Comic book tells story of NU

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 09/21/2006 8:25 AM

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Nahdlatul Ulama turned 80 years old in January. The history of one of the world's largest independent Muslim organizations is surely a tale worth telling.

That is why the NU has released a 40-page comic book on its history. And it has a guaranteed readership of thousands, with some estimations of the NU's membership ranging as high as 40 million.

Its writers knew that comics that stand the test of time always have a good plot.

""Wit, tension"" and some ""extreme"" times -- the history of the NU has all that, said designer Arif Junaidi, who is among the younger generation of NU activists based in Surabaya, East Java.

One of the comic strips in the book, titled NU, you know?, comments on an NU tradition that is both spoken about in jest and revered -- the respect for teachers and their offspring.

History student Lolo accidentally runs over a chicken owned by the son of Tabrani, a teacher of Islam, who owns a boarding school, in Situbondo, East Java.

The students surround Lolo, who fears he is going to get beaten up. Tabrani's son, Loro Acun, appeases them and Lolo follows him to the boarding school. It is here that all the questions about the NU are raised.

A gathering at the home of a religious leader is also featured, a discussion that led to the establishment of Nahdlatul Ulama, which means ulema's movement.

Eight prominent leaders attended the meeting in January 1926, including NU founder Hasyim Ashari. They discussed the need to keep the tradition of Islamic philosophy alive in schools.

""Thanks be to God, we gather here today to talk about our future, thank you all for coming,"" says one of the eight, Wahab Hasbullah, in the comic book.

The comic also contains the profile of Haysim, who is recognized as a pioneer in the tradition of the Islamic boarding school.

Students say the comic tells the story of the NU in a clear and ""easy to understand"" way. Putting it together was another matter.

""It has only 40 pages but it took us a year to compile,"" said Fitradjaja, one of the writers of the comic, 15,000 copies of which have been distributed for free.

It would have been almost impossible to complete without the help of Muhibbin Zuhri, a professor at the Sunan Ampel Institute of Islamic Studies. He approached a number of teachers of Islam who had expressed concern over the depiction of religious figures in the comic.

""I know that many teachers are very strict about visual references to religious events and figures, but others will accept this in light of the purpose of publishing this comic.

""At one boarding school, we were not even allowed to look at the documents,"" said another writer, Rachmad Sumanjaya.

Some of the writers put their own money into the project.

The illustrator, Supriketjil, could only imagine the faces of the NU founders when they were young, but he sought permission from those who are still alive before continuing his sketches.

Despite the difficulties of compiling the comic book, the young writers and illustrators were determined to see the project through. They succeeded in making history interesting and documenting the history of the NU.

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