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Muhammadiyah at 107: New challenges, roles in education
Antara/Luqman HakimDuring the celebration of the 107th anniversary of the Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s first Muslim organization which merged traditional Islamic and Western style of education, chairman Haedar Nashir reiterated the organization’s mission to spur on a renaissance in the nation
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Antara/Luqman Hakim
During the celebration of the 107th anniversary of the Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s first Muslim organization which merged traditional Islamic and Western style of education, chairman Haedar Nashir reiterated the organization’s mission to spur on a renaissance in the nation. The celebration took place in the organization’s hometown at Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta (UMY).
At the celebration Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim praised Muhammadiyah for its efforts to realize education for all way before the proclamation of the republic in 1945.
Since its establishment on Nov. 18, 1912, in Yogyakarta by its founder Ahmad Dahlan as a reformist socioreligious movement, advocating ijtihad or individual interpretation of Quran and sunnah (Prophet’s sayings), Muhammadiyah has established thousands of schools and hundreds of universities, hospitals and orphanages across the archipelago.
Nevertheless, it was not the headquarters of Muhammadiyah that directed the massive development of these nonprofit endeavors. It was the voluntary work of millions of members who shared the goal of spreading the Islamic teaching of rahmatan lil ‘alamin (blessing for the whole world) through nonprofit activities.
The efforts combine refinement of Islamic teaching and modernization, particularly through education. But everyone is welcome to join the endeavor. In eastern Indonesia, for example, most students of Muhammadiyah universities and schools are non-Muslims, and some of the graduates have become local leaders in both government and nongovernment sectors, contributing to the progress of their respective communities.
The universities and schools teach Islam and kemuhammadiyahan (Muhammadiyahness) to non-Muslim students, and never force them to change their faith. At the same time, non-Muslim students also receive religious lessons from religion teachers according to their belief.
Muhammadiyah, one of the nation’s largest organizations with approximately 70 million members, has also given birth to national heroes, such as the nation’s first president, Sukarno, who was involved in its education council during his stay in Bengkulu; legal expert Djuanda Kartawidjaja, who helped global recognition of Indonesia as an archipelagic state, military general Sudirman, who developed Muhammadiyah‘s scout Hizbul Wathon and many others including its founder Ahmad Dahlan.
But Muhammadiyah should not be too proud of its achievement. The challenges have become even more unpredictable. Among other things, competition between public and private education and even among private schools themselves is getting tighter.
First, regarding the disparity of quality among Muhammadiyah universities and schools, as the establishment of universities and schools is largely the work of members scattered across the archipelago, national-level planning for the institutions is obviously absent and national quality control is certainly a giant effort.
Therefore, the Muhammadiyah education council at the every level needs to actively galvanize support from members and sympathizers to ensure its schools continue to maintain and improve education quality. This can be done not only by donations but also through creatively established entrepreneurial activities, as exemplified by several Muhammadiyah universities and schools in Malang, East Java, Lampung and many others such as by establishing hotels, gas stations and others so they can have more financial freedom.
Second, Muhammadiyah universities and schools need to always sharpen their added value through character education, the teaching of Islam and kemuhammadiyahan.
Beyond the classroom, such education is carried out through affective and psycho-motoric activities in extracurricular programs such as scouts, Tapak Suci martial arts and student organizations such as Ikatan Pelajar Muhammadiyah (Muhammadiyah Students’ Association) for secondary education and Ikatan Mahasiswa Muhammadiyah (Muhammadiyah Higher Education Students’ Assocation) for higher education.
Hence, those who graduate from Muhammadiyah education institutions are expected not only to develop thinking capacity but also social and leadership skills, so that they can exploit their talent and potential to the fullest for their communities.
This gives them comparative advantages against other educational institutions.
Third, Muhammadiyah should take full advantage of the 4.0 era to ensure continuous teacher professional development particularly for their struggling education institutions in remote and difficult areas.
The education councils need to replicate efforts by the Muhammadiyah education councils of East and West Java in implementing digital awareness programs among Muhammadiyah teachers. The programs particularly target teachers who have never obtained additional training.
Muhammadiyah’s national higher education council has also been pioneering information and communication technology-based open and distance learning among well-established universities.
These attempts should improve the quality of less-developed Muhammadiyah universities, as the program is not only aimed at students but also at lecturers.
This program, called Muhammadiyah Online University, was launched during the recent celebration, as a clear signal that Muhammadiyah is ready to embrace the 4.0 era. Similar attempts should follow in primary and secondary education, where the more established schools should help to improve the quality of less advanced ones.
Fourth, Muhammadiyah should not rely on mere government support. For over a century its core strength has been its self-reliant volunteers. Moreover, nongovernment entities naturally have more room to maneuver and innovate to progress, compared to the highly-regulated, too bureaucratic public education sector.
Fifth, Muhammadiyah should continue to strengthen its cooperation with partners from all over the world to spread the message of peaceful and progressive Islam. Among others we have cooperated with the Rome-based, Catholic-oriented Community of Sant’Egidio through exchanges of activists; with Thailand’s government through the provision of scholarship of students of its Muslim-dominated southern part to study in Muhammadiyah universities; with Myanmar’s government to develop education institutions for the Rohingya Muslim internally displaced people and many others.
Lastly, Muhammadiyah needs to break the current taboo of practical politics without violating the core of the organization as a nonprofit and nonpolitical organization.
Muhammadiyah will never become a political party, but the Muhammadiyah board in every level of the country needs to extend full support to Muhammadiyah members who aspire to pursue political careers.
By having good members and alumni in the executive and legislative branches, Muhammadiyah will be able to increase its ability to carry out its noble mission to bring a renaissance to the life of the nation.
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Secretary of the primary and secondary education council of the central board of Muhammadiyah, who holds PhD in anthropology of education from the University of Amsterdam.
