dinsdag 4 december 2018

Nobel Peace Prize for Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama?

From various contacts I received recently a suggestion/request to support the idea that the Nobel Peace Prize 2019 should be awarded to the two largest Muslim organizations of Indonesia. Muhammadiyah was founded in 1912 to reform Islam in urban areas, making it modern and pure and attractive like Christian mission through modern schools and hospitals, orphanages and social work. Nahdlatul Ulama was founded in 1926 to give more power to the traditional Muslim boarding schools of the countryside.
Both organizations grew steadily. Initially they were small in comparison to the political and social movements for Indonesian independence like Budi Utomo, the nationalist movement of Soekarno. But they continued to grow and still are a great social power in the country of Indonesia.

Above is the Muhammadiyah logo, below the emblem of Nahdlatul Ulama. Muhammadiyah is not so strongly concentrated on Arabic (most members are much more fluent in English than Arabic!), but Muslims feel happy with green and Arabic. So, Muhammadiyah's emblem looks like that of Utrecht University, both show God's light to humankind!
Both organizations now are taken as moderate and anti-Salafi organizations. Prominent leaders of the two organizations published in 2009 a book against the Ilusi Negara Islam, the false messianic Illusion of an Islamic State. That book condemned the 'infiltration of Salafi and foreign elements in mosques, organizations and Indonesian society in general'. Muhammadiyah is member of  ICG the International Contact Group which facilitates the contacts between Muslims and Christians in the south of the Philippines (different from ICG or International Crisis Group).
Dr. Din Syamsuddin general chairman of Muhammadiyah 2005-2015 is now personal advisor to President Jokowi in the field of interreligious harmony.
Quite a few of my international colleagues in Indonesian studies welcome the idea of  nominating the two organizations for the Nobel Peace Prize. It will support the moderate Muslims worldwide, it will fight he rise of Islamophobia and strengthen the stream of peace and harmony seeking people among Muslims.
There are, of course, also some problems with this nomination. In 2005 another Muslim Organization of Indonesia issued several radical conservative and intolerant, even insane fatwas. It condemned pluralism (whatever it may be) as a dangerous heresy, it banned all religious mixed marriages for Muslims (against a much more lenient vision of the tekst of the Koran itself!) and it repeated a very severe condemnation of Ahmadi Muslim, which lead to burning of villages, killing Ahmadi people.
These fatwa were issued by the national council of Muslim clercs, Majelis Ulama Indonesia, but endorsed and signed by MD leader Din Syamsuddin and NU leader Ma'ruf Amin.

In 2016 there was a heavy political debate about some religious statements of the Jakarta governor known as Ahok. Many intimidating demonstrations resulted in a court case against him, his abdication and imprisonment. Muhammadiyah leader Haedar Nashir was negative about the demonstrations and expressed his sadness about the loss of time, insight and social harmony due to this political abuse of a complicated and distorted personal opinion. But NU leader Ma'ruf Amin wanted to make profit of this case and created his own mass organization to plead against the Jakarta governor.
These are two recent weak moments in organizations that have given much good to the country of Indonesia. If we go back to the beginning of Soeharto's New Order and the killing of probably more than 500.000 people associated with leftist or Communist groups in 1965-1966, the name of Ansor, the youth organization of NU and of HMI, Himpunan Mahasiswa Islam, loosely connected to Muhammadiyah, must also be mentioned. This makes the nomination of Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama to the Nobel Peace Prize not an undisputed proposal.

Geen opmerkingen:

Een reactie posten