NU clerics deny receiving election donations

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.