Gus Dur still very much in charge of NU

Gus Dur still very much in charge of NU

KUDUS, Central Java (JP): Abdurrahman Wahid was still very much in charge of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) when he led a massive ceremony on Tuesday night to mark the Moslem organization's 71st anniversary.

Abdurrahman, more affectionately known by his supporters as Gus Dur, arrived at the Kudus Sports Hall to a long, standing ovation from approximately 20,000 people. Then there were the cheers, "Long Live Gus Dur", to affirm his place as chairman of the NU Executive Board.

Gus Dur's leadership has been challenged from within since his reelection at the NU congress in Cipasung, West Java, last December. His main opponent in the election, Abu Hasan, has unsuccessfully tried to undermine Gus Dur.

But there was no enmity against Abu Hasan in Gus Dur's address at the anniversary ceremony. The tone was one of reconciliation.

Gus Dur appealed to all NU members not to overplay the differences between their leaders. "This is normal in any big organization," he said. "In any family, there's bound to be arguments between the husband and wife. It's normal and they can resolve their differences. It's the same with NU."

At 71, NU is old and wise enough to resolve its own problems, he added.

Gus Dur did acknowledge that this problem might take time to resolve.

In his speech, the incumbent chairman also dismissed speculations that he was steering NU towards the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), the smallest yet most vocal of the three political parties in Indonesia.

He said the press has blown out of proportion his relations with PDI's chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri, giving the impression that he was veering towards the party.

He said the few times that he met with Megawati, the press was quick to report it and ran the picture of the two together. But, he said, he also frequently met with Ismail Hasan Metareum of the United Development Party as well as Harmoko of the ruling Golkar, but these never get reported on in the press.

He described Harmoko as an old friend. "Because he is an old friend, the press didn't bother to run a picture when I met with Harmoko," he said.

Gus Dur emphasized that NU will never forge formal ties with any of the political organizations. "NU is an organization run along religious lines, while the parties are organizations run along political lines." (har/emb)