Senior NU leader declines PPP post
Senior NU leader declines PPP post
JAKARTA (JP): A senior leader of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) has
turned down an offer by the United Development Party (PPP) to sit
on its advisory board, saying he'd prefer to remain active in NU
and stay put at his pesantren (Moslem boarding school).
Yusuf Hasyim was nominated into the largely ceremonial board
at a PPP congress partly in a bid to appease him after he and
other NU politicians lost in their bid to win the chairmanship
race. Had he accepted the post, he would have had to give up his
current seat on the NU's policy making board.
The Antara news agency yesterday reported that Yusuf had
decided to remain active in NU and at the Tebu Ireng pesantren in
Jombang, East Java, which he leads, rather than making a return
to the political scene.
Yusuf, popularly known as Pak Ud, said he previously made up
his mind at a PPP meeting in October and had communicated his
decision there and then, stressing that it was "the first and
last" time he would attend a PPP meeting.
The PPP executive board however continued to hope he would
change his mind and has not decided on an alternative figure for
the advisory board.
Yusuf was an activist at the Moslem-based PPP in the 1970s but
decided to abandon the political arena when NU pulled out of the
party and decided to concentrate on the welfare and education of
Moslems in 1984.
A widely respected figure in NU, he leads the group of NU
politicians who believe the NU should have a greater say in the
running of the PPP. At the last congress, he led the campaign to
unseat the incumbent chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum.
Advisory bord
The effort failed and Ismail Hasan, in an attempt to appease
Pak Ud and other NU politicians, offered him and others seats on
the advisory board.
Pak Ud said some NU figures are still in the PPP and this he
considers sufficient. Two other senior NU leaders sitting in the
advisory board are Maemun Zubeir, who chairs the board, and
Syansuri Badawi.
They will represent NU's interest in the PPP, he added.
Pak Ud made the controversial suggestion in October, after NU
politicians lost the PPP chairmanship race, that the organization
should consider forming its own political party.
The suggestion however was quickly rejected by other senior NU
leaders who said the organization is determined not to be drawn
back into the political arena.
The issue will be discussed again when NU holds its congress
in Tasikmalaya, West Java next week. (emb)