NU chairman Gus Dur and the Islamic social movement

Membangun Budaya Kerakyatan -- Kepemimpinan Gus Dur dan Gerakan Sosial NU (Building People's Culture -- Gus Dur's Leadership and NU's Social Movement) By M. Fajrul Falaakh, M. Imam Aziz, etc. Titian Ilahi Press & INHIS 275 pages

YOGYAKARTA (JP): The articles in this book were nearly all written by young people active in the NU or organizations affiliated with the NU. These young people are the new blood who will form the backbone of NU at the end of the century.

They are thinkers and supporters of the ideas of NU Chairman Abdurrahman Wahid, who is commonly called Gus Dur, on conducting social transformation at grassroots level.

With the psychological instinct of the young they are at the same time sharp critics of Gus Dur's thoughts. For them, Gus Dur's ideas are very relevant to the current trends of thought in the Islamic intellectual world and in the Western world. But it does not mean that brilliant thought carries them away. They also dispute any of Gus Dur's ideas they think are at odds with the spirit of the era.

The social transformation idealized and initiated by Gus Dur during his leadership at UN can be simply translated as: (1) To encourage the growth of an economically and politically independent social class; (2) To launch an Islamic social movement through contextual approaches characterized by openness, moderation and justice.

Gus Dur's seemingly eccentric attitude (P. 133) is the very thing that attracts young people seeking new lines of thought. They want things to be less serious and strict, to be mixed with jokes, but still enabling the settlement of problems.

It must be admitted that Gus Dur has repeatedly made dangerous and unexpected maneuvers. He once suggested replacing the Arabic greeting assalamualaikum with good morning, good afternoon or good evening. NU once had a donation from the state lottery foundation, resulting in the sacking of the secretary general. Gus Dur's visit to Israel, which has no diplomatic relations with Indonesia, angered many Indonesian Moslems. But in spite of the insults and criticisms flung at him, Gus Dur holds his own.

Since the July 27 riots in Jakarta Gus Dur has made the headlines regularly. He treated wisely and responsibly the case of the riots in Situbondo, a big NU base in East Java. In the series of riots afterwards, Gus Dur statements invited debate. He said government agencies were conducting an operation, code named green dragon, to oust him from NU. When he was accused of being too close to Megawati Sukarnoputri, the ex-Indonesian Democratic Party chairperson, he said he would invite Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, President Soeharto's eldest daughter and vice chairperson of the Golkar ruling party, to tour NU Islamic boarding schools with him.

The articles in this book mostly focus on problems troubling NU in the 1990s. The book is not solely about Gus Dur but looks at NU as a whole. But it is not possible to discuss NU without mentioning its leader Gus Dur and visa versa.

An important and interesting event during Gus Dur's leadership was the NU conference at Cipasung, West Java, in 1994, not long after the success of NU's mass rally. At the conference a strong competitor, Abu Hasan, suddenly appeared.

Long before the conference, Gus Dur had said he would not run again for the position of NU chairman. But, seeing the competition and the attempts of some NU factions to force the organization into politics, Gus Dur felt he needed to stay. To allow such developments was tantamount to declaring his longstanding efforts useless. His push to return to NU's 1926 khittah (original mission) would have failed. So, Gus Dur re- appeared and was re-elected chairman at the conference.

Enforcing the khittah is, in Gus Dur's view, a necessity. It would not be possible to have a strong community if it is continuously preoccupied with practical political problems. The khittah is a bridge towards other ideals, the growth of a democratic climate and the development of an Islamic social movement with sociocultural dimensions.

So far Gus Dur's Islamic social movement has been criticized by a number of Moslem groups wanting social movement with legal- formal dimensions. This opposition has always colored Islamic social movements in Indonesia. This is why Hairus Salim and Nuruddin Amin ask rhetorically if something is out of order between the two movements (P. 113-119).

One thing that worries many people is that NU members fail to follow and understand Gus Dur's views. Therefore, his ideas are often rejected because members are not ready to accept strange thoughts. Nevertheless, there is no doubt Gus Dur loves NU members and protects their interests. By lobbying, he has built a network of people's credit banks.

This book is not a serious and thorough study of Gus Dur's behavior and the NU, unlike other books on NU by Martin van Bruinessen or A. Gaffar Karim. It is a collection of short articles published in the media, more of a chronicle of NU during Gus Dur's leadership. Apart from the question of depth, this book deserves to be read to understand the extent of the appreciation young people have for Gus Dur's leadership.

-- A. Wisnuhardana

The writer is chairman of the Yogyakarta-based Humaniora Social Studies Forum.