Salim Osman, Jakarta – The falling out between two key figures of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) is threatening to break up Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation with millions of followers.
Former Indonesian president and NU chief Abdurrahman Wahid failed to unseat current chairman Hasyim Muzadi at NU's national congress last week and wants to establish a rival organisation that could undermine the 78-year-old Muslim body.
Speaking on the sidelines of an international conference on the future of Islam and democracy, Mr Abdurrahman said he would announce the formation of the new organisation on December 15 to replace NU, which he claimed had been exploited for political purposes.
He accused Mr Hasyim, who stood as the running mate of Mrs Megawati Sukarnoputri in the presidential election in September, of dishonestly using NU to advance his political ambition.
"This is not a rival faction or an alternative group but a new organisation that will be established on December 15," he told reporters.
He said he would meet a group of clerics in Cirebon, West Java, to sound out their views on the structure of the proposed organisation. He declined to give details of the organisation but there are reports that he might name it Nahdlatul Ulama 1926, after the year NU was established by his grandfather.
The move by Mr Abdurrahman, better known as Gus Dur, came hot on the heels of the divisive internal leadership election held last week in Central Java by NU, which claims to have 40 million followers.
The former president tried to rally support from senior clerics in NU to dethrone Mr Hasyim, who was seeking re-election, by sponsoring a challenger for the NU chairmanship. But Mr Hasyim managed to stave off the attack and won re-election as the NU chairman.
Mr Abdurrahman's move to set up a rival organisation may tear apart NU, which is widely seen as a moderate Islamic organisation with a calming influence in the country which some observers have described as a hotbed of Islamic radicalism.
The feuding leaders had a falling out back in 2001 when Mr Abdurrahman was the president of Indonesia. Mr Hasyim, who took over the NU chairmanship from Gus Dur, refused to back his calls for an emergency decree.
Instead, at the height of the crisis then, Mr Hasyim pledged his support for the then vice-president, Mrs Megawati, who became president when Mr Abdurrahman was forced to step down following unproven corruption allegations.