Assalamu'alaikum wr. wb.
Alam manantukan nan paliang tapek untuak dirinyo, manusia tamasuak bagian
dari alam.
SBN
Time Asia 11 Nov. 2002
Holy Man
Indonesia's hottest Muslim preaches a slick mix of piety and prosperity
BY SIMON ELEGANT AND JASON TEDJASUKMANA/BANDUNG
Aa Gym greets the faithful at a police academy in Bogor, West Java
Abdullah Gymnastiar is in the spotlight as usual, wireless mike in hand,
dry-ice smoke swirling over the stage, his backing quartet ready to jump in
on cue. His velvet baritone is caressing the crowd one moment with a few
lines from a famous love song, dropping low to an intimate whisper the next,
and then suddenly soaring, cracking with emotion to a near shout. All the
while, his free hand is waving, gesturing, pointing and then is clasped to
his chest in rapture. Indonesia's favorite preacher breaks into a bawdy grin
as he jokes about the challenges facing Muslim men with more than one wife.
His eyes become grave and confiding as he talks about his own family. His
face constricts with emotion for his finale, as he beseeches Allah to bring
together Indonesia's bickering leaders, to bring together its Muslim
clerics, to bring the whole nation together to face these troubled times.
The crowd loves it. By the time Aa Gym ("elder brother" Gym), finishes his
hour-long sermon with a plangent Islamic hymn, scores of women and men are
openly weeping, and the roar of applause continues long after the TV cameras
have been switched off. When he plunges into a crowd after a performance,
there are always eager hands thrust out reaching for him, some fans even
bowing down and kissing the preacher's hand, whispering a name to be
remembered in his prayers. And always there are scores of squealing teenage
girls hovering on the sidelines, a few of the braver ones occasionally
darting forward to get the great man's autograph, then retreating in a
flurry of giggles and a swirl of head scarves.
In a country where the best-known Islamic preachers are stolid men in their
60s who quote from the Koran in Arabic and confine their sermons to the
mosque, Aa Gym is unique. The flamboyant 40-year-old spreads his message of
self-control, personal morality, tolerance and faith with televangelistic
theatrics. Although Islam is the granite base on which his message rests, Aa
Gym's sermons tend to dwell on the practicalities of daily life rather than
the hazy hereafter. His stock-in-trade includes greeting-card clichEs,
self-help nostrums and pithy doses of advice on how to cope with the
challenges of child rearing, on succeeding in business (his three-day
management seminars, costing $200 a head, are booked up for months in
advance), even on a healthy sex life. "We feel like he cares about us,"
explains 22-year-old Irsan, wiping his eyes after a regular Thursday-evening
sermon in Aa Gym's native city of Bandung, a four-hour drive from the
capital Jakarta. "I hope that after listening to him that maybe I'll change
slightly for the better."
Aa Gym's personal touch and natty dress-he favors blazers, turtlenecks and
gold-embroidered dress shirts, as well as the more usual flowing robes-has
transformed him into a household name in Indonesia. He owns 15 publishing,
broadcasting and other media ventures that help spread his message, and
operations are booming. His secretaries sift through some 1,200 invitations
to speak every month. Although he first appeared on national television only
two years ago, Aa Gym says he is now able to charge up to $100,000 an hour
for broadcasts during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts Nov. 6.
"Every station wants him because his approach is different," says Teguh
Juwarno, spokesman for RCTI, one of the country's largest TV stations. "He
is about improving one's self and not blaming others."
But Aa Gym doesn't confine his homilies to self-improvement. Increasingly,
as the country lurches from one disaster to the next, he is focusing on the
bigger picture, linking personal morality to the future of much-troubled
Indonesia itself. "We will only advance if we follow our conscience," he
likes to say. "No party or group will ever unify Indonesia. That must come
from within us, our conscience."
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Achieving that goal will tax even Aa Gym's powers of persuasion. The nation
faces a crippling list of woes: bloody ethnic and religious violence,
economic sclerosis, inept politicians, corrupt police and military, a
looming environmental apocalypse. Add to that the devastating impact of the
detonations in Bali on Oct. 12 that killed nearly 200. Whoever turns out to
be responsible, it is easier now than ever to view Indonesia as a place
where Islamic militants and terrorist groups like Jemaah Islamiah have a
free hand.
