NU corrects Gus Dur's statement on Megawati

NU corrects Gus Dur's statement on Megawati

SURABAYA (JP): Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) executives raced on
Tuesday to refute media reports that chairman Abdurrahman Wahid
prohibited its leaders and members from voicing support for
presidential candidate Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The chairman of the East Java chapter of NU, Hasyim Muzadi,
said the reports confused both organization members and the
public alike. He suspected the media misquoted Abdurrahman,
better known as Gus Dur.

In Jakarta, NU secretary-general Arifin Junaidi said the
reports caused "tension" between NU members and supporters of
Megawati in East and Central Java. He did not give details about
what occurred in the two provinces, but blamed Antara news agency
for running the reports.

"We are thinking of reprimanding, even filing legal
complaints, against the news agency," Arifin said in a news item
on private TV station RCTI. He accused the news agency of
manipulating facts.

"Before (the reports), NU members and supporters of Megawati
enjoyed a harmonious relationship," Arifin was quoted by Antara
as saying.

Hasyim and Arifin explained that Abdurrahman was actually
explaining the official stance of the organization, formulated in
a recent leadership meeting, regarding the presidency.

They said the organization agreed to instruct all executives
and members to "'fast' from talking about presidential
candidates" and that Abdurrahman was not exempted from the order.

The stance, Hasyim added, was adopted in an effort to clarify
confusion stemming from the role of the organization in national
politics. "The decision was that no one should mention any
presidential candidates, neither Megawati, (B.J.) Habibie or Gus
Dur himself," Hasyim said.

"This 'fast from talking' is important to prevent the
emergence of opinions that would divide NU and the National
Awakening Party, which is the organization's political
extension," he said.

Antara reported Abdurrahman as saying on Monday that he
prohibited leaders and members of the 30-million-strong Nahdlatul
Ulama from supporting Megawati, whose Indonesian Democratic Party
of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) won the majority of votes in the
June 7 elections.

At the same time, Abdurrahman reaffirmed in a meeting with
leaders of Muslim-based political parties, including Amien Rais
of the National Mandate Party (PAN), his willingness to be
nominated president by the political parties grouped in the new
political alliance known as the "axis force".

Amien Rais initiated the force in a bid to offset the growing
political tensions resulting from stiff competition between
Megawati, whose PDI Perjuangan won 33.7 percent of the vote, and
Golkar's presidential candidate, incumbent B.J. Habibie.

Abdurrahman founded the National Awakening Party (PKB), whose
chairman Matori Abdul Djalil supported a Megawati presidency
because of the possibility of him becoming vice president.

In Yogyakarta, local activists of NU's youth wing Anshor
called a media conference to air their support for Abdurrahman's
presidency, saying his candidacy would cause the least political
conflicts compared to either Habibie or Megawati.

Anshor chairman A. Zuhdi Muhdlor said the two most prominent
candidates attracted fanatical supporters who threatened
bloodshed if their choices did not win the presidential election
in November.

"If we have only two presidential candidates, namely Habibie
and Megawati, then we'd see the increased possibility of national
disintegration."

He was also confident that Matori's support for Megawati would
fade as the presidential election neared. The National Awakening
Party, which was fourth in the polls, would eventually support
Abdurrahman, he said.

Pressure

Also in Yogyakarta, scholar Ichlasul Amal said Abdurrahman's
inconsistency over the presidential candidacy and his decision to
reverse his support for Megawati signified pressure from the NU
grass roots for Abdurrahman to shift his allegiance to the axis
force.

The professor of politics from Gadjah Mada University
described a growing division between the elite of NU and PKB with
NU's grassroots supporters. The tug of war has led to
conflicting stances on support for presidential candidates, he
said.

Amal believed NU's supporters wanted PKB to support the axis
force although he did not give specific reasons.

Amal said PKB or NU would gain greater political benefit
through opting to support the axis force than if they supported
PDI Perjuangan, which would relegate PKB to a position of lesser
importance.

However, Amal said, expressions of support for particular
presidential candidates may not mean much if the presidential
election was held in closed, one-person-one-vote procedure in
November. Members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
would be able to easily choose candidates that their parties did
not support, he said. (44/swa/swe)