Ulemas to proceed with Rembang gathering
JAKARTA (JP): Moslem leaders will go ahead with their controversial gathering in Rembang, Central Java, later this month to discuss the future of the Moslem-oriented United Development Party (PPP).
They have already braved accusations that the political gathering would represent inconsistency in their commitment not to be engaged in practical politics. Critics also worry that the meeting would only deepen conflict within PPP.
Hamzah Haz, the spokesman for the ulemas grouped in Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), said yesterday there was no reason to cancel the plan and the organizing committee has worked the final details of the gathering.
He assured critics that the ulemas would not choose their candidates for the new chairman of PPP, which will elect its new leadership in the upcoming party congress in August.
The planned Rembang gathering has sparked rows among senior ulemas who want to snatch the dominant role of Muslimin Indonesia (MI) politicians in PPP.
Among those who have threatened to boycott the Rembang meeting is K.H. Yusuf Hasyim, an NU functionary and influential ulema from East Java.
PPP is a merging of four Islamic parties: NU, MI, Perti and PSII. NU is the largest Moslem organization with 34 million loyal members, mostly in rural areas.
Ulemas from PPP yesterday met with the chief of socio- political affairs of the Armed Forces (ABRI), Lt. Gen. R. Hartono, to discuss preparations of the Rembang meeting scheduled for June 26.
ABRI Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung has endorsed the planned Rembang gathering. Last week, he visited an ulema meeting in Jombang, East Java, in an apparent gesture of sympathy to the religious leaders' course.
Hamzah, a PPP deputy chairman who heads the party's faction in the House of Representatives (DPR), said the Rembang gathering would be informal where ulemas would contribute their ideas on how to develop PPP. "Discussing the future leadership of PPP would only worsen the controversy," said Hamzah, who is tipped to run for party's top slot.
Support
Hamzah denied press reports that NU would also nominate Matori Abdul Djalil, the incumbent PPP secretary general, and Karmani, a PPP councilor in Semarang, Central Java, for the PPP chairmanship.
As politicians are busy jockeying for positions in the upcoming congress, some PPP members have, facetiously, nominated Gen. (ret.) Rudini - a former Home Affairs Minister and member of the ruling Golkar political grouping.
"If I were named PPP chairman, I will 'Golkarize' the party," Rudini said with a big grin when journalists asked for his comment on the proposal.
Rudini was proposed to run for PPP's top spot after he led a mass prayer in the recent celebration of Moslem holiday Idul Adha in Jakarta. "That was the first time I led a mass prayer," he said.
Also yesterday, Antara reported that the PPP chapter of Southeast Sulawesi has lent its support for the re-election of the incumbent PPP chairman, Ismail Hasan Metareum.
Metareum is touring Sulawesi to garner support for his bid to retain his post in the forthcoming congress. (pan)