D

espite Muhammadiyah'€™s firm stance on protecting beleaguered religious minorities in the country, an internal discussion during the fourth day of the second-largest Islamic organization'€™s national congress (muktamar) on Thursday revealed that many of the organization'€™s members in the region had reservations about the position.

On Thursday afternoon, a proposal to start a Sunni-Shia dialogue mediated by Muhammadiyah was met with rejection from several members, including official representatives from West Papua'€™s Muhammadiyah branch office.

A Muhammadiyah member from West Papua, who wished to remain anonymous, said he could accept the proposal as long as Muhammadiyah'€™s central board specified clear guidelines on how the dialogue would take place.

He also said that such dialogue would be futile given the wide ideological differences between Sunnis and Shiites.

'€œWe would like to know what kind of dialogue it will be. Shi'€™ism is very dangerous,'€ the local Muhammadiyah official said.

Tension in the room rose when others in the audience began talking about other minority groups.

Some in the discussion proposed that '€œMuhammadiyah should follow the Indonesian Ulema Council'€™s [MUI] in declaring that Shia and Ahmadiyah branches were deviant versions of Islam.'€

Many began to chant Allahu Akbar (God is Great) as tensions rose.

Calm only returned after newly elected Muhammadiyah board of leadership member Abdul Mu'€™ti took the floor to give a lengthy explanation about the plan.

Mu'€™ti acknowledged there were still Muhammadiyah members that had failed to see through the plan due to their conservative views.

'€œThe plan is not to find whether Shia or Sunnni is right or wrong,'€ said Mu'€™ti, who is also known for his stance on protecting religious minority groups in the country.

In an interview with reporters after the discussion, Mu'€™ti said that angry participants rejected the plan because they did not have a clear picture of it.

'€œWe have to acknowledge that within Muhammadiyah there remains gaps of knowledge among its members. Today'€™s discussion proves this. At the top leadership level, we'€™re used to having interfaith dialogue with other groups but that does not happen at the grassroots level,'€ Mu'€™ti said.

Mu'€™ti further said that the lack of understanding prevailed because Muhammadiyah members came from various educational backgrounds in addition to their different religious experiences.

'€œThe dialogue does not aim to unify the views of the two groups and find out who'€™s right or wrong. We want to have a peaceful coexistence. That is why we want to find out through the dialogue how to live together peacefully,'€ Mu'€™ti told reporters.

He also said that Muhammadiyah never consider Shi'€™ism as deviant. '€œ[Muhammadiyah'€™s stance is clear] that we protect [minority groups],'€ Mu'€™ti said.

Ahmad Fuad Fanani of the Maarif Institute for Culture and Humanity said that Muhammadiyah should make a move to solve the problem because allowing such hateful sentiments at the grassroots level could bring harmful effects to society in general.

'€œMuhammadiyah should apply a soft approach with its grassroots members by inviting them for regular discussions on a number of strategic issues that Muhammadiyah is concerned about in society,'€ Fuad told The Jakarta Post after the discussion at the congress.