NU yet to support Gus Dur for president

NU yet to support Gus Dur for president

The Jakarta Post, Surabaya/Jakarta

The country's largest Muslim organization, the Nahdlatul Ulama
(NU), has not yet named its preferred presidential candidates
despite frequent visits by Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid to several
influential NU clerics.

"NU has not yet named a figure. Should Gus Dur have to
withdraw (his candidacy) due to physical handicap, NU would
consider other candidates like NU Chairman Hasyim Muzadi, Alwi
Shihab, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or Mahfud MD," chief of NU's
East Java chapter Ali Maschan Moesa said in Surabaya on Monday.

Some 200 influential NU clerics from across the country will
gather in Surabaya next week to discuss the criteria to be
established for presidential candidates to be endorsed by NU.

"The clerics will forward the criteria to the NU Central
Board, which will issue a tausiyah (suggestion)," Ali said.

He asserted the clerics would refrain from disclosing any
names.

Separately, Gus Dur, who has been named the presidential
candidate of the National Awakening Party (PKB), said NU
executives were not supposed to establish criteria for
presidential candidates because the organization did not get
involved in political affairs.

The PKB's traditional supporters are mostly NU members.

"If they insist on announcing the criteria, it means they have
nothing else to do. The NU is not a political party, so (it
should) avoid politics. If it insists, we'll see whether NU
members are loyal to the NU Central Board or to the PKB," Gus Dur
said after visiting influential cleric Abdullah Fakih in Tuban,
East Java.

NU, formerly a political party, reinstated its founding
statute as a nonpolitical organization in 1984.

Chief of PKB's East Java chapter Choirul Anam claimed that 80
percent of NU members would throw their weight behind Gus Dur in
the presidential election regardless of an order from NU that
said otherwise.

"We will not elect anyone other than Gus Dur as he has done a
lot to boost the PKB vote this year," Choirul said.

PKB ranks third in the provisional vote tally for the
legislative election, winning 12 percent of the votes counted, or
some 10 million votes.

In Jakarta, the PKB asked the Constitutional Court on Monday
to issue an edict regarding health requirements for presidential
and vice presidential candidates that had been issued by the
General Elections Commission (KPU).

The party suspected the requirements would preclude the
nomination of Gus Dur, who has serious eye problems.

The request was filed with the court by senior PKB members
Mahfud MD and Djoko Moeljo, and lawyer Saiful Anwar.

"We know an edict is not legally binding but we need a quick
legal decision as the deadline for registration of presidential
and vice presidential aspirants is drawing near," Mahfud said.
Registration will run from May 1 through May 7.

Ahmad Fadlil Sumadi, the court clerk chief who received the
file, said the court would respond to the request and issue an
edict soon.

The Constitutional Court earlier rejected requests by the New
Indonesia Alliance Party (PPIB) and the Independent Election
Monitoring Committee (KIPP) in different cases. A court justice
said that the court would not issue an edict without very careful
consideration beforehand.