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Long-simmering PKB-NU feud boils over
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Members of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) attend a declaration event supporting Muhaimin Iskandar as a vice presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential election in Bahrul Hidayah Islamic boarding school in Banyuwangi, East Java, on Feb. 17, 2018. (Antara/Budi Candra Setya)
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new round of conflict has erupted between the nation’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), and its de facto political vehicle, the National Awakening Party (PKB), amid decades-long tensions between the two groups.
NU has historically been the incubator for the PKB, and both advocate for moderate Islamic values and pluralism, as championed by late president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid.
The two institutions, however, have seen their relationship strained multiple times in the past, including during a NU leadership race in 2021 in which Yahya Cholil Staquf triumphed over incumbent Said Aqil Siradj, a close ally of PKB chair Muhaimin Iskandar
Tensions have again escalated over the past week after Muhaimin, in his capacity as House of Representatives deputy speaker, initiated a legislative inquiry into the government’s organization of this year’s haj, which was marred by allegations of poor service and misuse of the country’s haj quota.
NU said Muhaimin’s inquiry was targeting Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, the younger brother of Yahya.
NU leaders established a committee to “revisit history” and “return the PKB to its roots”, claiming the current PKB leadership had strayed from its NU foundation and that party elites had systematically steered the PKB away from NU.
"I must say, frankly, that there have been many conflicts [between NU and the PKB],” Yahya said, adding that NU was considering taking stern action against unnamed PKB politicians who had allegedly unleashed “fierce” and “degrading” verbal attacks on NU.
