PKB and NU officials meet in Kediri to mend ties

PKB and NU officials meet in Kediri to mend ties

Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Top figures from the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and the National
Awakening Party (PKB) met in Kediri, East Java over the weekend
as part of efforts to mend ties between the two groups ahead of
the elections.

NU leader Hasyim Muzadi, PKB secretary general Syaifullah
Yusuf, PKB advisory council member Yusuf Muhammad, PKB senior
executive Yahya Staquf and PKB East Java chapter head Choirul
Anam were among 1,500 people attending the commemoration of
Islamic New Year hosted by NU cleric Anwar Iskandar at his
Assa'idiyah Islamic boarding school, 120 kilometers southwest of
Surabaya.

Notably absent from the meeting, however, was PKB leader and
former NU head Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid, who was attending
another gathering in Kalimantan. The meeting was the first
gathering of leaders of the two groups before the elections.

Gus Dur reportedly has a strained relationship with incumbent
NU leader Muzadi since he failed to defend Gus Dur from a move to
unseat him from the presidency in 2001. Hasyim has also refused
to issue an edict calling on NU members to vote for the PKB,
which was founded by NU clerics in 1998.

Hasyim, who was present in Kediri, said the gathering proved
there was no conflict between the NU and the PKB.

"Who says that the NU and PKB are fighting each other? Our
relationship is fine," he said.

He admitted the NU would not issue an edict for its followers
to vote for the PKB in this year's elections, but asserted it was
no reason for the NU and the PKB to have a row.

"The NU and the PKB share the same strongholds, so we do not
need an edict to support the PKB. If we do so, this will only
create more friction between the NU and the PKB," he said.

The PKB desperately needs the edict, given that the NU says it
has 40 million supporters nationwide, enough to give the PKB a
strong showing in the legislative election next month and the
presidential election in July.

Meanwhile, is his speech during a PKB gathering in the Central
Kalimantan capital of Palangkaraya, Gus Dur said he was
optimistic he could pass health requirements to become a
presidential candidate.

"The doctor who has been treating me intensively says my sight
will recover in late March," he said on Saturday before hundreds
of followers of the PKB Central Kalimantan chapter.

Gus Dur said he was undergoing treatment by a doctor he
identified only as "Harry", a Korean traditional therapist.

The General Elections Commission has formed a medical team to
examine all presidential candidates. Election laws say the
candidates must be physically and mentally healthy and this must
be validated by the team.

Gus Dur said his goal to regain the presidency to uphold
democracy and human rights.

Gus Dur said he was also scheduled to attend a meeting in a
remote area of Muara Teweh, Central Kalimantan on Sunday.

At the meeting, former minister of religious affairs Tarmizi
Taher formally offered the PKB his nomination as Gus Dur's
running mate.

Regarding the relationship between the NU and the PKB, Gus Dur
said there was no formal structural connection between the NU and
the PKB. However, he stressed that the NU, as the PKB's founding
organization, did channel the political aspirations of the party.

"If Pak Hasyim says the NU has no connection with PKB, it is
not entirely true and must be corrected...," he said.

The PKB came fourth in the 1999 elections after the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Golkar, and the United
Development Party (PPP).