Sleman – The Head of Muhammadiyah Students Association (PP IPM) of 2014-2016 visited the house of Former Head of PP Muhammadiyah, Ahmad Syafi’i Ma’arif, in the beginning of this year on 1 January 2015.
The visitation of the PP IPM committee members aimed to ask for advice from Buya Syafi’i on the critical perspective needed for contemporary problems. Buya Syafi’i was one of the famous public figures in Indonesia who was well-known for being critical and reflective in analyzing and offering authentic problem-solving advice.
Buya believed that there were four main knowledge urgencies needed to be possessed by Muhammadiyah students specifically, and Indonesian youths in general. The first was humanity knowledge; the second was national knowledge, the third was religious knowledge, and the last one was community knowledge.
“Humanity knowledge is important for the character of contemporary leader. Knowledge about humanity is highly important for every leader. National knowledge formulated the leader’s character who is able to cooperate many groups into one unity,” Buya added.
Religious knowledge is about the statistical facts on the numbers of Muslims and their contribution on the problems faced by the Nation.
“Can the essence of Islam in own pockets solve the challenges faced by our country?” Buya Syafi’i asked.
According to Khoirul Huda, the General Chairman of PP IPM, the visit to Buya Syafi’i’s house was a way of finding fresh prespective in order to formulate new strategic programs for PP IPM.
“Buya is the Nation’s public figure who deeply cares for the Nation. Buya always offers critical perspective we might need to foresee the future of Indonesia. In the end of January, PP IPM will hold Baitul Arqam, so the visitation to Buya’s house is a way for us to keep our sanity,” he said.
Besides the head of PP IPM, other main committee of IPM also attended such as Azaki Khoirudin, the General Secretary of PP IPM. He stated that “we’re asking for advice from Buya to deal with problems faced by the Nation. For us who joined a student organization, it is important to look for a way on how to have active participation in progressive and emancipative way. Buya challenged IPM to dream big to renew the Nation. Muhammadiyah’s role on amar ma’ruf has already been big and adequate; the thing we should do is on how strategically we can fight the new type of bad deeds such as corruption, hegemonic violence, and so on. That is the main challenge of IPM.”
Buya hoped that every organization concerning with young generation would be able to prepare the future leader who will be able to be accepted by all groups. “They should be able to be the decision maker of the Nation’s future,” Buya concluded. (FSandiah)(dzar)