NU-PDI alliance -- real or superficial?

NU-PDI alliance -- real or superficial?

By Wisnu Pramudya

JAKARTA (JP): The Nahdlatul Ulama and Indonesian Democratic Party may be worlds apart ideologically, but it seems that an entente between the two could be possible.

Their leaders, Abdurrahman Wahid of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Megawati Soekarnoputri of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), seem to have created that impression.

The two figures have been seen together, complimenting one another, in public so often in recent months that speculation is rife about a possible marriage between their two organizations.

With the general election now just two years away, such an alliance, or the prospect of one, could change the political equation in Indonesia.

One can't help the feeling that some of the meetings, or chanced meetings, between Megawati and Abdurrahman were designed for media publicity.

During the Ramadhan fasting month, Megawati and Abdurrahman held breaking of the fast dinners twice in less than ten days.

One of the dinners was held at Megawati's house, but organized by the NU youth organization FKGMNU and attended by hundreds of student and political activists. Abdurrahman said he was there in his personal capacity, but subsequent press reports were clearly toned with suggestions that an alliance was actually developing between the two organizations.

Megawati's presence at the NU congress in Cipasung, West Java, last December, staying until Abdurrahman was reelected as chairman, also fueled speculation.

She was the only political party leader to attend the celebration of Abdurrahman's reelection, at an elegant restaurant, hosted by the Forum for Democracy, a loose group of government critics which Abdurrahman also chairs.

There were other forces at work, beyond their control, that strengthened the speculation of an alliance.

Last August, a number of NU ulemas, whose bid to takeover the leadership of the United Development Party (PPP) was frustrated, threatened to abandon the party altogether and join PDI.

One of the most senior NU ulemas, K.H. Alawy Muhammad, went so far as to agreeing to host a memorial service for Sukarno, Indonesia's first president and the father of Megawati.

This development is interesting because, seen from historical and ideological points of view, the two organizations could not be more different.

NU is a rural-based organization, whose members in the pesantren (boarding schools) are often seen as traditional and loyal toward the power holders.

PDI was formed in 1972, through a merger of three nationalist parties and two Christian parties. The party has often created an image of being an opposition to the government.

Arbi Sanit from the University of Indonesia believes that there is indeed an attraction going on between the two, which grows out of a feeling of being in the same boat.

Both Megawati and Abdurrahman have been held at arms length by the government, Arbi said. "Abdurrahman keeps his distance from the power holder, while PDI has been put at a distance," he said.

Arbi believes the two leaders wish to present themselves as an alternative source of force, and to combine their respective bases: the ordinary people, in the urban areas for PDI, and the rural areas for NU.

Given the assumption of being in the same boat, the two leaders can't help but project the image that they are getting closer to each other, Arbi said.

However, two other observers, Ichlasul Amal and Priyatmoko, urged the public not to read too deeply into the perceived entente because it could very well be merely a symbolic or unreal coalition.

"This might be an involvement of Megawati and Abdurrahman only, rather than of the NU and PDI," Ichlas, who is director of Postgraduate Programs of the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said.

"I doubt that there will be any real coalition between the two, because the NU won't gain anything from it," he said. He admitted that it is possible for PDI to increase supporters among the NU members.

"If anything, any coalition between the two would only be a parasitic symbiosis, at least for the NU," he told The Jakarta Post. "Furthermore, we still have to consider the possibility that only NU leaders wish to join PDI, while the mass itself may not be too happy about such an alliance."

Priyatmoko from the Airlangga University in Surabaya pointed out that, historically, PDI has always found it difficult to be accepted in the pesantren.

"All this time, PDI has never created the image that it is leaning toward Islam, so that it would be difficult for the NU to accept it as a political partner," Priyatmoko, who claims himself to be an admirer of Abdurrahman, told the Post.

Both Ichlas and Priyatmoko saw the so-called entente more as proof of Abdurrahman's ambitions to be politically active, without letting go of his roots in the NU.

"No wonder followers of the NU are often confused by the activities of their leader," Priyatmoko said.

Priyatmoko agreed that PDI stands to gain very much politically from this alliance, no matter how superficial.

"The ruling political group Golkar is not as solid as people think, so people can always say that there is the need of the presence of an alternative force," he said.

However, Arbi Sanit believes that, in the current political condition, the political forces (including the NU and PDI), as opposed to the bureaucratic political force, will still be at a disadvantage.

"The current political system is so elitist, that only the interests of the elite are reflected in the structures of power," he said, pointing out that an NU and PDI alliance, no matter how interesting it may look, is not likely to be an effective source of power.

"Megawati and Abdurrahman are only building solidarity between political victims, that's all," Priyatmoko said.