RELIGION-INDONESIA: Vocal ‘Ulamas’ Draw Mixed Feelings

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Kafil Yamin

JAKARTA, Jan 24 2003 (IPS) - The involvement of students and activists in recent protests against Indonesia’s price hikes was expected, but to many, the involvement of Muslim religious leaders was not – and they have mixed feelings about it.

Just before President Megawati Sukarnoputri stood down last week from the increase in the prices of fuel, electricity and utilities, a group of ‘ulama’ (Muslim clerics) said they were giving her one month to change her decision in the wake of angry public protests.

Since then, some have been saying that because the religious leaders spoke out on a public issue, which is not often seen, they played a key role in the government’s turnaround.

” ‘Kyai’ (the Indonesian term for ‘ulama’) have always been significant in state affairs. Their disagreement on a certain policy would make it ineffective,” said Nurul Ain, head of the association of the Nahdlatul Ulama Academics of West Java.

”There is a religious obligation in Islam that ‘ulama’ should tell the rulers what is good and bad for the people, and warn the rulers if they did something wrong,” he said.

But analysts say that while this influence can be used for social issues, it can also create complications that have already been seen so far, and may spread later on.

‘Kyais’ or Muslim local leaders run ‘pesantren’ or Islamic boarding schools scattered around Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country. The students of the ‘pesantren’, called ‘santri’, and members of the community have commonly been potential constituents for any political party.

As one ‘santri’ here said, ”Kyai are often more powerful than regent or governor. Ministers, high-ranking military officers, have often come here to meet our kyai. We don’t know what they are talking about, but I think the officials need our kyai’s support.”

According to Nurul Ain, the power of ‘kyai’ rests on their independence. ”They are community leaders. They belong to no one. They are not paid for what they are doing. People follow them because they believe they can lead their followers to safety in this world and the world after.”

”They exert influence on a wide range of society because they have higher morality, higher level of religious knowledge, and so a higher degree in God’s view,” added Nurul Ain.

Indeed, even if they may not keep a high public profile, it has been common for ministers, generals, leaders of political parties to visit boarding schools, give donations and occasionally offer the ‘kyai’ political positions, privileges, like House memberships or advisory posts for ministers, presidents, governors.

But this status also exposes them to worldly temptations. ”More and more ‘kyais’ step into politics. They become House members, associates to generals, ministers and become heavily connected,” Nurul Ain said.

”They lead more comfortable lives and that is the beginning of their insensitivity. People begin to feel there is a distance between them with the kyai,” he added.

The involvement of ‘ulama’ in the political realm should be in morality and values, not practical matters, advises Moeflich Hasbullah, senior researcher at the Institute for Religious and Institutional Studies (IRIS).

”When ‘ulamas’ get involved practically in politics, they will by nature link themselves to political interests. Since they are members of religious organisations, they will favour their organisations and even their personal gain,” he said.

Moeflich recalls the time ‘ulamas’ under Nahdlatul Ulama urged Abdurrahman Wahid, then Indonesian president and a long-time leader of the group, to declare a state of emergency that would give Wahid authority to dissolve the parliament.

Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) is the world’s largest Muslim organisation with 30 million members.

The decree was intended to stop parliament from ousting Wahid. Wahid did issue the decree, but public pressure from citizens, parliament and the military led to his downfall in 2001.

”The NU ulamas were happy to have Wahid on the presidential chair, then, because Wahid is an ‘ulama’ and a key figure in NU. So they did everything they could to defend Wahid. But dissolving parliament is against Islam and democracy,” maintained Moeflich. ”So when it comes to practical politics, they leave Islam behind.”

During the protests led by ‘kyai’ to defend Wahid, they used Islamic symbols like ‘jihad’, ‘amar ma”ruf nahyi munkar’ (call for the truth and prevent evil),” he said. ”So Islam becomes so superficial.”

Zulkifli, an employee of a state-owned company here and a former ‘pesantren’ student, said he left his ‘pesantren’ after he found out that his ‘kyai’ helped the local government forcibly acquire lands from villagers for textile factories.

”My ‘kyai’ became suddenly rich, but people around him became landless, poor and live hazardous life,” he recalled. ”I had no respect anymore for him.”

Zulkifli says he thinks ‘ulamas’ today are very critical of the government because they have fewer places in the current government than under Wahid’s. ”They are supposed to tell the ruler to run a clean government, but not be involved in it.”

Nurul Ain added that his son could only stay two months at a ‘pesantren’. ”Then I checked what went wrong. I found dirty classrooms, unattended buildings, bad smell, but just next to the classrooms are convenient, clean, well-maintained mansion of the ‘kyai’ with luxurious cars parked in front,” he said.

But there are many, many others who are committed to their calling, he agrees. ”They are trying to instill and socialise universal values, honesty, cleanliness, humanity, equality in social, political, cultural life, without involving themselves in political competition.”

Still, Kadar Slamet, a ‘kyai’ in Bandung city outside the capital, says ‘ulamas’ are no longer powerful as they were before. ”As clear evidence, they failed to defend Wahid in power, despite the deployment of thousands of their followers.”

Said Kadar: ”Now the government changed the decision on prices of oil, electricity and telephone, because mounting protests of students and the grassroots – not because the ulamas’ ultimatum.”