Change looms for Nahdlatul Ulama

Change looms for Nahdlatul Ulama

Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Moslem organization with
30 million members and supporters, will celebrate its 70th
anniversary on Jan. 31. Under the leadership of Abdurrahman Wahid
and Ilyas Ruhiyat, it is undergoing reform geared to accommodate
the growing number of young intellectuals in its fold. The
Jakarta Post looks at how the traditional and conservative
organization is coping with the changes. More stories on Pages 2,
6 and 9.

By Wisnu Pramudya & Santi W.E. Soekanto

JAKARTA (JP): "I was surprised. I never expected it," said M.
Fajrul Falaakh, a young intellectual in the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU),
of his appointment last year as deputy chairman of the executive
board of Indonesia's largest Moslem organization.

At the time the press immediately branded Fajrul, a graduate
of the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University and of the
University of London, a representative of the "secularly
educated" group in the elite layer of the NU.

It was Fajrul and others in this group who passionately
supported the re-election of the chairman Abdurrahman Wahid at
the Dec. 1994 NU congress in Cipasung village, Tasikmalaya, West
Java.

Among the mainly rural supporters of NU, Fajrul and his
friends stand out in the crowd for more reasons than one. Unlike
millions of others, they cannot be considered real santri
(students of the traditional Islamic boarding school of
pesantren) because they spent years in "secular" learning
institutions.

It is therefore of great significance that Fajrul was included
on the leadership board. Observers understand that Fajrul's
appointment was the manifestation of a new reform campaign, an
effort to make Islam go native and to intensify dialogs on issues
outside traditional religious spheres such as democratization and
nationalism. And this campaign was launched by Abdurrahman,
better known here as Gus Dur.

Many still remember that soon after his re-election in 1994,
Gus Dur announced that it is the youths, rather than the kyai, or
traditional Moslem leaders, who will drive NU in the future
because they are better acquainted with contemporary issues.

Gus Dur's statement may be debatable, but it is obvious that
the presence of young intellectuals such as Fajrul and the
resulting debating of concepts within the organization have been
the source of conflicting views for some time. Fajrul and his
friends are known to be fluent in using "secular" and "Western"
concepts for various discourses, and this is clearly a divergence
from the tradition of thoughts based on the classic reference
books of the ulemas, known here as the kitab kuning (literally
yellow books).

Limited

Is it possible for NU to accommodate the secularly educated
group and make use of them as part of its base, which
traditionally consisted of rural people?

Masdar F. Mas'udi, another young intellectual in the
organization, believes that the new trend of referring to secular
concepts for various discourses is actually a limited phenomenon.
A graduate of the Ohio State University in the United States, he
reckons that the trend emerged after a number of NU youths became
"modernized".

"Frankly, this creates tension between those who are more
conservative, who adhere to the salafi tradition of thoughts,
with the secularly educated," he said. The salafi tradition is
rooted in the holy Koran, the sayings and deeds of the Prophet
Muhammad, and the ulemas' traditional reference books.

The leadership's wish to help the jam'iyah (congregation)
modernize without sacrificing its salafi traditions makes for an
arena primed for such tension.

The conservative Masdar sees the secular faction, as a group,
minna (of us) but intellectually minhum (of them). In the Moslem
community, the terms minna and minhum are often used to describe
the positions of Moslems versus the infidels.

"The conservatives listen to the young intellectuals, but
whether they agree with and support them is an entirely different
question," said Masdar, who has frequently attempted to bring the
two groups to sit together in various discussions.

The increasing presence of secular intellectuals within an
organization, which will still place a kyai at the helm no matter
what, is a phenomenon that should be watched carefully, he said.

Masdar cited as an example the five children of K.H. Muhid
Muzadi, one of the chairmen of the Syuriyah (law-making body),
who are all educated in secular institutions.

Genealogy

Despite the onrush of secular youths within NU, tradition
seems to persist. The youths can enter the elite layer of NU only
through a few doors; genealogy or loyalty toward the kyai.

