Nahdlatul Ulama: A bulwark of Indonesian democracy?

The Nahdlatul Ulama, the nation's largest Moslem organization, has just ended its 29th national congress. Political observer Mochtar Buchori sees the re-election of the incumbent chairman as a sign that a new generation of Indonesian Moslems has been born.

JAKARTA (JP): The congress of the Nahdlatul Ulama in Cipasung, West Java, can be seen as evidence that within our present society it is still possible for social and political organizations to uphold democracy.

From the very beginning, attempts to obstruct democratic processes within this congress were very obvious. Both overt and covert practices to subvert democracy were employed by both internal and external forces. Yet in the end democracy prevailed.

Vox populi, the voice of the people, was loudly and courageously reverberated and the popular wish fulfilled.

It is not a coincidence, in my opinion, that at the same time the Islamic scholars within Nahdlatul Ulama were fighting to defend democratic, the secular politicians within the Indonesian Democratic Party were taking a very bold step to discipline two party members considered recalcitrant, anti-democratic and a threat to the authority of the party's leadership.

It is as if these two events are sending simultaneous signals to the Indonesian people that the time has come for every responsible citizen to come in from the sidelines and join hands with democratic forces to assert people's sovereignty.

Attempts to reduce democracy within our society have been going on for quite sometime now. And the decline of democratic spirit has been evident everywhere.

Within university campuses, for instance, anti-democratic forces have been eroding the bases of academic culture. Disputes about academic and administrative matters within universities are not solved by reason, but by the resorting to the brute force of executive power, in some cases hiding behind a religious bastion.

Within labor and journalistic organizations, and even within the judicial system, practices that are clearly violating democratic norms are repeatedly employed with no one force being able to stop them.

The impression that has been created by these events is that the demise of democracy within our society is just a matter of time.

In light of these developments, the outcomes of the struggles that have been carried out by democratic forces within both the NU and the PDI will have a very encouraging impact on the country as a whole.

I am quite sure that not every one is happy with these latest turns of events. But I am also quite confident that the people on the street feel quite relieved witnessing these latest developments.

In my opinion, the re-election of Abdurrachman Wahid or Gus Dur as chairman of NU for the third consecutive time still signifies another development.

If I am not mistaken, this very fact means that the younger generation within the NU has accepted Gus Dur with all his "controversial" attitudes and statements.

Gus Dur represents quite a new breed of Moslems in Indonesia. He is a Moslem intellectual who has been consistently and tirelessly trying to narrow the gap between Islamic culture on the one hand and modern Western culture on the other. He is very well versed in Islamic theology. Yet he never feels more Islamic and more superior towards Moslems who live at the periphery of the Islamic community in Indonesia. He never judges the "Moslemness" of other Moslems.

Gus Dur is also very much at ease when he communicates and interacts with leaders of other religions. He sincerely accepts them as his equals. He never considers people of other religions as less worthy. He is a true believer in Pancasila.

All these characteristics mean to me that Gus Dur is genuinely a brand new type of Indonesian Moslem. It is precisely because of these characteristics that Indonesian Moslems from the older type have become suspicious.

I think that opposition towards him within the NU organization is genuine. I think that anti-democratic practices employed by certain individuals during the congress are only additional factors that have shaped the stiff opposition of Gus Dur.

If it is true that the staunchest support for Gus Dur came primarily from the younger generation, it then means that - taking all that has been said above into consideration - a new generation of Indonesian Moslems has been born.

Is his being "controversial" a liability for the organization that he has been leading for the past ten years, as one Minister suggested? I don't think so! To be controversial is in my opinion a characteristic that cannot be avoided by any leader trying to lead his followers into modernity.

The writer is rector of the IKIP-Muhammadiyah Teachers Training college, Jakarta.

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