How Muhammadiyah can be an extension of “Rahmatan lil Alamin”: A case of Universitas Muhammadiyah Malaysia

Surakarta, sheepofthought.com – On May 30^th – 31^st, 2022, Pimpinan Pusat Muhammadiyah (PPM) held Seminar Pra-Muktamar Muhammadiyah & ‘Aisyiyah ke-48 at Edutorium KH. Ahmad Dahlan Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta with its theme “Internasionalisasi gerakan Muhammadiyah” or “internalization of Muhammadiyah movement”. The establishment of the said theme might be significantly as a result of the hope of one of the biggest religious organizations in Indonesia in broadening and introducing the value of Muhammadiyah not only intra-state but inter-state. Through this initiative, more recognition among international community could be achieved both in terms of the Muhammadiyah as an Islamic organization and most importantly showing the value of Islam as “rahmatan lil ‘Alamin” or goodness for all human beings. Other than that, there is a reliability or relevancy of the particular theme with uncertain international arena these days. The internalization of Muhammadiyah, as well as Islamic teachings, in other words, perhaps could be functioned by bringing the value of “rahmatan lil ‘Alamin” in international arena in order to shift the uncertainty into certainty. The organization is commonly known in Indonesia through its education initiative with 130 perguruan tinggi Muhammadiyah (PTM) available across country, perhaps in international studies or international relations it is considered as foreign policy tool. Early of this year, Muhammadiyah has officially opened Muhammadiyah Australia College for high school students. By late of this year, also, the organization not only will officially open Universiti Muhammadiyah Malaysia (UMAM) in Perlis as the first PTM but as well as historically become the first Indonesia’s higher education branch beyond its own territory.  

                As a new Perguruan Tinggi Muhammadiyah (PTM), definitely, there are several challenges that Muhammadiyah needs to bare, such as high cost of its establishment, and lack of students. For any higher education, numbers of students represent the quality and earnings of the university. However, quality of the education and marketing are required in order to achieve the hope of such a university. In the case of UMAM, it has been mentioned that PhD or doctor of philosophy is the only program that is offered at the early establishment. In other words, there should be less doubt in terms of the quality of education, as PhD studies require mainly on student-to-supervisor relation and the background education of the supervisor compare to undergraduate programs which is still highly relying on the university’s education structure and system tend to look at the experience and quality of the higher education. Postgraduate studies require more on individual initiatives, research interests of both student and supervisor, and the experience of his supervisor in supervising the student. Knowing that Muhammadiyah is well-known for its higher education and has abundance of well-known lecturers in Indonesia, the organization perhaps need to ensure the credibility of lecturers who are given to a place at UMAM.

                Other than qualification, the marketing team requires other market values that can attract potential students to further study at UMAM. At the moment, there seems unclear objectives of its establishment, and unseen ‘visi-misi’ of the university. As a result, this hardening the marketing team in promoting the campus. This article, therefore, suggest possible ‘visi-misi’ that perhaps the university in particularly marketing team could bring during their road-trip in order to have clearer vision regarding the value of UMAM.

1. To enhance the spirit of providing Indonesians more opportunity in expertizing and increasing their educational level abroad with lesser English requirements and budget.

2. To enhance transnational relation of Indonesian-Malaysian among Nusantara community.

The first vision relates to the objective of Muhammadiyah ‘rahmatan lil alamin’. UMAM’s existence perhaps will be an example of Muhammadiyah’s hand in giving goodness for Indonesian (in this case) by providing more opportunity beyond border. The concept of rahmatan lil alamin in this context should be explained further. The existence of UMAM could be used particularly among a certain group of Indonesians to have a bigger opportunity in furthering their studies in PhD. The meaning of a certain group of Indonesians here means that UMAM perhaps need to have customer target or particular PhD candidates in order to attract more significantly and show the deeper understanding of rahmatan lil alamin. In other words, without having a particular customer target perhaps will only lead UMAM to compete with global universities and students, in which less advantage for UMAM to be the first choice for candidate students as UMAM is still a new university compare to other universities. By specifying target into a certain criteria of candidates, therefore, UMAM should be able to compete with other universities especially among other PTMs or local universities in Indonesia.

