NU chairman Gus Dur and the Islamic social movement

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.