Muslim group in Indonesia challenges reform agenda
(The Christian Science Monitor) Over the past century, Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s second largest Islamic organization, has risen to prominence by building thousands of schools and hospitals across the vast archipelago. And while it has long wielded political influence, it has in recent years turned to legal activism that puts it on a collision course with the country’s reform-minded president.
Muhammadiyah’s new strategy, which it terms “constitutional jihad,” is intended to wind back a decade of legal reforms that it argues give too much control of Indonesian resources to private companies, especially foreign ones. Its campaign is forcing overseas investors to think twice about committing to multi-billion-dollar infrastructure projects, a top priority of President Joko Widodo.
Muhammadiyah argues that privatization is against Indonesia’s 1945 constitution, drafted in the heat of its anticolonial movement against the Netherlands, and threatens to further marginalize the country’s poor.
