Hasyim resumes top Nahdlatul Ulama post
Hasyim resumes top Nahdlatul Ulama post
Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After almost four months of hectic political activities as the
running mate of presidential candidate Megawati Soekarnoputri,
Hasyim Muzadi will return to the top post in the country's
largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) on Wednesday.
A plenary meeting of NU executives decided on Tuesday to
restore Hasyim's status so as to enable him to prepare for the
organization's national congress in Surakarta, Central Java,
scheduled for the end of November.
Other NU executives who were involved in the presidential
elections will also have their suspensions lifted.
"After being actively involved in the (presidential) election,
it is now time for the NU executives to return to the
organization and prepare (themselves) for the national congress,"
deputy chairman Fachruddin Masturo announced during a press
conference here.
NU named Masdar Farid Mas'udi its acting chairman after Hasyim
was declared fit to contest the election as Megawati's running
mate late in May.
In their decree, the NU board of patrons set no specific date
for the end of the suspension period, except to say that their
non-active status would be lifted when the election process was
complete.
"There may be several interpretations about when the process
of the election is over, but we agreed that it happened when the
election day took place," said Fachruddin.
Hasyim and Megawati qualified for the Sept. 20 runoff, but
with over two-thirds of the vote counted their defeat by more
than 20 percentage points seems assured.
Aside from Hasyim, other NU executives have been involved in
the elections, including deputy chairman Rozy Munir who sits in
the Election Supervisory Committee as the deputy chairman and
several executives who were part of the campaign team for the
Megawati-Hasyim ticket.
Masdar said he was relieved to return the top post to Hasyim.
"So now NU leaders and supporters in the grassroots can work
together to prepare for the upcoming national congress," he said.
Regarding the congress, which will elect an NU chairman for
the 2004-2009 period, Fachruddin said the participants would
discuss several new regulations, including one that deals with
the status of a chairman who is contesting the presidential
election.
The congress would also discuss improvement in the curriculum
of Islamic boarding schools as "the vanguard of development of
Islam".
The congress will be held between Nov. 28 and Dec. 2.