But despite the grim death toll in Bali and the government's inability to
contain violence, the reality remains that militant views are held by a tiny
minority of Indonesians. The tolerant, middle-of-the-road religion espoused
by groups such as Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama, which between them have
a membership of some 70 million, is the true face of Islam. That may be
another reason so many turn for reassurance to the charismatic Aa Gym,
proudly positioned at the forefront of the moderate majority. He is a
thoroughly modern Muslim. He advocates a 21st century religion that
complements and enhances the benefits of technology. "Aa Gym has become big
because he teaches a very human side of Islam and practices what he
preaches," says Juniwati Masjchun Sofwan, a member of the influential
Council of Indonesian Ulemas. "He is concerned about advancing Muslims
economically through modern-day practices of business and religion." Indeed,
Aa Gym preaches prosperity to his followers. "You must remember, the Prophet
Muhammad, blessed be his name, was a businessman himself," he says, "and a
very good one, too."
To many Indonesians, Aa Gym's rising prominence makes it almost inevitable
that he will take on a greater role in the public life of the country. That
in turn would mean stepping down from his pulpit and dirtying his hands in
politics, something the preacher has so far shown a deep reluctance to do.
An advocate of tolerance and forgiveness, Aa Gym is one of the only Muslim
leaders in Indonesia to have publicly spoken at a Christian church. In late
September, he attended a reconciliation ceremony held near Poso in Central
Sulawesi, where thousands have died in recent years in clashes between
Christians and Muslims. He has broad appeal, too. Considering his military
background-his father was an army lieutenant colonel, and he himself served
as a student military leader-political analysts say Aa Gym could lock up two
of the most critical voting blocs in Indonesia, the Muslim majority and the
army.
Then there's the X factor, the personal magnetism that has drawn hordes of
acolytes, from secretaries to corporate bigwigs. "I don't just listen to
him," says Lieut. Colonel Ahmad Saefudin, who leads an army cavalry division
in Bandung. "I follow him." Chairul Tanjung, chairman of Bank Mega, one of
the country's 10 largest banks, puts it differently, but the enthusiasm is
the same: "Our generation has few people like him. The country needs someone
who can help reduce the gap between business and morality."
Sitting on the floor of the veranda attached to his family's modest living
quarters, Aa Gym waves a hand to dismiss the notion he is bound for office.
"To play politics never entered my mind," he says. "There are plenty of
people in politics already. I want to imitate the Prophet. He said that the
best a man can be is to be of benefit to others." Yet for all his disdain of
"playing politics," Aa Gym allows that circumstances could change. On other
occasions, he's talked vaguely about his "target" of 2009, a presidential
election year. "Anything could happen tomorrow," he says.
Nor does Aa Gym pretend that he doesn't already wield serious clout. "I
could push 100,000 people from the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta (where he
preaches once a month) to the U.S. embassy. It would take 10 minutes to
walk, and it would be very difficult for the police to stop them. With God's
will I could use that power. But I won't. My program is for Indonesians to
control themselves, to not be emotional. If we are emotional we have
problems."
But surely it must be tempting to exercise that power, particularly at a
moment of such national peril? No, says Aa Gym, at least not now. To prove
his point, he tells of a recent visit from a powerful government figure from
Jakarta. "They know that I have many people behind me, and he asked if I
wanted to take power, do a revolution. But I said, 'Look at my eyes. Do I
look like someone who would do such a thing? I will never do anything bad to
anyone.'"
In fact, a glance into Aa Gym's mahogany eyes shining behind steel-framed
glasses reveals his lively intelligence, but less of what might motivate the
man. Already he displays a politician's wariness about exactly what to
reveal to his public. If he's not yet a pol, he's already a consummate
showman. The talent was developed early. Born the first of four children, he
took a variety of jobs-from selling newspapers to driving a minibus-to
support himself before and after his years as an electrical-engineering
student and a fledgling entrepreneur. But according to Ahmad Soliekhin, one
of Aa Gym's closest aides and a former conductor on his minibus, it was
their experience together as itinerant buskers that brought them the most
success. "We used to get called back to the rich people's houses the next
day for a repeat performance," says Ahmad, smiling broadly at the memory.
