NU ends Congress, opposes amendment of Article 29

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.