PPP's quest for NU support never ends

By Wisnu Pramudya

JAKARTA (JP): If the 30 million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Moslem organization is firm in its resolution to shun politics, why do the United Development Party's (PPP) leaders persistently seek its support?

PPP chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum's visit to Idham Chalid, one of the party's remaining founders and an influential NU figure, served as a reminder that the Islamic party still hoped for the NU's support.

In 1973, Idham represented the NU which fused into the PPP with three other major Islamic political parties at the time. Other leaders involved in this included Masjkur (also from NU), HMS Mintaredja (Partai Muslimin Indonesia), Anwar Tjokroaminoto (Sarikat Islam) and Rusli Halil (Persatuan Tarbiyah Indonesia): They have all died.

Ismail, better known as Buya, once described the yearly visit, usually before the party's anniversary, as silaturahim (a strengthening of brotherly ties).

But as the country and its three political contestants gear up for the general election in May, one cannot help but wonder whether this particular visit was not a tacit plea for support.

Given the Golkar's ever-increasing strength and the introduction of new campaign rules -- which some say only benefit Golkar and disadvantage the PPP and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) -- it is clear the PPP needs all the help it can get.

The question is, will the NU be the one to provide it?

Political observer Maswadi Rauf thinks so. Of the NU's 30 million supporters across the country, at least half would still have emotional ties with PPP, he said.

"No matter what, the original identity of PPP as a political party for Moslems could not be erased just like that," he told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

PPP Secretary-General Tosari Widjaja, who hails from NU, agreed. He believed that what binds NU supporters to the PPP is the Islamic teaching that the party strove to represent.

"The (PPP) chairman (Ismail Hasan Metareum) has often said that PPP is a legacy of the ulemas. And PPP does try to uphold the mandate of its founders," he said.

Separation

The relationship between NU and PPP is significant, though by no means an easy one. In 1973, the NU was one of the four Islamic political parties which, through "national consensus," fused into the PPP.

At the time, thousands of pesantren (Islamic traditional boarding schools) run by NU across the country, especially in areas known to be strongholds of santri (Moslem communities) such as Central and East Java, South Kalimantan and South Sumatra, became an essential source of support for PPP.

Most of the pesantren have substantial influence over their surrounding communities; that is why the three political contestants competed to influence them at election time.

But Maswadi believed the PPP's political dependence on NU was declining. He said this trend began at the 1982 election, when many NU leaders were dropped from the PPP's list of legislature candidates.

This prompted the late Mahbub Djunaidi, a prominent NU columnist and politician, to lead a campaign in several NU strongholds to desert PPP.

This caused the PPP to lose votes at the election; it won 94 seats at the House of Representatives (27.8 percent of the seats available) while Golkar won 246 seats (64.34 percent) and the PDI won 24 seats (7.9 percent).

At the previous election in 1977, the PPP won 99 seats (29.3 percent) while Golkar won 232 seats (62.11 percent) and PDI won 29 seats (8.6 percent).

In 1984, the NU declared at its congress in Situbondo, East Java, that it would withdraw from politics. Observers considered this event was a formal declaration of its separation from PPP.

In 1985, the government introduced Law No. 3 on Politics which prohibits formal links between political parties and mass organizations.

"By the 1987 general election, the separation between PPP and NU was complete," Maswadi said.

It was around this time that several important figures in the NU jumped ship for Golkar. Incumbent chairman Abdurrahman Wahid, for instance, represented Golkar in the People's Consultative Assembly from 1987 to 1992.

Tosari said he believed the formal separation of PPP from NU or the other three parties which had founded PPP was "positive" because it had reduced internal conflict caused by factional competition.

"There would no longer be movements such as the one in Rembang," he said, referring to a meeting of NU ulemas in the Central Java town, months before PPP held its 1994 congress. The meeting was reported to be an attempt to takeover the PPP's leadership which was controlled by the Parmusi faction.

Campaign

The ulemas' campaign was foiled, and Parmusi's Ismail Hasan Metareum retained control of the PPP.

The other positive development of the separation, according to Tosari, is that PPP politicians now compete with each other relying on their individual performance rather than their historical ties with one of the party's four founding elements.

But a lingering question is, how strong are the NU's emotional ties with PPP amid the increasing attractiveness of Golkar and PDI, which have in recent years got better at using Islam as a political commodity?

NU figures, such as Slamet Effendy Yusuf and Chalid Mawardi, who are now strong supporters of Golkar, prove that PPP must work harder to attract NU followers.

Rhoma Irama, the famous dangdut singer who used to campaign for PPP but recently jumped ship for Golkar, is another example.

Observers have said that the increasing ease with which Golkar and PDI now use Islamic symbols may confuse the loyalty of NU followers.

But Tosari is optimistic: "When it comes to mere symbols, NU followers may indeed become confused. But when it comes to making decisions, the tie of Islam will prove stronger."