A

head of its national congress in August, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) faces facts and challenges, ranging from radicalism to poverty, which need addressing during the five-yearly event.

The organizational improvement of NU and its direct service to Indonesian Muslims will probably offer solutions to its members who mostly live in rural areas, but in some ways will also hamper the movement of radical Islam, which some experts believe is rooted in poverty.

It is true that NU has contributed to the country from the early period of independence. Hasyim Asy'€™ari, the founder of NU, issued a fatwa known as the Jihad Resolution on Oct. 22, 1945, which encouraged Muslims to fight the Allied troops that had come to Indonesia as World War II victors. Later on, a battle erupted in Surabaya on Nov. 10, 1945.

Hasyim'€™s son, Wahid Hasyim, was involved in the Indonesian Independence Preparation Examination Assembly (BPUPKI). He played a major role in the exclusion of seven words that would have formalized sharia in the preamble of the 1945 Constitution.

Further, Wahid'€™s son, Abdurrahman '€œGus Dur'€ Wahid, was known for campaigning for the protection of minority rights and fighting discrimination. Gus Dur was eventually elected president, cementing democracy and human rights in the country.

However, in the last several years, particularly in the post-New Order period, NU seems to have shifted its focal point or even lost its critical standpoint against political or economic interests.

From actively being involved in pragmatic politics, as evident in its chairman'€™s bid for the vice presidential post in the 2004 election, or from becoming politically divided mostly because its executives at national, provincial or district levels displayed favoritism to certain presidential tickets, as happened in the 2014 election, NU has departed from its founding principles.

This has occurred at the expense of its social welfare programs, such as advocating for grass-roots access to healthcare or education, citing a lack of funding or other problems.

NU has established many remarkable institutions such as hospitals and universities. Nevertheless, there are some questions as to whether those institutions were intended for the middle class or the poor, who have no health insurance, regular income or jobs.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Muhammadiyah, Japanese scholar Mitsuo Nakamura wrote in Kompas daily in 2012 that hospitals run by the largest Muslim group after NU were no different from others. They were highly commercialized and charged high fees.

The group'€™s philanthropic, fundraising programs could not yet rival the Dompet Duafa NGO. In fact, Dompet Duafa has built many free clinics and hospitals as well as providing scholarships and grants for economic empowerment.

Nakamura'€™s observations remain relevant and could apply to NU. Many hospitals and universities belonging to the organization are not professionally managed and set their fees too high for ordinary people. They are no different from private institutions, which are only accessible to the middle and upper classes.

In the field of philanthropy, NU runs an alms agency called LAZIS NU, which operates not only in Jakarta but also regencies and municipalities across the country. However, it looks like most of them are no longer active and operate in big cities like Jakarta and Surabaya only.

As for pesantren (Islamic boarding schools), to my mind there are only two philanthropic institutions running such institutions in East Java.

The first is Lembaga Zakat Sidogiri in Pasuruan and the second is Lembaga Sosial Pesantren Tebuireng in Jombang. The small number shows that NU has to struggle to do more to contribute to society, while competing with other developed philanthropic institutions.

In the next 11 years, NU will celebrate its centennial anniversary. The question is will it fall into the same trap as stated by Nakamura, or reposition itself as an umbrella for lower-class people who need access to health care and education?

It will be a challenge for NU to run pesantren that are free to all, as happened in the past.

These challenges have to be addressed at the upcoming national congress. To reposition its mission, NU should revive its role as protector of the people through its social welfare programs.

One of the key solutions is electing a new chairman who is impartial, free of political interests and will refrain from misusing NU for political gains.

The chairman has to push for NU to give more benefits to all people, especially the grass roots.

If the social welfare programs materialize and help eradicate poverty, improve education and health care, I believe everybody who practices NU'€™s religious way of life will feel proud and grateful for becoming NU members.
___________________________

The writer is a lecturer at the University of Hasyim Asy'€™ari and the director of the Pesantren Tebuireng Social Fund (LSPT).