Gus Yahya Affirms Palace Does Not Interfere in NU Congress Affairs

The General Chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama Executive Board (PBNU), Yahya Cholil Staquf, known as Gus Yahya, has asserted there is no interference from the State Palace, including President Prabowo Subianto, in the implementation of the 35th Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Congress. He stressed that the government has no interest in meddling in the organisation’s internal dynamics. Gus Yahya explained that NU has extensive experience in independently managing its organisational dynamics, noting that the organisation is even older than the Republic of Indonesia. “Nahdlatul Ulama is older than Indonesia. Nahdlatul Ulama was born in 1926, while Indonesia was only proclaimed in 1945,” Gus Yahya said during a press conference at the PBNU Office in Central Jakarta, cited on Wednesday, 15 July 2026. He stated that as an organisation that has existed for nearly a century, NU possesses the maturity to resolve various internal dynamics independently. Gus Yahya acknowledged that there are always parties with interests in an organisation as large as NU. However, according to him, such attempts have never eliminated the organisation’s independence. “That there are parties who want to interfere, want this, want that, is normal. In society, there are parties with their own interests, and perhaps this has been tried all along,” he said. “But we can see the evidence that NU always remains within its independence, within its maturity to resolve and process this organisational dynamic in a mature and independent manner,” he continued. Furthermore, Gus Yahya assessed that there is no reason for the President or the Palace to intervene in the NU Congress. He even asserted that if any party claims to have received a blessing or order from the President regarding the contestation at the Congress, that claim is untrue. “And I also do not see any interest from the President or the Palace, for example, to influence or meddle in NU affairs. What for? It is of no use to the government, nor to the President himself,” he stated. “And if anyone claims that they have been blessed or even ordered by the President, it is definitely a lie,” he concluded.