'Mbak' Tutut to work with NU
'Mbak' Tutut to work with NU
JAKARTA (JP): The 30-million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) tied
up with Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, a Golkar deputy chief and one of
Indonesia's most prominent tycoons, in a development project
yesterday.
Tutut, as President Soeharto's eldest daughter is better
known, agreed to finance the completion of a NU hall in Jakarta
which has been neglected for two years.
The cooperation between Tutut and NU materialized thanks to
the mediation of Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher.
Under the agreement, Tutut pledged to help finish the
construction of the building belonging to Fatayat, an NU women's
suborganization.
NU chairman Abdurrahman Wahid frowned on speculation that the
cooperation was a sign that NU would encourage its members to
vote for Golkar in the May 29 election.
"This project has nothing to do with the election but if
sympathy grows for Mbak (elder sister) Tutut, don't blame
anybody," Gus Dur, as Abdurrahman is better known, said after the
signing of the agreement.
In the rare encounter at the Ministry of Religious Affairs
that drew dozens of journalists, Gus Dur and Tutut shook hands
twice for photographers.
Gus Dur said thav Tutu's assistance was purely a grant and
that NU had nothing to give her in return. "May God bless her,"
he said.
Gus Dur also invited Tutut to attend at least six NU mass
informal gatherings to be held throughout Java.
He said it would be more efficient for Tutut to attend the
gatherings than to visit NU's pesantren (Islamic boarding
schools) if she wanted to forge close relations with Moslem
groups.
"In fact NU leadership invited Tutut to visit boarding schools
two years ago but it's strange that it is widely reported in the
mass media only now," he said.
Asked by reporters after the signing ceremony whether she
would attend the NU gatherings, Tutut said: "Let's see after
Lebaran (the Idul Fitri celebration)."
Gus Dur dismissed speculation that his latest maneuver would
make leaders of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and the
Moslem-based United Development Party (PPP) jealous.
It is common knowledge that over the past two years Gus Dur
has had close ties with Megawati Soekarnoputri, the PDI leader
ousted last year by the government-backed Soerjadi.
In interviews with local newspapers, Gus Dur -- well-known for
his scathing criticism of the government -- has denied abandoning
PDI for Golkar and Megawati for Mbak Tutut.
His relations with President Soeharto were believed to have
been strained until he was seen shaking hands with the head of
state in public in November.
He later shook hands with Vice President Try Sutrisno and Army
Chief of Staff Gen. R. Hartono, which observers said were signs
of improving Gus Dur--government relations.
NU, established in 1926 as a socioreligious organization, was
once a powerful political party before merging with other Moslem
parties to form the United Development Party (PPP) in 1973.
In 1984 it withdrew from formal politics but individual
members remain free to affiliate with any of the three parties:
Golkar, the PPP and the PDI.
It is a rural-based organization; students and leaders of
Islamic boarding schools make up the bulk of its membership. (08)