Several PCNU-PWNU Yet to Receive Muktamar Invitations, Kiai Dimyati Responds

Ahead of the 35th PBNU Muktamar in Jombang, scheduled for 27–31 August 2026 at PP Bahrul Ulum, Tambakberas, Jombang, East Java, a number of PWNU and PCNU boards have complained that they have not yet received official invitations.

The complaints have emerged from several PWNU and PCNU boards in Java and outside Java over the past week. They say that as of mid-August they have still not received an official invitation letter from the PBNU Muktamar Committee, even though the event is only days away.

“We are worried the invitations will arrive at the last minute. If they are sent only seven days before the event, plane and train tickets will certainly be expensive, or even sold out. This is especially true for PWNU-PCNU outside Java, many of whom are from island regions. Moreover, some of them travel in groups,” said KH Dimyati Muhammad, secretary of PCNU Bangkalan, Madura, as quoted on Friday, 14 August 2026.

Lora Dim, as KH Dimyati Muhammad is known, a great-grandson of Syaikhona Kholil Bangkalan, said he has received many complaints from PCNU officials outside Java about the absence of an official muktamar invitation. Some of them are also worried that the muktamar itself may be postponed from its original schedule.

“The absence of an invitation to date has left them speculating. Certainly, they are having difficulty arranging internal administration for departure, delegate decrees, and technical coordination for travel,” Lora Dim said.

“They are also complaining that while nothing is yet certain, they are already being pressured to submit the list of Ahlul Halli wal Aqdi, or AHWA. Yet there has been no official request letter from the committee, nor any complete mechanism or explanation,” he added.

Amid the unclear invitation situation, Lora Dim continued, several PWNU and PCNU boards say they have actually been contacted by individuals claiming to represent the Muktamar Committee. They were asked to immediately submit AHWA names according to a “desired list”.

“The polite term is ‘data request’. But the tone is pressuring. As if failure to send those names would lead to consequences,” he said.

“AHWA are the holders of the highest voting rights at the Muktamar. Therefore, determining the AHWA names is highly strategic and vulnerable to politicisation. They must be careful. The future of the NU organisation is in their hands. One wrong name or signature, and the fate of NU is at stake,” he said.

KH Dimyati Muhammad acknowledged that this is the situation facing PWNU-PCNU ahead of the muktamar. But, he said, the defensive fortress of NU’s sovereignty lies precisely in the hands of the PWNU and PCNU.