VP's East java trip plan a sign of reconciliation
SURABAYA (JP): Vice President Hamzah Haz's plan to visit East Java this week for reconciliation with his political foes has received the cold shoulder from leaders of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).
East Java is the stronghold of NU, the rural base of Indonesia's largest traditional Muslim organization and a rival of the Muslim-based United Development Party (PPP) that Hamzah leads.
Rivalry between the two parties peaked when PPP and all the other political parties united in July to impeach former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, the patriarch of the National Awakening Party (PKB), which was founded by leaders of Nahdlatul Ulama.
The meeting between Hamzah, NU leaders and scholars will take place at Tebu Ireng Islamic Boarding School, where more than 100 Islamic boarding school leaders will be present.
"Everything has been well-prepared," said Hafidz Maksum, chairman of PPP's East Java chapter. "This will be the beginning of national reconciliation."
Well-known Tebu Ireng Islamic Boarding School is led by Yusuf Hasyim, an uncle of Gus Dur. However, Hasyim is an ardent supporter of PPP.
The planned Tebu Ireng meet has met with skeptical reactions from local PKB leaders.
"Pak Hamzah is not welcome to my Islamic school," said Fuad Anwar, principal of Al Choziniyah Islamic boarding school in Sidoardjo, who said that he had never heard Hamzah had the habit of visiting such places.
Fuad said Hamzah's tour would meet challenges. "Each school is autonomous and their leaders cannot be forced to accept or refuse anybody."
A number of Islamic boarding schools have openly rejected Hamzah's visit, such as Zainul Hasan Genggong and Nurul Jadid, Paiton, both in Probolinggo, Stafi'iyah Asembagus in Situbondo and Besuk in Pasuruan. All these schools are known to be supporters of PKB and Abdurrahman Wahid.
PKB-oriented Islamic schools still declare Abdurrahman as president and Megawati Soekarnoputri as vice president.
"Our refusal (of Hamzah's visit) should serve as advice that the central government in Jakarta should not go to all the trouble for the Vice President's visit, said Mutawakil Alalah, principal of Zaenul Hasan Islamic school in Probolinggo.
Alalah refused to say if he waived Hamzah because the Vice President was a key figure behind Abdurrahman's downfall. "We have more important things to do," he said.
Earlier, Islamic schools affiliated to NU had also rejected a planned visit by Minister of Defense Matori Abdul Djalil, an NU leader who backed Abdurrahman's impeachment.
But not all Islamic school leaders sympathetic to PKB will reject Hamzah's planned visit. Many NU members who do not support Abdurrahman, such as Yusuf Hasyim, will reportedly welcome Hamzah.
Hasyim's sympathy of Hamzah became public when he saw Hamzah in Jakarta on Aug. 30 and said that, "only a handful of Islamic school leaders would boycott Hamzah's visit.
"What's the point of refusing pak Hamzah's visit. He is an NU figure too and NU members are always encouraged to visit each other to strengthen brotherhood," he said.
Sources at PPP's East Java chapter said that NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi had told Hamzah to began his tour by visiting Islamic schools outside Java and then to continue to West Java, Central Java and then East Java on his last leg.
The reason is clear: NU leaders and supporters in East Java are still angry at Abdurrahman's impeachment.
"But Hamzah did not heed the advice because he does not want to be told what to do. Besides, Hamzah has his own agenda for his party, PPP," the source said.
Muzadi is worried that Hamzah's visit will only open NU supporters' old wounds sustained from Abdurrahman's dismissal.
When addressing a Muslim gathering in Banyuwangi, East Java, last weekend, Muzadi said, "I have traveled across the nation from Banyuwangi, Aceh, Irian Jaya and Jakarta to heal the wounds." (nur)