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View all search resultsLeadership crisis at NU deepens
Competing claims over who holds legitimate authority in the country’s most influential Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), have thrown the organization into turmoil after its supreme council appointed an acting chairman, a move that was opposed by current chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf.
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Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) acting chairman Zulfa Mustofa (center) addresses the press on Nov. 12, 2025, after he is appointed by NU supreme council as the organization’s caretaker despite opposition from current chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf. (Antara/Muhammad Iqbal)
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ompeting claims over who holds legitimate authority in the country’s most influential Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), have thrown the organization into turmoil after its supreme council appointed an acting chairman, a move that was opposed by current chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf.
A closed-door meeting of the NU supreme council Syuriah in a hotel in Jakarta on Tuesday night appointed Zulfa Mustofa, one of four NU deputy chairs, as acting chief of the country’s largest Muslim organization. The plenary meeting gave him the mandate to oversee day-to-day operations until the next congress next year to elect a definite chairman.
Zulfa is the nephew of former vice president Ma’ruf Amin, a senior cleric and prominent figure in NU who also serves as chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council’s (MUI) advisory body.
“The decision is that Zulfa will lead as acting chairman and carry out his duties until the next congress,” supreme council member Mohammad Nuh, a former education minister, told a press conference after the plenary session.
The meeting was attended by dozens of members of the supreme council and the NU executive board, including Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf, Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin Umar and East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa, who also leads Muslimat, the women's wing of NU.
Zulfa’s appointment came amid weeks of internal rift following a supreme council meeting on Nov. 20 that gave Yahya an ultimatum to resign or be dismissed for his invitation to a pro-Israel speaker for an internal event in August and alleged financial mismanagement of the NU executive board.
Read also: NU in deadlock over Yahya chairmanship
