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Jakarta Post

Jakarta's NU, Muhammadiyah executives' support for Agus unfazes rivals

Safrin La Batu and Moses Ompusunggu (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, January 30, 2017

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Jakarta's NU, Muhammadiyah executives' support for Agus unfazes rivals Muslim support: Jakarta deputy gubernatorial candidate Sylviana Murni (center) gives a speech while Hatta Rajasa (right), a member of Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono’s campaign team, and Tjuandi (left), the chairman of the Communication Forum for Islamic Propagation Organizations (FKLD), listen on Saturday. The forum has 48 Islamic groups, including Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah. (Antara/Akbar Nugroho Gumay)

J

akarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama’s team has shrugged off the decision of some executive members of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah to declare their support for Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono’s camp over the weekend, saying that their support was personal and not necessarily representative of the two mass organizations.

Some executive members from NU and Muhammadiyah, the country’s largest Muslim organizations, decided to back Agus on Sunday through a group called the Communication Forum for Islamic Propagation Organizations (FKLD), whose members come from various Islamic organizations, including NU and Muhammadiyah.

Among those who attended the declaration were Munahar Mochtar, the deputy chairman of NU’s Jakarta chapter, and Tjuandi, the deputy chairman of Muhammadiyah Jakarta. The decision was taken despite previous statements from the two organizations that they would remain neutral in the election.

“As long as there is no official statement from NU and Muhammadiyah supporting a particular candidate, their [the executive members’] support is that of an individual,” an Ahok campaign team spokesman, Raja Juli Antoni, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday. “NU and Muhammadiyah are both cultural movements and therefore do not support any particular political element.”

Raja said there was no fear that the support of the executive members would be followed by other members. “I myself am a member of Muhammadiyah and I strongly support Ahok,” he said, adding that “I do not even know who Tjuandi is.”

Despite what Raja said, Tjuandi claimed during the declaration that his signature showed “the official stance of Muhammadiyah on the election”.

Tjuandi’s statement was echoed by Maisaroh Ali, the chairwoman of the Jakarta branch of Aisyiyah, Muhammadiyah’s female wing. Maisaroh said “Muhammadiyah backs Agus in the Jakarta gubernatorial election.”

Meanwhile, Munahar, who delivered prayer at the event, could not be reached for comment on Saturday. Munahar is known to have supported last year’s two large-scale Muslim rallies demanding the prosecution of incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama for alleged blasphemy.

Tjuandi and Munahar are not alone. Hundreds of others from around 60 Islamic organizations participated in Saturday’s pledge to support Agus for the election slated for Feb. 15.

Tjuandi said during the declaration that the FKLD decided to support Agus because he was capable of “protecting diversity and religious pluralism” in the capital.

Muhammadiyah secretary Abdul Mu’ti previously told the Post that the organization was neutral when it came to politics, but could not bar its members from joining or supporting a particular candidate because doing so was a part of their “constitutional rights”.

Mu’ti said, however, that any move by a Muhammadiyah member to declare support for a particular candidate should not be taken as the organization’s official stance.

The same thing happened before the election campaign last year, when former Muhammadiyah chairman Amien Rais attacked Ahok while speaking in front of supporters at Istiqlal Grand Mosque, calling on them not to vote for “a non-Muslim” because doing so was forbidden in Islam.

Muhammadiyah confirmed at the time that Amien’s stance did not represent Muhammadiyah as an organization.

The other candidate pair, Anies Baswedan and his running mate Sandiaga Uno, also played down the newly declared support for Agus, saying that every candidate had supporters from the two organizations. “I am also a member of Muhammadiyah,” said Sandiaga after appearing at a campaign rally at the Soemantri Brodjonegoro Sports Stadium in South Jakarta on Sunday.

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