The late K.H. Ali Maksum, a former leader of a well-known Islamic boarding school, Pesantren Krapyak in Jogyajakarta, once said that adventurous politics had led Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) to a state of decline. This statement was made in the early 1980s in his capacity as the organization’s general chairman of Syuriah, supposedly the supreme body of the organization.
Kyai Maksum was compelled to issue such a strong statement in response to NU’s debilitating position within the PPP (United Development Party), an amalgam of four Islamic parties formed in 1974. Being the largest caucus in the party, compared to the other three: the Parmusi (Indonesian Muslims Party), the PSII (Indonesian Islamic Union Party), and the Perti (Islamic Education Union), NU had never been given a chance to lead the party.
Even though for some years its arch politician, Idham Chalid, had been entrusted a seat in the party’s respectable position, it was only an advisory or deliberative organ with no real power. The executive position had always been in the hand of Parmusi leaders.
The unfavorable condition of NU was not only reflected in its politically peripheral position in the PPP leadership. Its parliamentary slots were also reduced to a point where they did not match NU’s electoral strength, as shown in the 1955 and 1971 elections.
This situation was partly the result of NU’s rivalry with the Parmusi, which was formed in the early years of the New Order government as a new party for former Masyumi members, banned by president Sukarno in 1960. The result was a kind of a remake of NU’s political enmity with the modernist faction in Masyumi, something that caused the former to withdraw from the latter and create a party of its own in 1952.
The Parmusi’s claim the party was a natural heir of Masyumi only made NU believe the gap between Islamic traditionalism and Islamic modernism was too wide to be bridged. This time however, NU responded to the situation by withdrawing itself from the PPP in 1984. Since then, NU has formally abandoned its political role and returned to its original position (khittah) as a socio-religious organization.
But has NU ever left politics?
Many have often made the mistake of assuming that by returning to its original function, NU would stay away from politics. Leaving the PPP and returning to its original function was indeed a shrewd and savvy political move. It opened up more windows of opportunity for NU to build relationships with other political parties such as Golkar and the PDI-P (Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle) without necessarily being part of them. More than anything else, it served as evidence of the importance of NU, that without NU, the PPP’s strength had declined dramatically as indicated in the 1987 election results.
So NU never really left politics. When the decision to return to its original function was made in 1984, NU remained active in politics. Different from the kind of politics NU has played since its transformation into a political party in 1952, this time NU did not play party politics. Instead, particularly under the leadership of Abdurrahman Wahid, NU diversified the playing field of politics where its socio-religious activities could generate political values.
As one of the largest civil society organizations in the country, NU initiated the politics of counter-balancing the state, especially when the government was at the height of its hegemonic power. For this, cases in point include NU’s criticism of the ICMI (Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals Association) because of the latter’s close relationship with the state, as well as NU’s pioneering role in forming Forum Demokrasi (Democratic Forum).
Indeed, the temptation for NU to get involved in politics has never ceased, or for that matter, any other similar organization. When the opportunity presented itself in 1998, a year after president Soeharto resigned from office and the transition to democracy began to take place, NU leadership adapted to the new situation. A new political party that would represent the interest of the organization was established: The National Awakening Party (PKB). Other NU figures also formed at least four more political parties.
Understandably, the move was an attempt to seize the moment at a time when power politics was highly contested. This re-entrance into party politics enabled Abdurrahman Wahid to become Indonesia’s fourth president. Two other leaders from NU’s central board, Hasyim Muzadi and Solahuddin Wahid, ran as vice presidential candidates. Many more served in the Cabinet, parliament, and regional administration.
Should Kyai Ali Maksum have witnessed this development, perhaps he would not have issued the above statement. Still however, many members of the organization have raised concern about the position of NU vis-a-vis politics. In this respect, they are worried that NU’s energy is being absorbed by politics at the expense of the very core business of the organization; defending Islamic traditionalism through pesantran (Islamic boarding school education).
The organization’s congress in Makassar this week is expected to review the above issue, especially concerning the proper relationship between NU and politics, however the latter is defined. Many have
expressed an interest that NU should be more robust in realizing its socio-religious and cultural agenda. To court grass-roots support, all candidates that will contest the 2010-2015 leadership have vowed to pay more attention to the socio-religious and cultural mission of the organization.
Ironically, this has also been a concern of the previous leaders. Thus, whether or not NU will eventually be able to design a new scheme with regard to its relationship with politics remains to be seen. To disengage NU from politics is not an easy task. Virtually all of the organization’s history has been full of politics, partisan or otherwise. In that context, perhaps it is only appropriate to ask: What kind of politics is NU actually pursuing?
