madrasah

Friday, September 7, 2007

K.H. Uwes Abu Bakar

K.H. Uwes Abu Bakar
Oleh: didin Rosidin
K.H. Uwes Abu Bakar was born in Menes in 1912. His educational careers were entirely spent in Menes where he studied in the madrasah of Mathla’ul Anwar from 1919 up to 1926. Like other students of this madrasah who preferred to live in one of the existing pesantrens around Menes areas in order to enhance their expertise in religious knowledge, a young Uwes studied religious sciences in several pesantrens in Menes under the guidance of several Mathla’ul Anwar’s teachers who organized their own pesantren, such as K.H. Entol Muhammad Rais, K.H. Abdul Latif and K.H. Mas Abdurrahman[1].

Political Careers in Mathla’ul Anwar and Elsewhere
After finishing his seven years of study in the madrasah of Mathla’ul Anwar, he got a licence from the central board of Mathla’ul Anwar allowing him to teach religious knowledge elsewhere or establish a new madrasah. Mathla’ul Anwar applied a very selective method in awarding this licence. Only would those who had a high qualification be given this licence after successfully passing several tests conducted by the director of educational affairs of Mathla’ul Anwar, K.H. Mas Abdurrahman. Uwes’ intellectual potency assured the director to send him to such a number of madrasahs of Mathla’ul Anwar outside areas of Menes as those in Lampung and in Sukamandi. Uwes spent eight years of teaching in both areas from 1930 up to 1938. Because Mathla’ul Anwar at that time affiliated with NU, Uwes also taught in madrasahs of NU where the madrasahs of Mathla’ul Anwar were located[2]. In 1938, he returned to Menes where he taught in his alma mater.
In Menes, his career in Mathla’ul Anwar rapidly advanced as he was elected as the general chairman at the third Congress of the organization held in 1939 or only one year after his return to Menes. He was the third general chairman since the foundation of the body only after K.H. E. M. Yasin and K.H. Abdul Mu’thi. The process of his election was very intense indeed. There were two factors contributing to this intense situation. First, in this Congress, members of Mathla’ul Anwar for the first time witnessed the rise of a new generation within the organization as most of its founders were ageing and some of them even already died, such as K.H. Entol Muhammad Yasin in 1937 and K.H. Tubagus Muhammad Sholeh in 1926. Second, there were more than one candidates, each of them had a special worth, including K.H. Entol Djunaedi, K. Asrori, K. Chabri Abdurrahman, and K. Uwes Abu Bakar[3].
K.H. Djunaedi was a son of K.H. E. M. Yasin, and graduated from the Al-Azhar University in Cairo. Returning from Cairo in 1927, he introduced a new idea of the upgrading of the madrasah of Mathla’ul Anwar from seven to nine grades. He himself then supervised pupils at the highest level of class. K. Asrori was among the most brilliant pupils of K.H. Mas Abdurrahman and people believed that he was the most fitting successor of the latter. His credit also came from his status as a graduate of the Pesantren Darul Ulum Jombang where many NU’s prominent figures came from. K. Chabri was the eldest son of K.H. Mas Abdurrahman. His credit was solely from his important genealogical link. Compared to these three figures, K. Uwes was unknown among members of Mathla’ul Anwar. His wide travellings of teachings in areas outside Menes was one of the major factors of his unfamiliar reputation. His sole credential was only that he was a former pupil of K.H. Mas Abdurrahman. Not many of them at that time paid much attention to his experiences as results of his wide teaching journeys. People even described him as a “dumb” because of his infrequent speaking in the front of public audience[4]. Only was K.H. Mas Abdurrahman who viewed Uwes’ great experiences as a valuable capital in chairing an organization having successfully expanded its influence in vast areas, like Karawang, Tangerang, Lebak, Pandeglang, Bogor, and Lampung[5].
In the session of the election of the new general chairman, most of participants of the Congress were reported to incline to K.H. Djunaedi. However, their first choice was unexpectedly disrupted by K.H. Mas Abdurrahman’s opposition and, thus, the Congress faced a deadlock. K.H. Mas Abdurrahman then preformed a prayer (istikharah) asking a divine answer for the most appropriate figure for the new leader. During, or perhaps after, performing the prayer, K.H. Mas Abdurrahman surprisingly proposed Uwes as the new leader. The charismatic stature of K.H. Mas Abdurrahman played a major role in easily achieving consensus among participants and, therefore, Uwes became a new general chairman[6].
