PKB and Ulama Discuss Four Strategic Issues Ahead of 28th Anniversary

The National Awakening Party (PKB) and a number of ulama discussed four strategic issues during the Ijtima’ Ulama Indonesia event ahead of the peak celebration of the PKB’s 28th anniversary. “There are four main strategic issues that we discussed earlier. First, the dynamics of national, state, and social life,” said Saifullah Ma’shum, Secretary of the PKB Central Executive Board’s Syura Council, after attending the event in Jakarta on Thursday. He explained that the first issue involved the PKB and ulama discussing the direction of national development as well as the country’s political and democratic conditions. The second issue, he said, related to the economy. According to him, the PKB and ulama view the economic policies of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka’s administration as being in line with the constitution, prioritising community empowerment. “However, we criticise the implementation or application, as there are still problems, especially in governance or the genuine readiness of human resources that have not been properly prepared, resulting in deviations, distortions, and mismatches with what the President planned here and there,” he said. Therefore, he stated that the forum conveyed the need for evaluation and constant control over government programmes. “Because this is a large programme, a programme that allocates a large budget and has a huge socio-economic effect. Therefore, the widest possible space must be opened for public participation, evaluation, monitoring, and supervision,” he said. For the third issue, he said the forum highlighted educational practices in the country, particularly in Islamic boarding schools (pesantren). “Pesantren have recently received various negative stigmas from people who do not understand them, resulting in a decline in public interest in sending their children to pesantren,” he said. He also stated that the forum agreed on the need to increase funding for pesantren from the 20 per cent education budget allocation. “The fourth is the issue and discussion regarding the upcoming NU congress in Jombang,” he said. Specifically, PKB Syura Council Deputy Secretary Maman Imanul Haq explained that the forum recommended that the Nahdlatul Ulama Executive Board (PBNU) act as a locomotive for civil society organisations in providing constructive criticism to the government, assisting the community in economic empowerment, and improving the quality of education. “Therefore, the Ijtima’ Ulama requests that the congress in Jombang be a congress that is truly free from transactional practices, free from practices that merely exploit PCNU (NU Branch Boards),” he said. He also stated that the forum requested that this year’s PBNU Congress involve many parties and provide opportunities for young people to reformulate NU’s future role.