Top NU figures told to resign

Kurniawan Hari and M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta/Yogyakarta/Surabaya

Calls for the leaders of the nation's largest Muslim organization to resign have intensified following their decision to plunge headlong into practical politics.

Critics say Hasyim Muzadi and Solahuddin Wahid of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) have violated the organization's principles by getting involved in politics.

At its 1984 congress in the East Java town of Situbondo, NU pledged to quit politics altogether and stick to its social and religious programs. The pledge is widely referred to as NU's khittah (principle).

The call was first made Thursday when NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi announced his agreement to run with incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri in the July 5 presidential election. The call was made by leading Muslim scholars, including Nurcholish Madjid.

Solahuddin, the deputy chairman of NU, not of the National Awakening Party (PKB) as previously reported in this paper, had meanwhile been approached by Gen. (ret) Wiranto, the presidential aspirant from the Golkar Party.

The NU's executive board will meet next week to discuss the issue.

"We will only ask them to temporarily step aside. If they resign, however, it would be great," said the NU's deputy secretary, Masdar Farid Mas'udi, here on Friday.

Masdar added that there was no express regulation banning NU leaders from entering politics. But, he said, there was a consensus among members that NU leaders should not adopt political stances.

The lure to enter politics is nothing new in NU. In the 1999 election, Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, became the president while still serving as an NU leader. Ironically, Gus Dur now appears upset by Hasyim's teaming up with Megawati.

Separately, scholar Muslim Abdurrahman said that Hasyim's decision to pair up with Megawati would adversely affect the NU as the organization could lose its relevance as a moral force in the struggle to build democracy and civil society.

"It is lamentable that the two largest Muslim organizations, NU and Muhammadiyah, have become mired in the political struggle," he said.

Muhammadiyah, the country's second largest Muslim organization, is also facing similar problems.

On Friday, the call for Hasyim and Solahuddin to resign came from Muslim clerics in the East Java capital of Surabaya and Muslim students in Yogyakarta.

Ali Maschan Moesa, chairman of the NU's provincial chapter in East Java, said that one of the clerics who demanded the resignation of both leaders was influential Muslim leader Abdullah Faqih, the leader of the Langitan religious boarding school in Tuban.

Ali disclosed that the NU's East Java chapter had consulted with some influential clerics on the matter. Hasyim would have to temporarily step aside by no later than the end of this month, he said.

"This is aimed at preventing the NU from getting involved in practical politics. The NU is a mass organization, not a political one," he said.

In Yogyakarta, Islamic religious students grouped in the Student Committee for the Salvation of the Khittah (KSPK) claimed that Hasyim's willingness to team up with Megawati breached the khittah.

KSPK chairman Lutfi Rahman said that as a chairman of NU, Hasyim had to adhere to the khittah instead of endorsing nahdliyin (NU members) from becoming involved in practical politics.

But Slamet Effendi Yusuf, a former chairman of NU's youth group Ansor, said that while as an institution the NU would continue to stay away from politics, its members were not personally bound by this commitment.

Indra Harsaputra and Slamet Susanto contributed to this article.