NU can be Fossilised if Feud Continues

NU can be Fossilised if Feud Continues

Abdul Kadir Riyadi*

With the involvement of the large number of its members in politics, the biggest Muslim movement in Indonesia, the Nahdhatul ‘Ulama (NU), is currently experiencing a dilemma that –if not dealt with properly- may send this movement into becoming a relic.

It was in 1926 that the NU was founded as a non-governmental organization committing itself to serve the community socially and religiously and not politically.

During the 82 years of its existence the NU has evolved from a small organization into a large community association with the membership of more or less 40 million people across the nation. It has also communities living abroad in five continents traversing therefore the Islamic world with a distinct perspective and worldview about Islam and its tenets. The NU is known for its tolerant and moderate view, and is capable of accommodating other currents of thought ranging from that of conservatism to liberalism.




Nonetheless, despite its considerable age and experience the organization is now seemingly in desperate need to correct itself in order that it may revitalise its function as a social and religious movement. Having been dragged unfairly by some of its ambitious leaders into the domain of politics, the movement must now engage in an earnest and courageous process of self-introspection that takes stock of its entire experience if it is to succeed in time to come.

Unfortunately indeed, internal circumstances are not conducive to such a process. For one, the NU movement has derailed from its initial purpose as a movement. National and provincial elections have drawn a great number of the NU cadres to engage in politics in an unprecedented way. This political participation by the NU cadres –by accident or design- has provoked an internal conflict among them and brought about a resounding tragedy for the movement. Moreover, the direct engagement of the NU in politics has also forever changed the perception of many about this movement from that of a religiously and socially caring organization to that of a “greedy” movement. The NU members who engage in politics are now known as “politically greedy”.

This serious and compelling change within the NU has come as a sharp contrast to that commitment being made by its early leaders.

When the NU embarked on the comprehensive reform initiative 24 years ago by reaffirming its position as a non-political organization, it seemed that its pendulum had begun to swing towards a new phase. Everybody was expecting that a new dimension of the movement might emerge. But everybody was then mistaken. NU since then –especially in the aftermath of the so-called reformation era in 1998- seems to have taken politics as its new home and made it a suicide ground for itself.

Vis-à-vis this, the NU faced an enormous pressure from its neutralized members to exhibit its true and genuine character. That the NU is currently gaining neither the sympathy from its members nor the respect from the people as a whole is an indicative that this movement is on the way toward demoralization.

If the NU is to engage in a serious process of introspection, it must come to grip with the issue of political ambition that some of its leaders have exhibited such as that of Abdurrahman Wahid and Hasyim Muzadi at the national level, and Ali Maschan Moesa as well as Khofifah Indra Parawangsa –to mention just a few- at the provincial one.

Ironically indeed, having learnt that Wahid and Muzadi have both brought the movement to a new level of disruption and disappointment by involving themselves in politics, Ali and Khofifah follow their footstep and made further harm to the organization as a result.

Practically speaking, not only are the NU leaders ambitious in politics, they are also inexperienced in it. Most of them do not have any prior training and experience in that domain.

It is thus only natural that many of the NU's political leaders have stirred considerable confusion and controversy over their way of thinking. One should recall what Wahid has done during his rule as the President of this country. He has made a lot of controversy and shameful violation of laws and regulations that any President shouldn’t have done.

Based on that, I am of a belief that NU’s political leadership once rules the country can jeopardize the national interest of Indonesia. If its leaders have done a lot of harm to their own political party, namely PKB, and dragged their own organization, namely NU into the ceaseless conflict, then they will do the same to this country if they rule. The phenomenon is already evident in that some NU cadres fail to avoid committing corruption when they hold an office.

This points to another fact that there is something seriously wrong with regard to the hierarchical values of this movement, values that have contributed to the mummifying of not only the internal conflict of the movement but also to the NU’s mindset. Hence, the movement is in dire need to restructure its values in a way that its members will no longer be trapped within the dilemma of either leaving it, or staying in it while having no sense of being its member.

No one belittles the magnitude of NU as an organization. Its young intellectuals have the great thrust of propelling social value system towards dynamism and vitality, qualities compared to which its older generation would appear as a fossil. While the old tends to regress, the young demands a progress. To stay on its foot, the movement must now look at the younger leadership as an alternative and start leaving behind the older leaders who continue to pace in circles.

*The writer is NU member currently lecturing Islamic Philosophy at the State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN) Surabaya. Graduate of al-Azhar University, Cairo.