NU identity increasingly fluid, organisational structure needs strengthening: Chairman
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama Executive Board (PBNU), Yahya Cholil Staquf, has said that the boundaries of NU identity within society are becoming increasingly fluid, so NU needs to re-establish the references that distinguish the jamiyah (organisation) from the jamaah (congregation).
“In the early generations, it may have been easier, even if not explicitly formulated, for people to easily identify what NU was,” he said during a discussion ahead of the 35th NU Congress titled ‘NU Masa Depan dan Masa Depan NU’ at the Talibuana Nusantara Foundation in Pancoran, Jakarta, on Monday.
The man commonly known as Gus Yahya said this change is visible in at least two phenomena. First, the social and cultural boundaries between NU members and non-members are increasingly dissolving. Second, more and more people are openly identifying themselves as NU members.
Gus Yahya said this phenomenon has been visible since around 2010, when he was still serving as PBNU Katib. He noted that Indo Barometer Executive Director Muhammad Qodari in 2010 presented survey results showing that 47 percent of Indonesia’s Muslim population identified as NU members.
He also compared several survey results. The 2004 election exit poll recorded around 35 percent of voters on the permanent voter list identified as NU members, while the LSI Denny JA survey in 2005 recorded around 27 percent of the Muslim population identified as NU. That figure rose to around 56 percent by 2023.
“This is extraordinary. Imagine, in just 18 years,” he said.
He assessed that the organisational structure needs to remain one of the main references in the ta’rif or definition of NU, especially to maintain the relationship between the jamiyah and the jamaah.
Gus Yahya observed the emergence of various platforms that carry NU identity, but whose identity is very fluid and follows the general public’s perception.
“If the structure cannot serve as a reference for the definition of NU, then it is the structure itself that will dissolve into the lay perception of NU among the wider public, and culturally that has already begun to happen,” he said.
Beyond the issue of structure, Gus Yahya said NU needs to determine its position in the national political configuration. He questioned whether a person’s NU identity becomes void simply because that person does not vote for PKB. According to him, voter data shows that the political preferences of NU members are spread across various parties.
Therefore, he urged NU to return to the spirit of the 1926 Khittah by not placing the organisation in the contestation of political power.
At the international level, Gus Yahya also wants NU not to merely be a supporter of agendas created by other parties. According to him, NU needs to become an active actor by proposing its own initiatives and ideas on global issues while determining a clear position in the international constellation.