Peranan Majelis Permusyawaratan Ulama dalam sistem pemerintahan Aceh / Muhammad Suhaili Sufyan

This study investigates the role of Majelis Permusyawaratan Ulama (MPU) in Aceh’s governmental system. As allocated by law, ulama in Aceh are expected to play a crucial role to make sure the government of Aceh applies the shariah principles and values. However, to fulfill this objective, firstly MPU must ensure that they have clear strategies. Therefore, the purpose of this study, is to analyze the strategies adopted by MPU to carry out their roles within the Aceh’s governmental system. This study attempts to examines MPU’s responses to the various challenges faced and explains the underlying concept behind the involvement of ulama as an integral part of Aceh government system. In addition, this study also sought to analyze the roles that MPU played within the Aceh’s provisions of laws. This study is a qualitative in nature, exploring data through the lens of a historical perspective, which were then reported descriptively. Data were collected using two main methods: library research and interviews. Relevant library materials included both written and electronic sources in the form of books, journals, articles, theses, dissertation, conference proceedings, and the web pages were examined. The library-based data were used as a basis to investigate the historical dimension of ulama’s involvement in Aceh’s governmental system, which were then analyzed using the content analysis and thematic methods. Apart from this, data were also gathered from several interviews which were designed to obtain much information of the roles of MPU in Aceh. The interviews were conducted in a semi-structured method which some questions were previously prepared. Twelve correspondents who come from different background were interviewed. During the interviews, depending on the direction to which a particular discussion was geared, relevant follow-up questions were asked. The interview’s data were then transcribed and verified either by consulting the available literatures or by asking a number of new correspondents with the same set of question. This study argued that the involvement of ulama in Aceh’s governmental system had a very strong basis vii either from the perspective of shariah law or the history of its implementation. It was argued that although MPU’s duties, responsibilities, and function were assigned in Qanun No. 2 of 2009, their roles were still constrained by the inadequacy of legislations needed to overcome the technicalities of certain implementation issues, making their roles ineffective at times. It was also argued the differences in the way government officers understood certain religious issues often further complicated the process. Furthermore, MPU were often found to be very tight-lipped about the government which was purposely done to avoid unnecessary conflicts. They chose to resort more to a self-restrain method by being very selective in their issuance of fatwa while at the same time continuing to push for more supportive legislations. In addition, this study also argued that MPU were truly making a constant effort to train a new generation of ulama who would be quite open in their dealings with other ulama-based institutions