Influential clerics lend support to Alwi's PKB

Influential clerics lend support to Alwi's PKB

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Several influential Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) clerics took the time
to appear here on Saturday at a national forum held by the
National Awakening Party (PKB) camp led by Alwi Shihab, which the
group claimed as proof of its power and support.

Preceded by an informal gathering on Friday, the two-day forum
is being held in part to challenge April's national party
congress in Semarang, Central Java, which elected House of
Representatives Deputy Speaker Muhaimin Iskandar as the new PKB
leader and retained former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid
as the party's chief patron.

"There is no other reason for these clerics to be here if it
is not to defend something that is right," Alwi, who is also the
coordinating minister for people's welfare, told hundreds of
participants during the first day of the forum.

Among the clerics attending the event were poet Mustofa Bisri
from Rembang, Abdullah Faqih from Tuban, Idris Marzuki from
Kediri, Warsun Munawir from Krapyak and Muhaimin Gunardo from
Tarakan.

Claiming the forum was being attended by representatives from
28 PKB regional branches, Alwi said the meeting was aimed at
mending the bitter PKB rift according to the will of the NU
clerics.

"The fight I am taking against Gus Dur is also a sign of my
love for this party. We all love him, but we love the truth even
more," he said to thunderous applause.

Alwi is suing the party's central board over the suspension of
himself and State Minister for the Development of Disadvantaged
Regions Saifullah Yusuf as the leader and secretary-general of
the PKB respectively, after they joined the Cabinet of President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last year.

He also claims April's national congress was illegitimate
because he and Saifullah were not allowed to participate. He
plans to hold a new leadership conference.

In a separate statement, however, cleric Mustofa Bisri said
the presence of the NU clerics at the forum was not necessarily a
sign of support for Alwi's splinter group.

"What my brother (Alwi) said earlier is not true. I have been
invited here to give sermons and advice, so the two (Alwi and
Saifullah) will ask for redemption. These two must also be
sincere about claiming to fight for the good of the PKB, because
otherwise it is a sin," he said.

Tears welled up in the eyes of Alwi and Saifullah, as well as
other forum participants, as Mustofa added that this was probably
the last time clerics would attend any of the party's political
forums.

"We, as clerics, have lots of other tasks to do for Muslims
who have been divided because of this conflict," said Mustofa, a
respected cleric.

Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Muslim organization,
founded the PKB in 1999. NU clerics were split ahead of, during
and following last year's presidential election. One faction,
backed by Gus Dur, opposed the failed vice presidential bid of NU
leader Hasyim Muzadi, while the rival camp supported it.

Outside the forum venue on Saturday, about 500 women from
PKB's East Java branch demonstrated in support of the Muhaimin
camp of the party. The women said the forum was illegal and
should be canceled.

They told Alwi and Saifullah to accept the results of the
April congress and end their hostility against Muhaimin and Gus
Dur.

According to the forum organizers, the meeting is being
attended by 714 clerics, 140 party leaders representing 28
regional branches, hundreds of members of the party's youth and
female wings, as well as thousands of party supporters.

The forum follows a similar meeting by Muhaimin's camp that
ended on Wednesday. That meeting was attended by PKB
representatives from some 30 party branches.

Muhaimin's camp claimed the party members attending Alwi's
forum represented illegal PKB branches established only recently
by Saifullah, who leads NU's youth wing.