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)