NU board to discuss sanctions on dissenters
NU board to discuss sanctions on dissenters
BANDUNG (JP): The executive board of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) under Abdurrahman Wahid will meet in Jakarta on Thursday to discuss sanctions for NU members who have either joined or supported a rival board headed by Abu Hasan.
However, Abdurrahman told reporters last Thursday, many of those who defected to Abu Hasan have since returned to his fold.
"Their number is quite big, the secretary-general is compiling their data. Obviously, those who have returned to us would not be punished. We will only give sanctions to those who do not recognize the result of the Cipasung Congress," he said.
The Cipasung Congress in West Java, 1994, saw the incumbent Abdurrahman reelected for his third five-year term, in spite of a strong campaign by Abu Hasan for the post.
Abu Hasan never accepted the congress result, claiming that he was cheated out of victory. He has since been campaigning to unseat Abdurrahman.
In January, he organized his own congress in Jakarta, attracting some NU leaders from various parts of the country. The congress endorsed him as the chairman of the NU executive board.
The NU is the largest Moslem organization in Indonesia, with more than 35 million followers. The government has said that it recognizes only the executive board headed by Abdurrahman.
Abdurrahman declined to say what sanctions await the supporters of Abu Hasan but said that these are all stated in the organization's statutes.
In the latest campaign to unseat Abdurrahman, Hamid Baidlowi, the chairman of the law making board under Abu Hasan, issued on Tuesday what he called a "white book", which accuses Abdurrahman of spreading the teaching of Shi'ite, the Islamic sect which prevails in Iran, and of taking part in international Zionism.
When asked to comment on the book, Gus Dur laughed it off. "That's no white book. That's a pamphlet."
Most of the accusations made against him in the book were not new, he said.
"The only thing new is the claim that I financed the building of a mosque for Shi'ite followers. Now I'd like to ask him the name and location of the mosque. If he can't answer these, then he's a liar." (17)