NU ends Congress, opposes amendment of Article 29
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The country's largest Muslim organization, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), closed its four-day congress on Sunday, with recommendations including opposing the planned amendment on Article 29 of the 1945 Constitution and supporting a direct presidential election.
NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi said there were certain parts of the Constitution that should not be amended by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), especially those relating to the spirit of the country's declaration of independence, the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia and the presidential system, as well as the state's obligation to protect the freedom of its citizens to follow certain religions.
"These are parts of the 1945 Constitution that should not be amended by politicians at the Assembly," Hasyim said, warning that "politicians should not monopolize the amendment process by ignoring the involvement of all Indonesian people."
"They (politicians) claim themselves to be representatives of the people, but sometimes they act as if they don't represent the people," Hasyim told a media conference after the closing ceremony.
He added that NU supported a direct presidential election, considering that would empower the position of the executive, which is currently undermined by the legislature.
However, he did not elaborate on whether a direct presidential election should take place in 2004 or 2009.
"We (NU) have agreed to adopt the second-round system in the direct presidential election in an effort to curb too much intervention by the legislature into the executive," Hasyim said.
The four-day congress was closed by Vice President Hamzah Haz.
During the congress, NU introduced several measures, including those to reunite its dispersed politicians and ulemas, scattered throughout different parties and social groups.
The 40-million-strong organization also said that it would stay away from practical politics and would reaffirm its khittah (NU's commitment to shun practical politics), which was adopted in 1984.
NU further criticized the country's failure to recover from the economic crisis, which has plagued the country since 1998 -- a situation that led to the downfall of former president Soeharto -- and blamed corruption as its most likely cause.
Hasyim stated that, according to a survey carried out by international research institution Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC), Indonesia was the most corrupt country in Asia.
"People who practice corruption can be categorized as burglars. In Islamic law, these kind of people deserve to be sentenced to jail? If so, replace "sentenced to" with "jailed" or even have their hands cut off," Hasyim said.
Since Soeharto stepped down in disgrace, several Golkar party executives have been tried for corruption, including House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung and People's Consultative Assembly deputy speaker Ginandjar Kartasasmita.
Akbar's fate awaits the judges' verdict, expected early in August. Prosecutors have demanded a four-year jail term for Akbar.
Abdurrahman Wahid, the country's fourth president and also Hasyim's predecessor, was removed from office after being accused of misappropriating some Rp 35 billion (US$3.8 million) in funds belonging to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) in 2001.
NU also expressed support for the war against terrorism, but warned "the superpowers not to promote radicalism in combating terrorism."
Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country, with more than 90 percent of its 220 million people professing to be Muslims. Several foreign countries have accused Indonesia of harboring terrorists.
Suicide bombs
NU inserted a discussion article into its recommendations at the end of its four-day congress, which stated that Muslims were allowed to detonate suicide bombs as a last resort when fighting for their basic rights.
Abdul Malik Madani of NU's Yogyakarta chapter said suicide bombers should be seen as, "an attempt to sacrifice themselves for the sake of Islamic principles, as well as in the people's interest.
"Islam prohibits its followers from committing suicide without good reason, namely fighting for the truth, or to further religious principles.
"The suicide bomb is only allowed in Islam under certain conditions, which include upholding Islamic principles, but not primarily for bombers to intentionally kill themselves or to attract public attention," Abdul told reporters.
NU held a discussion on the topic to respond to the situation in predominantly Muslim countries, including Palestine, where some have resorted to suicide bombing to fight their opponents.
"In Indonesian history, only Muhammad Toha of West Java committed suicide in the fight against the Dutch in 1945," Abdul recalled.