Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
Two noted Muslim scholars, Nurcholis Madjid and Solahuddin Wahid,
rejected on Sunday a proposal that the country adopt syariah
(Islamic law) to rid the country of its deep-rooted problem of
corruption. Nurcholis said adopting syariah would not
guarantee that corruption would be reduced.
"The mosques are always full of people praying. This means
they are complying with syariah, but then, after leaving
the mosque, they do whatever they want to do, and corruption keeps
on occurring," he said, responding to a proposal coming from
one participant at a siminar here on Sunday. The proposal came
from Irfan S. Awwas, secretary-general of a small Muslim group,
the Mujahidin Council, which has openly been campaigning for the
adoption of syariah in Indonesia.
Nurcholis, however, said that Muslims should not seek the
implementation of syariah as it was against the nation's
pluralistic character. The implementation of syariah, he
said, would create problems not only for non-Muslims but also
Muslims themselves because Muslims in Indonesia followed different
traditions. Pakistan should serve as a good example of a
pluralistic country that had tried to implement syariah.
The country had become bogged down in a seemingly interminable
quarrel among Muslim groups over whose interpretation of syariah
should be enshrined in the country's laws. Solahuddin also
disagreed with the proposal, and said that the introduction of syariah
would only mire Muslims in an endless polemic. He said that the
Aceh case would serve as a good lesson for Indonesia as to whether
the implementation of syariah would reduce corruption and
bring benefits.
"Let's be patient and see what the outcome of Islamic law
will be in Aceh," he told the seminar at the Jogja Expo
Center, which was hosted by the Gerakan Jalan Lurus (The Straight
Path Movement).
Also speaking at the seminar were political analysts J.
Kristiadi and Harry Tjan Silalahi, former Astra International
president Teddy P. Rachmat, and Gadjah Mada University rector
Sofian Effendi.
Nurcholis noted that Muslims in Indonesia would be better
served by lending their support to the country's official ideology
of Pancasila as it was in tune with the country's pluralistic
nature. Pancasila, he said, contained the principles of divinity
and social justice so that there was no reason for Muslims to
reject it. He said Pancasila represented a national agreement that
fitted in with the country's pluralistic nature. Ignoring it,
therefore, would cause the country to collapse.
"A nation that goes against its own principles will soon
collapse," he said. He noted that the most glaring problem in
Indonesia was the absence of a strong commitment among the people
to do good things for society and other people in line with the
principles of Pancasila. "Without this commitment, the nation
will fragment and eventually this will ignite civil war," he
said.
