Gus Dur meets Tutut in tightly guarded gathering
SIDOARJO, East Java (JP): About 10,000 members of the country's largest Moslem organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), gathered here yesterday to listen to their chairman Abdurrahman Wahid and Golkar leader Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana.
Hundreds of police and security personnel guarded the meeting and armored vehicles were posted around the small town, about 25 kilometers south of Surabaya.
Hardiyanti, better known as Mbak Tutut, was escorted to the venue in a line of bullet-proof cars.
Wearing yellow -- the color of Golkar -- and a white veil, Hardiyanti called on NU members to be weary of rumors.
"She's a future leader," Abdurrahman told the gathering to justify her appearance at the meeting and his apparent shift of political allegiance. "I'm taking her hand now to anticipate the future.
"I invited her here so that she can directly meet NU members. So that you can air your feelings before her, and so she can understand them," he said.
Abdurrahman acknowledged that, a few months ago, he was closer to Megawati Soekarnoputri, the ousted chief of the dispute-ridden Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
"I used to walk with (Megawati) to protect her. As it turns out, she's still unsafe, well, that's it," he said.
NU has an estimated 30 million followers, and Abdurrahman has great influence on many rural people. He once claimed that he could summon thousands of NU youths to protect him within hours of making a phone call.
Abdurrahman was thought to have formed a political entente with Megawati to bolster both their political positions. Megawati was then under great pressure from her government-backed rivals; she was ousted in a party congress in Medan, North Sumatra, last June, and replaced by Soerjadi.
Abdurrahman said yesterday that his recent intimacy with Hardiyanti -- who is deputy chief of Golkar, a successful businesswoman and the eldest daughter of President Soeharto -- was controversial.
Several members of NU youth groups in Jombang and Bangkalan in East Java boycotted yesterday's gathering.
"For the NU, differences of opinion are usual. You even have to be prepared to get a slap in the face for that. Never mind. As long as we take it with grace, it's no problem," he said.
Abdurrahman said the NU was trying to get close to the three political parties because it wished to help establish a balanced political order.
"New leaders, new thoughts, new political networks are emerging and the Nahdlatul Ulama must anticipate them well," he said.
He said it did not matter "whether the NU is exploiting or being exploited. Everything in this world can be exploited by someone. Everything changes." (nur/swe)