NU clerics to meet before congress

CIREBON, Jawa Barat: A group of Nahdlatul Ulama clerics plan an informal gathering here this weekend to evaluate the performance of the country's largest Muslim organization.

The meeting comes less than two months before the NU congress elects its chairman for the 2004-2009 period.

Organizing committee chairman Lukman Hakim said the meeting would accommodate criticism from the grass roots against the NU elite for dragging the organization into politics. NU declared itself a nonpolitical organization in 1984.

"We will listen to the opinions and aspirations of the grass roots. They could not be conveyed through the congress, as only officials in the structure are be invited," Lukman said.

NU deputy chairman Masdar Mas'udi, Mustofa Bisri of Rembang, Central Java, Malik Madani, Ilyas Ruchiyat of Tasikmalaya, Tuan Guru Turmudi of West Nusa Tenggara and Habib Luthfi of Pekalongan, Jawa Tengah, are among clerics who have confirmed their entry to the informal meeting at Babakan Islamic boarding school.

NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi and his predecessor Abdurrahman Wahid have been invited but not yet responded.

NU members were split between supporting Megawati and Wiranto in the first round of presidential elections in July and between Megawati and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the September runoff. -- JP