TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsNU leaders agree to hold early congress to end leadership dispute
Nahdlatul Ulama, the country’s largest Islamic organization, has taken a key step toward ending a weeks-long leadership dispute, with rival factions agreeing to convene an early congress next year.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
A man holds a flag showing the logo of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia's largest Islamic organization, on Nov. 2, 2025, during a parade for santri (students of Islamic boarding schools) in Kediri, East Java. (Antara/Prasetia Fauzani)
I
ndonesia’s largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), has reached a breakthrough in its internal leadership dispute, with rival camps agreeing to hold an early congress next year to elect a chairman.
The agreement was reached during the first meeting since tensions emerged between NU chairman Yahya Staquf Cholil and Supreme Leader (Rais Aam) Miftachul Akhyar, who heads a faction that had called for Yahya’s removal. The meeting was held on Thursday at NU’s Lirboyo Islamic boarding school in Kediri, East Java.
The forum, also attended by members of NU’s advisory board (Mustasyar) - including former vice president Ma'ruf Amin - concluded that bringing forward the organization’s Muktamar from its original schedule of late next year would offer a constitutional solution and help preserve unity.
“The chairman and the Rais Aam, under the guidance of senior NU clerics and advisers, have agreed to hold a legitimate joint Muktamar as soon as possible,” NU said in a statement posted on its official Instagram account on Friday.
“The timing, venue and technical arrangements for the Muktamar will be jointly decided by the chairman and the Rais Aam through a newly formed committee,” it added.
The agreement follows weeks of internal friction triggered by a November meeting of NU’s Syuriyah Council led by Miftachul, which urged Yahya to resign over a controversial invitation to a pro-Israel scholar for an internal event in August, as well as allegations of financial mismanagement within the executive board.
The dispute escalated after Yahya refused to step down, prompting the council to issue a circular declaring his removal and appointing deputy chairman Zulfa Mustofa as acting chief - decisions rejected by most NU executives as inconsistent with the organization’s bylaws.
Analysts have said the rift reflects NU’s growing entanglement with practical politics, including disagreements over mining concessions granted during the administration of former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
Critics have described the concessions as political rewards for NU’s support of Jokowi’s preferred candidates, President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Jokowi’s eldest son, in last year’s presidential election.
Yahya later addressed the agreement on social media, reiterating that the only legitimate way to resolve the dispute was through a Muktamar held in accordance with NU’s constitution.
“God willing, we will immediately follow up on this decision by forming the Muktamar committee, so that the organization’s highest forum can be conducted together with proper decorum, calmness and responsibility,” he wrote on the social media platform X on Thursday.
