President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday joined the bandwagon in calling on Nahdlatul Ulama, the nation’s largest Muslim organization, to return to its roots and abandon the political ambitions that had proved so divisive.
“We hope that NU can get back to its noble khittah [roots],” Yudhoyono said during his speech to open NU’s 32nd national congress in the South Sulawesi capital. “Unto the shoulders of the ulema, we pin our hopes that the people and the nation can become a more dignified people and nation.”
He said the ulema, the body of Islamic scholars that forms the mainstay of the organization, should help guide the nation to become one of character, full of nobility and virtue, as well as competitiveness.
With some 40 million followers across the archipelago, NU remains an influential organization, especially in the country’s rural areas. But critics have said the group’s socio-religious objectives have recently been overshadowed by the political activities of its leaders.
Calls have been growing from both inside and outside the organization for it to move away from politics to better focus on its original grassroots spiritual, educational and social activities.
Lily Wahid, a lawmaker from the National Awakening Party (PKB) and sister of the late Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, a longtime NU leader and the country’s fourth president, said there were numerous examples of how the organization had pushed its leaders to enter the political arena.
She cited the current chairman of NU, Hasyim Muzadi, who was a vice presidential candidate in 2004, and former State Minister for Women’s Empowerment Khofifah Indar Parawangsa, who ran in the East Java gubernatorial election in 2008.
Lily also said the organization had given its support to the doomed candidacy of the Golkar Party’s Jusuf Kalla in the 2009 presidential election.
One of the NU’s deputy chairmen, Masdar Farid Mas’udi, welcomed the president’s call, conceding that the organization’s leaders had in the past used NU’s grassroots support to push their political agenda.
“I think over the past 10 years, the political euphoria NU had because of its many followers created many temptations,” he said.
Masdar said NU needed a leader who could resist the lure of politics and stay away from more political organizations. “Yes, including the radical and extreme organizations,” he added. Hasyim, however, denied assertions the organization had strayed too far into the political realm.
“We have always held fast to our khittah,” he said. “But because there are many NU members, there are those who stay and hold on to the roots and some individuals who engage in activities here and there.”
The five-day day national congress at the Celebes Convention Center in Makassar has attracted thousands of delegates from across the country.
Organizers say up to 10,000 people are taking part, including some clerics from overseas.
“We hope that NU can get back to its noble khittah [roots],” Yudhoyono said during his speech to open NU’s 32nd national congress in the South Sulawesi capital. “Unto the shoulders of the ulema, we pin our hopes that the people and the nation can become a more dignified people and nation.”
He said the ulema, the body of Islamic scholars that forms the mainstay of the organization, should help guide the nation to become one of character, full of nobility and virtue, as well as competitiveness.
With some 40 million followers across the archipelago, NU remains an influential organization, especially in the country’s rural areas. But critics have said the group’s socio-religious objectives have recently been overshadowed by the political activities of its leaders.
Calls have been growing from both inside and outside the organization for it to move away from politics to better focus on its original grassroots spiritual, educational and social activities.
Lily Wahid, a lawmaker from the National Awakening Party (PKB) and sister of the late Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, a longtime NU leader and the country’s fourth president, said there were numerous examples of how the organization had pushed its leaders to enter the political arena.
She cited the current chairman of NU, Hasyim Muzadi, who was a vice presidential candidate in 2004, and former State Minister for Women’s Empowerment Khofifah Indar Parawangsa, who ran in the East Java gubernatorial election in 2008.
Lily also said the organization had given its support to the doomed candidacy of the Golkar Party’s Jusuf Kalla in the 2009 presidential election.
One of the NU’s deputy chairmen, Masdar Farid Mas’udi, welcomed the president’s call, conceding that the organization’s leaders had in the past used NU’s grassroots support to push their political agenda.
“I think over the past 10 years, the political euphoria NU had because of its many followers created many temptations,” he said.
Masdar said NU needed a leader who could resist the lure of politics and stay away from more political organizations. “Yes, including the radical and extreme organizations,” he added. Hasyim, however, denied assertions the organization had strayed too far into the political realm.
“We have always held fast to our khittah,” he said. “But because there are many NU members, there are those who stay and hold on to the roots and some individuals who engage in activities here and there.”
The five-day day national congress at the Celebes Convention Center in Makassar has attracted thousands of delegates from across the country.
Organizers say up to 10,000 people are taking part, including some clerics from overseas.
