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Muhammadiyah wastes opportunity to lead fight climate change
Muhammadiyah has pledged “environmentally friendly mining practices” with the license, but one cannot wonder at the oxymoronic phrase of an environmentally friendly mining practice.
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Coal storage barges float in a yard next to Batanghari River in Muaro Jambi, Jambi on May 6, 2024. (Antara/Wahdi Septiawan)
W
hen I first met Greta Thurnberg, I was baffled. It was a Friday summer morning in Stockholm, people were dressing lightly with sunglasses and hats. Thunberg wore a thin gray shirt, black shorts and sneakers. She looked petite, my teenage daughter of similar age is taller and sturdier, and I could not help thinking about the hard reality of her frail back carrying the burden of a global climate justice campaign.
Of course, she is actually a giant. As the founder of the Youth Strike for Climate movement, she has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, the youngest candidate ever recorded. She has Asperger's and is often inundated with hate messages from climate deniers and people who disagree with her solidarity activism, but she continues to be one of the rocks to which the global climate movement has been anchored. Thurnberg is the face of the movement.
We do not have a Greta Thurnberg of Indonesia. Yes, movements are building and individuals are taking the helm for the climate initiative to march forward. But a living, breathing face of this important campaign has yet to be found in Indonesia.
Which is why I mourn for Muhammadiyah and the missed opportunity to have this giant organization lead the battle against inertia in climate actions. Muhammadiyah, the country’s second-largest Muslim group, is undoubtedly the wealthiest public organization in Indonesia right now, with assets strewn over several continents reportedly valued at Rp 400 trillion (US$25 billion). It runs 172 universities, 122 hospitals, 231 health clinics and 5,345 schools inside and outside of Indonesia.
It does not like to boast about how many people hold its membership but Muhammadiyah’s services (which they tenderly called amal usaha) are noticeably apparent everywhere. This year or next, it plans to launch a sharia banking service and thus enlarge the business platform further.
The venture toward mining thanks to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s initiative to offer mining licenses to religious organizations will grow Muhammadiyah’s business portfolio even larger.
The price, however, is immense. First, while Muhammadiyah has pledged “environmentally friendly mining practice” with the license, one cannot wonder at the oxymoronic phrase of environmentally friendly mining practice.
