Gus Lilur Backs Nasaruddin Umar for PBNU Chair, Citing Lessons from Past Congress

Jakarta – Young Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) figure HRM Khalilur R Abdullah Sahlawiy, known as Gus Lilur, has called on all participants of the 35th NU Congress to make the organisation’s highest forum a moment for purification, not an arena for power struggles. He stressed that the choice of leader at this congress will determine NU’s position as a guardian of the republic’s integrity, rather than a machine for mass mobilisation.

Gus Lilur pointed to the 34th Congress held in Lampung in December 2021 as a stark warning. According to him, the interest-laden election process at that congress resulted in internal division, management conflicts that spilled over into the legal domain, corruption, and NU being dragged into the vortex of practical politics. “The 34th Lampung Congress must serve as a bitter lesson that should not be forgotten. Choosing the wrong leader has fatal consequences for NU; the organisation became divided and was swept up in currents of corruption and the lust for power,” Gus Lilur told reporters on Thursday, 18 June 2026.

He assessed that the 35th Congress cannot be separated from the broader national context. Amid turbulent global geopolitical conditions and the fragility of domestic social cohesion, NU, as an organisation with over a hundred million members, bears a significant moral responsibility. “NU is part of the founders of this republic. Therefore, every major decision by NU must always be questioned: what does it mean for the nation’s integrity?” he said.

Gus Lilur drew an analogy between the spirit that must be brought to the 35th Congress and the Jakarta Charter event of 18 August 1945. At that time, Islamic leaders relinquished seven words regarding the obligation to implement Islamic law for its adherents in order to prevent the disintegration of the newly independent nation. For him, that decision was not a sign of defeat, but the pinnacle of statesmanship. “The spirit of the Jakarta Charter is the mindset of an Islamic leader, choosing the greater interest above personal and factional interests. That spirit must be present in the congress voting booths,” Gus Lilur stated.

As a concrete manifestation of that spirit, Gus Lilur affirmed that the NU leader elected at the 35th Congress must support the continuity of the administration of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka for two terms.