Indonesian Association of Muslim Intellectuals

The Indonesian Association of Muslim Intellectuals (Indonesian: Ikatan Cendekiawan Muslim Indonesia, ICMI) is a Muslim organization in Indonesia. Founded in 1990 by Indonesian Secretary of Research and Technology B. J. Habibie, the organisation is committed to fight against poverty and improve education in Indonesia.

While most Indonesia Muslim politicians had supported the deposing of the Sukarno regime and the suppression of the Communist Party of Indonesia by Indonesian army chief Suharto between 1965 and 1968, the latter suppressed Indonesia Muslim political activities. Suharto pursued a secular system of government, which along with the high-level appointment of Catholics and patronage of the ethnic Chinese community made Indonesia Muslim political groups a major part of opposition to his regime.

However, in the early 1990s, Suharto moved his public identity and government considerably towards Islam. Adopting the name Haji Mohammed Suharto, he undertook a hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 1991. In the prior year, Suharto had permitted the formation of the Indonesian Association of Indonesia Muslim Intellectuals under the influence of Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, a close adviser and then-minister of technology and research. As opposed to traditional Islamic organizations in Indonesia such as the Nahdatul Ulama (NU), ICMI supported Suharto's regime in turn for considerable influence in policy-making and administration.

By 1994, ICMI had grown considerably, boasting as many as 20,000 members, who were largely Indonesia Muslim professionals, scientists, economists, educators and scholars. Habibie (who soon became Suharto's vice-president) served as ICMI's president while Indonesia Muslim scholars and political activists such as Imaduddin (who had been imprisoned by the Suharto regime in 1979) helped organize the body. Its prominent members also included Amien Rais, who would later become a major opponent of the Suharto regime and chief of Muhammadiyah, reputedly the largest Islamic organization in the world. While highly-influential during the Suharto era, ICMI lacked a grassroots organisation, public appeal or popular support. Consisting of elite intellectuals, ICMI's influence grew mainly with the patronage of Suharto and his political party, Golkar.

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