Aspirants seeks NU support before poll
Aspirants seeks NU support before poll
Suherdjoko and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Pekalongan/Jakarta
As the presidential election fast approaches, presidential and
vice presidential aspirants are scrambling to win the support of
the country's Muslim organization, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).
Two presidential candidates and a vice presidential aspirant
paid a visit on Wednesday to the most influential NU leader,
Habib Luthfi, at his residence in Pekalongan, Central Java, to
celebrate the birth of Prophet Muhammad.
Gen. (ret) Wiranto of the Golkar Party, United Development
Party (PPP) leader and NU member Vice President Hamzah Haz and
President Megawati Soekarnoputri's running mate and NU leader
Hasyim Muzadi, representing Megawati's Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI-P), made the trip.
Habib Luthfi is also chairman of the Central Java chapter of
the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) and leader of Jamaah Thariqat
Naqsabandiyah Al Nahdliyah, an organization under the NU.
At least 10,000 NU members attended the celebration, mostly
from Central Java.
During the occasion, Habib Luthfi gave away his daughter
Fatimah Nikmatullah Azzaenaby in marriage to Luthfi bin Ibrahim
bin Yahya, at which ceremony Wiranto was invited to give a speech
on behalf of the host and Islamic students, while Hasyim was
asked to lead a prayer.
"The cleric is my friend; he came to Jakarta to ask me to host
the wedding. I did not come here to campaign," Wiranto said to
the gathering.
Hasyim, who was suspended from his post as NU leader for the
duration of the presidential campaign, brushed aside suggestions
that he had attended the ceremony to woo NU members' support.
"This is a democracy; it is the cleric's choice. If some want
to support me, then I will be grateful," he said.
He further expressed a hope that the July 5 election would not
polarize NU leaders. "I don't want the NU to split just because
of the election. If they choose me or not, they are still my
clerics."
Meanwhile, Hamzah arrived at around 10 a.m. and left half an
hour later without greeting the press.
While the NU is politically neutral, it boasts a 40 million-
strong membership, about 20 percent of the country's population
of 220 million.
In Tangerang, Banten, Megawati received support from around
120 NU-run Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) from Java and
Sumatra.
On the sidelines of a launch in Tangerang, West Java, of a
national network of pesantren, the clerics prayed for Megawati
and Hasyim to win in the election.
"We are upset because our leader Gus Dur cannot join the
election, and we see Pak Hasyim as a leader and choose to support
him," said a cleric, Abdul Gofur. He was referring to Abdurrahman
"Gus Dur" Wahid's disqualification by the General Elections
Commission for health reasons.
He said their support did not mean that the clerics were
against Solahuddin Wahid, Gus Dur's brother. "But some of us
prefer a civilian to a former military officer," said Abdul,
referring to Gen. (ret) Wiranto, with whom Solahuddin is paired.