Hasyim challenges move to unseat him from post
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman Hasyim Muzadi played down on Wednesday a move to unseat him from the top post in the country's largest Muslim organization through an extraordinary congress.
Hasyim said that any such a plan would need to be based on strong reasons, including a demand from the majority of influential Muslim clerics, or kyais, who elected him during the 1999 congress.
Speaking to reporters at his office on Jl. Kramat Raya, Central Jakarta, Hasyim said he did not know why several kyais, including former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, were insisting on replacing him.
"I will just leave the matter to my voters, if they no longer want me to lead NU. But as far as I know, they (the kyais) have not yet officially told me of any mistakes which I may have committed," Hasyim said.
Gus Dur revealed that three kyais who are believed to play prominent roles in the NU were demanding a snap congress that could show Hasyim the door.
The three clerics were Ahmad Subadar of Pasuruan, East Java, Kyai Abdurrahman Chudori of Tegalrejo, Yogyakarta, and Kyai Muhaiminan of Tarakan, North Kalimantan.
Gus Dur has also reportedly asked for the replacement of his uncle Sahal Mahfudh (not Mahfudz as earlier reported) as chairman of the NU's board of patrons.
Hasyim admitted that there had been an undeclared war between him and Gus Dur as the former president blamed the NU for its failure to stop the People Consultative Assembly from holding a special session that eventually brought him down last year.
The special session also split Gus Dur's National Awakening Party (PKB) into one faction led by his confidant Alwi Shihab and another under Matori Abdul Djalil, who Gus Dur fired for taking part in the special session.
"I won't deny that Gus Dur was disappointed after I refused to support either Alwi's PKB or Matori's. But I guess he (Gus Dur) will understand that I did it to preserve the NU's impartiality," Hasyim said.
"We will apply the same stance to other parties affiliated to the NU, such as the Muslim Community Awakening Party (PKU), or Nahdlatul Ummat Party (PNU), or the Suny Party," Hasyim said, adding that the same policy had been adhered to by Gus Dur, who as NU chairman separated the NU as a mass organization from the United Development Party (PPP) in 1986.
"Gus Dur still hopes to run for the presidency in the 2004 general election. Should he fail to drag the NU into politics, he might lose in the election, as his PKB is currently too fragile to compete with the other parties," Hasyim said.