the Role of ulama in present Indonesia

 

 

the great advance that man has made in the field of modern science and technology has brought a great change in man's attitude toward religion and in man's concept of theism. man's power in controlling his environment and in changing and adapting it with his needs and comfort, has been on the increase. man thinks himself to be the powerful. a concept of growth in man's power inevitably with it a concept of a decrease in the power of nature and ini the power of god.

the advance man has made in science and technology has, indeed, produced the idea of secularism and the tendency to a secular life in modern societies. man of today is increasingly liberating him self from the control of religion. religion has become less and less important to him. man can live without religion and without god, this belief is now gaining ground. man has gone far as to say that "god is dead"

that this secularizing tendency is a universal phenomenon cannot be denied. if there is any difference between secularization that is taking place in west and the secularization that is happening in the east, the difference is only in that of degree and scope. secularization in the west has a greater speed and a large scope than secularization in the east.

the religion in the east has also begun to lose its string grip of the past on society is now commonly being felt. there is a tendency among religious leader to resent the penetration of western cultur into the east. in their eyes it is the western culture, which has come to the east together with western science and technology, that has brought a change to the religious life of this part of the world.

Indonesia is no exception of religion, especially in urban societies, has begun to decline, compared with the great power it had in the past. It is felt  that the ulama, the muslim religious leaders of this country no longer have the same influence as they had before in the communities they lived in. the ulama, it is furthermore said, have not teken an active and influential part in the realization of the present Indonesian national development program. It has been moreover observed that relations between the Indonesian western educated leaders and the ulama have not been very cordial and smooth.

Major general rustamadji sutopo has more or less the same opinion, when he says that the religious leaders have an important role as agents of communication. Between the religious leaders and society or at least between their and the followers a continuous progress of communication has been established. As such, new ideas acceptable to the ulama, can be easily adopted by the people. Therefore, the ulama, according to hm, have an extremely important role in accelerating the process of development among their followers.

A more detailed role of the ulama is given by professor baroroh. The finctions that they can perfrom in development in her opinion are the following :
1.    To stimulate among the people, in accordance with the teachings of islam, the desire and feeling of responsibility to participate in realization of the national development plan.
2.    To cultivate in the minds and hearts of the officials of development in particular and of the people in general, the principles of honesty, sincerity and integrity.
3.    To foster the harmony between body and soul, between temporal and spiritual life.
4.    To exercise their religious soial control on all in order to safeguard the right course that development has to follow.
5.    To spread the firm belief in god and piety among the people as their guidance in creating a prosperous and just society.

As what prof. dr. subroto, minister of manpower, transmigration and cooperatives, emphasized in the conclusion of the 1973 seminar, islam enjoins the development of man, his society and state, and that ulama, as imams (leaders) should stay in the frontline of development as supporters of new ideas, as promoters of development and as guides in questions of good and evil, of that the result of development could be enjoyed by the whole nation.