Abdurrahman Wahid denies campaigning for Golkar
JAKARTA (JP): Controversial Moslem leader Abdurrahman Wahid has denied helping President Soeharto's daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana campaign for Golkar.
Gus Dur, as the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman is better known, and Hardiyanti attended mass prayers with 35,000 NU members in the East Java town of Madiun Saturday.
Gus Dur has repeatedly called Hardiyanti, Golkar deputy chairwoman, Indonesia's "future figure".
He said the informal gathering, the third in less than two weeks in NU strongholds in East and Central Java, was a religious, not a political, event.
Nahdlatul Ulama, which claims to have 30 million members, has formally shunned politics but has given its members the freedom to affiliate with any political organization.
Gus Dur's appearance with Hardiyanti at informal NU gatherings has sparked controversy, even among the organization's members. His critics say that he has unduly brought NU to the political stage.
NU members in Madura and Yogyakarta have boycotted the gatherings they describe as "full of political overtones" that benefit Golkar in next month's election.
Meanwhile, Hardiyanti said she would be glad to help NU members if they need help. She hoped NU Moslems would help her when she needs it.
"We will meet again in another gathering like this in the future. This sort of gathering will occur not only now but also in the future as long as Indonesia still exists," she said.
According to Hardiyanti, President Soeharto is aware that NU is a huge organization that supports the government and works to maintain stability.
"NU is democratic. Look NU gives its members the freedom to vote for any contestant in the upcoming election," she said.
Riots
Gus Dur reiterated that NU was still committed to its 1984 pledge to quit politics and stick to its original mission to promote education.
"This gathering aims at introducing Tutut (as Hardiyanti is better known) to NU members," Gus Dur said as quoted by Antara.
Present at the mass gathering at the Madiun town square were Army Chief Gen. Hartono, Minister of Cooperative Subiyakto Tjakrawerdaya, East Java military chief Maj. Gen. Imam Utomo and provincial police chief Maj. Gen. Sumarsono.
Gus Dur plans to hold gatherings in six other East Java towns.
Government officials, Gus dur said, need to know the actual condition of NU.
"NU is solid now and has good relations with other organizations," said Gus Dur, grandson of Hasyim Asy'ari, the 1926 founder of NU.
He acknowledged that some NU members were involved in recent mob violence in Situbondo, Tasikmalaya, Pekalongan, Temanggung, Wonosobo and Surabaya but in an individual capacity.
"NU refuses violence as a way to solve any problem," he said.
Violence in Situbondo, Surabaya and Tasikmalaya last year was religiously-motivated with Christian property being the main target. Riots in Pekalongan, Temanggung and Wonosobo were sparked by rivalry between supporters of Golkar and the Moslem-oriented United Development Party (PPP).
Gus Dur said the series of unrest could have been engineered by a third party to tarnish NU. The majority of NU members are peaceful people and shun violence and brutality, he added.
He said that the small number of NU members who resorted to violence were those who had the wrong interpretation about the concept of al jihad, or holy war in the Islamic teaching.
The government has set a good example for the correct implementation of al jihad, such as setting up the National Logistics Agency to combat poverty and building modest public housing for the needy, he said.
"There is a requirement to be fulfilled to start jihad and that is if we are attacked. In recent cases, peace has abounded and no one has attacked us but (Moslems) did go on the rampage. That was wrong, or perhaps people pretended they did not understand it to be wrong." (pan)