MUHAMMADIYAH YOUTH CONCERNED ABOUT EXTREMISM AMONG

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 012494

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/06/2011
TAGS: PGOV PTER SOCI KISL PHUM ID
SUBJECT: MUHAMMADIYAH YOUTH CONCERNED ABOUT EXTREMISM AMONG
ITS LEADERSHIP

REF: JAKARTA 10134

Classified By: Political Officer Catherine E. Sweet, Reason 1.4(d)


1. (C) Summary. On October 2 and 3, Poloff made courtesy
calls on Muhammadiyah Youth Chairman Izzul Muslimin and
Secretary General Gunawan Hidayat. As part of its six-month

SIPDIS
strategic plan, the Muhammadiyah Youth Central Board will
carry out a "census" of local Muhammadiyah Youth leaders
nationwide, designed in part to determine whether these local
officials are loyal to Muhammadiyah or, conversely, are
affiliated with other, more radical Islamist groups like
Majlis Mujahidin Islam, Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia or Dewan
Dakwah Islam Indonesia, which have been challenging
mainstream Muslim organizations. While the Central Board
suspects that a significant number of local Muhammadiyah
Youth officials hold dual loyalties, they have not been able
to quantify the extent of the problem. The Central Board
will try to "pull back" those leaders with dual loyalties;
failing that, the individuals will be expelled from
Muhammadiyah Youth. Muhammadiyah Youth is also considering
inviting radical groups to join in an accord on what
materials and methodologies should be used to train Muslim
religious leaders; they believe the radicals would be
receptive. Finally, Muslimin reiterated Muhammadiyah Youth's
opposition to the establishment of an Islamic state. End
Summary.

"They Must Choose:" Poll to Determine Leaders' Loyalties
-------------- --------------


2. (C) On October 2 and 3, Poloff made courtesy calls on the
Chairman and Secretary General of Muhammadiyah Youth (Pemuda
Muhammadiyah),Izzul Muslimin and Gunawan Hidayat. Pemuda
Muhammadiyah is one of eight autonomous organizations falling
under the Muhammadiyah rubric (the other seven are Aisyiyah,
a women's organization; Nasyiatul Aisyiyah, the women's
Pemuda Muhammadiyah counterpart; Ikatan Remaja Muhammadiyah,
the junior student wing; Ikatan Mahasiswa Muhammadiyah, for
university students; Tapak Suci Putra Muhammadiyah, a martial
arts group; and Hisbul Wathan, a scouting troop). Muslimin
estimates that Muhammadiyah Youth's current membership totals
approximately seven million, not all of whom are members of
the parent Muhammadiyah (only those who would like to serve
in leadership positions are required to join the larger
organization). According to him, Muhammadiyah Youth's
primary function is helping young Muslims realize their
potential to carry out Muhammadiyah's overall goal: bringing
Muslims back to original Islamic teachings and convincing
non-Muslims to join the faith so that a "true" Islamic
community may be realized.


3. (C) Secretary General Gunawan described the
organization's six-month strategic plan, which covers both
the mundane (fostering business networks among Muhammadiyah
entrepreneurs) and the unexpected. An example of the latter
is the Muhammadiyah Youth Central Board's decision to carry
out a "census" of local Muhammadiyah Youth leaders
nationwide, designed to measure how adept they are at
proselytizing (dakwah) and articulating Muhammadiyah's
mission. However, a more important goal of the census is
determining whether these local officials are loyal to
Muhammadiyah or, conversely, are affiliated with other, more
radical Islamist groups like Majlis Mujahidin Islam (MMI, led
by Abu Bakar Ba'asyir),Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) or
Dewan Dakwah Islam Indonesia (DDII).


4. (C) According to Gunawan, extremist groups have been
trying to "infiltrate" Muhammadiyah for at least two years.
While the Central Board suspects that a significant number of
local Muhammadiyah Youth officials hold dual loyalties, they
have not been able to quantify the extent of the problem.
They hope that with the census, they will have hard data upon
which they may act. (Note. Assessig the officials' loyalty
is particularly importat since Muhammadiyah Youth is often
the proving round for future Muhammadiyah leaders; current
Muammadiyah Chairman Din Syamsuddin, for one, is a frmer
Muhammadiyah Youth Chairman. End Note.)

5. (C) Gunawan said that elected Muhammadiyah Youh
officials are not permitted to affiliate with rganizations
like MMI and HTI (whose ideologies dffer widely from
Muhammadiyah's). If the censusfinds that an elected leader
has sympathies for uch hard-line groups, the Central Board
will tryto "pull him back" to Muhammadiyah. Failing that,

h( eader will be expelled from Muhammadiyah Youth. "They
must h(o+e," commented Gunawan. ome former Muhammadiyah Youth members

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who opted to leave the organization and join ranks with
radical groups, and found that their reasons for leaving were
generally personal or rooted in dissatisfaction with
Muhammadiyah's ideology.


6. (C) Gunawan noted that radical organizations are
challenging mainstream Muslim organizations (particularly the
youth and student branches and especially in Jakarta),citing
Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia and the Indonesian Muslim Student
Action Union (KAMMI, the student wing of the Prosperous
Justice Party, or PKS) as particularly aggressive. He said
that these groups must be monitored to see what recruitment
methods they are using, how they are training their members,
and how they are using the media to advance their agendas.
Gunawan commented that the hardliners have taken advantage of
popular rage over the situation in Iraq and, most recently,
the war in Lebanon to attract supporters.

Talking to the Radicals
--------------


7. (C) With regard to violent radical groups like MMI,
Gunawan said the Muhammadiyah Youth Central Board believes in
the power of dialogue to convince the radicals to renounce
violence. In fact, he said, Muhammadiyah Youth has come up
with a specific "ideological re-education" program for MMI.
They are also considering inviting radical groups to join in
an accord on what materials and methodologies should be used
to train Muslim religious leaders, so that when a group
carries out an action whose legitimacy is questioned by
others (for example, MMI's attacks on the Ahmadiyah sect),
there are agreed-upon references which may be consulted and
used to referee the dispute. Although Muhammadiyah Youth has
not yet presented this idea to their hard-line colleagues,
Gunawan believes this would be an attractive proposal for the
radicals since "it is not political, but is just about
training."


8. (C) In contrast to their extremist rivals, Chairman
Muslimin volunteered that Muhammadiyah Youth is opposed to
the establishment of an Islamic state. Muslimin pointed to
the difficulty, among other issues, of determining whose
interpretation of shari'a should be applied. He added that
Muhammadiyah Youth also disagreed with the creation of local
shari'a bylaws ("perda syariah"),but noted that the
appelation "shari'a" was being applied too broadly. Rather,
he contended, some of the so-called perda syariah, such as
anti-gambling statutes, were instead "morality laws."
Muslimin indicated support for such laws, which complement
Muhammadiyah's guiding principle of encouraging government to
rule in a way that is consistent with Islamic principles,
while still remaining technically secular. Muslimin was
curious about state and local laws in the United States,
asking whether alcohol, for example, was banned in certain
areas.
PASCOE