Things, however, have not been going so well for Ustaz Ba'asyir of late, as the movement he helped to form and lead — the Indonesian Mujahideen Veterans' Movement, MMI — has also been drawn into the complex web of Indonesian politics. Perhaps one of the most unique features of Indonesian normative Islam is the fact that even the most conservative Islamist groups have members and leaders who are willing to play the game of realpolitik and get involved in the political debates of the country. MMI members are known to include academics, journalists, businessmen and other professionals who somehow reconcile the calls for Jihad while making a daily living as professionals. Furthermore, the MMI has always operated on the basis of collective consensus and is run by a high executive council of leaders.
Apparently it was this 'democratic' element of the MMI that turned Ustaz Ba'asyir against his own movement and followers. At the recent MMI general assembly Ustaz Ba'asyir was conspicuously absent, having withdrawn himself from the movement at the beginning of August. Ba'asyir's argument is that the MMI, despite its blatantly sectarian and conservative leanings, has been 'contaminated' by the evil influence of modern democracy, thereby making it a 'secular' movement that is haram by his standards.
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12:22 AM
Moderate Islamist here
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