Jakarta – The leading lights of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) say that Indonesia's largest Muslim organization is fragmenting and sliding into irrelevance in the reform era.
Wahid Institute director Yenny Wahid, the daughter of former Indonesian president and NU chairman Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, said that the organization had failed to take independent stances in the reform era.
"NU has been facing the worst fragmentation of the movement since the reform era. In this supposedly democratic era, NU seems nervous to be independent. It ignores the interests of its major members, both as an organization and a political group," Yenny said at a recent discussion on NU and the future of Indonesian politics.
"NU's members are everywhere. Some of them even have strategic posts but they cannot fight for the interests of NU's followers [ummat]," she said.
The discussion was also attended by other senior NU members with prominent political roles, including Constitutional Court chief Mahfud MD, former women's empowerment and child development minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa, former NU leader Hasyim Muzadi and Ulema National Awakening Party (PKNU) chairman Choirul Anam.
Yenny told the audience of the heyday of NU's influence in 1955 when it finished third in Indonesia's first direct general election. At that time, Yenny said, no government could be stable without the backing of NU.
"NU could also declare its stance without depending on other parties and it was courageous to oppose others. Today, everyone seems to have their own interests," she said.
Hasyim said that independence was at the core of NU's spirit and the organization needed independent people.
Today, the NU cannot be separated from the National Awakening Party (PKB), which was created in 1998 for NU members who wanted to engage in politics after religious political parties were sidelined or restricted during the New Order. The PKB helped propel Gus Dur to the State Palace in 1999.
The party split in two after PKB chairman Muhaimin Iskandar and PKB secretary-general Lukman Edy held an extraordinary congress in May 2008 that removed Gus Dur and Yenny from the party's leadership.
A rival congress held by Gus Dur's camp just a few days earlier dismissed Muhaimin and elected Ali Masykur Musa as his replacement while appointing Yenny as secretary-general.
PKB has been in the coalition with the government since the 2009 elections. In March, PKB recalled two legislators, Lily Wahid and Effendi Choiri, after the pair supported a House inquiry of graft allegations at the tax office that was rejected by the PKB and the Democratic Party, its coalition partner.
Hasyim said that a lack of political orientation had led to divisions inside the PKB.
NU's political role, however, has long been debated inside the organization. NU legislative chairman Sahal Mahfudz said he wanted to save NU by enforcing khittah, the principle that NU should avoid party politics, and focus more on education, health and social programs after his re-election to a third term in 2010.
Sahal also cited politics and personal interests as a stumbling block, criticizing Hasyim for political moves he said were "uncomfortable". (swd)