Jakarta – Internal conflict among the elite of the country's largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), has greatly reduced its authority and influence as the nation's political moral guardian, experts say.
"I do not think an endorsement from NU will have a significant impact for any presidential candidate competing in the July presidential election," NU observer Laode Ida told a discussion in Jakarta on Monday.
"Internal rifts have fragmented the organization and consumed a lot of energy among the elite. The situation has also separated the elites from their grassroots supporters and hindered proper political education from taking place within the organization's lower ranks," he added.
NU's authority as the moral guardian for civil society has been eroding since the beginning of the reform era in the late 1990s, Laode said.
"After reformation, one of NU's most prominent figures, Abdurahman Wahid, established a new political party called the National Awakening Party (PKB) and he was successfully elected president. The NU slowly lost its identity because of face-offs between the elite for political interests."
The latest conflict involves Abdurahman, better known as Gus Dur, and his nephew Muhaimin Iskandar, the government-recognized chairman of the PKB.
"NU has allowed itself to be trapped by the country's political euphoria. The organization has lost its ability to stand on its own as a massive, respectable force," said Laode, also a member of the Regional Representatives Council.
Paramadina University political expert Yudi Latif said the NU must return to its original function as an instrument of civil society rather than a political one.
"NU must maintain its position as a civil society leader. Once such an organization involves itself with the political domain, it loses credibility," he said.
Yudi said NU must also increase its participation in resolving socio-economic disparity issues, which are a daily reality for the lives of the organizations's grassroots followers.
"The largest support base for the organization is in rural areas. Those followers have been largely marginalized by the current socio-economic system, making them vulnerable towards provocation from other groups that promote extremist ideas," he said. Another political expert from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Lili Romli, said NU must issue critical statements regarding the current political situation in order to regain its faltering image as a moral leader.
"The reality is that people are disappointed having watched the recent political acrobatics performed by the country's top politicians and their parties. As a civil society leader, NU must issue a statement criticizing this havoc," he said.
"Socio-economic issues should be one of NU's main concerns, and if the organization wishes to endorse a presidential candidate, then it should support the one with a similar economic platform."
NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi said the involvement of the organization's elite members in politics had been a major factor contributing to the internal crisis of values.
"Political parties have used our elite and NU itself, not because of similar mind-sets or substance, but only as a commodity to gain votes because of the large number of our followers," he said during the same discussion.
Hasyim said the NU would discuss its own problems at a national meeting in January next year in Makassar, South Sulawesi, along with the issue of economic disparity.