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.