Tenggara Strategics, Jakarta – As the House of Representatives ends its term, its special committee is out to conclude an investigation into alleged haj quota misallocation involving the Religious Affairs Ministry. Considering that such misallocation appears to happen almost every year and go unresolved, the House's all-out efforts to uncover the irregularities this time around may be fraught with political motives.
Deputy House Speaker Muhaimin Iskandar, who also chairs the National Awakening Party (PKB), has assigned Nusron Wahid, a Golkar Party politician, to lead the House's special committee.
The alleged misallocation of the haj quota has effected hundreds, if not thousands of people who have been waiting years for their chance to perform the pilgrimage, which is mandatory in Islam. The special committee is also looking for criminal elements within the irregularities.
Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, a former PKB lawmaker, said he was ready to confront the allegations. Nevertheless, he has already failed twice to turn up for a hearing with the special committee, saying he did not receive the invitation letter.
Several key officials in the haj management have also skipped the special committee's questioning sessions, due to their overseas assignments in Saudi Arabia. A member of the special committee accused the officials of visiting Saudi Arabia to destroy evidence of the offense.
After a number of hearings and questioning sessions in the House, the special committee members went to Saudi Arabia from Sept. 11 to 14 for a field investigation before concluding their mission later this month, just before the current House ends its term on Sept. 30.
Many believe the investigation is closely related to the personal feud between Muhaimin on one side, and Yaqut and his brother Yahya Cholil Staquf, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman, on the other side.
As Muhaimin successfully retained his post as the PKB chairman in the party's recent national leadership meeting, he is now shifting his focus to the NU and Yahya, who previously initiated a rival PKB congress to delegitimize Muhaimin's leadership.
Muhaimin has secured recognition from the government as the PKB chairman for the next five years after showing his commitment to supporting the incoming administration of president-elect Prabowo Subianto. In the Feb. 14 presidential race, the PKB aligned with the NasDem Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) to nominate Anies Baswedan as presidential candidate and Muhaimin as his running mate.
Now the PKB and NasDem parties have officially joined the Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM) under Prabowo, while the PKS has yet to follow suit, although it has agreed to coalesce with KIM in the Jakarta election.
As if the House's probe into the haj quota scandal is not enough for Muhaimin to undermine the credibility of Yahya and Yaqut, Muhaimin has also opened another battlefront by initiating an NU breakaway meeting to question Yahya's leadership.
A number of prominent NU figures in East Java have reportedly shown their dissatisfaction with Yahya's leadership in recent years, particularly his move to stay close to the government, which they say is a violation of the NU's statute as a social mass organization, which should be free from politics.
Additionally, Yahya's decision to accept the government's offer to run a coal mine has been regarded as accommodating the interests of the NU elite. The move also contradicts the NU's commitment to promote environmental conservation.
Muhaimin also increased pressure on Yahya by picking Luluk Nur Hamidah, one of the lawmakers in the special committee on the haj, as a gubernatorial candidate in East Java. Luluk will compete with former governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa, who also leads the NU's women's wing from Yahya's camp.
What we've heard
A PKB politician said Muhaimin is aware of the maneuver to push for an extraordinary congress of the NU. One of the proponents of this idea is a relative of Muhaimin, who formed the NU Rescue Committee to facilitate the move to demand the extraordinary congress of the country's largest Muslim organization.
The maneuver involves NU regional board officials who were dismissed by Yahya for supporting Muhaimin in the Feb. 14 presidential election. The source said Muhaimin has become more confident in fighting the NU leaders after the government ratified the PKB central board as a result of the party's recent congress in Bali.
In the House, the discord between the PKB and the NU is also reflected in the special committee. One lawmaker is pessimistic the committee will dare to implicate prominent figures involved in the haj quota chaos, even if the findings say so. "The recommendation will not go that far," the source said.
The source explained that leaders of the special committee have lobbied several parties to agree to inconclusive recommendations from the committee. "The scenario is that each party pushes for different views, so there will be no common ground," the source said.