Muhammadiyah Needs to Pace up in the Face of Global Challenges

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

President Joko Widodo delivered a speech at the same time opening the 48 Muhammadiyah and Aisyiyah congress at the Manahan Stadium, Surakarta, on Friday (11/19/2022).

SUKOHARJO, KOMPAS — While several new names have surfaced, the majority of Muhammadiyah’s 2015-2022 central-executive board is still expected to dominate the new board as the election is to follow later at the ongoing congress on Saturday (19/11/2022). The combination of senior and junior figures in the executive board is considered necessary for regeneration and program continuity in the face of the increasingly challenging world. The country’s second-largest Muslim organization has also been urged to maintain cooperation with other organizations of different backgrounds.

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A total of 39 candidates are now on the election cards following the Muhammadiyah Tanwir meeting at the Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta (UMS) in Sukoharjo, Central Java, on Friday (18/11). The candidates were shortlisted from 197 names at the tanwir meeting, attended by a total of 260 participants.

Most of Muhammadiyah executive-board members from the previous period are also in contention for chairmanship.

The candidate list is dominated the organization’s young crop. They include Hilman Latif, Ma'mun Murod, Alpha Ammirachman, Asep Purnama Bahtiar, Izzul Muslimin and Fajar Riza Ul Haq. Most of Muhammadiyah executive-board members from the previous period are also in contention for chairmanship.

The chairmanship candidates are also made up of several members of Aisyiyah, which is the organization’s women’s wing. Among them are former Aisyiyah chairperson Siti Noordjanah Djohantini and general secretary Tri Hastuti Nur Rohimah.

TANGKAPAN LAYAR/DIAN DEWI PURNAMASARI

The General Chairperson of the Muhammadiyah Central Executive (PP) Haedar Nasir gave a speech at the 109th Milad Muhammadiyah event, on Thursday (11/18/2021).

The list of chairmanship candidates, consisting of Muhammadiyah and Aisyiyah’s nominatees, will be submitted to the congress’ election committee later today. The procedure of electing a new chairman will be that more than 2,000 congress participants will choose 13 members of Muhammadiyah’s executive board for the 2022-2027 term. Those 13 figures will later hold a meeting to determine one among them to become the organization’s chairman.

He said the integration was important to ensure a well-worked transfer of Muhammadiyah leadership that would reflect the continuity of the movement.

Interviewed on the sidelines of the tanwir meeting, Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta (UMY) chancellor Gunawan Budiyanto said that the organization needed incorporation of senior and junior leadership figures. He said the integration was important to ensure a well-worked transfer of Muhammadiyah leadership that would reflect the continuity of the movement.

The presence of progressive-minded young leaders is needed by the organization to be able to respond to the challenging world, especially related to the development of information technology. “The right leadership model should be one that does not depend on individuals, but on the system. We need a futuristic leadership model without forgoing identity," Gunawan said.

Regeneration

Syamsuddin, head of the Muhammadiyah’s Banten chapter, said one of the considerations in choosing 13 figures for Muhammadiyah central executive board was the balanced composition between senior and junior names. "Of the 13 central board members, they can be seven seniors and six juniors," he said.

Even so, said Syamsuddin, intellectualism alone was not enough to make them eligible for Muhammadiyah executive board membership. Organizations still needed leadership virtue, he said. "How much influence that a person has on society, nation, state and community is also part of the considerations," he said.

Muhammadiyah incumbent chairman Haedar Nashir said in the midst of the development of information technology, the organization would need systematic organizational reform and regeneration. He pointed out the need for up-to-date cadre training amid the current demographic composition dominated by the millennial, Z and post-Z generations, who he said according to various studies were starting to be skeptical about religions and the existence of religious organizations. Thus, regeneration and development of organizational human resources must be planned optimally, he said. (NIA/NCA/NTA)

(This article was translated by Musthofid)