NU convention: How it can benefit the members

NU convention: How it can benefit the members

Muhammad Nafik, Surakarta

Will the five-day congress (muktamar) of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU),
which began on Sunday in Surakarta, Central Java, mean anything
for the some 40 million members of the country's largest Muslim
organization?

Many hope that the 31st national congress will depart from the
pattern set by previous conferences by taking into account the
plight of NU members, mostly farmers, fishermen, laborers and
other people on low incomes.

The NU community is badly in need of a better life, low-cost
(if not free) education, medical services, modern farming and
fishing equipment, and assistance funds or bank loans to
strengthen their economic activities. The NU has to date paid
little attention to these needs to date.

On top of that, NU members want their organization to help
improve their welfare and lift them out of poverty. They do not
want to be overwhelmed with religious sermons and teachings, but
rather want help to deal with the harsh realities they face.

By tradition, political issues have always topped the agenda
at NU national meetings, with the participants devoting most of
their attention to the election of the members of the NU's law-
making body (syuriah) and executive board (tanfidziyah). At the
same time, they pay little attention to social problems
confronting the majority of the organization's community.

This failing has attracted the attention of a group of young
intellectuals in the NU, who recently organized a meeting in
Cirebon, West Java, aimed at encouraging the organization to
stick to its khittah (an NU commitment made in 1984 to quit
practical politics).

As well as staying out of politics, the khittah also means
that the NU must strengthen its socio-religious roles so as to
improve the economic life of its members, in particular,
grassroots members.

These young intellectuals also pushed the NU to draw up action
plans for the carrying out of its community programs and overhaul
its statutes so as to prevent its leaders from hijacking the
organization and using it as a political vehicle to gain power.

The NU should respond to the call positively, otherwise it
would once again be unable to address the substantial grievances
of it members.

NU has thousands of Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) and
day schools (madrasah), hospitals, cooperatives and social
foundations across this predominantly Muslim country. However,
they are not managed professionally if compared to similar
institutions run by Muhammadiyah, the nation's second biggest
Muslim organization.

A number of madrasah have even had to close for financial
reasons resulting from a lack of students, while at the same time
many children of poor families are forced to drop out of school
because of poverty.

Institutionally, Muhammadiyah is considered by many to be more
modern and professional than the NU, as the former has long been
dedicated to promoting education, health and other concrete
goals, while focusing less on politics having adopted a clear
stance to stay out of this area.

Many other NU figures have backed the suggestion by the young
intellectuals that their organization needs to abide by the
khittah in order to serve the direct needs of its own community.

The upcoming congress in Surakarta is the right moment to
reaffirm this commitment, they say.

"The NU should place more focus on its role as a cultural
movement rather than concentrate on political maneuvers," Zuhairi
Misrawi says.

However, he also admits that the current congress appears not
to be focusing on the sort of socio-economic issues that directly
affect the NU grassroot supporters.

Instead, the participants are likely to devote most of their
energies to the leadership elections.

Incumbent NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi admitted that his
organization has yet to pay greater attention to the economic
empowerment programs as its elite members and clerics still find
it difficult to give up politics.

During the present reform era following the 1998 fall of
former autocratic leader Soeharto, NU clerics became deeply
involved in politics.

Running on the NU-founded National Awakening Party (PKB)
ticket, many clerics have obtained real political power and serve
as members of legislative bodies. However, in many cases they
often fail to perform well as they frequently skip legislative
sessions due partly to their busy schedules in managing their
pesantren.

The clerics' direct involvement in practical politics has
increasingly diverted the NU away from focusing on its socio-
religious missions.

Worse still, political rivalry inside the NU and PKB has added
to the serious internal problems within these two organizations.
This has further diverted the clerics from devoting their time to
educating, enlightening and empowering their followers.

Hasyim's move to stand as the running mate of former president
Megawati Soekarnoputri in the presidential election in July and
the runoff election in September sparked serious problems inside
the NU.

Although he temporarily stepped aside as NU chairman to
contest the poll, he was accused by former president Abdurrahman
Wahid and other senior clerics of breaching the khittah. Hasyim
denied any wrongdoing as he had temporarily relinquished his
post.

This controversy also needs to be settled by the ongoing
congress in Surakarta. The question is, whether it is enough to
merely step aside from one's post in the NU if one wants to run
for political office.

During a news conference in Jakarta on Wednesday, Hasyim said
he would propose that the congress toughen the NU's statutes in
this regard by requiring executives to completely resign if they
wanted to run for political office.

If the proposal is approved by the meeting, it will represent
a step forward by the NU in reaffirming its commitment to
khittah, and to start shifting the focus to addressing the social
problems of its members.

The author is a staff writer of The Jakarta Post