The criteria of candidate here refers to local Indonesian students who have intention to further study overseas but could not fulfil the required high-English language requirements at English countries and have only limited budget. Lesser English requirement in UMAM does not mean that there is a lack of quality or using English in furthering PhD courses in UMAM, but it is due to certain factors, which are nationality of potential supervisor, and the geographical location of UMAM. Such similar national identity is expected to help a better communication between student and supervisor as the communication can be done both in English or Indonesian language. Thus, the first local university located outside Indonesia is still within area of Nusantara where Malay language and Indonesian language are similar. Other than language, perhaps UMAM need to ensure that the tuition fees is competitive with other PTMs and local universities in Indonesia. This might bring the candidate to invest in UMAM than other local universities as furthering in UMAM will give more advantage in terms of the living abroad experience and creating new social connection outside Indonesia that relates with the second suggested vision.

Nusantara community has been introduced with concept of nation-state since post-colonial period. Process of ‘nation building’ among each nation-state exists in order to fulfil four principles of nation-state which are citizenship, sovereignty, territory, and state government. However, relying on state-centric model might only bring into traditional security issues, in which cooperation will less likely to happen. An exposure of inter-Nusantara migration activities, a process of individuals who move from one state territory to another territory could create world of multi-centric where state is not the only significant actor or unit of analysis. It is believed that the transnational relation that UMAM can build (Indonesian-Malaysian) perhaps can give benefit for both individuals and state actors.

Students migrate from Indonesia to Malaysia could enhance social connection between both nations and establishing interdependence economically and socially. Economically, scholar such as Philip G. Cerny argued that economic activities embedded in national social structure. The existence of transnational relations, therefore, should open economic activities beyond the structure of ‘nation-state’. As a result, trading process will occur not only among Indonesian-Indonesian or Malaysian-Malaysian but Indonesian-Malaysian and vice versa. In the context of social dimension, social connection in migration studies play a significant role in increasing numbers of migrants. The availability of social connection in the particular land will make the migration process easier. As an example, the establishment of UMAM in Perlis, Malaysia, perhaps, could be the first Indonesian institution to export numbers of professional or high-skilled workers from Indonesia to Malaysia. For centuries, Indonesia is known for exporting mostly low-skilled or unskilled workers to Malaysia. 

In the context of international relations, the transnational relations between Indonesians and Malaysians perhaps can lead government-to-government to discuss more on low politics such as economy, social, migration, climates, and other issues. This will also increase the chance of so called absolute advantage or comparative advantage that classical liberalists had dreamed for in creating world of positive-sum game where Nusantara countries has yet to achieved. In viewing the current situation in international arena where the chance of polarity transition from unipolar to multipolar is likely to occur, there seems to be an opportunity for Nusantara to engage more closely in creating more independently Nusantara regional bloc.

In conclusion, UMAM’s existence is a positive step by Muhammadiyah as an organization. Not only bring the name of Muhammadiyah itself, but also to represent Indonesia through non-state actor. With the given visions, it is hoped that the community understand the differences between UMAM and other PTMs and local universities in Indonesia, and how UMAM can use the differences as an opportunity in attracting students particularly in this early establishment. It is also hoped that the establishment of UMAM should be continuously developed and supported by Muhammadiyah and other sectors as it could become a historical momentum of Muhammadiyah and Indonesia that education is a part of their ‘rahmatan lil alamin’ but also is possible to be one of foreign policy tools for Indonesian in future.

Writer: Hanif Abdurahman Siswanto ihanif.2711@gmail.com
Editor: Hanif Abdurahman Siswanto hanif@sheepofthought.com