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