Call for
Participation in ICM 2012
International
Conference on Muhammadiyah
in
Commemoration
of its Centennial Anniversary
at
University
of Muhammadiyah Malang
29 November
– 2 December 2012 CE
General
theme:
“Discourse on the Search for a Renewed Identity
of Muhammadiyah for its Post-Centennial Era”
I.
Background and Rationale for the Conference
Over the past
100 years, the progressive Muslim social movement Muhammadiyah has made
significant contributions to the nation building of the Republic of Indonesia,
mainly in the field of education, philanthropy, and social welfare. More
than that, its contributions to the enhancement of the people’s sovereignty,
national unity, social justice, and the uplifting of public morality for the
nation have been countless. By now, Muhammadiyah has become one of the two most
important Islamic religious organizations in Indonesia alongside its
‘traditional and traditionalist rival’ Nahdlatul ‘Ulama (NU). The two
organizations constitute the moderate and progressive pillars of civil society
in contemporary Indonesia. In a global context, Muhammadiyah is also one of the
largest and best-organized modern Islamic social movements based upon the piety
and voluntary dedication of their members and supporters.
In
the recent process of Reformasi -- the political transition from Soeharto’s
dictatorship to democracy in Indonesia -- Muhammadiyah’s participation was very
active, symbolized by the role of its chairperson, Dr. Amien Rais. He
spearheaded anti-Soeharto popular movements and eventually occupied a key
position in the post-Soeharto government, Chair of People’s Assembly
(MPR). He also founded PAN (= Partai
Amanat Nasional, National Mandate Party), which has been receiving a
substantial number of votes in both national and local elections. It has become
one of the important components in a series of post-Reformasi coalition
governments.
Muhammadiyah
celebrated its 100th year by having its centennial national congress
in Yogyakarta in 1430H/2010M according to the Hijrah calendar. The occasion led
by Dr. Din Syamsuddin, its current chairperson, was undoubtedly a great show of
force for the organization, with participation by tens of thousands of local
representatives, observers, and ‘celebrators’ from all over the country. It was
an historic occasion for the organization and also for the city, where it was
born one hundred years ago. Muhammadiyah is now poised to enter the second
century of its life with a century of achievements behind it.
In
spite of all this, some people have perceived that Muhammadiyah’s presence in
the Indonesian public seems to be somewhat waning recently. Many factors seemed
to have caused this. Muhammadiyah has been contested externally by the
emergence of a number of Islamist movements since the fall of the New Order --
many of them with trans-national connections. Even more directly, Muhammadiyah
has faced with the threat of infiltration by some Islamist forces, among
others, by the PKS (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera, Prosperous Justice Party).
Internally, too, Muhammadiyah has experienced unprecedented conflicts because
of the development of three contrasting orientations. The first has been the
revival of ‘Salafist’ trend emphasizing puritanical origins of the movement
criticizing the ‘compromising’ tendencies in the everyday practices of
Muhammadiyah. The second has been the well-established mainstream, taking a
moderate centralist position by balancing efforts for purification and
reformation. The third is a more recent trend of ‘liberals’, which has been
represented by a number of young university graduates and teaching staff. They have criticized the mainstream as
stagnant and have urged to revitalize the efforts for reform/renewal (tajdid) to meet the challenges of changing
societal situations.
In the field of education, it has
been well recognized that Muhammadiyah has pioneered to achieve the combination
of modern general education and enlightening Islamic education. It has even
presented models for educational reform for the entire country from the level
of kindergarten to that of university. However, recent trends by Muhammadiyah
have raised some issues. In contrast to the obvious achievement of its
institutions at the level of higher education -- some of which are even getting
competitive with the government and private centers of excellence -- its
primary and secondary education seems to be lagging behind the rapid progress
and improvements undergoing in its counterparts in government and private
sectors. Here, again, ‘Salafist-oriented’ schools, named Sekolah Islam Terpadu
(‘Intensive Islamic School’), well funded, well equipped and well staffed with
the support from Middle Eastern foundations, are emerging here and there,
diminishing the attractiveness of Muhammadiyah schools as a model for modern
Islamic education. Its relatively high school fees are reportedly accelerating
this tendency.
