Muhammadiyah latest faith group to join Indonesia religious coal rush

JAKARTA — Islamic groups claiming more than 160 million followers across the world’s largest Muslim-majority country are set to operate coal mines, after Indonesia’s second-largest Islamic organization joined the country’s biggest one in accepting government mining permits.

“Muhammadiyah is ready to manage mining businesses,” Abdul Mu’ti, secretary-general of Muhammadiyah, said at a July 28 press conference in the city of Yogyakarta.

The decision had been taken earlier in July at a meeting of the group’s senior clerics, Mu’ti confirmed.

Founded in 1912, Muhammadiyah is Indonesia’s second-largest Islamic grouping and claims around 60 million followers. The organization’s announcement in July followed an earlier move to accept a government offer of coal mining concessions by Nahdlatul Ulama, which claims around 100 million adherents.

At issue is a regulatory change signed on May 30 by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, which enabled religious groups to operate mining concessions for the first time.

Prominent civil society groups — and several members of the Islamic organizations themselves — have told Mongabay they viewed the unusual reform as political inducement for Islamic organizations.

Many in Jakarta believe that coal concessions are a form of patronage for delivering votes to Joko Widodo’s chosen successor for the presidency, Prabowo Subianto, who won Indonesia’s February election by a landslide.

Grassroots Islamic activists Mongabay spoke with say the policy introduces legal exposure and reputational risks at a time when Islamic organizations were winning praise for increased attention to climate and environmental issues.

Mu’ti added that the official offer of the mining license was delivered directly by Bahlil Lahadalia, a member of President Widodo’s inner circle who is both investment minister and head of Indonesia’s investment board. Bahlil faces serious allegations of corruption and self-dealing in the canceling and reissuance of scores of mining permits.

Anwar Abbas, a former secretary-general of Muhammadiyah, told reporters the religious group must continue to prioritize protection of the environment, despite the move into mining of coal.

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Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah leaders have increasingly turned their attention to the environment in recent years.

Muhammadiyah’s women’s wing, ’Aisyiyah, established an environmental arm whose volunteers have dedicated spare time working in communities to introduce environmentally friendly practices in the home.

Indonesia’s peak clerical institution has issued edicts against the burning of land and forms of environmental damage.

“I urge the ulama [clerics] and Muslim leaders to take an active role in conveying issues related to environmental damage — then we will take more concrete actions,” Indonesia’s vice president, Ma’ruf Amin, a former leader of Nahdlatul Ulama, told a gathering of Islamic leaders at the Congress of Muslims for Sustainable Indonesia at Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque in 2022.

Indonesian civil society say this momentum risks being undone in exchange for limited benefit.

Firdaus Cahyadi, national lead at sustainability nonprofit 350.org Indonesia, said the choice to accept government offers of coal mines would be received poorly in local communities. He questioned why Muhammadiyah could not have used its clout to press instead for greater government involvement in renewable energy, such as Indonesia’s nascent photovoltaics market.

“People’s disappointment with the Muhammadiyah elite could be detrimental to the entirety of Muhammadiyah’s notable charity work,” Firdaus said.

Muhammad Jamil, legal head at the Jakarta-based Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), an NGO, said the Muhammadiyah decision was misjudged, given prevailing attitudes toward coal in the international arena.

“It’s regrettable that when others are walking away from coal, suddenly religious organizations come in and get involved in the business,” Jamil said.

Muhammadiyah could choose to walk back its decision to accept the government offer as the reputational risks become evident, he added.

“We get that religious organizations are experts, but in the religious field, not when it comes to mining,” Jamil said.

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Bahlil, the investment minister, previously addressed concerns over Islamic organizations’ lack of geological expertise and mining experience by emphasizing that contractors would execute the licenses on their behalf.

However, nonprofit groups and Islamic activists point out that it is the Islamic groups that will assume the liability arising from for any conflict with local communities or environmental damage.

“Mining operations occur around people’s living areas, residents’ water sources or forests, all of which are inextricably linked to the life in the surrounding community,” Jamil said.

“When religious organizations enter as mine managers, the conflict becomes multidimensional,” he said. “So there could be a conflict between religious organizations and the community. That is very dangerous.”

Wahyu Perdana, natural resources lead at the Muhammadiyah’s Institute for Wisdom and Public Policy, said the organization had codified the importance of environmental protection in various published rulings.

“Muhammadiyah has repeatedly advocated for people, one such case being in Trenggalek,” Wahyu said, referring to an area of East Java province damaged by gold mining.

The direction taken by Muhammadiyah’s leadership is out of step with the mood among the membership, he said.

“It’s not only the regional administrators, the young people, the brothers and sisters in [Nahdlatul Ulama], Catholics are rejecting these big gold-mining concession,” Wahyu said.

Trigus D. Susilo, a member of Muhammadiyah’s local chapter in Trenggalek (who previously worked as a miner in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo island), said Muhammadiyah’s involvement in coal could drive a wedge between communities.

“A concrete example is what is happening in the organization today — Muhammadiyah’s voice has been divided over mining permits from the government,” Trigus said.

Hening Parlan, deputy chair of Muhammadiyah’s environmental council, also expressed disappointment over the decision.

“I have met with 42 parents whose children died because they fell into mining pits,” said Hening, who until recently led the environmental arm of Muhammadiyah’s women’s wing.

“I have listened to the pain of the parents,” Hening said in a written statement, “their sad stories and outpouring of grief.”

At the time of writing, six concessions were set to be handed over to religious organizations, four in East Kalimantan and two in South Kalimantan province. Important details have yet to be clarified, Muhammadiyah said at the July 28 press conference.

“The mining location has not been officially announced to Muhammadiyah,” Mu’ti said.

Banner image: People protest forest damage due to nickel mining, September 2022. Iage bym Christ Belseran/ Mongabay Indonesia.

This story was reported by Mongabay’s Indonesia team and first published here on our Indonesian site on July 28, 2024.

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