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Better luck next time for Nobel hopefuls NU, Muhammadiyah
The country’s two biggest Islamic organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, have learned that there is no shortcut to international recognition, after failing to win the revered Nobel Peace Prize this year amid stiff competition
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span>The country’s two biggest Islamic organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, have learned that there is no shortcut to international recognition, after failing to win the revered Nobel Peace Prize this year amid stiff competition.
The two organizations were nominated by scholars in January for their contributions to democratic developments in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.
A number of big names were touted to win the prize this year, including 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, indigenous Brazilian leader Raoni Metuktire and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
However, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced last Friday that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had won the prize "for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighboring Eritrea".
Indonesian Ambassador to Norway Todung Mulya Lubis, who campaigned for the nomination, said Ahmed was a deserving winner who achieved peace and reconciliation in his country, and that this year was just not the right time for NU and Muhammadiyah to shine.
“I am personally disappointed but we also have to be realistic. Even the EU [European Union] won the prize after being nominated 10 times consecutively before it won [in 2012],” he told The Jakarta Post earlier this week.
Todung said the main challenge going forward was how to promote the two organizations to the world, as they were largely familiar only to Muslim nations and Indonesians, yet completely unknown to the rest of the world — especially among Scandinavian countries.
It did not help that NU and Muhammadiyah were rarely featured in international media, so the promotional campaign did not have an advantage to begin with, the lawyer-turned-envoy said.
Even so, they had to keep on trying.
“We should not give up. The point of this nomination is that this is a political and social investment for Indonesia,” Todung said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Muhammadiyah was established by Ahmad Dahlan in Yogyakarta in 1912, while NU was set up by Hasyim Asy’ari in Surabaya, East Java, in 1926. The two grassroots groups were widely recognized for having played an essential role in strengthening social cohesion after Indonesia’s democratic transition began in 1998.
Their nomination for one of the world’s most prestigious awards emerged out of discussions among scholars in Indonesia and the Middle East who acknowledged that Islam in Indonesia did not associate with radicalism and violent extremism, said M. Najib Azca, a Gadjah Mada University (UGM) scholar who led research on the role of the two organizations in peace and democracy in Indonesia.
“There are always international issues about Islam that might make [their nomination] an interesting option, especially with the violence and conflict in the Middle East and on the Arabian Peninsula,” Najib told the Post on Wednesday.
Islam in Indonesia and in much of Southeast Asia has incorporated local cultures, traditions and wisdoms that set it apart from the interpretations found in the Middle East, where it originated.
Moderation and tolerance are among the distinguishing traits of the practices of Islam Nusantara (Islam of the Archipelago), as coined by NU, and al-wasatiyyah (the middle path) in Islam that Muhammadiyah is promoting, amid global concerns that link terrorism to religion.
Following the precept of Islam rahmatan lil ‘alamin (Islam as a blessing for all creations), Indonesia has sought to spread the peaceful message of Islam to the rest of the world as an extension of its now well-known soft power diplomacy of organizing interfaith dialogue.
Najib conceded that it was a bit of a shortcut to nominate the two for the Nobel, but that it was deemed necessary to showcase democratic and peaceful Islam. “If it worked, they will get into the global spotlight immediately. But because it failed we might need to look at a long-term approach,” he said.
One suggestion he had was to have more English and Arabic translations of Indonesian Islamic thinkers, such as former president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, NU cleric Ahmad Mustofa Bisri, intellectual Nurcholis Madjid and humanist poet Emha Ainun Najib.
Muhammadiyah secretary-general Abdul Mu’ti said that being nominated was in itself an achievement and that winning was not the point because the two organizations could always try again next year. “We are going to meet again in the near future to improve some matters related to the Nobel nomination,” he said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
When it comes to religious tradition, Mu’ti said it was essential to mainstream Indonesia’s version of Islam, which remains part of the periphery despite having the world’s largest number of followers.
“We consider this the very first step for Muhammadiyah and NU and various Islamic organizations to go international,” he said.
There were 301 candidates in the running for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, comprising 223 individuals and 78 organizations, although the names of nominators and nominees will not be revealed until after 50 years.
This year's prize will be presented at a ceremony in Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of Alfred Nobel, who was a Swedish philanthropist and scientist. The award consists of a gold medal, diploma and 9 million Swedish kronor (around $912,000).