In the field of philanthropy and
social welfare, which has been another strong point of the movement,
Muhammadiyah is also suffering from external competition and internal
stagnation. Many of the PKU hospitals, clinics, and orphanages under the
management of Muhammadiyah have lost touch with the local Muslim communities
and are operating not that much differently from private business institutions.
Quality-wise, their services are sometimes even less satisfactory than
government institutions like PUSKESMAS and secular commercial ones in spite of
their relatively high charges. In contrast, a number of new voluntary
philanthropic movements are achieving amazing degrees of success on the basis
of massive popular support – ex. Dompet Dhuafa (‘Wallet for the Poor’) –
enabling them to establish and operate high quality but less expensive clinics
and hospitals for the poor.
All
in all, an image of Muhammadiyah in recent years has been less dynamic, less
innovative, and less progressive compared to its fresh forward looking stance
shown decades before. Some people have even perceived that its ‘traditional and
traditionalist’ rival NU is getting ahead of Muhammadiyah in terms of
progressiveness, innovativeness and positive adaptation to modernity.
Thus,
Muhammadiyah at the entrance of its second century is facing a number of
serious challenges. The most essential among them seems to be the “rediscovery”
or “reformulation” of its own identity.
Recent rapid, global grand-scale changes are demanding Muhammadiyah to
seriously re-examine the meanings of its modernity, progressiveness and
reformism in the post-modern contexts.
Concerning
this, “Statement on the Thought of Muhammadiyah for its Second Century”— a
document adopted by the centennial 46th national congress – reflects
a new discourse the movement is engaged in now. The document states that the
following should be Muhammadiyah’s basic guidelines: the pursuit of universal human
rights, gender equality, the promotion of social justice and social welfare
among the masses, the basic stance of anti-war, anti-violence, anti-terrorism,
anti-exploitation, anti-environmental destruction, and anti-persecution of
minorities, and the guarantee of ethnic, racial, national, cultural and
religious pluralism.
Now,
apparently serious endeavors are being undertaken to justify these basic
guidelines in terms of contextual re-interpretation (ijtihad) of the Qur’an and Hadith, at the
same time being supported by enormous progress in general sciences and
technology. Also, various efforts are developing to implement those guidelines
in the fields of education, social welfare and in the efforts for uplifting
socio-economic levels of community life, especially of the poor. In other
words, a total renewal (tajdid) of the movement itself is being attempted in terms of
its theology, philosophy, organizational structure, management styles and
skills, work ethics of officers and members, cadre trainings, formal and
informal education, and patterns of everyday life for ordinary members, and so
forth.
The
prospective international conference intends to survey and discuss the
Muhammadiyah movement in search of new identity and direction. Can and will
Muhammadiyah continue and even advance to be an organization of progressive
Islamic social and religious movement well into its post-centennial era? How is
it revitalizing the élan vital of the movement? These questions seem
to require serious inquiries not only by Muhammadiyah activists themselves but
also by those scholars who have been observing Muhammadiyah for many years.
In
a broader global perspective, Muhammadiyah is undoubtedly standing at the
forefront of responding to intellectual and practical challenges arising from
fast changing world situations among a number of Islamic social movements
of the world. Therefore, Muhammadiyah’s past experience, present stance and
future direction is not only significant for Indonesia alone but also for the
entire Islamic world. Muhammadiuah’s basic stance of advocating modernity,
moderation and democracy in terms of Islamic teachings seems to be especially
relevant in view of the recent development of ‘Arab Spring’ in the Middle East.
It may be able to expect a positive interaction to develop between Muhammadiyah
and its counterparts in the region. Furthermore, Muhammadiyah’s fortune will
gravely affect the relationship between Islamic and non-Islamic parts of the
entire humankind. What would be the contribution of Muhammadiyah towards peace,
harmony and happiness of the entire world? Questions presented above are
undoubtedly not only academic but practical ones, too, to be discussed and
answered seriously. Deeper understanding on Muhammadiyah by foreign scholars,
mostly non-Muslim, through exchange of views and intensive discussion with
Indonesian colleagues, mostly Muslim, in a gathering is expected to enhance
mutual intellectual solidarity and practical cooperation beneficial for the
both sides.
Hence,
an international conference is to be organized on the occasion of the
centennial anniversary of Muhammadiyah, November 2012, according to the CE
calendar.
II.
Objectives and Organization of the Conference (ICM 2012)
1.
