Rais Syuriah: Era of Personal Leadership in NU is Over

Rais Syuriah of the Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) Executive Board, Prof Mohammad Nuh, has urged Nahdlatul Ulama to abandon a leadership model based on rivalry in the election process for the general chairman. He assessed that NU needs to prioritise deliberation and consensus and build a pattern of collective leadership.

Nuh stated that the personal leadership model is no longer relevant to meet the organisation’s future needs. According to him, NU’s leadership must be built on a spirit of togetherness and collaboration.

“We want to shift from a competitive nature, because competition inevitably involves rivalry. Therefore, we are shifting towards collaboration and togetherness. Deliberation and consensus must be prioritised over a sudden resort to voting,” Nuh said during his speech at the opening of the 35th NU Pre-Congress Bahtsul Masail at the Cendekia Amanah Islamic Boarding School in Depok, West Java, on Saturday (8/8/2026).

The former Minister of National Education under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) stated that competition in leadership selection has the potential to create rivalry between candidates. If not managed properly, this condition could develop into division and mutual degradation among supporter groups.

Therefore, Prof Nuh assessed that the process of selecting NU leaders should be directed towards finding common ground, not merely winning a candidate. “The era of personal leadership is over. We are shifting to collective leadership,” he said.