NU leaders reject Matori's PKB<\/p>\n
Bambang Nurbianto and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The country's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)
\nis acting tough as part of its efforts to get the leaders of its
\nNational Awakening Party (PKB) back together again.<\/p>\n
Respected leaders of the 40-million-strong NU are working on a
\nplan to issue an edict ordering its members not to support a
\nsplinter group led by Matori Abdul Djalil.<\/p>\n
The edict will be issued on Thursday in a desperate bid to
\npressurize Matori to drop his leadership claim, which has split
\nthe PKB, the country's fourth largest party.<\/p>\n
Matori, the current defense minister and the leader of the
\nsplinter PKB faction, has several times failed to show up at NU-
\nsponsored forums aimed at reconciling him with the rival PKB
\nleaders, who are loyal to former president Abdurrahman Wahid, or
\nGus Dur as he is familiarly known.<\/p>\n
Gus Dur, who chairs the PKB board of patrons, had sacked
\nMatori as party chairman for backing the former's ouster from the
\npresidency last July by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).<\/p>\n
Gus Dur then appointed his former foreign minister Alwi Shihab
\nto replace Matori.<\/p>\n
Matori rejected his dismissal and claimed he remained the
\nlegitimate PKB leader. His party faction will even hold a special
\ncongress to affirm his leadership between Jan. 14 and Jan. 16.<\/p>\n
He has insisted that he will not consider reconciliation with
\nhis rivals until after the congress.<\/p>\n
Gus Dur's version of the PKB is scheduled to organize a
\nseparate three-day congress in Yogyakarta from Jan. 17 to Jan.
\n19.<\/p>\n
The NU began a two-day meeting of its regional leaders from
\nacross the country on Wednesday at its headquarters in Kramat
\nRaya, Central Jakarta, in another last-ditch effort to bring
\nabout reconciliation.<\/p>\n
NU co-chairman Solahuddin Wahid told The Jakarta Post that
\nshould Matori spurn the latest offer for reconciliation, the NU
\nwould declare its support for Gus Dur's PKB.<\/p>\n
\"The final decision will be issued in the form of an edict
\nprepared by NU ulemas from throughout Indonesia,\" said
\nSolahuddin, who is also Gus Dur's younger brother.<\/p>\n
\"So, we will have a clear answer in case people ask about the
\nNU's stance on the conflict in the PKB,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Solahuddin said it was clear that most of NU's 40 million
\nmembers across the country were rallying behind Gus Dur and his
\nPKB faction.<\/p>\n
\"It is a political reality that most NU followers support Gus
\nDur, and if the NU backs a splinter PKB group it will become
\nalienated from its grassroots,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Solahuddin also urged President Megawati Soekarnoputri and
\nVice President Hamzah Haz not to attend Matori's PKB congress
\nbecause such attendance would be seen as a token of support.<\/p>\n
\"The conflict among PKB leaders is an internal problem,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The rival camps have been trying to win the government's
\nsupport by inviting Megawati and Hamzah, as well as ministers, to
\nattend their respective leadership congresses.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Alwi voiced pessimism over the reconciliation
\nefforts, saying Matori had always refused the offer of compromise
\nfrom NU leaders.<\/p>\n
\"How can we reconcile if he (Matori) is not ready to do so,\"
\nAlwi told the Post on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
He also denied a plan to invite several leaders from PKB
\nregional chapters for a crucial meeting in Jakarta in an effort
\nto unite the two rival party factions ahead of the Yogyakarta
\ncongress.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/nu-leaders-reject-matoris-pkb-1447893297",
"image": ""
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