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Muhammadiyah rejects radical thinking
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Member of the National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) Manager Nasution (left) with Lingkar Madani Foundation Ray Rangkuti (second from left), Muhammadiyah Youth Association Dahnil Anzar Simanjutak (center) and several other representatives from civil society groups speak in a press conference on Friday. The groups support the wife of alleged terrorist Siyono, Suratmi to seek justice for her husband who died under police custody. (Antara/Fauziyyah Sitanova)
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n view of public displays of radicalism in the name of Islam, the country’s second largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, has declared such extreme ways of expressing religiosity to be against Islamic teachings and that the organization did not support any such practices.
“Having radical thinking is all right. What makes it dangerous is when one applies it to violent acts and causes harm to people,” Muhammadiyah deputy chairman Muhadjir Effendy said at the organization’s headquarters on Friday.
Muhammadiyah, Muhadjir claimed, guaranteed that none of the preachers and mosques under its supervision would propagate any inflammatory sermons that would expose Muslims to extremism and terrorism.
“We are sure that our preachers can differentiate between radical Islam and the real Islam. So, they will not deliver provocative sermons that preach radical thinking,” Muhadjir said.
Indonesia is the largest Muslim majority country in the world, but as claimed by the chief of the National Counterterrorism Agency, Comr. Gen. Tito Karnavian, Indonesia is also a country that is the capital of terrorism in Southeast Asia, pointing to the Indonesian Islamic Group (NII) as one of the region’s first groups to spread radical propaganda and the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist organization.
Muhadjir said young generations had to be informed about the radical thinking of militant groups to make them understand and avoid it when they grow older.
“Schools are the proper place to teach about [the country’s ideology] and inform students about radicalism so that they won’t even think about being terrorists because I see that most of the terrorists reject the country’s principles and ideology,” Muhadijr said.
He added that since the beginning, Muhammadiyah had declared itself as an Islam-based organization that supports Indonesia’s ideology and the unitary state of Indonesia.
Next week, Muhammadiyah would hold an event called Konvensi Nasional Indonesia Berkemajuan (National Convention on Indonesian Advancement) at the Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta University, Yogyakarta on May 23 and 24.
The event’s participants are to discuss radicalism in politics and the law on the second day of the convention, which would have various speakers from religious and non-religious backgrounds.
Earlier in April, Sarwani, an exmember of NII, said that terrorists had targeted the younger generation, who mostly are students from well-recognized universities in the country. He added that some suicide bombers are university students.
Sarwani said recruiters would indoctrinate students to fight for a new ideology for the country, in specific reference to Islamic sharia.
The rector of Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta University, Bambang Cipto, said he felt honored that his university would be the host of the convention.
“I hope the convention will produce positive results for the country as it is expected to provide input to the country in many fields, such as politics and culture,” Bambang said. (wnd)
