In Surabaya, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) began on Monday a halaqoh

In Surabaya, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) began on Monday a halaqoh
(national ulema gathering), which has invited five presidential
candidates who are expected to be pitted against each other in
the July 5 election.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri was the first to turn up as
she opened the event at Somerset Hotel on Monday evening.

Megawati, who is the presidential candidate from the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), met with NU
chairman Hasyim Muzadi and 24 influential NU clerics, including
Abdullah Faqih and Masduki Mahfud, shortly after the ceremony.

No official statement, however, was given following the
meeting.

Other presidential candidates, Amien Rais, Wiranto and Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, will arrive on Tuesday to speak in the ensuing
seminar on public participation in the first direct presidential
election.

Megawati, Amien of the National Mandate Party (PAN), Wiranto
of the Golkar Party and Susilo of the Democratic Party are
expected to contest the first-ever presidential election. Susilo
is the only aspirant to have disclosed a running mate.

Hasyim has reportedly been courted by the PDI-P and Golkar,
but said on Monday no party had officially asked him to contest
the election as a running mate of its presidential candidate.

"Let's just wait and see because even I do not know when (to
make a decision). The NU is not in a position to determine its
preferred presidential and vice presidential candidates," Hasyim
said.

The NU, the country's largest Muslim organization, boasts 40
million supporters, but has refrained from engaging in practical
politics since 1984.

A number of prominent NU clerics from across the country have
recommended that the National Awakening Party (PKB) they helped
found in 1998 nominate Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid for the
presidency.

Separately, NU deputy chairman Nurdin Arahman said Hasyim
would be suitable for either Megawati or Wiranto.

"Many clerics have agreed to combine Hasyim with one of the
presidential candidates. Hasyim's move to contest the election
awaits the approval of clerics in attendance here," Nurdin said
on the sidelines of the opening ceremony.

The halaqoh is being participated in by around 200 NU clerics
from across the country.

In her opening speech, Megawati asked the elected president to
terminate their loyalty to whatever political party they came
from but emerge as a leader to serve the nation.

"The elected president and vice president should no longer
fall under the influence of other state institutions or parties
that supported their election," the President told the audience.

Like previous presidents, Megawati did not resign as PDI-P
chairwoman, at the party's request. Only the founding president,
her father Sukarno, switched loyalty from his party to the
nation.

boleh disunat

Megawati said the direct presidential election would reinstate
a true presidential system the country had been trying to adopt
for decades. She criticized the role of parties that had
disrupted the system and tried to make it a quasi-parliamentarian
one.