Daily Ummat ■ Today, Wednesday to Friday, November 25-27, MUI will hold the Xth National Conference. In this National Conference MUI will elect a new chairman.
Currently, the leadership of the MUI is very strategic. This is because the MUI has recently been able to appear elegant and maximize its role in representing the voices of the people, especially regarding public policies. Not only Ma'ruf's charity, but also firmly in playing the "nahi munkar" function.
This position makes MUI strategic, because its role will be taken into account not only by Muslims, but also by the Indonesian people in general. Not only politically, but also morally.
However, MUI has its own mechanism, which is different from most organizations, in selecting a candidate for leader.
In the context of selecting a chairman, MUI has a formatur system. There are dozens of clerics who have become members of the formation, including the old chairman and secretary general of the MUI, representatives of mass organizations such as NU and Muhammadiyah, and others.
MUI is an organization whose members are Muslim scholars, zuama and intellectuals. So, automatically the candidates who will be nominated are those who are classified as scholars, zuama or Muslim scholars.
Candidates who appeared and were widely discussed by the public at the MUI National Conference this time were KH. Miftahul Ahyar, PBNU Syrian Rais. This character is known as alim (tafaqquh fiddin), unpretentious and simple.
Although only a year to replace KH. Ma'ruf Amin at NU, KH. Miftahul Ahyar has started to be known and is familiar to the public. He also represents NU, the largest organization in Indonesia.
Besides KH. Miftahul Ahyar, the name Buya Dr. Anwar Abbas, the current Secretary General of the MUI. Buya Dr. Anwar Abbas has recently appeared by name in the media. His critical attitude towards a number of government policies and social issues has helped to raise the good name and maintain the spirit of MUI.
Apart from these two figures, there is the name KH. Buchori Abdussomad, Chairman of the East Java MUI. The appearance of KH. Abdussomad seemed to represent the voice of Muslims from the region.
Who among the three figures will be elected as chairman of MUI in the future? The formation team will take a close look at, examine and seriously discuss which of them will finally be given the mandate to lead MUI in the next five years.
It is possible that there will also be figures outside the three names. In this case, the mass organization and the ummah are fully up to the members of the formation to choose which one they think is best.
In their hands, this election will be accounted for in the afterlife. On this basis, the ummah's "ultimate trust" in the formatur was handed over.
In the midst of a relatively chaotic political situation like now, the people only hope that first, the election of the MUI chairman will be carried out in an elegant, respectful, dignified process and without intervention from any party. Sincerity, honesty and wisdom must be the foundations for the succession of MUI this time.
Second, those elected are ulama who in the future are expected to be able to maintain MUI's dignity and independence, and be able to bring MUI to a greater role and benefit for the people and the nation. (**)
