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Extremism becoming more common: Muhammadiyah
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Against extremism – Indonesia’s second-largest Islamic organization, Muhammadiyah, central executive board chairman Haedar Nashir (left) responds to journalists’ questions after an event at the State Palace in Jakarta on Jan.13. (JP/Anton Hermansyah)
Indonesia’s second-largest Islamic organization, Muhammadiyah, has said extremism is becoming more common around the world.
“Extremism neither belongs to one religion nor one nation. It is a problem in big societies,” Muhammadiyah central executive board chairman Haedar Nashir told journalists at the State Palace in Jakarta on Friday.
He further said Muhammadiyah was ready to cooperate with other societal elements to eliminate all forms of extremism in Indonesia.
Haedar was speaking after he fulfilled President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s invitation for an afternoon meeting. Unlike his discussion with Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) leader Said Aqil Siradj on Wednesday, during which he highlighted his concerns over growing extremism in Indonesia, Jokowi focused his discussion with Haedar on community development-related matters.
“We mainly discussed how we can reduce wealth disparities by optimizing land utilization for community development,” Haedar said.
He further explained how many locals had fallen victim to development projects that denied people’s right to land. In Papua, indigenous people in several areas have lost their land.
“Through its programs, Muhammadiyah has bought land for residents in several areas and given them livestock to breed. The programs worked well. The President was interested [in hearing about the programs],” he said. (ebf)
