as recently as 20 years ago, elected chairman KH Achmad Azhar Basyir.

He was one of the last greatest ulema, who mastered Arabic and the Koran very well.

Even the late president Abdurrahman '€œGus Dur'€ Wahid, a former NU leader, who had known Basyir since they met in Cairo, respected him as a great teacher.

After Basyir passed away, Muhammadiyah has not had a leader with the title of Kyai Haji. Therefore, Muhammadiyah circles are discussing '€œthe passing away'€ of our ulema. Muhammadiyah is in a crisis of ulema, but worse is its crisis in leadership.

Many new young activists are now more interested in politics than in studying religion.

This development began with Din himself who became a Golkar activist in the early 1990s under the patronage of Soeharto'€™s aide Harmoko, until the new generation of Achmad Rofiq, a former chairman of the Muhammadiyah Student Association (IMM) who become secretary-general for the Perindo (United Indonesia) Party, launched earlier this year under the leadership of Hari Tanoesoedibjo.

Muhammadiyah is an Islamic organization and it remains a social and educational institution. It always needs an ulema, or a learned religious person to become its leader.

The Congress in Makassar will not solve the leadership crisis, but whoever will be elected, he must prepare to solve this leadership crisis. Muhammadiyah has to produce more ulema, not politicians.

The era of political leadership within Muhammadiyah should be ended. Muhammadiyah will have a brighter future if it elects an ulema in Makassar.