NU plays down Gus Dur's threat

NU plays down Gus Dur's threat

JAKARTA: Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman Hasyim Muzadi has
played down an internal division within the country's largest
Muslim organization, saying any move to establish a breakaway
institution would not win popular support.

He made the statement after a meeting on Saturday in Jakarta
with several clerics from Buntet pesantren (Islamic boarding
school) in Cirebon, West Java, who supported his reelection as NU
chairman.

The clerics denied that the head of Buntet, Abdullah Abbas,
backed former NU chairman and president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur"
Wahid's plan to set up a splinter NU group in protest against
Hasyim's second five-year term.

"Kyai Abbas is too old to get involved in any kind of dispute.
His concern now is merely to educate his students and to maintain
the integrity of the organization," said his nephew, Adib
Rofiudin Izza.

Abbas is one of the most senior NU ulema with Gus Dur's camp
opposed to the leadership of Hasyim, whom they accused of
dragging the NU into politics. --JP