'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)