NU leaders told to work for whole nation

JAKARTA (JP): Vice President Try Sutrisno told leaders of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia's largest Moslem organization, yesterday that they should work for the nation's good instead of serving only members.

"NU is a national asset," Try was quoted by NU Secretary- General Ichwan Sam, one of the religious-educational organization's top executives, who were meeting with the vice president.

The NU leaders met with Try to report on the preparations of the organization's upcoming congress scheduled for next week in the West Java town of Tasikmalaya.

According to Ichwan, Try extolled the virtue of NU leaders, such as their "democratic and tolerant" attitudes that stem from their mastery of Islamic values.

The vice president, Ichwan said, reminded the NU leaders that a good Moslem is one who is able to bring a peaceful atmosphere to his environment and not "frighten" others.

"I'm not about to beat about the bush. I think NU leaders are modern and able to create a peaceful atmosphere," Ichwan quoted Try as saying.

Numerous senior government and military officials have pledged they will not meddle in the upcoming NU congress, which will elect a new chairman and adopt programs for the next five years.

The burning issues will be whether Abdurrahman Wahid can retain his post as the NU chief and whether the organization will rescind its 1984 controversial resolution to quit formal politics.

Established in 1926 as a religious-educational organization, NU was once a powerful political party before it merged into the Moslem-based United Development Party (PPP) in 1973 together with other Islamic forces.

Recently, several influential NU members, such as Alawy Muhammad and Yusuf Hasyim, both from East Java, demanded that it return to practical politics.

Statistics from 1990 show that NU has 28.6 million registered members across Indonesia. It has 118 regency offices in Java and 59 in Sumatra. The organization runs about 5,800 Islamic boarding schools (pesantren).

Ichwan said that the vice president expressed hope that NU will stick to its commitment to stay away from practical politics.

NU's vice chairman, Sahal Mahfudz, who is among the strongest chairmanship candidates, said that NU would maintain its policy of staying out of politics and would concentrate on helping improve its members' well-being.

He said NU's non-political commitment had not been entirely put into practice and hoped that the situation would change for the better in the next five years. (pan)