NU faces political conspiracy: Abdurrahman
NU faces political conspiracy: Abdurrahman
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's largest Moslem organization, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), is being undermined by a political conspiracy to bring its 30-million members to support parties vying for power, according to chairman Abdurrahman Wahid.
"Several parties wish to push the NU into practical politics," Abdurrahman, better known as Gus Dur, said yesterday. The organization commemorates its 70th anniversary tomorrow.
"We are not interested," he said. "The NU will continue its stance. We will never support anyone in any (political campaign)."
Abdurrahman charged that there are groups, seeking political leverage, which are attempting to drag NU members into joining their campaign to influence the 1998 session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).
The 1,000 assembly members will convene to prepare the Broad Guidelines of State Policies and to elect a president for the 1998-2003 term.
Several groups other than the three political groupings -- Golkar, the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) -- have expressed support for President Soeharto's renomination in the 1998 presidential election.
Abdurrahman said political wrangling should only be conducted by the three participants in the 1997 elections. The other groups which are making noises are merely "seeking credit points" from the political superstructure, he pointed out.
Abdurrahman also named another form of conspiracy which the NU is facing; involving his own foe, Abu Hasan, who held an extraordinary congress and set up a rival leadership board in Pondok Gede, East Jakarta, earlier this month.
Abdurrahman said NU leaders knew a conspiracy had been brewing even before Abu Hasan announced his plan to hold the congress.
The aim of the plot was to create an obstruction because of the existence of two parties (within the NU) which would have to be reconciled through mediation, Abdurrahman said.
The so-called "peacemaker would then be able to force their will on the organization", Abdurrahman claimed.
He believed that the scenario might arise when both he and Abu Hasan will be made to step down, and a third person will emerge as leader.
According to Abdurrahman, one of the NU leaders in East Java, Wahid Zaini, has been approached "by certain parties" to be the alternative man, but he politely declined. Abdurrahman did not identify "the certain parties" preparing the scenario.
"This (conspiracy) is not a recent development," he said.
Following the establishment of the rival board, various groups in the community have called on the government to mediate and bring the two camps together.
Abdurrahman, however, said the demands for the government to mediate in the conflict are examples of efforts to disrupt the organization.
But these maneuvers, he said, "are not dangerous."
"It's been two weeks since the Pondok Gede meeting took place, and not one NU branch has officially appointed any man to become (the alternative leader)," he said.
Commenting on the overall condition of NU as it enters its 70th year, Abdurrahman said that the large following of NU, "something which is God-given", can sometimes be troublesome.
He said maneuvers by interest groups attracted by the NU's large membership as a potential power base, have become blatant. "Security guards at the NU office here often receive phone calls by people threatening to take over the office," he said.
He said the conspiracy was hatched by people who were concerned because of his perceived closeness with Megawati Soekarnoputri, the chief of the minority Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
Abdurrahman dismissed the notion. He said he did not believe the circulating rumors that President Soeharto wanted him to resign out of fear that the NU might throw its weight behind the PDI.
"The Pak Harto whom I know does not think like that...besides, why should he be afraid of Megawati?" he said.
Analysts have said that a political entente has been developing between Abdurrahman and Megawati, aimed at creating a greater force to compete against Golkar in the 1997 general elections.
Many however believe that an alliance between the two, who are often considered to be standing against the government, might not be effective. (anr)