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Muslims demand moral leadership

Source
South China Morning Post - October 15, 1997

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – Popular Muslim figures have criticised the Government for failing to provide moral leadership in a time of economic and social crisis and warned it could face mass demonstrations if it does not listen to the people.

Amien Rais, leader of the 28 million-strong Muhammadiyah movement, said Indonesian leaders suffered from "power arrogance" and needed to return to a moral governance.

"The Government must be held responsible for the forest fires, the transport disasters and the rupiah decline. Our leaders must return to moral fundamentals," said Mr Rais.

Jakarta's inaction over food and water shortages, smoke from forest fires and a high-cost economy had added to the nation's currency pains, he said.

The rupiah has halved in value against foreign currencies since July, forcing up the prices of food and putting pressure on cash-strapped firms to sack workers.

Mr Rais said there was now a "wide and glaring gap" between the rhetoric of President Suharto's New Order and reality.

Abdurrahman Wahid, head of the 30 million-member Nahdlatul Ulama, said the political situation was reaching a "hazardous" level before the Peoples' Consultative Assembly in March.

Mr Wahid said although his group assisted with a smooth general election campaign in May, his members would not accept any unconstitutional acts by the executive or Parliament.

"We would use our mass strength to stop that. If one million people march down the street, whoever caused the trouble will run away," said Mr Wahid, whose grassroots group has strong support from schools and preachers in local mosques.

The poor would be the worst affected by a tumbling rupiah and rising inflation and might take action to demand change if the economy got any worse, said Mr Rais.

"The underclass and the underemployed are the silent majority who are frustrated economically and socially.

"They are a mass with the potential to mobilise themselves on to the streets," he said. "People power cannot be ruled out in Indonesia any more."

Last week Muslims held a lecture in front of hundreds of people at a South Jakarta mosque. They said the national woes were a warning to the Government to become more accountable.

Power was a "mandate from Allah" and no matter how strong, it would one day be taken back, the Muslim preachers said.

Mr Suharto has been in power for 32 years. Presidential elections next year are expected to appoint him to a seventh consecutive term.

Analysts said Indonesians were turning to Islam for a new voice of moral authority, adding any hopes for political opposition were destroyed when popular pro-democracy leader Megawati Sukarnoputri was excluded from the new Parliament.

About 90 per cent of Indonesia's 200 million people follow Islam.

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