NU leaders told to work for whole nation
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)