Haeril Halim and Andi Hajramurni, Jakarta – Despite Muhammadiyah's firm stance on protecting beleaguered religious minorities in the country, an internal discussion during the fourth day of the second-largest Islamic organization's national congress (muktamar) on Thursday revealed that many of the organization's members in the region had reservations about the position.

On Thursday afternoon, a proposal to start a Sunni-Shia dialogue mediated by Muhammadiyah was met with rejection from several members, including official representatives from West Papua's Muhammadiyah branch office.

A Muhammadiyah member from West Papua, who wished to remain anonymous, said he could accept the proposal as long as Muhammadiyah's central board specified clear guidelines on how the dialogue would take place.

He also said that such dialogue would be futile given the wide ideological differences between Sunnis and Shiites. "We would like to know what kind of dialogue it will be. Shi'ism is very dangerous," the local Muhammadiyah official said.

Tension in the room rose when others in the audience began talking about other minority groups. Some in the discussion proposed that "Muhammadiyah should follow the Indonesian Ulema Council's [MUI] in declaring that Shia and Ahmadiyah branches were deviant versions of Islam." Many began to chant Allahu Akbar (God is Great) as tensions rose.

Calm only returned after newly elected Muhammadiyah board of leadership member Abdul Mu'ti took the floor to give a lengthy explanation about the plan. Mu'ti acknowledged there were still Muhammadiyah members that had failed to see through the plan due to their conservative views.

"The plan is not to find whether Shia or Sunnni is right or wrong," said Mu'ti, who is also known for his stance on protecting religious minority groups in the country.

In an interview with reporters after the discussion, Mu'ti said that angry participants rejected the plan because they did not have a clear picture of it.

"We have to acknowledge that within Muhammadiyah there remains gaps of knowledge among its members. Today's discussion proves this. At the top leadership level, we're used to having interfaith dialogue with other groups but that does not happen at the grassroots level," Mu'ti said.

Mu'ti further said that the lack of understanding prevailed because Muhammadiyah members came from various educational backgrounds in addition to their different religious experiences.

"The dialogue does not aim to unify the views of the two groups and find out who's right or wrong. We want to have a peaceful coexistence. That is why we want to find out through the dialogue how to live together peacefully," Mu'ti told reporters.

He also said that Muhammadiyah never consider Shi'ism as deviant. "[Muhammadiyah's stance is clear] that we protect [minority groups]," Mu'ti said.

Ahmad Fuad Fanani of the Maarif Institute for Culture and Humanity said that Muhammadiyah should make a move to solve the problem because allowing such hateful sentiments at the grassroots level could bring harmful effects to society in general.

"Muhammadiyah should apply a soft approach with its grassroots members by inviting them for regular discussions on a number of strategic issues that Muhammadiyah is concerned about in society," Fuad told The Jakarta Post after the discussion at the congress.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/08/07/muhammadiyah-grassroots-oppose-shia-ahmadi-talks.html