Masdar believed that the inclusion of Fajrul Falaakh on the
board was possible mainly because of his blood-line, as he is the
grandson of NU founding father K.H. Wahab Hasbullah.

In addition, the secularly educated youths do not have other
options but to act as a santri-abdi (a term which denotes not
only a position as a disciple but also with a loyalty that
borders on being a slave) toward the kyai.

"Not only do they have to accept the leadership of the kyai,
they also have to recognize the authority of the kyai in the
fields of knowledge and wisdom," Masdar said.

Dr. Fahmi D. Saifuddin, a candidate in the NU chairmanship
election in 1994, serves as a good example of the importance of
genealogy and loyalty toward the kyai. The public health expert
at the University of Indonesia is the son of the late K.H.
Saifuddin Zuhri, an NU ulema and former religious minister.
However, he was "thrown" from the organization's elite because he
"dared" to go against the wish of the majority of the kyai who
supported Gus Dur's re-election.

Another example is that of Dr. Muhammad Thohir, the director
of the Surabaya Islamic Hospital. He is the son of K.H. Thohir, a
respected NU ulema in East Java, and known to have strong
managerial skills.

But, Muhammad is very critical of Gus Dur, and his decision to
join the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) --
which, many understand, Gus Dur detests -- to ensure victory in
the NU leadership race.

Masdar believes that NU only accepts the young intellectuals
"half-heartedly". "Those who are taken into the elite layer are
considered to be merely supplementary", he said.

Gus Dur, however, is a different phenomenon. The man not only
has a bloodline -- because he is the grandson of NU founding
father K.H. Hasyim Asy'ari, he is a kyai himself, as well as the
strongest proponent for such secular concepts. Masdar refused to
comment when asked whether Gus Dur himself is the imam (leader)
of the secularly-educated youths.

Smoother

The campaign for reform within the organization, however, may
prove to be smoother than expected. A respected kyai, Imron
Hamzah, who is the Rais (chairman) of the East Java Syuriyah,
said how NU should be "more open".

"This community of ahlus sunnah wal jama'ah (a mainstream of
theology within Islam, which is adhered to by Indonesian Muslims)
should be open to changes, as long as they are still in line with
the fiqh," he said. The fiqh is complete adherence to the Al
Qur'an, the hadith (sayings and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad)
and the ulemas' decrees.

"Many of the young intellectuals' thoughts may at first appear
to deviate from Islam, but a closer examination will prove that
they contain the truth too," he said.

He said that a process to accommodate the youths in the NU
elite can proceed without threatening the organization's
identity, on the condition that "all elements within NU
leadership function".

Unfortunately, he pointed out, at the moment the Syuriyah
(law-making body which K.H. Ilyas Ruhiyat currently chairs) is
eclipsed by the Tanfidziyah (the executive board which Gus Dur
chairs).

Pluralism

Fajrul acknowledges that not all new concepts are rjected by
NU. It is true that most of the ulemas' traditional reference
books do not deal with issues such as pluralism, or the state
ideology Pancasila upon which all organizations should base their
existence. "The problem, probably, lies more on how to translate
the (new concepts) into the traditional language," he said.

He believes that so far, the wrestling of new and old concepts
proceed smoothly because both parties exercise self restraint.
The young intellectuals are careful not to overstep the fiqh
boundaries, while the salafi traditionalists are careful not to
close the door on dialogs.

Fajrul named at least three NU leaders who contribute greatly
toward the effort to combine new concepts with the old. They are
Gus Dur, K.H. Tholhah Hasan, the rector of the Islamic University
in Malang, East Java, and K.H. Wahid Zaini, the chairman of the
Rabithatul Ma'ahidil Islamy (an association of thousands of NU
pesantren).

"These leaders are known to be people who hold dialogs with
the younger, secularly-educated generation of NU without
difficulty," he said. These are also the people who will be
responsible for ushering in a new breed of NU leaders, namely
santri who have also been educated at secular learning
institutes.