NU clerics declare Semarang congress illegitimate

NU clerics declare Semarang congress illegitimate

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Awakening Party (PKB) is veering away from internal
reconciliation as a group of Muslim clerics who helped found the
party demanded on Sunday a new congress to elect legitimate
leaders.

Concluding their two-day gathering, the senior ulemas
officially rejected the results of PKB congress in Semarang last
April, which elected Muhaimin Iskandar and Abdurrahman "Gus Dur"
Wahid as chairman and chief patron respectively.

PKB legislator Muhammad A.S. Hikam said the clerics assigned
Alwi Shihab, who was dismissed as PKB chief last year, to
coordinate efforts to settle the ongoing dispute within the
party.

"The upcoming congress will also mean a reconciliation," Hikam
said.

The meeting also asked all party executives in regional
chapters and affiliated organizations to support the policy and
take disciplinary action against dissenting members.

One of the clerics, Idris Marzuki, said people had been
confused by the dispute, which has split the party into a camp
under Alwi and another led by Muhaimin. The two sides are
fighting in court over their rights to lead the party.

PKB dismissed Alwi and Siafullah Yusuf as PKB leader and
secretary general respectively after they joined the Cabinet of
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The party bans its executives
from holding government posts to avoid conflicts of interest.

The clerics who attended the meeting, he said, do not belong
to any of the camp, but to Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest
Muslim organization.

"We are the NU camp of PKB," Idris said.

Idris urged all PKB supporters to stick together no matter
what the court rules, and asked NU clerics and party executives
to disseminate the results of the ulema's meeting to the party's
grassroots constituents.

Backed by a group of influential ulemas who cofounded the
party in 1999, Alwi challenged the legitimacy of the Semarang
congress for failing to involve him and Saifullah.

The two ministers have sued the party's central board over the
dismissal, which they said violated the party's statutes.

Alwi said on Sunday that the clerics were not on his side, but
"the truth and people who are mandated to defend the truth".

"Let's hold this mandate. This has to be the last time the
ulemas interfere, as they have more important jobs of guiding
students and followers," Alwi said.

While the ulema's meeting was underway, two unidentified men
pelted the East Java secretariat of PKB-linked youth group Garda
Bangsa (Nation's Guardian) with stones, shattering the building's
windows.

Garda Bangsa's East Java executive Ridwan M. Nur said the
group's members were busy preparing administration papers to show
their support for the PKB congress last April, when the incident
took place.

"Perhaps it's an act of terror. But we're not afraid at all.
We stick to our support for the congress in Semarang," he said,
quoted by Antara.

Local police are investigating the attack.