NU to begin conggress amid bickering
Blontank Poer and Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Surakarta/Yogyakarta
The debate on involvement in politics seems likely to dominate the upcoming 39th congress of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's biggest Muslim group, to be opened in the Central Java town of Surakarta by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Sunday.
To some extent, the race for the chairmanship and chief patron posts during the congress will be a rerun of the rivalry between elite groups within the organization during the presidential election in July and the runoff election in September.
For many months now, the 40 million members of the organization have been split between NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi, who represents "structural" leaders, and Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid who, despite his absence from the election, orchestrated a move against Hasyim along with informal but influential clerics.
One thorny issue for the around 5,000 participants expected at the congress centers on how NU executives can be involved in politics without dragging the institution into their power struggles.
Despite its decision in 1984 to go back to its roots as a sociocultural organization, some NU leaders, including Gus Dur and Hasyim, have long been attracted to politics.
Gus Dur took the presidency in 1999 at the expense of Megawati Soekarnoputri, while Hasyim contested this year's presidential election as President Megawati's running mate.
NU deputy chairman Masdar F. Mas'udi said the NU was originally a religious organization.
"NU does not practice politics through political parties. Its politics are always aimed at improving public welfare and protecting the process of nation-building," he said.
The organization turned to politics in 1945 when it joined Masyumi, a leading Muslim-based party. Later in 1952, it broke away from Masyumi and declared itself an independent political party.
As a political party, the NU finished third in the country's first ever general election in 1955.
Under the New Order regime, the NU was forced to merge with other Islam-based parties to form the United Development Party (PPP) in 1970.
At a landmark congress in 1984, the NU stepped back from politics, although five years later in Yogyakarta, it decided that involvement in politics was tolerable but should not affect the organization's solidarity.
Following the fall of the New Order, the NU facilitated the establishment of the National Awakening Party (PKB).
During its congress in 1999, the NU called on its followers to vote for the PKB. This decision drew criticism from some NU followers, which led to the establishment of other parties by NU figures.
The PKB finished fourth in the 1999 election, the first reasonably democratic one since 1955.
Under Hasyim, the NU adopted a new approach on how the organization should respond should its leaders wish to contest elections. Hasyim agreed to step aside temporarily, while another NU executive running in the presidential election, Solahuddin Wahid, opted to relinquish his post.