60 NU clerics to meet in Jombang
60 NU clerics to meet in Jombang
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
About 60 Muslim clerics, including former president Abdurrahman
"Gus Dur" Wahid, from across Java are to hold talks on Wednesday
at the Tebuireng Islamic boarding school in Jombang, East Java.
"Yes, I was invited to the meeting but I don't know what the
agenda is. All I know is that we will be paying visits to the
graves of Nahdlatul Ulama founders Kyai Hasyim Ashari in
Tebuireng, Kyai Wahab Hasbullah in Tambakberas and Kyai Bisri
Syamsuri in Denanyar," the East Java chairman of the NU's law-
making body, Masduqi Mahfudh, was quoted as saying by Antara on
Tuesday.
The NU is the country's largest Muslim organization with about
58 million members.
However, a reliable source said the meeting was being held to
discuss the possible nomination of Gus Dur as the presidential
candidate of the National Awakening Party (PKB), and the Supreme
Court's recent decision to reinstate the political rights of
former members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and their
relatives. The NU is the backbone of the PKB.
There have been numerous reports that NU clerics are split
between those supporting and those opposing the nearly blind Gus
Dur's bid for the presidency.
Separately, the leader of the NU in East Java, Ali Maschan
Moesa, said it was not unusual for the clerics to hold a meeting
so close to the general election, because they were concerned
with the problems of the nation.
"There is the possibility that there will be talks about the
PKB's presidential candidate. But I hear the clerics are also
concerned about the Supreme's Court decision over the PKI. For
me, there needs to be a distinction between violence and the
interests of reconciliation," he said.
In February, the Supreme Court annulled an article in Law No.
12/2003, which had barred former members of the now banned
Indonesian Communist Party, and those directly or indirectly
involved in the attempted PKI coup of Sept. 30, 1965, from
running in elections.
Ali, who is also a lecturer at the National Islam Institute
Sunan Ampel in Surabaya, said that violence, whether in the form
of communism, terrorism or separatism, had to be fought.
"But of course we welcome the idea if it is for the purpose of
reconciliation with the current generation, because Islam teaches
brotherhood with the innocent," he said.
The head of the Tebuireng boarding school, Yusuf Hasyim,
confirmed the meeting was scheduled, but said he was only the
host and had not issued the invitations.