NU clerics deny receiving election donations

The Jakarta Post, Surabaya/Surakarta

Muslim clerics, accused of accepting large sums of money in connection with the presidential election, denied on Monday that they had received donations from the campaign team of incumbent president Megawati Soekarnoputri and running mate Hasyim Muzadi.

One of clerics included in a roster of donation receivers, Mas Subadar of Roudlatul Ulum Islamic boarding school (pesantren) in Pasuruan, said that no one from the Megawati-Hasyim team had approached him and offered him a whopping US$10,000 in exchange for his support for the pair in the July 5 polls.

"I never received nor rejected the money as there has not been any offer of money from the Megawati-Hasyim team," Subadar told The Jakarta Post.

East Java's General Elections Commission (KPUD) said last Friday that it was investigating a report that a number of NU clerics had received $10,000 each from Hasyim's team to back the two in the July 5 election.

Hasyim, NU's nonactive chairman, had denied the allegations and vowed to accept full responsibility if the charges were proven true.

He, however, admitted that he sometimes gave donations to NU clerics, but stressed that he and campaign team members had never attempted to buy votes.

Subadar said the report from the East Java General Elections Commission (KPUD) that he and other revered Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) clerics received bribes from Hasyim was false.

Another NU cleric Ubaidilah Faqih also denied the report, saying that no one in the Megawati-Hasyim team had given money to him or assigned him as a middleman to distribute money to other clerics.

He also demanded that the KPUD come up with solid evidence to substantiate its allegation.

Ubaidillah, the son of influential cleric Abdullah Faqih of Langitan Islamic boarding school in Tuban, is a staunch supporter of presidential candidate Wiranto and running mate Solahuddin Wahid, who were already disqualified in the Sept. 20 runoff.

A chorus of denials also came from influential NU clerics from Central Java.

Muntoha, a cleric from Wonosobo, said through his spokesman that he did not receive even a dime from the Megawati-Hasyim team's coffers.

"Kyai Muntoha has not received money from any presidential candidates including Megawati," Muntoha's spokesman Kholiq Arief told the Post.

Majid Kamal, the son of cleric Maemun Zuber of Sarang Islamic school in Rembang, said that although Hasyim did have a meeting with his father days before the election, the vice presidential candidate said nothing about any financial arrangements.

Majid said that in the meeting Hasyim only asked his father's blessings. "Therefore, there was no money involved," he said.

However, sources from NU youth wing said that the provincial branch of the largest Muslim organization had ordered executives at the regental level to rally support for Megawati and Hasyim.

They alleged that NU provincial chairman Muhammad Adnan had acted as a middleman to channel the money from the campaign team to the clerics.

A close aide of Sahal Mahfudz, another cleric accused of receiving bribes, said that Sahal refused the money and returned it to Adnan's private account.

Contacted separately, Adnan also denied the vote-buying allegation. "You can check my account yourself, both my private account and my account as NU provincial chairman," he said.