Clerics told to end rivalry to save NU
Blontank Poer and Tarko Sudiarno, Semarang
Hundreds of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) leaders and clerics appealed on Sunday for an end to political rivalry within the nation's biggest Muslim organization ahead of the July 5 presidential election.
They urged NU clerics to maintain neutrality in the election, saying their blatant support for particular presidential candidates had led to increasing confusion among the some 40 million members of the organization.
The call was made by NU clerics from Java gathered at the Edi Mancoro Islamic boarding school, which is led by Mahfud Ridwan, in Gedangan in the Central Java capital of Semarang.
Among the prominent clerics in attendance were NU law-making council member Mustofa Bisri, better known as Gus Mus, Abdurrahman Chudlori, R. Muhaimin, Mahfud Ridwan and acting NU chairman Masdar Farid Mas'udi.
The meeting was convened to try to stop the NU from falling apart as rival figures blatantly endorse or oppose the vice presidential bids of its senior leaders -- Hasyim Muzadi, Solahuddin Wahid and Jusuf Kalla.
Also, the NU central board plans to state on June 30 its official neutral stance on the presidential election.
"As clerics who are followed by Muslims, they should refrain from giving support to any political force, including during the presidential campaign," Gus Mus, who chairs the Roudlotut Tholibin Islamic boarding school in Rembang, Central Java, said after the meeting.
He said that "political pragmatism" on the part of a number of top NU leaders had had an adverse impact on the organization's followers at the grassroots level.
The nomination of Hasyim Muzadi, who has temporarily stepped aside as NU chairman, as the vice presidential candidate of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, for example, has involved almost all structural networks in the organization, from the upper to the lower levels, in practical politics, he said.
Gus Mus said the clerics' support for Hasyim, Solahuddin or Kallah had resulted in "extraordinary impacts" on their followers.
"It could incite conflict among their followers if the clerics do not end their rivalry," he added.
Masdar Farid Mas'udi concurred with Gus Mus.
"The NU is on the brink of destruction due to political adventurism by some elite leaders and members, which have triggered an internal rift," he said.
The NU's rift appeared to escalate after several other influential clerics, who were gathered in the East Java town of Pasuruan, issued a non-binding edict against a woman president. Megawati is the only female candidate contesting the July 5 election.
Sunday's meeting in Semarang also called on all NU supporters to stick to the khittah decision of 1984 to withdraw from politics and focus on the organization's socio-religious activities for people as a whole.
The khittah decision says that involvement in politics would only hinder the NU from fulfilling its overall social role, the clerics added.
The NU once served as a socio-religious organization that helped promote various movements, such as democracy, pluralism, civilian supremacy, human rights, gender equality and other humanist issues.
Masdar said the participation of clerics in politics, which could later drag the NU into practical politics, resulted in the neglect of social and religious affairs.
"Many of them (the clerics) then forget their roles in thinking, for example, about how fertilizer can be made available cheaply so that the prosperity of farmers and other people can be improved," he added.
Similarly, Gus Mus urged all NU figures to prioritize their roles in dealing with social and economic problems.
The Sunday meeting also rejected growing calls for the NU to hold an extraordinary meeting to elect a new chairman to replace Hasyim ahead of the meeting scheduled for November.
These calls were just "emotional", Gus Mus said, while Masdar said that the holding of an extraordinary meeting would further increase the political tension within the NU as outsiders could become involved to the detriment of the overall situation.