Muhammadiyah Struggle and Interest in Politics

During transitional democracy in 1998, a prominent NU leader manages to become the country's 4th president named Abdurahman Wahid, PKB promoted traditionalist idea while addressing broader national problems.  PKB serves as NU tools to bring their interest in the country, this is also the reason why NU leaders can be seen involved within the party because it is aimed to preserve NU views within the party. 

PKB remains as a significant political force in the 21st century, the late 2024 election saw another direct involvement of NU figure in politics. Two NU figure was picked as the running mate of a presidential candidate from two different sides, this shows how NU still holds significant power in the Muslim community today.

Muhammadiyah approach in politics can be seen to be much more passive than NU, Muhammadiyah stands neutral in politics and prefers to exert their political influence through a more educated method. Both Muhammadiyah and NU establish social service to build up their credibility, Muhammadiyah exert their influence much more intensive than NU from their social service. 

Service such as schools and universities show the influence Muhammadiyah possess in society, the people that are educated from those places have the knowledge and capability to bring Muhammadiyah values and interest to certain positions. Muhammadiyah have never affiliated themselves into political parties, but we can see figures that were educated with Muhammadiyah background being involved in politics. 

This indirect approach became the principle of Muhammadiyah methods in being involved with politics, their main way to influence politics is by not directly getting involved with political parties but through people with Muhammadiyah values. This can be seen when people that are educated with Muhammadiyah background managed to be involved in politics, government positions and institutions. 

The most famous example is when a Muhammadiyah figure named Amien rais founded the "Partai Amanat Nasional", Amien Rais managed to play a role in an election when he became a candidate for president in the 2004 presidential election. Amien rais left PAN after ideological difference and leader dispute but he proceeds to establish another party called "Partai umat".

• Muhammadiyah Involvement in Politics today

 

Muhammadiyah has made it clear that they will always stand neutral with their involvement in politics, but this principle faces challenges from various aspect today. The organization find itself indirectly involved in political matters from their figure, members of Muhammadiyah can be seen impacting governance through their activities. This is achieved through the vast network they have created from public service, the most common challenge Muhammadiyah faces are making sure members doesn't take actions that threatens Muhammadiyah principle.

• Conclusion

 

Muhammadiyah struggle to uphold their reformist interest in politics consist of managing their political affiliation of its members while having neutral stances in politics, Muhammadiyah still needs to face the challenges before they can possess bigger influence and bring their reformist idea comes to light. While Indonesia holds a political dynamic that always shifted, Muhammadiyah must make sure to have a strong and stable integrity before they can proceed with their objective to bring a more modernize Islamic teaching in Indonesia.