Indonesian Cleric's Media Empire

Millions Watch Imam's Broadcast Sermons, Buy His Line of Products

BANDUNG, Indonesia -- Abdullah Gymnastiar straddled his customized electric bicycle and buzzed down the cobblestone alley into the crowd.

Wearing a white turban, Indonesia's premier television preacher toured the back streets of this hill town, greeting nearly 5,000 people who overflowed the mosque and who were waiting to follow his weeknight sermon on large-screen televisions. They pressed forward, some kissing his hand, others hailing him as if he were a rock star.

More self-help guru in sarong than Islamic scholar, Gymnastiar, 42, has built a following unrivaled among his fellow Muslim clerics by marrying soft, sonorous words of counsel and tearful prayer, delivered not in Arabic but Indonesian, with razor-sharp marketing acumen.

Widely known as Aa Gym -- "older brother Gym" in the local dialect -- he estimates that he reaches at least 60 million people weekly through television and radio, not including his books, cassettes, videos, newspaper, management training seminars and aphorisms printed on the red cans of the soft drink he markets, Qolbu Cola.

He is so popular that four of the five candidates in the presidential election to be held in July invited him to speak at their campaign kickoffs last month. Police croon his song "Take Care of Your Heart" while seeking to calm surging crowds of protesters. All seven private television stations in Indonesia bought his programs for the holy month of Ramadan, paying up to $50,000 a show, according to his staff.

Far more than the country's Islamic extremists, Gymnastiar articulates the sentiments of many in the world's largest Muslim country who are attracted by the United States but have grown distrustful of its intentions.

"I hope America and Indonesia will join together to build a civilization of the heart," he said in an interview, rejecting the extremists' talk of an inexorable conflict between Islam and the West.

But he was quick to heap disdain on a U.S. administration that launched military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I'm so sorry to see the image of America deteriorating. There has been so much violence and so many people killed. Countries have been destroyed for reasons that haven't been proven, for instance, the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," Gymnastiar said, sitting cross-legged on the carpeted porch of his cottage as a television crew set up cameras on the backyard lawn for a live broadcast later in the day.

Gymnastiar, a boyish figure with round, metal glasses, thick lips and a thin, wispy beard, is by some measures the most American of Indonesian clerics, embodying a can-do entrepreneurial spirit that has tapped the latest technology to build a corporate empire.

Trained as an electrical engineer, he is the eldest son of an army officer, his name reflecting his father's passion for athletics. Gymnastiar said he continues to sky-dive and practice shooting at a cardboard target in his back yard. In free moments, he swaps his electric bicycle for one of four motorcycles kept under a dust cover in the alley.

His conglomerate, MQ Corp. -- the initials stand for Heart Management in Indonesian -- has 18 subsidiaries, including a satellite television channel, a radio station, a publishing house, a recording studio, an advertising firm, a travel agency and companies merchandising clothing, mineral water, shampoo, cosmetics, detergent and instant noodles. In one of his new endeavors, his staff reported, more than 2 million Indonesian subscribers receive his daily teachings via text messages on their cell phones.

On a recent evening, as Gymnastiar plunged into the crowd on the electric bicycle -- a model that he sells -- he passed shops and stalls peddling T-shirts, key chains and other souvenirs to the tour groups who visit his Bandung complex from Indonesia's most distant islands.

He steered past his supermarket, boutique, bank, hotel and pair of training halls. In one, 20 executives from the state-owned oil company were taking part in a three-day management seminar for $300 a person. Next door, 50 middle managers from a leading national bank were involved in another three-day course for $200 each.