"Aa Gym sang and they liked it very much."
The lessons learned from those early performances were reinforced by his
success as a university debater. To this day, Aa Gym displays a
professionalism in his public appearances that must be the envy of many of
Indonesia's current crop of less-than-media-savvy rulers. Watch Aa Gym as he
tapes his minisermons in the small television studio run by one of his 15
companies. Hopping onto a motor scooter-his preferred ride is a hulking
black Kawasaki Eliminator, which remains under its dust cover on this day-Aa
Gym putters slowly through his little empire, a patch of about one square
kilometer in Bandung that houses his myriad enterprises: the radio station;
the website offices; the publisher that puts out his 32 books and dozens of
cassettes and VCDs; the cooperative supermarket; the mosque, with its
attendant school for 500; a rest house for the numerous visitors and for
management-training seminars; two orphanages, one of which is located in a
house he was originally going to move into himself but decided was "too
fancy," according to aide Budi Hartono. Budi adds similar tales of expensive
cars that his mentor bought, drove for a while, then rejected as overly
opulent. "He prefers a van," Budi insists. "It is more practical."
During a ride to the studio, Aa Gym is all smiles and jokes, waving and
greeting almost everyone. The mood persists after he enters the building and
sits down at a desk where he is to tape several of his minisermons. Aa Gym
makes faces at himself in the monitor and clowns with the makeup brush. "You
see how I do everything I can myself," he says, "even putting on makeup so
that I don't need to bother other people." But when taping starts, Aa Gym
snaps into performance mode. His voice drops an octave, his face changing in
a second from a broad smile to the serious, concerned demeanor of a wise
uncle giving guidance to his favorite nephews and nieces. The topics could
be taken from a Reader's Digest article: "The Greatest Failure is Never
Trying," "Forgive and Forget," "The Importance of Politeness," "Don't Be
Envious of Success."
With a notebook computer open on the desk in front of him, Aa Gym hardly
pauses for breath as he tapes 13 sleek homilies in a row, all exactly timed
to 11/2 minutes with the help of an aide crouching in front of his desk with
a stopwatch. "I could make 40 or 60 in a row if I had to," he says,
squatting to pose with the children of two families of admirers who have
traveled from distant Sulawesi to catch a glimpse of him. "It's easy for me
to give those speeches because I do those things every day. You have to do
what you say."
The bravura performance is at the core of the man's mystery. Is he just "the
Britney Spears of Islam," as he is characterized by Ulil Abshar-Abdalla,
head of Indonesia's Liberal Islam Network? Is he merely a feel-good merchant
who uses religion for his commercial ends? Or is Solahuddin Wahid, vice
chairman of the 40 million-member Nahdlatul Ulama, right when he says that
Aa Gym's "sincerity is his strength. He's creating a society based on his
words and deeds."?
It is a sharp divide, and one that Aa Gym and his aides are uncomfortably
aware of. Although the preacher clearly enjoys the toys he can now
afford-the publishing business alone brings in $130,000 a month, aides
say-Aa Gym insists that his flying lessons, the $2,000 DVD player installed
in one of his cars and, yes, even the glistening Kawasaki Eliminator are
simply utilitarian. "I have enough money to buy anything I want, that Lexus
for example," he says, pointing to a black model with smoked-glass windows.
"But I don't. The van is more practical. All my technology is state of the
art because I need to be efficient. I don't indulge in buying it for fun but
for necessity."
A few days earlier, Aa Gym declared that "Indonesian leaders fall because
they wear masks to hide weaknesses in their characters." His goal, he says,
is "to build their characters and prepare a generation of professional
Muslims." It's a noble goal. At a watershed moment in the history of a
troubled nation, Indonesia can ill-afford another leader who hides behind a
mask.
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