The
prospective conference is envisaged as an international gathering of those
scholars, foreign and Indonesian, who are committed to the study of
Muhammadiyah. Through the conference, exchange of their research findings and
discussion on a number of topics concerning Muhammadiyah will take place in
order to produce a comprehensive and coherent picture about the contemporary
Muhammadiyah movement with insights and suggestions for its future direction.
2.
The
conference will put an emphasis on providing an occasion to get involved in
international academic discourse for those who are relatively junior Indonesian
scholars who have just completed their PhD’s or those in the process of
completion of them on the topic of Muhammadiyah, meanwhile senior scholars are
supposed to be playing mentoring roles.
3.
The
conference, while held on a Muhammadiyah university campus, substantially
supported by it, and participated by a number of Muhammadiyah members, will NOT be a Muhammadiyah project. It will be a gathering of independent
scholars -- many of them non-partisan ‘public intellectuals’ -- who are
genuinely committed to objective studies on Muhammadiyah.
4.
Language:
English only for written and oral presentation and discussion.
5.
Date:
Thursday 29th of November – Sunday
2nd of December 2012.
6.
Place:
University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM), Malang, East Java, Indonesia.
7.
Participants:
Participants will consist of panelists (paper presenters, moderators and
discussants) and ordinary participants (participation from the floor).
8.
Organizations:
8-1.
Steering Committee (SC) of ICM 2012:
Chair:
Prof. Dr. Azyumardi Azra (Former Rector of State Islamic University,
UIN, Jakarta, and currently Director of its
Graduate School)
Vice-Chair:
Prof. Dr. Mitsuo Nakamura (Professor Emeritus, Chiba University.
Former Head of Study Group on Islam in
Southeast Asia, Japan)
Members:
Prof.
Dr. Muhadjir Effendy (Rector, Muhammadiyah University of Malang, UMM)
Prof. Dr. Ahmad Syafi’i Maarif (Professor, National University of Yogyakarta, UNY. Former Chairperson of Muhammadiyah),
Prof. Dr. Ahmad Syafi’i Maarif (Professor, National University of Yogyakarta, UNY. Former Chairperson of Muhammadiyah),
Prof.
Dr. Amin Abdullah (Former Rector of State Islamic University, UIN, Yogyakarta)
Prof.
Dr. Chamamah Suratno (Professor Emeritus, Gadjah Mada University,
UGM. Former Chairperson of ‘Aisyiyah)
Dr.
Siti Syamsiyatun (Director of Center for International
Religious and
Cross-cultural Studies, ICRCS, Gadjah Mada
University, UGM)
Prof.
Dr. James Peacock (Professor, University of North Carolina. Former
President, American Anthropological
Association)
Prof.
Dr. Robert Hefner (Professor, Director of Institute on
Culture, Religion, and
World Affairs, Boston University)
Prof.
Dr (HC). A. Malik Fadjar (Professor, State Islamic University, UIN, Jakarta.
Founding Rector of the University of
Muhammadiyah Malang, UMM. Former
Minister of Department of Religious Affairs
and Department of Education and
Culture, Government of Indonesia)
Prof.
Dr. Bahtiar Effendy (Professor, State Islamic University, UIN, Jakarta)
8-2.
Organizing
Committee (OC) of ICM 2012 at UMM:
Prof. Dr. Muhadjir Effendy (Adviser, Rector
of UMM)
Drs. Soeparto (Co-Chair, Head of
International Relations Office, UMM)
Prof. Dr. Mitsuo Nakamura (Co-Chair,
Professor Emeritus, Chiba University)
- History (two sessions): Modern History of Islam in Indonesia with Emphasis on the Early Period of Muhammadiyah Development
- Ethnography: Realities of the Muhammadiyah Movement in Local Context
- Education (two sessions): Challenges of Globalization, Multi-Culturalism and Universalism
- Philanthropy/Social Welfare/Social Business (two sessions): The working of LAZISMU, PKU, BMT, etc.
- Reformism Revisited: The Working of Majelis Tarjih/Tajdid and Interpretation/ Application of Syari’ah
- Women and Gender Equality
- Youth and Radicalism
- Domestic and International Politics: Democratization, the Challenge of Islamism, and World-wide Cooperation of Moderate Muslims
- Conflict Resolution and the Enhancement of Intra/Inter-Faith Solidarity
- The State of Art in Muhammadiyah Studies
(End)
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