Amir Tejo & Candra Malik, Surabaya – A congress of the Ansor Youth Movement, which is linked to the country's largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, on Monday elected a new chairman who will serve a five-year term.

Golkar politician Nusron Wahid won after two rounds of voting, defeating rival Marwan Jakfar with 345 votes to his opponent's 161. In the first round, which included 10 candidates, Nusron received 257 votes while Marwan had 183. None of the other candidates had more than 50 votes.

Speaking after his victory, Nusron vowed he would not prevent Ansor cadres from entering politics and would introduce changes in the organization.

However, he reiterated that Ansor would abide by Nahlatul Ulama's stand of not being critical of the government. "The gist is that the NU politics is focused more on the wellbeing of the people," he said.

Nusron's election had been marked by snide comments, with some writing comments such as "chose Nusron who has received a check," "Nusron is very magnanimous" and "Nusron the donor" in ballots.

Many have aired fears that Nusron, who is known to be close to Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie, might drag the organization into the political arena.

Yenny Wahid, daughter of the late NU chairman and former Indonesian President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, welcomed Nusron's election, saying he was a genuine cadre of the Nahdlaturl Ulama.

"I do not question his background. He's a genuine cadre who started his pursuit in the NU via PMII [Indonesian Islamic Student Movement]," Yenny said.

Yenny, who also chairs the NU-linked National Awakening Party [PKB], acknowledged Nusron's ties to Golkar. She hoped that he would not drag Ansor into the political sphere.

"He should bring home Ansor to its roots as an institution to create scholars and leaders for NU in the future," she said.