Moderation in Anti-Colonial Praxis: Muhammadiyah, Wasathiyah, and Indonesia's Struggle for Independence
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32506/v35ryg62Keywords:
Muhammadiyah, wasathiyah, Indonesian independence, Islamic nationalism, anti-colonialismAbstract
This article examines Muhammadiyah's contribution to Indonesia's struggle for independence through the analytical lens of wasathiyah, understood as principled moderation rather than passive centrism. Using qualitative historical-conceptual document analysis, it interprets organizational histories, leadership biographies, constitutional records, and scholarship published no later than 2022. The findings identify five interrelated modes of anti-colonial action: human-capacity formation through education and welfare; negotiated institutional engagement with colonial authorities; coalition building across Islamic and nationalist networks; strategic cooperation combined with resistance during the Japanese occupation; and constitutional compromise alongside armed defence after 1945. Muhammadiyah's moderation was therefore neither political neutrality nor avoidance of conflict. It joined normative firmness with strategic flexibility, employed both civic and military instruments, and subordinated exclusive organizational interests to the construction of a plural national state. The article also identifies tensions involving collaboration, retrospective heroization, and the gap between Islamic constitutional aspirations and national compromise. It concludes that Muhammadiyah's independence-era legacy is best described as institutionally grounded, ethically bounded, and nationally inclusive anti-colonialism.
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