NU leaders give up efforts to reconcile PKB factions
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest Muslim organization, which gave birth to the National Awakening Party (PBK), is giving up its exhausting attempts to reconcile two rival factions within the party, citing irreconcilable differences between the two groups.
"We have worked hard to reconcile the two groups but failed because each faction has insisted on its own stance. We will simply wait and see what happens next," NU Central Executive Board Chairman Hasyim Muzadi told The Jakarta Post here on Thursday.
Set up in 1999 with the majority support of NU's 45 million members, PKB split into two groups in July 2001 after a small faction led by party chairman Matori Abdul Djalil attended the Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). The session ousted then president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, PKB's founder and installed then Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri as his successor.
Despite heavy pressure from PKB leaders and legislators, Matori, who was later appointed defense minister in Megawati's Gotong Royong Cabinet, refused to resign from the party, prompting PKB leaders to fire him and give the chairmanship to then foreign affairs minister Alwi Sihab.
Both, however, claim to be the legitimate PKB leader. Only four of PKB's 51 legislators support Matori.
The Matori faction will convene a leadership congress from Jan. 14 through Jan. 16 in Jakarta, while the Alwi faction will organize a similar event from Jan. 17 through Jan. 19 in Yogyakarta.
Hasyim said on Thursday that leaders of NU provincial branches would meet in Jakarta on Jan. 13, just one day before Matori's faction begins its three-day congress, to discuss another approach for reconciling the two rival groups.
"The meeting will also discuss the possibility of issuing an edict urging NU members to recognize just one of the two factions," he said.
The edict would likely give tacit support to the Alwi faction, where former president Gus Dur serves as chief of the powerful board of patrons.
Gus Dur reiterated on Thursday that he would reject reconciliation if Matori insisted on claiming that he was the legitimate leader of PKB.
"Islah (reconciliation) cannot be achieved if both sides claim they are equally right," Gus Dur told the Post.
He said his PKB faction would change its name should Matori's group win recognition from President Megawati Soekarnoputri's government. "The new name could be the 'Real PKB' or something similar," he added.
Asked about Matori's insistence on maintaining his position, Gus Dur said Matori relied solely on the government's support for him.
Megawati met Hasyim last week for the first time since Gus Dur's downfall, and told him that she wanted the rival PKB groups to reunite and hold only one congress to resolve their bitter dispute.
However, a reliable source told the Post on Thursday that during the meeting, which was also attended by Matori, Megawati tried to persuade Hasyim to stand behind the splinter PKB group, but Hasyim rejected the request, saying that he supported neither of them.
"Ibu Mega asked Pak Hasyim to side with Matori. She also sent one of her people to demand that PKB accommodate Matori and not embarrass him," the source said.
The source also said NU ulemas did a similar thing during their recent meeting in the Langitan Islamic boarding school in the East Java town of Tuban, asking Hasyim to take a stance in favor of Alwi's faction.
Hasyim turned down their demand, too. "We understand this because Pak Hasyim must protect NU members from being abused by a certain political interest," the source added.
But Hasyim denied on Thursday that Megawati had appealed to him to side with Matori. "The report is not true," he said.
Hasyim admitted the government had tended to support Matori's faction as a way of thanking him for being loyal to Megawati during the 2001 special session.
Asked further about Matori's refusal to reconcile, Hasyim said the defense minister harbored political ambitions to show his mettle after having been sacked as PKB chairman.
He warned Matori of being manipulated by Gus Dur's opponents to undermine NU and PKB for their own political interests, should he refuse to unite again.
Meanwhile, Alwi again urged Matori to use his "common sense" in responding to the reconciliation offer and to cancel his planned congress, saying the conflict would only inflict losses on all sides, including his own.
"It is the final call from me for the sake of PKB and the nationalist faction," Alwi told a press conference on Thursday.
He said he could guarantee that Matori would be pardoned by PKB leaders if he accepted the reconciliation offer and attended the planned party congress in Yogyakarta.
He said his faction had made an offer to Matori for him to serve as one of the members of the PKB board of patrons in the next party leadership lineup.
Alwi also warned Megawati against backing Matori, saying the move could spark anger among ulemas and other supporters of NU.
During the media conference, Alwi distributed copies of an invitation to Matori to attend the Yogyakarta congress, at which he could clarify the stance he took when he supported the ouster of Gus Dur.