This process of selecting leadership brought about rife frustration among members of Mathla’ul Anwar, particularly K.H. Djunaedi and his loyal supporters, although they did not explicitly showed their discontent. However, several months later their opposition soon surfaced as K.H. Djunaedi and his sister, Nyi Hajjah Zaenab, the chairwoman of the madrasah of Mathla’ul Anwar for girl, established their own madrasah, named Maslakhul Anwar[7]. This political tension was the first incident faced by Mathla’ul Anwar.
K. Uwes Abu Bakar led Mathla’ul Anwar until his death in 1973 during which he was elected seven times. Compared to other general chairmen who had and have led the organization since the beginning up to now, K.H. Uwes held the longest time of leadership. K.H. E. M. Yasin led this group twenty one years (1916-1937), K.H. Abdul Mu’thi two years (1937-1939), K.H. Muslim Abdurrahman nine months (1973-1974), K.H. Nafsirin Hadi eleven years (1974-1985), K.H. Entol Burhani six years (1985-1991), and Drs. H. Irsyad Djuwaeli, the current leader, has led the organization from 1991 up to now.In addition to his activities in Mathla’ul Anwar, K. Uwes was also active in NU holding the chairmanship of the executive board of the Pandeglang NU branch from 1939 before being forced to resign in 1952 because of the different political views on the separation of the NU from Masyumi, the largest Muslim political party after Independence and established in 1945[8]. In politics, he was a member of the Japanese-established advisory council of Pandeglang from 1942 till 1945 and, at the same time, was also one of the vice-general chairmen of the advisory council of Banten[9]. After Independence, he joined Masyumi and he became a member of parliament of Pandeglang and West Java from 1945 till 1955. In the 1955 general election, he was elected as a member of parliament of Masyumi from 1956 till 1959. The abolishment of parliament and the introduction of the Guided Democracy by President Sukarno in 1959 ended K. Uwes’ membership in parliament. The banning of Masyumi in 1960 forced him to retreat from politics[10]. However, in 1964 when the anti-Communist forces led by the military set up their own association, Sekretariat Bersama Golongan Karya (Joint Secretariat of Functional Groups, or Sekber Golkar), K.H. Uwes joined it and occupied one of the vice general chairmen of this association[11]. In 1967, he was involved in attempts to rehabilitate Masyumi through the creation of the Badan Koordinasi Amal Muslimin Indonesia (Coordinate Association of Indonesian Muslim Works, or BKAMI) in which he held one seat of the vice-general chairmen. This effort, yet, failed to be materialized due to the refusal of the New Order government. Later on, the BKAMI then created a new Muslim party, Partai Muslimin Indonesia (Indonesian Muslims Party, Parmusi)[12]. Enduring internal ruptures within this new party, partly because of the government’s intervention on internal affairs of the party, caused a split in its leadership. K.H. Uwes was involved in these conflicts as he along with minority leaders led by Jaelani Naro created a new executive board challenging the existing executive board led by the dominant Muhammadiyah leader, Djarnawi Hadikusuma[13]. These lasting clashes produced severe failures of the party in the 1971 general election. K.H. Uwes who was among the party’s list of candidates for parliament unsuccessfully won sufficient votes. Disappointed by the poor result of this general election pushed him to leave politics at whole in 1972[14].
[1] E. Oji Mahmunji, Riwayat Hidup Singkat K.H. Uwes Abu Bakar Al-Marhum, n.p., n.d., p. 1.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Tim Penyusun, Mathla’ul Anwar …, p. 45.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid., pp. 45-48.
[7] Ibid., p. 59.
[8] E. Oji Mahmunji, Riwayat …, p. 1
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] E. Syibli Syarjaya and Jihaduddin, Dirasah Islamiyah I: Sejarah dan Khittah Mathla’ul Anwar, Menes: Perguruan Mathla’ul Anwar Pusat Menes, 2003, pp. 29-30. See also Pengurus Besar Mathla’ul Anwar, Sejarah …, p. 44.
[12] For a complete explanation on the creation of Parmusi and the involvement of Muslim associations see Ken Ward, The Foundation of the Partai Muslimin Indonesia, 1970, Abdul Azis Thaba, Islam dan Negara Dalam Politik Orde Baru, Jakarta: Gemma Insani Press, 1996 and Mintaredja, H.M.S., Renungan Pembaharuan Pemikiran Masyarakat Islam dan Politik Indonesia, Jakarta: Permata, 1972.

[13] Ibid.
[14] E. Oji Mahmunji, Riwayat …, p. 1and Syibli Syarjaya and Jihaduddin, Dirosah Islamiyah I …, p. 34.