In a media gathering held last week at Surakarta Muhammadiyah University, incumbent chairman Haedar Nashir said the organization would outline its new programs and elect new central board members, including a new chairman.

“Muhammadiyah has a tiered election system and Insya Allah (God willing), this will result in a democratic and systematized election,” he said.

The organization has a final list of candidates for roles on the central board, according to secretary-general Abdul Mu’ti.

“Muhammadiyah already has a list of the 92 candidates,” Abdul said last week. “And they all have an equal chance of becoming the next chairman.”

Continuing, he said that 13 out of the 92 candidates would be elected to the new central board during the congress, after which the board would convene to select the new chair.

Role in Politics

As the second-largest Islamic organization in Indonesia after Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Muhammadiyah’s chairmanship election has always garnered attention from the political elite, according to political analyst Bawono Kumoro of Indikator Politik.

“The congress isn’t just important for Muhammadiyah, but also for political parties to start building their relationship with the newly elected chairman,” Bawono said.

Muhammadiyah has long been associated with the National Mandate Party (PAN), but the modernist Islamic party is by no means the only political party linked to the organization, especially as PAN cofounder Amien Rais has set up a new party, the Ummat Party, of which he is the chief patron.

Muhammadiyah members have also joined other nonreligious parties, such as the NasDem Party and the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), according to Bawono.

In a discussion on Tuesday at the Muhammadiyah Propagation Center at Jakarta, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto underlined that the organization had always played a role in shaping the country’s past leaders, expressing his hope that it would also do so for future leaders.

The PDI-P secretary-general named past examples of prominent Indonesian figures who were associated with Muhammadiyah, including first president Sukarno, Ahmad Dahlan and Agus Salim, all of.

“Regarding [the 2024 election], Muhammadiyah cadres could be groomed as legislative candidates through the political parties,” Hasto added.

Countering sectarianism

Muhammadiyah has long maintained a policy to avoid participating in practical politics.

Bawono, however, argued that Muhammadiyah could still play an active role in shaping the political discourse in 2024, as both an anchor of moderate Islam and public educators.

“Ideally, [Muhammadiyah] could provide voters with better political literacy, as the polarization in the last few elections was caused by the public’s lack of political literacy,” he said.

While he acknowledged the continued existence of identity politics, Bawono noted that the real danger was in the politicization of identity, and that Muhammadiyah and NU had an important role in keeping the politicization of identity to a minimum.

Separately, PAN secretary-general Eddy Soeparno encouraged Muhammadiyah to produce what he described as “politics of ideas” at the congress. “With this politics of ideas, debate on ideas and policies would dominate the public discourse instead, and voters could learn more about what the [candidates] are campaigning for,” Eddy said.

Both President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Vice President Ma’ruf Amin are to make an appearance at the 48th Muhammadiyah National Congress. During a visit to the vice presidential residence today, Haedar confirmed that Jokowi would open the congress on Saturday morning and Ma’ruf would close the congress on Sunday.

“The Vice President appreciates what Muhammadiyah is trying to accomplish, as we’re well equipped to help Indonesia move forward,” Haedar said as quoted on Muhammadiyah’s official channels.

The congress kicks off on Friday with the tanwir assembly, at which several Muhammadiyah representatives will verify and whittle down the number of chairmanship candidates from 92 to just 39.