Clerics told to end rivalry to save NU

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.