Abim hopes to find its footing

Abim has slipped from its perch as the most influential Islamic pressure group in the political landscape. Can the revamp in their top leadership last month arrest the slide? JOCELINE TAN reports. 

YUSRI Mohamad is soft-spoken and somewhat bashful in demeanour. But he has a smooth, open face and smiles easily. 

The 33-year-old law lecturer was quite unknown until a few weeks ago when he became president of Abim (Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia), once the most powerful Islamic pressure group in the country. 

Since then, the Malay media, in particular, has made quite a fuss about him and the new team in Abim. 

Yusri is taking over Abim after one of the most tumultuous periods of its history.  

'We are not trained to confront but to coax. Confrontation is only a last resort for us' — Yusri MohamadSTARpic by Low Boon Tat

The new man at the top has been at pains to stress that a key priority will be to continue to make Abim relevant to young Malays and to keep it on the non-partisan path. That, he said, was the best approach for Abim's role in Islamic education, outreach work and global peace missions. 

Abim, as most would be aware, has not been exactly non-partisan, particularly during the years when its most famous ex-president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was at the height of his power in Umno. 

When Anwar was sacked from his post of deputy prime minister in 1998, Abim crossed to the side of opposition politics and even played a leading role in the Reformasi movement. 

But politics not being their cup of tea, Abim leaders fell out with the more pragmatic politicians in Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and the group is now returning to its NGO roots. 

Their ding-donging has not done their reputation much good. 

Many think it cost them their credibility.  

Thus, when Yusri talked about keeping Abim non-partisan, he may also have meant re-establishing Abim’s credibility. 

“The political overlap is unavoidable but our main reference points will remain religious education and training,” said Yusri, whose team is as young as him. Not a single one of them is over 40, a fact that outgoing president Ahmad Azam Abdul Rahman described as “a bold step” that was necessary to regenerate Abim. 

Abim's profile has always featured well-educated Muslims who are politically conscious though not necessarily politically inclined. 

“They are not as big as they used to be but they are still part of the Malay intelligentsia with moderate but sound Islamic credentials,” said an Umno politician.  

Abim's founding members were inspired by the Middle-Eastern Islamist Hasan Al-Banna who founded the Ikhwan Al-Muslimin, a pioneering Islamic dakwah organisation. 

Abim was set up in 1971 and its network and infrastructure is impressive even if its relevance and effectiveness has grown somewhat debatable. 

It has a registered membership of some 60,000 and runs several private schools as well as Islamic kindergartens and primary school. It has also spanned out into global peace efforts, from Bosnia-Herzegovina to Acheh. 

Abim seems to have come full circle. But can Yusri bring Abim back on an even keel? 

Yusri has a master’s in law from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.  

He was born in Kelantan where his late father Mohamed Che Wook was a former chief mufti. 

His father belonged to that early generation of clerics who valued substance over form in religion. For instance, his father had no qualms shaking hands with women and neither does Yusri although he now waits for the female party to extend her hand. 

Apparently, Yusri was quite reluctant to take on the top Abim post. He was probably aware of the headaches involved. 

He confided in a close friend from Kelantan the pressure he was facing even before he had taken on the post and said he would have preferred to concentrate on finishing his PhD. 

His friend told him: “That's why you are best man for the post ? because you don’t really want it. God will help you.” 

The same friend also advised him to make an effort to “take Abim out of the shadow of Anwar Ibrahim.” 

“I told him that Abim must be seen as neutral so that it can work with all groups,” said the friend. 

PKR information chief Tian Chua insisted: “People think Abim is close to Anwar but he is not really following what’s happening in Abim.” 

It will be a tough balancing act for Yusri. 

The Abim membership is composed of thinking Malays with informed opinions on issues. 

Anwar remains an iconic figure for these young Malays, partly due to his early history as an activist and partly because of what he went through in 1998. 

Yusri’s predecessor, Ahmad Azam, upset a segment in Abim when he tried to steer the organisation back to the middle path a few years ago.  

For instance, his hush-hush meeting with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad touched a raw nerve in the organisation. Members misunderstood his intentions and there were voices of discontent. 

But the mood is more settled now that Anwar is freed. 

Yusri is unapologetic about being a Reformasi supporter or about having served briefly as an aide to Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail in 2000. 

But he said: “The majority of us (in Abim) do not see the Reformasi years as a pleasant experience. We are not comfortable with political conflict including what happened in 1998. 

“I speak for my friends in Abim. It was not our natural environment. We are not trained to confront but to coax. Confrontation is only a last resort for us,” said Yusri. 

He said the organisation will treat Anwar the way they treat any of their past presidents but, “if it comes to his politics, we will distance ourselves from it.” 

Ahmad Azam recently declared with a broad smile that, “I know nothing about politics,” when asked whether he might go into politics now that he is no longer Abim president. 

But he was quite astutely political in his own way. Beneath his genial and sociable exterior lies a shrewd organisational mind that saw him steer Abim through the often choppy waters of NGO politics, political issues and even perceptions about Islam. 

In hindsight, Ahmad Azam did a Herculean job of holding the organisation together during the Reformasi period. 

But there are signs that things are changing.  

Framed photographs of Anwar and other past Abim presidents used to line the walls of Abim’s previous offices in Petaling Jaya and later in Setapak.  

The pictures of him in Petaling Jaya showed a young man, lean and earnest for social change.  

After Abim moved to Setapak in 1997, pictures of Anwar showed a filled-out body in well-cut suits and looking confident and ambitious. 

The current Abim headquarters in Gombak is a rented bungalow that is spacious, yet so simple in décor that it's almost spartan. Like other Abim offices, it is incredibly neat and even the air smells clean. 

But the old pictorial displays are conspicuously missing in the Gombak office. 

They have not ejected their famous ex-president but it is probable that they know he is not exactly beneficial for the non-partisan image they wish to project. 

But these are early days for Yusri. 

He is not overly optimistic about the future. 

At the same time, he will have less of a headache if he learns from the past.