Top NU figures told to resign
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.