NU will suffer, whatever: Observers
NU will suffer, whatever: Observers
A. Junaidi, Jakarta
The involvement of leading figures of the country's largest
Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) in the presidential
election would only hurt the organization, observers said.
"NU, as part of civil society, will suffer a loss (of support)
no matter whether its candidates win or lose in the election,"
Syafiq Hasyim, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Committee for
Islam and Pluralism, told The Jakarta Post.
Presidential candidate and United Development Party (PPP)
leader Vice President Hamzah Haz, is a former NU activist, while
three vice presidential candidates: Hasyim Muzadi for the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Solahuddin Wahid
for the Golkar Party and Jusuf Kalla for the Democratic Party,
are the NU chairman, deputy chairman and advisor respectively.
The Amien Rais-Siswono Yudohusodo ticket is the only one with
no links to NU.
Syafiq said if any of the NU candidates won the election, the
organization would continue to be used as quasi-political party
by political candidates to further their own ends.
"But if they fail, the NU will weaken even more as nobody will
consider it a driving force in civil society," he said.
The NU, which was founded in 1926, became a political party
and joined the general election in 1955, where it finished second
behind the Indonesian Nationalist Party and secured a significant
number of seats in the House of Representatives.
It left politics following a congress in Situbondo, East Java
in 1984, returning to its earlier role as a mass organization.
From that time, the NU was considered an independent voice in
the political landscape, with its leadership often standing up
against corruption and in favor of human rights.
Syafiq blamed NU's former chairman Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid
for leading the NU back into party politics when he was elected
the country's president in 1999.
"Gus Dur's move was followed by Hasyim Muzadi's now. It's
regretful," he said.
Syafiq predicted that while many NU executives had joined the
presidential race, none of them would secure complete support
from the organization's 40 million followers.
He said NU chapters, known as NU's structural camp, would
likely vote for Hasyim, while NU's informal leaders -- often
called the NU cultural camp, would support Solahuddin.
"But many NU followers will also choose Kalla because of his
image and as his presidential running mate is Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono," he said.
Last week, hundreds of NU's boarding schools in West Java and
East Java expressed their support for Hasyim and incumbent
President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
Earlier, Solahuddin who is the running mate of Gen. (ret)
Wiranto, also secured the votes of dozens of prominent NU
clerics.
Political observer Ikrar Nusa Bhakti agreed none of the four
presidential and vice presidential candidates would secure the
complete support of NU members.
"Hasyim and Solahuddin won't receive more than 10 million NU
votes each. The remaining votes will go to other candidates,"
Ikrar of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences told the Post.
Besides the NU, Ikrar said millions of voters from the
country's second largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, would
be courted by candidates, especially if Amien and Siswono crashed
out in the first round.
He said many Muhammadiyah followers preferred civilian to
military candidates.