Anita Rachman – The executive board of Muhammadiyah must take into account the aspirations of its female members, the former general chairman of the Muslim organization, Sjafii Ma'arif, said on Monday.
He was speaking as more than 2,000 members voted for a new 13-member executive board.
The Muhammadiyah's women's wing, the Aisyiyah, had earlier criticized the organization for not having had a single female representative on the board in the past 10 years.
"I shall recommend our future executive board include not only men but women as well," Sjafii said at the organization's 46th national congress in Yogyakarta.
The 13 people chosen meet today to decide the new leader for the organization's 28 million members.
"I remind you that those who get the largest number of votes and those sitting on top of the list may not necessarily be appointed as general chairman," senior official Rosyad Saleh said earlier.
"It will completely depend on the internal meeting between the 13 elected members of the executive board."
Sjafii said that if the committee agreed this week to allowing the women to be included, it could give its stamp of approval. "I think they should then bring the issue to the full congress to make it more concrete," he said.
Abdul Mu'ti, secretary of Muhammadiyah's primary and secondary education council, said on Monday the new executive should seriously consider the next biggest political event in the country – the 2014 general election.
Abdul said that while "remaining neutral," Muhammadiyah leaders should be able to guide followers in choosing the right candidates. He said that by pushing the 13 leaders to guide followers towards the best leaders, it did not mean the group would issue an instruction stating that all followers should vote for particular candidates.
"We are not working by only voting for the right candidates, but we want to work within the system and fix it," he said.
Rahmawati Hussein, a Muhammadiyah member who heads a special branch in the United States, said as the 2014 elections approached, the 13 leaders should also be able to steer followers away from the political traps set by parties vying for Muhammadiyah votes.
"It should not be allergic to politics but we should be able to influence policy makers. Whoever the leaders are, we should be able to influence their policies," she said.
Abdul added that many Muhammadiyah members wanted the executive board to support other members who wanted to work with political parties. "They should not support only a single political party but be spread across many parties," he said.
Abdul said that in the future, the 13 leaders should also be able to work on the nation's law enforcement. He said the country had so many regulations but they were not enforced properly.
The leaders also should be proactive in watching how the legislative system operated.
Without mentioning names, a member from Temanggung, Central Java, said he would support what the caucus decided but wished the organization could implement all its programs and concentrate on improving things for the people.
"And I hope that the organization will return to the Koran and hadith. They should be honest," he said.
Budiman Yunus, from West Sumbawa, said he hoped the new leaders would not involve themselves in politics. "Like what happened with Pak Amien Rais, no top leaders should join any candidacy," he said.