Non Partisanship Political Participation Muhammadiyah Citizenship Model

Abstract

This article systematically reviews the relationship between organizational non-partisanship and political participation in Muhammadiyah to formulate the movement's implicit model of citizenship. The review addresses a recurring paradox: Muhammadiyah formally refuses affiliation with political parties, yet its members, leaders, educational institutions, welfare networks, and policy bodies remain deeply involved in Indonesian public life. A qualitative conceptual systematic review was conducted on 18 analytical sources published no later than 2020, consisting of peer-reviewed articles, academic books, and official Muhammadiyah documents. Sources were coded by actor level, form of participation, citizenship claim, institutional boundary, democratic contribution, and reported tension. The synthesis identifies three differentiated arenas of citizenship. First, organizational non-partisanship protects Muhammadiyah from becoming an electoral vehicle and preserves institutional credibility across changing governments. Second, individual political participation recognizes members as autonomous citizens who may vote, join parties, contest office, and hold diverse political preferences. Third, collective civic participation is exercised through education, health care, philanthropy, policy advocacy, interfaith engagement, and humanitarian action. These arenas are mutually dependent but not automatically harmonious. Personalization of organizational authority, partisan spillover, elite capture, representational ambiguity, and uneven inclusion repeatedly test the boundary between institutional independence and political agency. The article proposes a differentiated citizenship model in which political restraint at the organizational level expands, rather than reduces, civic and political agency at other levels. Its democratic value depends on transparent actor differentiation, protection of organizational symbols, internal deliberation, and accountability for members who enter public office.