The Foreign Service Journal, April 2008

ty necessary to prevent this extremist political party from rul- ing the nation’s capital. A top PKS figure currently serves as head of the Indonesian legislature, and the party also controls two key min- istries in the national government — including the Department of Agriculture, with thousands of field offices scattered throughout every district of Indonesia — en- abling it to spread its tentacles nationwide. Key to the success of the PKS, Hizb ut-Tahrir and other extremist groups has been their enormous organizing power, backed by financial resources. The PKS, in partic- ular, has been adept at utilizing Islamic education circles (tarbiyah) to infiltrate mosques, campuses, workplaces, the bureaucracy and even mass organizations such as the Muhammadiyah, the world’s second-largest Muslim orga- nization, with 30 million members. Both the PKS and HT operate at a grassroots level, expanding their networks — and mobilizing new cadres —mosque by mosque, campus by campus, and even neighborhood by neighborhood, in the case of PKS. They have substituted a highly politicized and radical understanding of Islam for Indonesian society’s traditionally tolerant and pluralistic worldview. Fortunately, the largest Muslim organization in the world — the Nahdlatul Ulama, with 40 million members — has been more difficult for extremist groups to pene- trate, due to its traditional, Sufi orientation. Yet even it is facing the steady infiltration of its mosques and institu- tions, some of which are being turned into extremist out- posts and used to distance local populations from the NU itself. The PKS, Hizb ut-Tahrir and other radical groups view the Muhammadiyah and NU as key targets, because these two mass organizations have long been pillars of support for Indonesia’s constitution, embracing pancasila and rejecting calls for an Islamic state. Established in 1912, the Muhammadiyah is a modernist Muslim organi- zation whose membership is concentrated primarily in urban areas. The Nahdlatul Ulama, in contrast, has its roots in the Indonesian countryside, and represents tra- ditional and Sufi Islam. Should either group fall into the hands of extremists, Indonesia’s future as a moderate state — home to the world’s largest Muslim population and democracy — would be in severe jeopardy. The Moderates Fight Back This is not a distant or idle threat. PKS and Hizb ut-Tahrir cadres dominated public forums at the July 2005 Muhammadiyah Congress held inMalang, East Java, where they joined with opportun- ists in persuading Muhammadiyah members to “purify” the organiza- tion’s Central Board of “liberal and pluralistic” influences. The extremists’ confidence and overreach were such that during the following 18 months, Dr. Abdul Munir Mulkhan (the group’s vice secretary from 2000 to 2005) and key allies felt compelled to mobi- lize the new Muhammadiyah Central Board to decisively reject the PKS. They issued a formal decree calling for elimination of such outside influences for the sake of the organization’s survival. Key points of the decree include the following: • All Muhammadiyah branches, institutions and chari- table businesses must free themselves from outside influ- ences (i.e., Tarbiyah/Muslim Brotherhood and the PKS); • Muhammadiyah members and leaders are forbidden to use the organization’s institutions, facilities or resources to conduct non-Muhammadiyah programs or activities, especially those with a political agenda acting in the guise of religion; • Members are forbidden to involve the organization in politics or use its symbols for political purposes; • All media outlets owned by Muhammadiyah are ordered to promote its principles and values only; and • Leaders at every level of the organization are instructed to clean up their ranks, adopt policies and insti- tute programs that will strengthen and consolidate the organization in accordance with its fundamental princi- ples and mission, including opposition to the establish- ment of Indonesia as an Islamic state. Such positive developments should not elicit a sense of complacency, however. It is one thing to issue a decree, and another to ensure its implementation throughout an organization as large, diverse and open as the Muham- madiyah has become, with nearly 10,000 schools, 187 col- leges and universities, and 250 hospitals spread through- out Indonesia. While a number of district- and province- F O C U S A P R I L 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 37 Fortunately, the largest Muslim organization in the world — the Nahdlatul Ulama — has been more difficult for extremist groups to penetrate.