Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Indonesia's major Islamic organizations should be more involved in poverty alleviation programs rather than political activities, an Islam-focused conference concluded Tuesday.

And Muslim groups should contribute toward public policies and petition the government to become pro-active toward families in need throughout Indonesia, the Maarif Institute and Asia Foundation said.

Executive director of Maarif Institute, Raja Juli Antoni, said Tuesday that Indonesia's Islamic organizations, including Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, enjoyed widespread influence and credibility and should leverage this to empower entire communities to become more involved in programs for those in need.

"They can create programs to empower poor people by cooperating with non-governmental organizations as well as local administrations, for example by establishing microfinancial institutions," Raja said.

The conference involved representatives from NU, Muhammadiyah and several provincial and regional administrations. Discussions between the groups concluded the country's Islamic organizations had made efforts to alleviate poverty.

But Raja said these groups were often too busy with their own internal business. He said the "poor political atmosphere" surrounding large Islamic organizations had seen a massive fragmentation into numerous groups "with miscellaneous political motives". This was due partly to their lack of political influence.

Raja said Islamic organizations should turn their focus also toward the government and the establishment of a good governance system, especially in relation to budget transparency and accountability. "It is time for Islamic organizations to take concrete measures, rather than only performing proselytism activities," he said.

Director of the Islam and development program at Asia Foundation, John Brownlee, said although Islamic organizations had put some energy toward solving poverty, their efforts were not realized by those in power. "Thus, they need to strengthen their management and their positioning toward the decision makers," Brownlee said.

There had been many successful programs undertaken by Islamic organizations, local administrations and NGOs, but they had been hampered by politics, he said.