Abdurrahman says dissenters can present defense
Abdurrahman says dissenters can present defense
SEMARANG (JP): Members of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) who were
expelled from their positions in the organization's central and
regional boards for opposing the legitimate leadership will be
given a chance to defend themselves, chairman Abdurrahman Wahid
has said.
"They have an opportunity to defend themselves, but they will
have to wait until the next congress (in 1999)," Abdurrahman told
reporters in Kudus on Saturday.
He stressed that the 17 NU figures who were removed from their
executive positions last week had not been expelled from the
organization as some media reports had suggested.
The NU Executive Board headed by Abdurrahman last week moved
to impose sanctions on 17 central and regional NU leaders for
challenging the legality of the board which was formed at the
last NU congress in Cipasung, West Java, in December 1994.
Abdurrahman's opponents organized their own congress in
January which saw the establishment of a rival central board. Abu
Hasan, who failed in his bid in the 1994 election in Cipasung to
unseat Abdurrahman, was appointed head of the dissenting
executive board and Hamid Baidlowi as head of the new lawmaking
board.
The government has declined to recognize Abu Hasan's board and
still regards Abdurrahman as the rightful leader of NU, in spite
of his strong criticism of the government.
The removal of some of the NU leaders has left a number of NU
regional boards, particularly those in Sumatra where Abu Hasan
has found strong support, leaderless.
The central board has appointed caretaker boards to look after
the NU followers in areas where there is a leadership vacuum and
is now organizing regional congresses to elect leaders to fill
the vacant positions.
Abdurrahman said the central board will merge the NU's branch
office in Lasem, which is headed by Hamid Baidlowi, with the one
in Rembang, saying that the organization's statutes only
recognize one branch office in each regency.
Abdurrahman was in Kudus on Saturday for a halal bihalal
(post-Idul Fitri get-together) with local NU members.
In his lecture, Abdurrahman said NU members should not be
distracted by the presence of the rival board because there are
other, bigger, problems that they have to contend with.
He said with Islam in Indonesia now truly "depoliticized",
Moslems in the country are faced with one of three alternatives
in dealing with the current situation.
One camp strives to make the most of the present situation.
Abdurrahman said intellectuals who have joined the Association of
Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) fall into this category.
Another camp strives to develop Islamic political culture, a
path taken by many middle class Moslems. He put intellectual
Nurcholish Madjid and his Paramadina Foundation in this category.
The third camp aims to change the situation in the face of
efforts to de-politicize Moslems, Abdurrahman said, adding that
he himself belongs to this group.
Abdurrahman, in his capacity as an intellectual, has been one
of the most vocal critics of the government. Yet, he has resisted
pressures, both from within and without the NU, to mobilize the
more than 30 million members for political ends.
NU, once a powerful political party, was merged with other
Moslem parties in 1971 into the United Development Party. In
1984, NU abandoned party politics altogether and declared that
its chief missions are religious propagation and education.
Abdurrahman warned that those Moslems trying to make the most
of the present political situation would come to a dead end.
He said ICMI chairman B.J. Habibie is likely to bid for the
vice president post in 1998. "If he loses, ICMI too would be
clipped," he said.
"I have often time and again warned friends in ICMI that they
should not put all their eggs in one basket," he said. (har/emb)