TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
The week in review: Moderate Islam in Indonesia
AntaraIndonesiaâs two largest Islamic organizations â Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah â have just elected new leaders and executive board members for the 2015-2020 period through their muktamar (congresses) in Jombang, East Java, and Makassar, South Sulawesi, respectively
Change Size
Antara
Indonesia's two largest Islamic organizations ' Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah ' have just elected new leaders and executive board members for the 2015-2020 period through their muktamar (congresses) in Jombang, East Java, and Makassar, South Sulawesi, respectively.
The NU reelected Said Aqil Siradj as its leader early Thursday, while Muhammadiyah chose Haedar Nashir as its new chairman in place of two-time chief Din Syamsuddin later that day.
Observers welcomed the election and reelection of the two figures, who they say will guide the two influential Muslim groups to overcome future challenges, notably the quest for shaping moderate Islam amid the global trend of radicalism.
By shunning practical politics, both the NU and Muhammadiyah have managed to focus on addressing various national issues, ranging from poverty to religious intolerance, and thereby maintain their relevance.
In one of its recommendations that wrapped up its congress, the NU asked the government to review all legislation related to political life so as to promote ethics in politics. The call was made in response to recent Constitutional Court rulings that endorse the practice of building political dynasties and the quest of former graft convicts to contest elections for public posts.
The NU considers the rulings an impediment to efforts to uphold morality and ethics in politics.
Article 7 of Law No. 1/2015 on the election of governors, regents and mayors stipulates that no candidates should have conflicts of interest with the incumbents, in that they should not have any affiliation through marriage with the incumbents, like fathers, mothers, parents-in-law, cousins or nieces, except after one interval of tenureship. The court ruled that the article contradicted the Constitution as it condoned discrimination.
In its recommendation, the NU opined that politics did not function as an instrument to defend public policies but was simply being turned into a rent-seeking mechanism to plunder natural resources and public funds.
Said Aqil promised after his reelection not to drag the NU into the political arena but instead focus on developing a democratic economy and education for the poor. 'I don't have any political agenda. My agenda is the NU's, nothing else,' he said, adding that he would help Muslim youths fight radical ideology.
'We will make the NU a more moderate and tolerant jam'iyah (organization), which will be beneficial for NU members, the nation and the world,' he said.
Meanwhile, newly elected Muhammadiyah chairman Haedar said that one of the keys to success in managing harmony in relations is communication and in order to reach that he would pay attention to the aegis extended by the majority to minority groups.
'Therefore, we have to become the platform for nationhood [...] the big protects the small and the small is in synergy with the big,' he said. He recalled that from the beginning, all groups in Indonesia embraced the culture of harmony.
Haedar said such a construction should provide a platform for Indonesia to maintain security and harmony among various ethnic groups.
He further said that good inter-ethnic relations would be beneficial in settling any conflict arising in a region. Efforts to mediate will be made to overcome conflict and localize information, thereby reducing skepticism by the international world toward Indonesia, he said.
****
Amid the confusion over the execution of the upcoming regional elections, the General Elections Commission (KPU) has finally agreed to a recommendation by the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) to extend the registration period for candidates in seven regencies/cities where incumbents are running unchallenged.
The regional elections are scheduled to take place simultaneously on Dec. 9 this year, and then in 2016 and 2017.
In response to Bawaslu's recommendation, the KPU has moved back the registration deadline from Aug. 9 to Aug. 11. Initially, the KPU planned to postpone elections in seven regions to February 2017 unless the President issued a government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) that would allow a single ticket to run in regional elections.
The KPU has issued circular No. 449/2015 to send to the regencies of Blitar and Pacitan in East Java, Tasikmalaya in West Java and Timor Tengah Utara in East Nusa Tenggara and the cities of Mataram in West Nusa Tenggara, Samarinda in East Kalimantan and Surabaya in East Java, instructing the regional poll commissions to accept last-minute candidates.
However, Heroik Muttaqien, an observer of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), has questioned the effectiveness of the registration extension.
'Is there any guarantee that through the extension there will be new candidates? If the answer is no, then what is the alternative and through what kind of legal protection?' he asked. According to Heroik, whether or not the extension time it is enough depends on the respective political parties.
Internal conflicts plaguing the Golkar Party and United Development Party have been blamed for the long-overdue administrative process. The two parties once called for a delay to the simultaneous elections, but the government insisted that the show must go on.
' Hyginus Hardoyo
